I recently bought a new laptop and have since experienced Windows 7 for the first time, about which I could write another ten posts (starting with what to turn off and how to do that, with each new article gaining cynicism momentum until they explode in frothy rage at how Microsoft design their products). Instead of doing that, it might be more productive to look at some software options.
I like free software. Mostly because it’s free, but also because often it’s better than the stuff you pay for, and using it effectively becomes one long trial period that you can terminate at any time in order to choose something better. So, here’s what I installed first.
Web browser – Mozilla Firefox
As a web developer, Firefox is a must-have. The tools available for it make the process of building a web site far more precise than it has ever been before. For those of us who aren’t web designers, you’re probably wondering why you’d need it instead of Internet Explorer which has the bonus of already being installed. The simple reason is that it’s better. The user interface is laid out more clearly (I still cannot get used to where the refresh button is in IE 8), the options are easier to find (set out in clearly labelled tabs, rather than bundled together in a huge list of checkboxes) and the addons for it that are non-web development related vastly outnumber those that aren’t. In addition, Firefox allows you to choose where to keep your profile (all your stored passwords and bookmarks) so you can easily back it up if you want to.
Word processing and spreadsheet – OpenOffice.org
For me, this comes down to a simple choice. Do I want to pay ‘some money’ (the exact cost seems to vary widely) for Microsoft Office, or pay nothing for something that is 99% compatible with it and for the most part either as good or better? All I want to do is type the odd letter and keep track of my spending. Why should that cost me so much money?
Firewall – ZoneAlarm
A firewall stops bad things getting in and out of your computer. For most of the time, these intrusions are invisible to the average computer user. But they happen. In extreme cases, your computer could be hijacked without your knowing for all kinds of nefarious and illegal deeds. My new laptop came installed with a trial of McAfee, which for the most part was very annoying (pop up messages reminding me to register, etc.) so I’ve dumped that and gone with ZoneAlarm. So far, once I’d got past the initial ‘yes this is my web browser please let it see the Internet and stop bugging me about it’ it’s been fine.
Email – Mozilla Thunderbird
Again, free. I generally use Gmail for my email but I needed a local client for my work accounts. Thunderbird does the job. I’m not a massive fan of it so far, it’s a bit too clunky and Outlook-like for my tastes, but because it’s part of the same development community as Firefox it can also install addons to improve or tweak your email experience.
Anti-Malware – AdAware
Every now and again everyone installs a bit of software from an unknown source or accidentally clicks on a link that takes them to a website of questionable security. So every now and again I like to run AdAware, which runs through my system and finds all the sneaky and malicious things people try to infect your computer with, that aren’t exactly viruses but can be just as dangerous. And it’s free for personal use, if you choose the non-pro version.
Anti-virus – ClamAV
At this point I should stop and address an issue. You may be reading this, thinking something like ‘why download and install a separate firewall, malware scanner and virus scanner, when I can get all that stuff bundled together with one of the big name products, like Norton?’. That’s a good question. My answer is that I’ve seen too many badly configured installations of Norton or McAfee that simply slow their computers to a standstill as they perform too many unnecessary checks and generally take up too many system resources. I’m an experienced computer user, I (mostly) know what I’m doing, so I run a firewall that’s just a firewall and a virus checker that I can load when I want it. You, person reading this, may not have enough confidence in your computing skills to take that approach, and may prefer to let a piece of software take care of all this security stuff for you, which is fine. Anyway, ClamAV is a free antivirus product, and it’s pretty good.
Backups – CDBurnerXP
There are lots of options for backing up your important files. You could set up your computer to automatically copy stuff onto a networked or locally attached storage device, for which there are various software options. Alternatively, you can keep everything you can’t do without in a single place and write a DVD or two of it every month or so. This sounds clunky but after a while most stuff can be archived – the volume of data most people own that changes over time usually fits within 4GB without trouble. Of course, this option requires a bit of personal discipline to operate effectively.
Data Transfer – DropBox
Relating to backups is of course the potential issue of how to get everything from your old computer to your new. Enter DropBox, a handy little utility that allows a folder on one computer to be seen on another across the internet. Any files placed in that folder are likewise shared. Haven’t used this too much but so far both the concept and execution have been as straightforward as hoped.
Other things
At this point the use to which different people’s computers are put will start to diverge. I could tell you all about the benefits of vector graphics packages or FTP clients, but you might not be interested. So we’ll leave it there.
