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Library
> Reviews >
General Applications
> 001
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Applications
for free
Contributor: In-house
Computer magazine cover CD's contain free applications
by the bucket load, but aren't they for amateurs?
Past versions of buggy software that give your system
an impossible task and crash without any prospect
of recovery? Stick to a few golden rules and you'll
find some free applications offer advantages that
simply aren't available from the commercial world.
Special
Notice: IrfanView: your search is over!
Many thousands of people visit this page at AbleStable®
searching for the freeware image viewer IrfanView
(pronounced as 'EarfanView', and misspelled variously
as IrfinView and Irfin View). Although we do not host
IrfanView as it is so often updated, we do host high
quality Freeware
that's well worth investigating. For information about
IrfanView go to http://www.irfanview.com.
Yahoo! uses freeware
As an example of great free software let's first turn
to Yahoo! You might not be aware but Yahoo! use free
software to run their site. If it's good enough for
Yahoo! then it's good enough for me. The software
I'm referring to is called MySQL, a server product
commonly available for free on the Internet at numerous
sites. Yahoo's database functionality is wholly incorporated
into this free server. That should at least allay
any fears that free software is poor software.
Protect yourself
There are now a plethora of sites offering free software
but be careful and bear in mind the following guidelines:
• be aware that
if you're asked to register a product as a requirement
of downloading their free software, you may receive
regular e-mails about that product. If you receive
e-mails from unsolicited companies do
not reply as this simply tells them your
address is active and they'll keep pestering you.
•
free may only mean free
for a trial period
•
read the small print
of your 'acceptance of usage' agreement
•
run up to date virus
and firewall programs such as Norton or McAfee to
ensure you're not downloading something that may compromise
your system
•
check you're cookies
after downloading and remove any that you are unhappy
with
•
keep a back up of any
free downloads on an external disk, the software may
not be free indefinitely
•
scan your hardrive for
spyware. Spyware is the term used for secretly collecting
information about your online activities. Mini applications
may run from your computer and inform companies about
your browsing habits. Fortunately there are spyware
utilities that can locate and delete these applications.
•
visit a software venders
web site first before downloading their software,
This will give you a good idea about the way they
treat their customers.
You
may be getting a little squeamish with all these security
measures, but most of the advice we've given is common
sense and any virus and firewall protection you set
up will largely run in the background resolving any
serious security issues.
Freeware at AbleStable®
We
have a Freeware
Area at AbleStable® where you'll find very
high quality Windows and Mac freeware to download
that we've selected using strict security and reliability
criteria.
The freeware that is featured on our site is unconditional
freeware: no nag screens; no advertisements; no registrations;
no payments; no spying; no collection of demographic
information; and no unauthorised Internet connections
from your system.
You get what you give
One last thought. When you download Freeware that
you find useful, contact the developer and say thanks.
If it proves difficult to easily locate the author,
try to give something back to the Internet community.
You know something that others would value. Write
an article, share some expertise and experiences.
As countless people have said, you get what you give,
and you'll be happier for it :-)
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| Authors
background |
In-house
contributions are written by one of the AbleStable®
development team. The development team consists
of writers, web designers, graphic designers,
administrators and directors. If you observe
inaccuracies in our in-house contributions or
wish to contribute an article or review to be
included at AbleStable® visit Feedback.
Copyright
Notice
Although our contents are free to browse, copyright
resides with the originators of all works accessed
at AbleStable®, and unauthorised copying
or publication of our site contents is strictly
prohibited. To use our specially selected premium
content go to Content
Syndication and Licensing.
AbleStable © 2002-2008 |
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Material: AbleStable © 2002-2008 |
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