Hi,
This time around I want to talk about a must have software to make your computer do almost everything. Even if you use different Operating System(OS), as long as the software support it, this guide applies. I categorized the software by their functionality.
1) Internet Browser
If you use Windows OS, you probably familiar with its Internet Explorer(IE) browser and must have use it most of the time to surf the net. Although IE is good, it is not much 'user friendly and customizable' and that is why I want to suggest to you to use Firefox(v3.0.10 as to date) from Mozilla. It is a browser that is much better than IE and I'm not just saying that. Firefox came with many addons, a free tiny program embedded into firefox that can perform very interesting stuff. For example, an addons called Fire Gesture enabled you to open new tab, close windows, refresh, etc at the tip of your mouse movement. Now that is cool. You can also customize your firefox appearances to use the theme of your likings (I use theme from Personas). If you are very serious into firefox, you will soon discover a fact that you can download videos just from your firefox browser too(hint - under the about:cache) and so many other things.
2) Office Application
OK, I'll admit that almost all the machine in the world has microsoft office installed in them. But it is not free (came with the Windows OS that we pay to use). So, an alternative to microsoft office is OpenOffice developed by Suns Microsystems. It is an open source software that can be installed on almost any machine running any type of OS. If you use Linux OS, you probably has seen it. I am yet to explore what features OpenOffice has that makes it better than microsoft office version. Other than its free and updated regularly with new features, it is portable too (don't you know it) across u3 platform.
3) Image Editing
There are 2 image editing software I recommend you to use and it is both free. The first one is Paint.NET (currently v3.36)from microsof. Although it sounds too good to be true, it is free (maybe due to competition) but it is only supported on Windows OS with .NET framework 2.0 and above installed. The 2nd one is GIMP (currently v 2.6) which stands for GNU Image Manipulation Program. Just from the words GNU, you should already know that it is free to use. Rumours said that GIMP is better than other image editing software but it is hard to get use to.
4) Video Player
This one no doubt I preferred VLC media player (latest v0.9.9). It can play almost any video format presents unlike WMP or other video player that requires codecs installed firsthand. It is very light, easy to use, and yet offer wider range of functionality. This one is a must in your machine. Did I said its free too.
5) Antivirus
1 fact you should know first: "the best antivirus program is not free :(". Oh yes, if you are serious about protecting your machine, buy an antivirus software. Although there are a wide range of free antivirus program out there, the paid one is 3x better than free one. The current one I use in my machine is Norton Internet Security (NIS) from Symantec. Norton is the fastest, low overhead antivirus program you could ever find on the planet right now. Till now, I'm not worry of having to stick any USB device to my machine or open up malicious site coz I know Norton will protect me. You should know that guys from Symantec are very expert in security, so the software developed by them is surely reliable. The cost to buy NIS is about RM200/60usd for 1 year protection(3 PC protected) and after that you should renew the license at the same cost annually.
6) PDF Viewer
In the PDF Viewer category, I'm looking for something light that load faster and easy to use. While we all famimliar with adobe reader, we shouldn't keep aside Foxit Reader (latest v3.0) which exactly the type of PDF viewer that fulfil the above criteria, it is light and easy to use. Compared to adobe reader, it flaunted.
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