Freeware/Shareware
Fender’s Riffstation now freeware
HowToGeek has a post on Fender’s Riffstation software which “can scan any audio file then help you learn how to play it on your guitar. Once a $35 purchase, it’s now free.”
Looks like a boon to guitar players!
VirtualBox vs VMware Player comparison
MakeUseOf has a post comparing virtual machine environments VirtualBox and VMware Player.
It notes that VirtualBox has become relatively slow compared to VMware Player.
VirtualBox is better for cloning a system if you use the paid version.
Reliability is better in VMware Player.
(Opinions are from MakeUseOf.)
Read Full Post | Make a Comment ( Comments Off on VirtualBox vs VMware Player comparison )Patch My PC
Dave’s Computer Tips has a post recommending Patch My PC freeware.
“Patch My PC – VERDICT
I’m impressed with Patch My PC, by far the best of these types of applications I’ve come across, plus the fact that it’s portable adds heaps of appeal. I’ve always tended to manually update my software and openly admit I was quite surprised when Patch My PC flagged six installed programs for updates. In the future, I’ll be running Patch My PC periodically to keep an eye on this situation. Highly recommended.”
Read Full Post | Make a Comment ( Comments Off on Patch My PC )Free streaming movies!
MakeUseOf has a post about free (at least partly) streaming movie and video services.
Read Full Post | Make a Comment ( Comments Off on Free streaming movies! )Microsoft Office alternatives 2018
MakeUseOf has a post on the 7 best alternatives to Microsoft Office.
The 3 best online alternatives:
- Google Docs
- iWork for iCloud
- Zoho Office
The 4 best desktop office suites:
- OnlyOffice
- SoftMaker Office
- LibreOffice
- WPS Office (formerly Kingsoft Office)
Instead of Firefox Quantum
HowToGeek has a post on what to use safely instead of Firefox Quantum (if you want to keep using your extensions).
Apparently Pale Moon and other alternatives based on Firefox are not good ideas.
Use Firefox ESR instead.
Read Full Post | Make a Comment ( Comments Off on Instead of Firefox Quantum )Youtube apps and extensions
MakeUseOf has a post on useful Youtube apps and extensions.
Read Full Post | Make a Comment ( Comments Off on Youtube apps and extensions )Night Light and blue light
f.lux is software to adjust the light on your computer automatically with the time of day.
Of course, Windows 10 has Night Light for that, but Dave’s Computer Tips prefers f.lux.
Read Full Post | Make a Comment ( Comments Off on Night Light and blue light )Free Web site hosting using cloud services
MakeUseOf has a post on using Dropbox/Google Drive/OneDrive to host a website for free.
The latter two need DriveToWeb; the post explains it.
Read Full Post | Make a Comment ( Comments Off on Free Web site hosting using cloud services )How to spot and avoid fake apps
HowToGeek has a post on avoiding fake apps in your Play Store (Windows, Google, etc.).
The fakes are getting trickier — so see how to detect them!
Read Full Post | Make a Comment ( Comments Off on How to spot and avoid fake apps )Sweet Home 3D
Neowin has free home layout software called Sweet Home 3D.
“Sweet Home 3D is a free interior design application that helps you place your furniture on a house 2D plan, with a 3D preview. Sweet Home 3D is aimed at people who want to design their interior quickly, whether they are moving or they just want to redesign their existing home. Numerous visual guides help you draw the plan of your home and layout furniture. You may draw the walls of your rooms upon the image of an existing plan, and then, drag and drop furniture onto the plan from a catalog organized by categories. Each change in the 2D plan is simultaneously updated in the 3D view, to show you a realistic rendering of your layout.”
Read Full Post | Make a Comment ( Comments Off on Sweet Home 3D )LibreOffice links
Helpful post from TechRepublic on LibreOffice.
Download page is here.
With LibreOffice Portable, you can carry around a full-fledged office suite on a USB drive. And if you’re looking for an online version of LibreOffice, look no further than Collabora Online, which supports all major document, spreadsheet, and presentation file formats.
Read Full Post | Make a Comment ( Comments Off on LibreOffice links )7 niche Windows utilities
MakeUseOf has a post about 7 utilities for Windows.
- MacType to make fonts appear better on Windows.
- ShareX for a variety of functions with files
- Geek Uninstaller, which handles that process more completely than Windows might
- fSekrit for encrypted and passworded notes
- LockHunter for helping with locked files
- Zoiper is a free VoIP phone function that works with your existing VoIP provider
- TidyTabs allows your apps to use tabs
Standard Ebooks
The Gutenberg Project is a great source of free classic ebooks, but the formatting is less than friendly to small screens.
Try the Standard Ebooks project, which is converting them to epub, Kindle, Kobo, and new “epub3″ format for download.
- epub — All devices and apps except Amazon Kindle and Kobo.
- azw3 — Amazon Kindle devices and apps. Also download the Kindle cover thumbnail to see the cover in your Kindle’s library.
- kepub — Kobo devices and apps.
- epub3 — Advanced format not yet fully compatible with most ereaders.
Google Assistant on Android
HowToGeek has a post on using the Google Assistant app on Android.
Read Full Post | Make a Comment ( Comments Off on Google Assistant on Android )Voice typing in Google Docs
MakeUseOf has a post on using dictation in Google Docs.
Read Full Post | Make a Comment ( Comments Off on Voice typing in Google Docs )ChromeOS alternative to Linux
ZDNet has a post by Jason Perlow, who offers an alternative to Windows 10 other than Linux, claiming ChromeOS flavors are less work than Linux. There’s also a free version of Office in the ChromeOS cloud, for Office users.
Read Full Post | Make a Comment ( Comments Off on ChromeOS alternative to Linux )
The Best (Free) Speech-to-Text Software for Windows
MakeUseOf has a post on Looking for the best free Windows speech to text software? We compared Dragon Naturally Speaking with free alternatives from Google and Microsoft.
Source: The Best (Free) Speech-to-Text Software for Windows
Read Full Post | Make a Comment ( Comments Off on The Best (Free) Speech-to-Text Software for Windows )How to Quickly Transfer Files from a Computer to Your Phone with Portal
HowToGeek has a post: We’ve all had that moment where we need a file on our phone that happens to be on the computer. Now, there are a couple of ways you can do this: email it to yourself, put it in cloud storage like Dropbox, or even transfer it with a USB cable. But there’s a faster, easier way. Enter Portal.
Source: How to Quickly Transfer Files from a Computer to Your Phone with Portal
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