Productivity

Productivity Articles

A collection of computer productivity related articles.

The basic software essentials for your computer.

A computer is nothing more than an office decoration unless you have applications to run. As we all know, the Operating System comes with a few utilities which allow you to perform the basic functions such as browsing the Internet, checking E-mail, and editing simple documents or images.

We'll be offering descriptions and links to a few of our favorite "essential" applications and a short review of some review sites which do the same.

A list of FREE applications to round out your software collection

A short list of our favorite applications. With thousands of Freeware applications available, this is the best we've found.

  • Anti Virus Applications
    • Avira AntiVir Personal Edition
      • Outstanding detection of malware, light on resources
      • Site Link
  • CD / DVD Burning Software
    • BurnAware Free
      • Supports CDs, DVDs, and Blu-Ray discs. Creates data, audio CDs, video DVDs, and ISO images. Erases rewriteable media.
      • Site Link
  • Digital Image Editor
    • Photo! Editor
      • Very simple to use. Remove red eye, adjust color and lighting, make caricatures, straighten, resample and crop images.
      • Site Link
  • Digital Image Viewer
    • FastStone Image Viewer
      • Very nice interface, excellent batch processing options, red-eye removal, emailing, resizing, cropping and color adjustments.
      • Site Link
  • Audio Editing Software
    • Audacity
      • Record / edit audio from a microphone or mixer, or digitize recordings from cassette tapes, vinyl records, or minidiscs.
      • Site Link
  • Media Player Software
    • KM Player
      • Easy to use and install, playback features include audio and video effects, playback speed with regular tone, etc.
      • Site Link
  • CD Ripper (extracts CD music to your computer)
  • Office Productivity Suite
    • Open Office
      • Office software suite for word processing, spreadsheets, presentations, graphics, databases and more.
      • Site Link
  • Word Processor Software
    • AbiWord
      • Reads and writes OpenOffice.org documents, Microsoft Word, WordPerfect, Rich Text Format, HTML and text documents.
      • Site Link
  • Dictionary / Thesaurus Utility
    • WordWeb
      • Enhanced dictionary and thesaurus. Shows relevant synonyms and related words according to whether they are noun, verb, adjective or adverb.
      • Site Link
  • Personal Financial Software
    • Ace Money Lite (Free version limited to a single account - Full version $45 or less)
      • Helps organize and manage personal finances. Supports all the features required for home or even small-business accounting needs.
      • Site Link
  • File Compression / Extraction Utility
    • 7 - Zip
      • Compress or extract files for archiving. Very useful for sending multiple files and folders via E-mail.
      • Site Link
A short list of our favorite Free software listing and review sites
  • Gizmo's Freeware Reviews
    • The "Best of the best"!  This is where we go when we recommend freeware for our clients.
    • Site Link
  • WHDB - Web Hosting Database
    • Article - The Top 50 Proprietary Programs that Drive You Crazy
    • Site Link

Hopefully, this article will help you get on the right path. If you want more information about this subject, contact us by using the Web Form.

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