The Office Girl: Windows Starter Kit

Saturday, July 5

Windows Starter Kit

So whilst looking for a stand alone slideshow program for the Aqua PC, I came across this article on Downloads.com.

Downloads.com is a great website containing all sorts of trial, freeware and shareware programs to download LEGALLY! ;) They also contain reviews from the CNET editor (CNET owns Downloads.com), and user reviews on many of the downloads.

The article is a rundown of many useful and exciting programs that are available online, without you having to pay. Firefox is the first one mentioned - a free to use web browser, and I've been using it myself for about 18 months now (thanks, Bill R!). Firefox is amazing - very user friendly and it has so many add ons, I don't know where to start. For example there's an add on which allows you to search through a toolbar in your browser through all the torrent search engines. Very handy when you're looking for a new download.

Firefox was also the first web browser to support tabs (instead of opening 20 Internet Explorer windows), and I find the tabs feature allows me to keep multiple web pages open, without totally slowing my computer down.

In looking through the article, and find you don't recognise the names then don't worry. By clicking the blue link, it will take you to the review page for each individual program, and you can see what other users think of that program. My top three from those mentioned are:
1) Firefox
2) WinAmp
3) FoxIt Reader

What are your top three? Have you tried a program from the list and had it work better than you thought possible? Has one of the listed programs failed you so completely, it made you angry?

No comments:

Subscribe to: Post Comments (Atom)

Glossary

Application - AKA Program this refers to any piece of software on your computer.
Browser - the program used to access the internet. Microsoft's Internet Explorer is the most commonly used, although Mozilla's Firefox is also popular.
Cell reference - literally a reference to a cell. This is usually first encountered in Excel. A cell reference usually is phrased as the letter of the column and the number of the row being referred to e.g. A1
Character - Any symbol (letter, number, punctuation etc) that you type in.
Default tab stops - how far your insertion point moves when you press the Tab key
Document - A file created by using keyboard input. Basically it usually is something like a letter or resume. It might end in .doc, .rtf, or .txt.
Font - the "handwriting" used for text. Usually is either a serif or sans serif typeface.
Footer - Area at the bottom of a Word document devoted to text which is repeated in the same position for every page of the document.
Format - Changes the way your (usually) text appears.
Formula - a calculation mostly used in Excel which uses operators and cell references to express itself
Hard drive - the hard drive is your main storage device in your computer. It is also known as the "C drive", which in nerd-speak is written like C:
Header - Area at the top of a Word document devoted to text which is repeated in the same position for every page of the document.
Indentation - a way to determine how much space shows between the margins and the edge of the paragraph
Input - Input is where you put information INTO the computer. You can do this with an input device such as the keyboard or mouse.
Install - to take the contents of a disk (CD, DVD etc) and place them permanently on the computer.
Malware - anything which infiltrates or damages a computer system without the owner's informed consent.
Margins - the white spaces around the edge of your document
Operating System - a very complex piece of software, but without it you wouldn't be able to use your computer! Windows is the best known operating system available.
Operator - a symbol used to calculate, compare and otherwise express what you want to do
Paragraph - Created in Word everytime you press Enter.
Program - AKA Application this refers to any piece of software on your computer.
Software - A program (usually purchased at a store) which can be installed onto your computer. AKA Application, Program
Spyware - installed surreptitiously on a personal computer to intercept or take partial control over the user's interaction with the computer, without the user's informed consent.
Tab - a clever way of aligning your text differently within a paragraph
Uninstall - to remove an installed program from the computer.
Web based email - an email account which is accessed through a browser rather than a dedicated program. Yahoo and Hotmail are examples of this.