Archive for the ‘Software’ Category
Thursday, April 15th, 2010
Web browsers come in different shapes and sizes, (‘What’s a browser?’) but fewer people are aware that they have a range of choices with email as well.
There are just as many email programs as there are internet browsers.
Microsoft Outlook
Most Windows users will be familiar with some form of Outlook. As part of the office suite, outlook offers reliability and a full suite of editing tools to control your emails. Outlook also has calendars and tasks functionality.
Microsoft Outlook isn’t free though. If you run Windows 7 or Windows Vista, you’ll have a copy of Windows Mail which is essentially a very cut down version of Outlook. If you have XP or previous you’ll have Outlook Express. If you do want to buy Microsoft Outlook you can buy it standalone or as part of the Office Suite, either way you’ll be looking to part with more than £70.
Thunderbird
Thunderbird is my email client of choice. From the same teams that runs Firefox, the world’s most popular internet browser, comes Mozilla Thunderbird. Just like Firefox, Thunderbird is free, and simple to set up.
Version 3 was released earlier this year and whilst not as fully featured as Microsoft Outlook, it is gaining features, including tabbed browsing through emails and a very fast indexed search that lets you specify dates and other conditions to filter through results. Thunderbird will also run on pretty much any platform, including Windows, Linux and OSX. An official Mozilla plug-in Lightning provides calendar functionality to rival Outlook’s.
Download Mozilla Thunderbird
GoogleMail / GMail
Google Mail is a slightly different approach to email. Rather than encouraging users to set up email programs and download mail to their desktops (though of course you can) Google tries to entice you to use it online so you can access it anywhere in the world.
Rather than using folders, Google has tags for your email to help organise things as well as a range of other features, including filters to process mail automatically when it arrives, beer goggles to stop accidental emailing immediately after a gentlemen’s snifter of sauce and many more experimental features besides.
Get Google Mail
Monday, January 11th, 2010
If you’re up to date enough to be running the new Firefox 3.6 release candidate, then you’ll be able to take advantage of a groovy new feature, Personas for Firefox.
Personas are basically skins, but with a better system for installing and previewing them it’s become a breeze to switch what clothes your version of Firefox is wearing.
Please note: The new release candidate may not yet be entirely stable or compatible with your plugins. if that’s the case, just wait a few weeks until Firefox 3.6 is released officially. If you’re impatient like me though (I’ve had no problems with this Firefox release), get downloading, the links are below.
Get the new Firefox release candidate here: http://www.mozilla.com/en-US/firefox/3.6/whatsnew/
Get Firefox Personas and the personas plugin for faster switching here: http://www.getpersonas.com/en-US/
Saturday, January 9th, 2010
Nope, it’s not a con – refreshing isn’t it? I’ve been using this for the past 6 months and it’s been fantastic, due to my being more organised, I’ve actually made more money!
Quickbooks from Intuit is a remarkably useful accounting program and if you’re a small business with 20 customers or less, you can run Quickbooks for absolutely nothing. You will need to upgrade if you gain more than 20 customers or suppliers, but it’s a great way to start off and personally, I’ve not reached that many yet.
Download the UK version at http://quickbooks.intuit.co.uk/accounting-software/quickbooks-freestarter.jsp
Saturday, January 9th, 2010
If you’re anything like me, you have a wide array of ways to network and chat with your friends and contacts. From email, web-mail and private messages, to Facebook wall posts and Twitter to real-time chatting on Windows Live Messenger and online messaging systems like Facebook and Google’s chat.
Digsby collates all of your networks into one easy way to log in and communicate from one interface.
You need to create a Digsby account which then stores all your login information. They claim their servers are secure, and I’ve not had any problems over the past few months I’ve been using Digsby.
Another very nifty feature is to generate a widget to place on your website or blog that lets you chat in real-time with visitors to your site.
It’s still a relatively new program and seems a little bandwidth-intensive when checking POP email, but the development continues to progress rapidly and new fixes are being applied all the time.
Check out digsby at: http://www.digsby.com/
Saturday, January 2nd, 2010
Ever deleted something you really wish you hadn’t? Most likely you were trying to clear some space or do some organising. We all have at some point, but few people know how to recover lost documents, or treasured family photos. Luckily, if you’re very careful you should be reunited with your files in no time!
There are two things you need to bear in mind – maybe three if you’re a person who panics a lot.
1. Don’t panic
That wont help in the slightest.
2. Don’t do anything else
There’s a very good chance that the files are still on the harddrive, but you can’t see them because they have been marked for overwriting. Each thing you do after you have accidentally deleted your file runs the risk of overwriting the file on the computer. So do as little as possible. Don’t change any other files or switch off your system. If you’ve been careful you’ll have an un-deletion program all ready installed – unfortunately no operating system comes with this facility built in.
3. Run or install a program to recover your file(s)
If you don’t already have a program installed, you’ll have to grab one now. Your best bet is to install on a secondary drive or even better on a pen drive so it’s independent from your system and can’t overwrite the very files you’re trying to recover!
If you have followed steps 1 and 2 carefully, any program you install should have a good chance of recovering your files. Some programs you might want to try include:
NTFS Undelete http://ntfsundelete.com/
UnDelete Plus http://undelete-plus.com/front-page
Saturday, January 2nd, 2010
If the above is a question you’re not sure of the answer to, then why not take 5 minutes to stop and improve your internet experience?
An internet browser is what lets you navigate the web and view and interact with websites and web applications. Some people are peripherally aware of browsers, though they may not be familiar with the term, others have a decent idea of the differences between the options available to them.
Here, for your delight and delectation is a quick run-down of the most popular options:
Internet Explorer
Most people’s first experience of the web comes through using Internet Explorer. This browser is included with Microsoft’s Windows operating system and new users often [wrongly] presume this is their only option for browsing the internet.
Many people are using an out of date version of Internet Explorer, which means less compatibility with modern websites as well as more security vulnerabilities. If you don’t want to change browsers, the very least you should do is update to the lateste version, Internet Explorer 8.
Download the latest version of Internet Explorer at http://www.microsoft.com/windows/internet-explorer/
Firefox
Pretty much the most popular browser overall in Europe, used by approximately 47% of people online, Firefox is fast, strong and easily adaptable. If you currently use internet explorer, Firefox can import all your bookmarks and settings to make the transition seamless.
You’ll find many addons for Internet Explorer also have Firefox versions, so it is unlikely that you’ll encounter any problems at all in switching over. Best of all, Firefox has a massive repository of addons that you can install in one click: https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/
Download firefox at http://www.mozilla-europe.org/en/firefox/
Opera
Opera is a browser with a rich history, originally created in 1994. Over the past few years Opera has become totally free, eliminating the browser adverts that originally came with it. Opera has long been standards compliant, adhering strictly to internet design protocols, but remaining user friendly and fast.
Download Opera at http://www.opera.com/
Safari
Safari comes pre-installed on Apple computers. Versions are available for Windows computers as well. Safari performs well, though lacks the range customisable features in Firefox and Opera.
Download safari at http://www.apple.com/safari/
Google Chrome
Chrome is the most recent addition to the web browser market, created by Google. Chrome has a slightly different modus operandi to the other popular browsers and is optimised for fast speed with web applications, most notably Google’s own online office and email applications.
Whilst Chrome is probably the fastest browser on this list, it is still in its early stages and lacks the ability to customise it to any great extent.
Download Google Chrome at http://www.google.com/chrome
