Like the familiar route you take to work every day, or the path your dog walks you on every night, we all find ourselves doing things out of habit even when there may be a faster or easier way. I’m sure there’s some process you follow to get online, get your email, or watch a video file, that’s a little odd or hard to explain, but you’re used to it. Step out of your comfort zone, just a little, and one of the following programs may make your computing experience a whole lot easier.
Instant messaging has become a fundamental part of communicating across many offices, families, and sometimes between the kitchen and kids rooms. If you are a Google Talk user, but your boss likes Hotmail and your spouse is partial to Facebook messaging, trying to juggle them can fill your task bar with chat windows. Install Pidgin to consolidate all of your chats into one handy place. A multitude of third party plug-ins will allow you to accommodate almost any chat service, customize notifications, or pick a theme to blend in with your desktop.
No list of Windows downloads would be complete without including Dropbox, an incredibly handy syncing program. As the number of electronic devices in the average household increases, so does the fragmentation of the data we create with them. If you start writing a report on your computer at work, then think of something to add while waiting for the mechanic, Dropbox lets you access the document from your Smartphone and return to the office with the most up to date version waiting for you on your office PC. Store up to 2GB of data in your Dropbox for free and purchase additional space if you need it. Then simply add documents you are actively working on to your Dropbox and access them from any internet-capable device.
While it seems like every time I turn around there’s a new music streaming service, I love Spotify. Listen to your own music through their player, share playlists with your friends and see what they’re listening to. Even better, if you notice that Sally has an awesome dance mix playlist, you can stream it online for free to kick up the tempo at your next shindig. Are you considering that new Jay-Z album but hesitant to shell out the bucks without hearing it first? Just a few clicks with their search tool and you’ll be grooving in no time (still free). If the commercials make you crazy you can pay $4.99/month to stream commercial-free or pay $9.99/mo to download music to your mp3 player for offline listening. It’s currently an invite-only beta, but if you want to join the party send me a note at www.callnerds.com/andrea for an invite.
Every time I price a new computer, I grumble and mumble about the cost to get the Microsoft Office suite of programs. Yet it seems my computing life depends on Word and Excel. Now there is an alternative: LibreOffice. Supported by the open source community, it offers a fully compatible suite of word and data processing programs for free.
Even my computer slows down over time, and I fix them for a living. CCleaner is a great, user-friendly free application that will clear out the tangle of cookies, temporary internet files, and registry errors that can over time lead to sluggish start up and internet surfing. You can even set it to run on a schedule so that you don’t have to remember to launch it by hand. Now if only there was something like this to clean the kitchen.
If you missed last week’s list, have any trouble finding these programs, or want to know my favorite Apple downloads, send me a note at www.callnerds.com/andrea.
Andrea Eldridge is CEO of Nerds on Call, which offers on-site computer and home theater set-up and repair. Based in Redding, Calif., it has locations in five states. Contact Eldridge at www.callnerds.com/andrea
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