[This is a document I wrote in order to help students deal with what they felt was a difficult and often expensive part of college. Please feel free to use this in any way that you like. I would love to hear about it, too, so if you do find this page useful drop me a line [jamesraywatkins at gmail.com] or leave a comment below.]
Every computer needs to have anti-virus software and, if you are on broadband, a firewall. If you use the web frequently, you also need to try to prevent malicious software (adware, spyware, etc.) from infecting your machine. In addition, you need to keep your machine free of unnecessary junk and back up your files so you are prepared when everything goes wrong. Fortunately, the programs that do all of these things are available free. This is a list of my personal favorites.
I have also included links to the Mozilla Foundation where you can find a free (and much improved) web browser and an email program; to Open Office, a free software suite including word processing, database, spreadsheet and presentation programs; to Nvu, web-authoring software; and to Sakai, an alternative to commercial course management software.
Note: Most of these are for Microsoft products, but they are still helpful ways to understand more about new communications technology.
Word processing, Database, Spreadsheet, Presentation: Open Office
“OpenOffice.org is both a multi-platform and multi-lingual office suite and an open-source project. Compatible with all other major office suites, the product is free to download, use, and distribute. To help build the community, join us.”
Web browser, email, etc.: Firefox, Thunderbird and Mozilla Suite
“The mission of the Mozilla project is to preserve choice and innovation on the Internet.
We are:
* The producer and provider of the award-winning Firefox web browser and Thunderbird e-mail software.
* A software development tools provider.
* An open source community of developers and testers.
* A partner for the technology industry.
* An advocate for standards on the Net who provides tools for developing standard web content.
* Educators, providing educational materials about Internet technologies and software development.”
Antivirus: avast!
“avast! 4 Home Edition is a full-featured antivirus package designed exclusively for home users and non-commercial use. Both of these conditions should be met! Our company offers the Home Edition free of charge, since, in our opinion, it is possible to avoid global virus spreading by efficient prevention; however, many user are not able to or do not want to pay for antivirus software. This page will show you the most important features of this program.”
Firewall: ZoneAlarm
“ZoneAlarm is free for individual and not-for-profit charitable entity use (excluding governmental entities and educational institutions).”
Clean-Up: CCleaner
“CCleaner is a freeware system optimization and privacy tool. It removes unused files from your system – allowing Windows to run faster and freeing up valuable hard disk space. It also cleans traces of your online activities such as your Internet history. But the best part is that it’s fast (normally taking less that a second to run) and contains NO Spyware or Adware!”
Malicious Code: Spybot Search and Destroy
“Spybot – Search & Destroy can detect and remove spyware of different kinds from your computer. Spyware is a relatively new kind of threat that common anti-virus applications do not yet cover. If you see new toolbars in your Internet Explorer that you didn’t intentionally install, if your browser crashes, or if you browser start page has changed without your knowing, you most probably have spyware. But even if you don’t see anything, you may be infected, because more and more spyware is emerging that is silently tracking your surfing behavior to create a marketing profile of you that will be sold to advertisement companies. Spybot-S&D is free, so there’s no harm in trying to see if something snooped into your computer, too.”
Cobian Backup: Back Up
“Cobian Backup is a multi-threaded program that can be used to schedule and backup your files and directories from their original location to other directories/drives in the same computer or other computer in your network. FTP backup is also supported in both directions (download and upload).”
Nvu: Web Authoring
“Finally! A complete Web Authoring System for Linux desktop users as well as Microsoft Windows and Macintosh users to rival programs like FrontPage and Dreamweaver. Nvu (which stands for “new view”) makes managing a web site a snap. Now anyone can create web pages and manage a website with no technical expertise or knowledge of HTML.”
Sakai: Course Management
“The Sakai Project’s primary goal is to deliver the Sakai application framework and associated CMS tools and components that are designed to work together. These components are for course management, and, as an augmentation of the original CMS model, they also support research collaboration. The software is being designed to be competitive with the best CMSs available.
The tools are being built by designers, software architects and developers at different institutions, using an experimental variation of an open source development model called the community source model … To provide a support system for institutions that want to be involved in the Sakai Project, either by adopting Sakai tools or by developing tools for inter-institutional portability, the Sakai Project has also formed the Sakai Educational Partners Program (SEPP) and the Sakai Commercial Affiliates Program.”
