Software
Here are some pieces of free software that we have found useful so thought you might too!
Skype
This is a brilliant software application which enables two people to talk to each other using the Internet rather than phone lines (you can even have conferences between up to five people!) If you also have this, why not give us a call? (e-mail us for our Skype names). We use it a lot in the mission and have saved a fortune in phone charges as well as doing much more talking than we would be able to otherwise. The quality is excellent, probably better than the phone in some cases. By making a small deposit you can also call any telephone at very low rates. E.g. We can call the UK from Peru for about 1.5p per minute.
You really need a computer running Windows XP as well as a microphone and speakers or better still headphones and a microphone and preferably a broadband internet connection. You can buy a small “y” adaptor so you don’t have to unplug you speakers when you use the headphones to talk. For those who have this it is an excellent and completely free way of keeping in touch. You can find more details and download the free software from:
http://www.skype.com
Irfanview
This is a fast FREEWARE image viewer/converter for Windows9x/NT, Windows 2000, Windows XP and Windows 2003. We use it to batch convert images for our galleries. You can also use it to browse your image collection. It is a well written and powerful package, especially considering that it is completely free for non-commercial use. Go to their website to find out more and to download it.
http://www.irfanview.com
Microsoft PowerPoint Viewer
If you want to view PowerPoint presentations but don’t have PowerPoint on your computer, or if you want others who don’t have it to view presentations from you, use this viewer. The old one did not support many of the effects possible in the later versions of PowerPoint. This new viewer is much better! Download it here:
ppviewer203.exe (1.9MB)
CutePDF Writer
CutePDF Writer is free PDF creation software. It installs itself as a "printer subsystem". This enables virtually any Windows applications (must be able to print) to create perfect PDF documents - with just a push of a button! You just print to this driver which saves your document as a PDF file. The great thing is that it does not put any publicity or advertising on as well like some other free PDF programs. It works really well indeed if you just want to make PDF files of documents for sharing without the cost of buying the full version of Adobe Acrobat with all the bells and whistles you may never use. Download it here:
http://www.cutepdf.com
PDF995
PDF995 is free PDF creation software. It is more flexible than the above and Software 995 produce a range of free software which is fully featured. This includes backup, search and zip utilities in addition to the PDF suite. The only drawback is that an advert appears in your browser every time you use it! If you can cope with that, it is great value. If you can’t you can buy a licence key to disable these for $9-95 (Hence their name I asume). I have downloaded their products which seem to be very good. Check their range out at:
http://software995.com
Zone Alarm
If you are connected to the internet by an always on connection, or indeed at all, you should use some form of firewall to prevent unwanted access to your computer. It is amazing how many times you come under potential attack, even just downloading e-mail via a dial-up connection. Zone Alarm is free for personal use. To find out more and to download it go to their website.
http://www.zonelabs.com
Adware and Spyware
For information about free programs to search for and eliminate unwanted Adware or Spyware (programs which secretly install themselves on your system without your knowledge, even when you just visit a commercial website) see:
http://www.safer-networking.org (SpyBot)
http://www.lavasoftusa.com (Ad-aware)
