*** Do
you have students or teachers bringing Microsoft Office files to school
when you don't have Word, Excel, or PowerPoint installed? Microsoft's
free Word
Viewer, Excel
Viewer, Access
ViewerVisio
Viewer, and PowerPoint
Viewerlet you view and print documents without
having those
programs
installed. Very handy! And if you have the older
Word 6.0
or Word 95
installed,
the Word97/2000
Converter lets you work with newer Word files in
those older
versions. There's also a Mac version of the PowerPoint
Viewer.
*** TweakUI:
Free
Control
Panel add-in,from Microsoft. TweakUI
(120 kb) for systems running Internet Explorer 4 or later, TweakUI95
for earlier systems,. Read my
TweakUI
handout. If in doubt, run the Win95
version.
The new Windows
XP
PowerToys can be downloaded as well! (90 kb) for
other
systems.
*** Poledit:
a Microsoft tool to control access to a variety of system functions
(aka
the System Policy Editor). Poledit98:
(140
kb)
(or directly from Microsoft)
for
systems
running Internet Explorer 4 and later, Poledit95:
(101
kb) for all systems. Do not use Poledit on NT or Windows 2000
systems.
See: my
Poledit
handout.
If in doubt, use the Win95 version.
On older systems install the QuickRes
PowerToy. to switch easily between screen settings.
***And
on all systems, QRes
allows for
automatic
switching of screen settings to fit the needs to programs that demand
to
have it their way. (Note: you may also need QuickRes
PowerToy installed to use this on older systems).
MultiRes
is a sort of
updated QuickRes that works with everything from Win98 to XP; control
screen resolution, colour depth, and monitor refresh from the System
Tray or from the command line.
*** Svga.exe: A must-have for
Windows 3.1 users! Microsoft did not include a generic
256-colour
driver
in the Windows 3.1 package (though it did in the later Windows 3.11
set).
Here it is! Read about how to use this here...
Speakonia,
a "Text-To-Speech Program which is controlled through a graphical user
interface (Similar to Notepad). Speakonia reads aloud any given text.
The reading can be paused, resumed and can be exported to a wave file.
Speakonia is able to fetch webpages through an internal http interface
and read them aloud for you."
Windows 98SE has problems on
many computers shutting down. If that's the case, try these patches
from
Microsoft. If you are on a network with mapped drives, try the Mapped
Drive
Shutdown
Patch first; otherwise, give the Win98SE
Shutdown
Supplement a whirl. (One or the other
helps about half
the time!)
Having trouble reading home-made
'burned' CD disks? Try installing the Adaptec
UDF Reader driver.
IPSwitcher
is handy if you bring a notebook home and to work and want to easily
switch
Internet and network configurations between locations.
Bootdisk.com
lets you download boot disk images for DOS, Win 3.1, Win9x, NT,
Win2000,
and also network boot disks for Ghost, etc.
StartupMonitor
runs in the
background and lets
you know if anything is trying to set itself
to startup automatically.
VNC
(Virtual Network Computer) lets you use TCP/IP over the Internet or
within
local area networks to view another computer's desktop on yours, and
run
programs, access documents, etc. on the remote computer. There are
Windows
and Mac versions-- run a Mac on a Windows computer or vice versa. Or
try
these (still free) reportedly better performing versions: UltraVNC
or TightVNC
*** Zedex
is a free Canadian program to secure Windows peer-to-peer networks.
Very
good!
Win-Secure
It keeps others from using your computer when
you're away from
your desk.
All computers (particularly Windows
PCs!) should be running antivirus software-- and these need to be kept
up to date to do any good. Here's a collection of free
anti-virus
software. My recommendation is the free Avast
Need to get back deleted files?
Try Restoration.
It
even
works with camera memory cards!
Your computer clock probably
does a poor job of keeping time. InTime
lets you connect to atomic clock servers to keep the clock
accurate.
Need to unzip downloaded files or zip your
own? Free alternatives include: QuickZip orIceows
IEFix does
as the name
suggests-- fixes Microsoft Internet Explorer; this can be especially
handy on systems where you can't uninstall/reinstall IE.
BartPE
lets you make bootable CD versions of WinXP for system recovery
NetSetMan
lets you manage network settings, easily switching between up to 5
different profiles. Handy for laptop users who move from location to
location.
SimpleOCR is a free optical
character recognition program for Windows.
Sygate Personal Firewall is no
longer available from its developers since the company was purchased by
Symantec... but you can find a copy here... free for home/personal
use only.
Microsoft Shared Computer Toolkit
is a series of 'tools to manage shared computers': computers in public
spaces like libraries, classrooms, etc.
Partition Logic
lets you alter your hard drive partitioning without wrecking your
existing data, like the commercial Partition Magic. (An alternative: a
'live' Linux CD like Knopix or Ubuntu can also be used for this).
Free burning software: ImgBurn.
(Note-
this doesn't make audio CDs but does a great job with various
data formats including DVD, HD-DVD, Blu-Ray, and more)
***AllChars
- Easiest way to add accented (International) characters in
Windows
Games
Games can be of educational
value, and are a good way to get student buy-into a school computer
program.
There are lots and lots of playable game demos available free at
websites
such as Happypuppy.com.
Be aware of issues like violence-- even hockey games may have more
fighting
than is welcome (some but not all will let you turn fighting off). Here
are some of my favourites:
Nyet
Tetris: OK, some of you may claim that it s not
educational,
but
it s a free version of a classic game that builds on intuitive
geometry.
As a DOS program it will run well under Win 3.1, Win95, and New Deal
but
you ll need to install your own icon. Tetris Planet
is a new updating
on the old classic, with 4 diffrerent Tetris variations. Quinn is a
free Tetris for Mac
OS X.
Sim
City 2000: Win95 demo. A classic game, for
understanding what
it
takes to build and maintain a city. The demo version is a full working
version with the Save function disabled. SimCity
DOS
demo is the original version of the program- it
can be used
on DOS, Win 3.1, and NewDeal computers. LinCity
is a free clone of the original SimCity with versions for Windows,
Linux,
OS/2, etc.
WinGames
is a set of shareware and freeware little games, of educational value,
playable under Windows 3.1 and Windows 95-- includes chess, checkers,
Bang-bang
(teaches angles), Yahtzee, Wheel of Fortune, etc. Does not include a
Setup
file-- double-click to add to your hard drive, but then you'll need to
make your own icons.
Mastermind
is a free, digital version of the classic logic game: players develop
strategies
to solve the order of hidden colours.
Jigsaw
Puzzle Creator lets students (or teachers) make
puzzles out of
any digital picture (photo or student drawing).
Glider
Pro is a lovely classic game for Mac (black
& white,
colour,
and even OS X) and Windows, now freeware. Fly a paper airplane
throughout
a house.
Looking
for free (and school-friendly) Mac games? Check Free
Games
for
Mac.
Gamemaker
is a free way to
design games without programming; the website also includes a number of
interesting free games (designed with Gamemaker) Or try Glyph Chess
for a free,
networkable 2-player match. Both for Mac OS X.
Sigma Chess is a free "master
strength
Macintosh chess program for both OS X and Classic Mac
OS. The feature set includes: Database support, PGN/EPD support, basic
desktop publishing, endgame databases, novice levels, a true
perspective 3D board, ExaChess compatibility and much more."
dfg Chess Expert
is "a friendly
chess partner for beginners to professionals".
FreeCiv is
an open-source
version of the game Civilization. Mac OS X/X11
*** Office 2007 Compatibility Pack:
This version of MS Office introduces new default file formats for Word,
Excel, and Powerpoint. The compatibility pack gives Office 2000, 2003,
and Office XP (and Viewer) users the ability to open and save in the
new file formats. If you're using a version of MS Office or MS Works
prior to Office 2007 you need
to install this
And
if you're using Office 2007, you can customize the ribbon (including
getting back the 'classic MS Office toolbars and menus) with the free
starter version of the Ribbon Customizer or check out this other free
way
to give Office 2007 the classic look.
Works
4 users- download
and run this,
and your Works word processor will be able to open and save files from
Microsoft Word 97 or 2000. Really useful for students and teachers who
use Word at home and Works at school. The Works
2000 converter lets Works 4.x users read word
processor files
made
in newer versions of Works or in Word 97/2000. It can also be used to
allow
Works 4.x word processor files to be opened in Word 97/2000 or Works
2000.
Powerbullet
is a free program for making Powerpoint-like presentations mixing text,
sounds, and images.
Flash Sprint Lite can be used to
convert Powerpoint presentations to Flash format, making them viewable
online or without Powerpoint for
Cetus
WordPad adds spell-checking to the standard Windows
WordPad. It
makes a nice, easy to use word processor, especially for late primary.
***Abiword
is a free, fast, attractive MS Word-compatible word processor. Versions
for Windows, Linux, Mac OS X.
***OpenOffice
free Office suite, comparable to Microsoft or Word Perfect Office. A
huge
(45 megs) download.
OOExtras
has templates, clipart,
and more for OpenOffice (or StarOffice) users.
Software602
offers another free office suite, smaller and faster than StarOffice,
and
with better Word/Excel compatability. Also includes a good
photo-editor.
You must register (also free) to enable the spell checker.
PagePlus
5is a free page
layout (desktop publishing) program... also from Serif:
free DrawPlus 4 and
PhotoPlus 5.5. Aqua
Scribusis
a free desktop publishing (page design) program for Mac OS X (Note:
Scribus is a free DTP program originally for Linux). Scribus
Portableis
a Windows version of this free DTP program, that can run without
installation (for instance, from a pocket-sized USB flash drive). Note-
there are also free Linux versions of Scribus
*** Windows
XP doesn't include the ability to play DVD discs. The VLC
Media
Player can do this, and much more. It "iss a
highly portable multimedia player for various audio
and video formats (MPEG-1, MPEG-2, MPEG-4, DivX, mp3, ogg, ...) as well
as DVDs, VCDs, and various streaming
protocols." Available for Windows. Mac OS X, Linux and many other
operating systems.
WordWebis
a free dictionary/thesaurus for Windows 2000/XP/Vista/Win7
SimpleOCR 3.1
is a free optical
character recognition program to turn scanned text into editable word
processor documents
Create your own Adobe Acrobat-style
PDF files with Win
PDF, pdf995
(free version includes ads) or Cute PDF.
Or upload Word, Excel,
Powerpoint, RTF or
text files to goBCL
and get them back converted to PDF. Other free PDF options the open
source PDFCreatorandBullZip
PDF Printer. PDFCreator
adds advanced features like encryption and permissions, watermarks, and
more.
If you have PDF files but need make basic editing
changes to them, PDF Hammer
"allows you to edit your PDF files online for free. You don't need to
install any additional software, you can edit PDF documents right now
inside your browser. Once you start, you will be able to upload one or
more PDF files into your project, arrange the pages in any order you
wish, and delete any pages you don't want."
Adobe Acrobat Reader (aka Adobe Reader) is
useful
but takes far too long to load. Adobe Reader Speedup
speeds up
its load times. And if modern versions of Adobe Acrobat Reader are too
large for your use, check out the quick, free FoxIt PDF Reader
Omniformat
is a free
document conversion utility which allows dynamic conversion and image
manipulation of over 75 file formats including HTML, DOC, XLS, WPD,
PDF, JPG, GIF, TIF, PNG, PCX, PPT, PS, TXT, Photo CD, FAX and MPEG.
Particularly useful may be its ability to convert Acrobat PDF's to
editable DOC documents.
WordWebis
a free (and ad-free) dictionary and thesaurus that words within most
programs.
PowerPoint fans may also want
to check out the free Powerbacks
Sampler-- a set of artist-created backgrounds for
PowerPoint
(or
Corel Presentations) presentations.
Make
your own screensavers from your digital photos and
MP3 music
clips...
(You can also use the multi-talented Irfanview to
make screensavers from your pictures).
*** In
1995, Tourism British Columbia created a free Super, Natural
British
Columbia Canada screen saver for Windows... it features a set
of
spectacular
images of my favourite part of the world. I've updated it to work with
modern versions of Windows; just download
it,
and copy into your Windows folder, and it will be ready to go. Mac OS X
users may like the gorgeous Canada Screensaver.
Need to read Mac-formatted (high-density)
floppy diskettes on a Windows PC? Get the free Gemulator
Explorer.
Alien.mpg:
a wonderful (4 meg) musical animation. Is it educational? Of course!
Quick
Menu Builder can be used to make
professional-looking menus for
CDs, and more.
WordWeb
is a free thesaurus that can be used with MS Word or on its own.
The
World
at
Night is a fabulous NASA image of the
whole earth, lit
up by 'civilization'. Very thought provoking.
Use Outlook Express? OE
Spell Checkis a free
spell-checker for that
popular
e-mail program.
Buying or selling Adobe software?
Make sure you fill out the Transfer
of Licenseform and send it in to Adobe!
Endangered Software Archive
preserves rare old software like PC DOS 1.0 and Windows 1.0 and 2.0.
See how it used to be! Visicalc
was the original
spreadsheet. This DOS version still works fine... in 27 kb! Or if you
need an older-than-current-version of a piece of software,
check Oldversion.com
Ghost Forest
is a 260+ page
illustrated children's fantasy novel, distributed as a free PDF file.
CDBurnerXP Pro
is free CD/DVD
burner software. Despite the name, works with the range of Windows
versions, and with a wide range of hardware or check out
Burn4Free.
Naomiis
an internet
filtering
program, easy to use, intended for
families
and parents in particular- filter "obscene or violent contents;
pornography and erotism in the form of images or texts; sites that
popularize drugs; gambling games; terrorism; hate propaganda;
occultism; sects; blasphemy, etc."
Justbasic
is a free Windows
programming language complete with tutorials and examples
Prospector Lite
aids in locating, managing and bidding for items on eBay.
Microsoft is offering free Express Edition versions
of its various programming packages- Visual Studio, Visual Basic, SQL
Servier, Visual C#. amd more as free downloads (until November 2006).
Symantec software (Norton Antivirus, etc) can be
hard to remove... the Norton Removal Toolcan help
HD Clone Free is for moving the
contents of your current hard drive onto a bigger replacement.
Media Player Classic is a small,
low-resource media player with many functions: supports Quicktime, Real
formats, plays DVDs, and more
MWSnap
is "a small yet powerful Windows program for snapping (capturing)
images from selected parts of the screen". Mac OS X users should try SnapNDrag
Love your Mac but need to use a Windows machine? Flyakite
OSX makes your Windows XP system look and feel almost like a
Mac running OS X. Very slick! Or use WindowsXLiveto make an XP computer look like it's running
WIndows Vista- along with DesktopSidebar to mimic that
Vista feature.
Want to run other operating systems 'virtually'?
Options include Microsoft Virtual PC (yes, it's
free- but Windows only)VMware Player
(to play, but not create, virtual systems- Windows and Linux) and the
open source Virtual-Box (Windows, Mac OS X (Intel), and
Linux).
