Free is free – and I love free stuff. Don’t you?

When it comes to computers, some days I think I’ve paid “too much already” – for desktops, laptops, monitors, printers, hard drives, digital cameras…

And all of this stuff is pretty much useless unless I’ve got some great software to go along with it.

Well, I’m tired of spending right now. Maybe you feel the same way -  enough is enough.

If you are tired of spending money on expensive software packages – here is a list of FREE software for you to download.

Remember: All of the software below is cross-platform capable – which means that it doesn’t matter whether you are a PC fan or a Mac junkie, you are covered!

1. OpenOffice

OpenOffice is a free multiplatform and multilingual office suite with word processor, spreadsheet, database, and presentation modules.

http://www.openoffice.org/

2. Gimp

Now you can finally enjoy your digital camera instead of using it as a cute little paperweight.

Gimp is a free graphics editor for image retouching and photo editing.

It’s great for resizing, editing, cropping photos, and converting between different image formats.

http://www.gimp.org/

3. Blender

Blender is a free, cross platform software suite for 3D creation.

Are you a budding animator on a budget? Blender is for you.

http://www.blender.org/

4. Audacity

Audacity is a free digital audio editor and recording application.

Use it to digitize your old cassettes or LPs, or simply connect a microphone and make your own noise. With special effects and noise reduction filters – you’ll wonder how you got along without it for so long.

http://audacity.sourceforge.net/

5. Pandora

Pandora is a personalized internet radio service.

Now you can listen to only the type of music you like on this fantastic Internet Radio – for free!

http://www.pandora.com/

6. Kindle (Software)

You’ve probably heard all about the Kindle device at Amazon – their expensive electronic device for downloading, storing, and reading electronic books.

Well now you can get the Kindle software for free, and buy Kindle eBooks for your PC or Mac. Thanks Amazon!

http://www.amazon.com

7. Google Reader

Blog hungry? Me too.

Google Reader is an RSS reader which makes subscribing to your favorite feeds a breeze.

Feed on as many blogs as you want – this reader is extremely popular for a reason!

www.google.com/reader Read the rest of this entry

Check out Part One here.

1. Use A Firewall

A firewall is a hardware and/or software configuration designed to prevent unauthorized or unwanted transmissions from the Internet. It will screen out viruses, worms, and hackers which may try to infiltrate your computer system and compromise your personal information when you are online.

If you are running Windows XP (or higher) on a PC or OSX on a Mac – you are set, since a firewall is built into your operating system.

As an added layer of protection, you may also want to use a router that has its own firewall features built in.

2. Get an excellent Anti-Virus Program and keep it updated.

There are so many anti-virus programs on the market today – it’s hard to figure out what is a good product and what is not. (I’ve used several of them that are far from good!)

But now I use AVG. You can download the most recent free version here.

Other well rated anti-virus programs include Avast and Kaspersky.

3. Keep your Web Browser updated.

If you read my Blog on a regular basis (you do, don’t you?) then you know that I love Mozilla Firefox.

But if you like Internet Explorer, Chrome, Safari or something other – just make sure that you keep your browser updated.

4. Do not click links in emails from sources which you cannot verify as REAL.

Fraud-based emails can use real company logos – to trick you into believing that their email message is legitimate.

Clicking links within these emails can lead you to fake sites which may ask for your personal information.

So do not click these types of email links!

These are known as “phishing schemes” ( “fishing” for your information) – phony emails pretending to be real.

5. Do not give detailed Personal Information in ANY Email Message.

(I use a FAX machine for sending private/sensitive information as necessary).

Be wary of email messages directly asking for your personal information — or which asks you to “update” or “confirm” personal information.

Instead, call the business (use a verified phone number, not the number in the email message you received) to determine if the message is legitimate or not.

Legitimate businesses will not ask you to compromise your personal information by sending it via email.

As cyber-criminals become more sophisticated, it is becoming a bit more difficult for us to tell whether an email message or Web site is fraudulent or not.

By doing business with reputable individuals and companies – and always being mindful of your online actions – you can protect yourself from the bad guys!

Identity theft is serious business – and BIG business for cyber-criminals.

So, internet security is something that you probably have in the back of your mind each time you turn on your computer.

How do you protect yourself? And what does “protecting yourself online” really mean?

Protecting yourself online means keeping your private information PRIVATE, and keeping your computer shielded against malware, viruses, and Trojans.

Easier said than done? Not really.

On the one hand, you will have to remember to be careful about the information you give to people (both on and offline) AND you’ll have to make sure that your computer and internet connection are secure at all times.

Today I will show you just one of the ways to help keep your private information PRIVATE, and one of the easiest ways is to properly manage your email addresses.

It’s ADDRESSES, not ADDRESS.

Notice I said addresses.

If you spend any amount of time online – you should definitely have more than one email address.

I have several, and I suggest that you grab at least a couple for yourself.

Simply go to Yahoo or Google and sign up for a free email account (or two).

It is not mandatory to use your real name in any of your email addresses, and you do not have to use any other identifying factors. Just sign up for your accounts with “alias” names and call it a day!

Okay. So now you have at least 2 email addresses. This means you have a primary and secondary.  (Lucky for you, this is easy math day).

Your primary email address should be used as your “personal” email address. So you really should only give this email address to your family and friends – the people you know and trust.

Caution: If you have a family member or friend who likes to forward jokes or who may not be very computer savvy – you may want to think twice about giving your primary email address to him or her.

Why?

When someone forwards you an email from someone else – often times, they have sent that email to a lot of other people too – all at the same time. So now your email address has probably been forwarded to someone else (just as other people who do not know you have had their email address forwarded to you).

Essentially, by not being careful about who you give your primary email address to – you could be “giving away” your primary email address to strangers – which defeats the purpose of having a personal email address in the first place!

So now that you have your primary email address that you give to practically no one – guess who gets your secondary (or third or fourth) email address: everyone else.

When you want to register for a software download or sign up for a Blog subscription or email newsletter, or you need to tell your cable company or doctor how to contact you by email – use anything other than your primary email address.

That way, if and when SPAM starts to become a problem – you just close that email address down and set up another one.

Remember: an email address need NOT identify you in any way. It can be any combination of words, letters, and numbers. As long as you are receiving the information, it does NOT matter to what email address it is being sent to.

An email address is simply a way for people to contact you online – much like using a post office box instead of your home address offline.

In my next post, I’ll give you a few more important internet safety tips.

But for now, this is an easy first step.