PCAnswers #191 Free software feature

✔ Advice ✔ Tips ✔ Tutorials ✔ Solutions

Issue 191 Nov 2008

“How can I cut the cost of printing?”

Tips and tricks p76

Back up in easy steps

12

“What on earth is the Flock web browser?”

Turn to page 72

Get the best software without paying a penny!

“Can I manage Windows services?”

✔ Office ✔ Anti-virus ✔ Web ✔ Design tools & more

Turn to page 74

“How can I stream media from my PC?” Turn to page 79

“Is it possible to save money on my bills?”

Turn to page 80

Group test

PCA191 NOVEMBER 2008 £5.99

Blogging, email, online storage and more PCA191.cover 1

Help me buy a…

PC case p104

Latest wireless N technology tech hnology explained and tested

Windows Live suite

Quickly fit a new CPU and fan Easy upgrades p90

Superfast Wi-Fi routers

16-page pullout

Burn a disc that could save your PC…

Plus all this… ✔ 23 pages of tutorials ✔ 9 mice & trackballs rated ✔ 8 Google Earth add-ons ✔ 6 ways to boost memory

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Get free software Take the open-source road

Opensource

FAQ Q A

Isn’t opensource just free stuff?

There’s more to it than that. These are full applications where the source code is publicly available.

This means that as well as installing the executable for free, if you have the right skill set you could also modify the program.

Q A

So there’s no software licence, right?

Open-source applications are released under a range of licences that permit you to use and distribute the software freely.

In most cases, if you modify the software then you need to publish the code of your changes and make the new version freely available, too.

Q A

So you can’t sell opensource programs?

They’re often sold alongside support packages or on disc for people who can’t download the product.

Q

How can anyone make money from opensource apps?

The applications don’t make money, but often people provide support services alongside the software. Companies and individuals are often happy to pay for decent support services.

A

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From viewing the heavens to putting together workaday office documents – you’ll find a software solution in the open-source community

PCAnswers

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Get free software Take the open-source road

The best software doesn’t have to cost a fortune.

Joe Cassels tours the world of open-source programs

W

Best-known apps This quartet heads the open-source charge

e’re reminded constantly of the importance of intellectual property.

So when companies are willing to take individuals to court for illegally copying movies, music and software, how is it that it’s possible to get some programs for free? If they’re being given away then they must be inferior or riddled with adverts – right?

When it comes to open-source software, the usual cynical rules don’t apply. This stuff is genuinely free and much of it is very good. Some of it is better than its commercial alternative.

By publishing the source code, the software is open to wide scrutiny and so, in theory at least, it should be safe, secure and constantly improved.

Mozilla Firefox

Mozilla Thunderbird OpenOffice.org

The GIMP

Practically everyone’s heard of this browser

Desktop email has never been easier

A full office suite for absolutely nothing

Professional-strength image and photo editing

The world’s second most popular web browser is often said to be more secure than IE and it’s definitely more flexible. Due to its opensource credentials, there are hundreds of extensions available to improve security or add extra functions. Firefox gives you the web just the way you want it.

If Firefox is a replacement for IE, Thunderbird is a replacement for Windows Mail/Outlook Express. People choose it over Windows’ default option for more security or because it’s available in Mac and Linux versions. It also supports extensions and there are a variety of message templates to use with it.

OpenOffice.org is a free alternative to MS Office, replacing Word, Excel and PowerPoint with its own apps that can open Office files and save to the same format. It doesn’t provide alternatives for Access, OneNote or Outlook, but there are other opensource apps you See can substitute issue for these.

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The GNU Image Manipulation Program provides a free alternative to Photoshop or Paint Shop Pro. You can carry out complex graphics tasks using it and it supports multiple layers. Anything that can be achieved in Photoshop you can do in The GIMP. Its drawback See is that it’s a little issue tricky to learn.

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Get free software Take the open-source road

Make panoramas with Hugin Hugin matches pricey photo-stitching tools in terms of functionality When you’re on holiday and come across a beautiful view, it can be frustrating to find that your camera can’t squeeze it all in, even if you use a wide-angle lens.

Traditionally, we’ve attempted to overcome such problems by taking a series of images from left to right and then trying to line up the prints to recreate the view back home. Digital photography makes it possible to stitch the images together in a more seamless fashion, but it’s a tricky job in a photo-editing application and specialist software for generating panoramas can be expensive. That is, unless you use Hugin, which is an open-source application and as such, totally free.

Common interests Hugin works by loading up a collection of images in the correct order and then identifying common areas in each image. The more overlap there is, the better results

Software on your disc

you’ll get. Hugin can resize images to fit them together better and it can alter the brightness and contrast so they match.

You can choose the kind of lens to use for the final image: a normal image, a panoramic, cylindrical one or a fisheye lens. Your selection

determines the shape of the final image. The Assistant tab makes producing panoramas very easy indeed. You can find out more about the program by going to http:// hugin.sourceforge.net.

Here you’ll find a collection of handy tutorials, an extensive manual and a list of FAQs.

Hugin produces a highquality TIF panorama that you can view in any image application

Stitch pictures together using Hugin STEP-BY-STEP Stit

Use the Assistant Launch Hugin and select the Assistant tab. Click Load images and browse to your chosen photos. Select each one, holding down [Ctrl] to make a multiple selection and click Open.

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Align images Click Align. You can see the result in the preview pane. Use the Images tab to rearrange the pictures and the Control Points tab to set points manually if necessary.

Create a panorama Click Create Panorama and supply a filename and location. This generates a high-quality TIF image, which you can then crop to size in an imageediting program.

PCAnswers

29/9/08 5:40:3 pm

Get free software Take the open-source road

Explore the universe with Celestia

Object information

This shows some data about the selected object. This includes its distance from the current view, its radius in kilometres and its apparent diameter shown in degrees.

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Demo mode Select Help > Run Demo to see a full demonstration of Celestia’s capabilities. This runs as a movie, showing you the Solar System before taking you on a trip to the edge of the galaxy.

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This fascinating program is the next best thing to a trip in outer space

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Celestia (www.shatters. net/celestia) can bring the stars, moons and planets to your desktop. It’s a lot like Google Earth for the skies, giving you access to the known parts of the galaxy within a computer-generated environment. When you start the program you’ll see planet Earth in its current orientation. Want to see it spin on its axis? Choose Time > 10x Faster. Repeat this twice so that it’s running at 1,000x normal speed and you’ll see it majestically turning. You can use this trick to examine the orbits of other objects.

Use the Navigation menu to move around space. Choose Select Sol > Go To Selection to zoom in on the sun.

Alternatively, click an object in view and then choose Navigate > Go To Selection. See the annotation to find out about some of Tour the other useful guide navigation tools to help you find your way around.

Again reached via the Navigation menu, the Tour guide provides some information about key interesting destinations. Select one from the list to read more and click Go To to journey there.

3

Solar System browser

Star browser

This gives you quick access to any of the objects in the Solar System. Open it by choosing Navigation > Solar System browser. Select an object and click Go To.

4

Step outside the Solar System with the Start browser, which you can also find on the Navigation menu. Change the number of stars that are displayed with the slider or select one to see it in more detail.

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Protect your PC with ClamWin Anti-virus protection needn’t cost you £30 a year!

ClamWin (www.clamwin. com) isn’t the only free antivirus program for Windows, but its competitors are offered commercially as part of a strategy to generate more sales for their paidfor products that invariably contain more features.

ClamWin is open-source and therefore guaranteed to be free for its lifetime.

It’s a traditional antivirus application and so you’ll also need protection against spyware and a decent firewall, but it offers all the features generally associated with anti-virus programs. You can set it to update regularly via the internet and run scheduled

scans of any part of your system. It’ll check outgoing and incoming email for viruses and you can set it to send an email alert if a virus is found, in case you’re not at your PC at the time.

Software on your disc

Standard operation The main program window is straightforward to navigate.

To scan a drive, select it and click Scan. Click the Internet Update button to obtain the latest virus definitions.

To schedule operations, choose Tools > Preferences > Scheduled Scans. Click Add and provide the frequency, time and day for the scan and the drive or folder you want to test.

On the Internet updates tab you can configure the frequency of updates and the time for them to happen. Add an email address to the Email Alerts tab to be notified of virus detections.

ClamWin offers scheduled anti-virus scans and regular internet updates

Receive podcasts with Juice Subscribe to podcasts and save recordings to your digital music player The internet is flooded with all manner of interesting multimedia content – so much so in fact, that it can be difficult to keep up with it all.

Juice (http://juicereceiver. sourceforge.net) is a media aggregator that enables you to select audio files or podcasts from thousands of available locations. You can then set it to record and save these shows at specific times.

While many podcasts are available for several days, some have a short lifespan and can be easy to miss. The beauty of Juice is that you can schedule recordings to ensure that you don’t miss a thing.

It works using RSS (which stands for Really Simple

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Syndication) files to manage your subscriptions. You can use Juice’s directory to browse through a large selection of providers or enter an RSS URL from any podcast’s web page. Usually these are listed under links marked Subscribe.

Get feeding Find one using your browser, right-click it and choose “Copy Link Location”.

Back in Juice, choose Tools > Add a feed and paste the URL here. Click Save and then move to the Subscriptions tab to see current available episodes on this feed.

Software on your disc Juice isn’t fully Vista compatible, but the Ogasa Walrus blog (http://ogasawalrus. com/blog/node/45) has some handy tips to get it working, which Vista users have found helpful.

Juice includes a comprehensive directory of podcast providers, making it easy to find the show you want

PCAnswers

29/9/08 5:40:8 pm

Get free software Take the open-source road

s u ib r c S h it w s t en Publish datopuctsuMm ame icrosoft’s Publisher to sh It’s the DTP tool th 1

Title

This is a text frame dragged into the main text, with its properties set for a slight coloured background and the text surrounding it to flow around it.

You can edit the title or change its font by double-clicking it and selecting the text.

2

Body text

This is a text frame that takes up most of the space of the page. It has a two-column design so that the writing in the first column carries on automatically in the second one. To add text from a word processing document, right-click in the frame and choose Get Text.

4 3

Image Frame

This is set into the main text frame with the text arranged to flow around it. If you change the size or position of the image, the text simply rearranges itself around it. Click and drag the image to any position on the page or use its handles to resize it.

Just document or tex t file. a tex t in re he yw an k clic rightt. tex t Ge frame and choose

DTP

Properties dialog

Right-click any frame and choose Properties to see this dialog.

It includes several horizontal tabs that you can select to alter aspects of the frame, including its shape, position, size, colours and surrounding line. With image frames, you can browse to the picture enclosed here.

This stands for Desktop Publishing n ca u yo , With your tex t in place and describes t Insert add a headline. Selec how programs like frame Tex t frame and drag the Scribus have taken ist ing See next .net) into place over your ex Scribus (www.scribus process l ful the r ove l too try page or month’s tex t. Selec t the tex t en will help you design a of publishing that adline. In ce he on ur , yo ng in nti e pri typ d for an nt docume Explained! used to involve a log, selec t ages dia im d es an rti t pe tex Pro ur yo the re ve ha you team of experts. t size guide for mo n enter Tex t and choose the fon to hand. While you ca u want. m, it’s on Scribus and formatting that yo tex t into a DTP progra ing r ow fl t sso ce To prevent the tex better to use a word pro line, on first, ati orm inf ur underneath your head yo ite wr to perties Pro the the in s e ise ap choose Sh because this minim ows fl t of the dialog and check “Text need to zoom in and ou me fra the e around frame”. Us page to make it fit. t igh he the t of jus up handles to ad Each page is made e. lin ad he ing the lud of inc and width dif ferent frames, t mes To add an image selec tex t frames, image fra drag d an up g tin Insert Image Frame and tables. Start by set . In ion sit po nt. its me o the frame int the format of the docu > e ag Im the se en oo op ch to es, w Properti Choose File > Ne t it fits. to do Scale to frame so tha New Document dialog image the t of c tex Avoid distor tion this. Selec t Automati al box. on rti po d an Pro by ticking the to carry on any frames for ease of use k on a subsequent pa ge tic d an e ns ap lum Sh co to of ck er You can use a tex t box r front pa ge Move ba enter the numb me. overflow tex t from you d Import Tex t flows around fra you want. Click OK an rd tex t direc tly from a Wo

Tweak your text

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Get free software Take the open-source road

Get a free operating system!

Linux is the no-cost computing alternative to Windows systems No matter how many free programs you install, you’ll still have paid for at least one piece of software: Windows.

The cost may have been absorbed into the price of the PC itself, but you can’t use Windows without having paid for it. To some extent it’s Hobson’s choice because most PCs come with it preinstalled, but not all do. So if you purchase a PC without

its own operating system or you want to try a different one out, enter the world of Linux and get one for free.

Pick a distro!

There are many different distributions to pick from, and they differ in ease of use, system requirements and what software comes bundled. To check out what’s available, have

Alternative to Windows How does the KDE from Microsoft’s OS?

KDE provides an interface that’s pretty similar to Windows

One of the most important things to remember about Linux is that it’s modular.

Different distributions are made by taking the basic kernel and then adding parts to it. This includes the graphical user interface (GUI) that enables you to select programs and display them in windows. Ubuntu uses Gnome, which uses a series of menus at the top of the screen. If you’d

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rather have a layout like Windows, choose KDE. Kubuntu is a version of Ubuntu that uses KDE instead of Gnome, but there are other distributions that use KDE and you can always use more than one window manager with your version of Linux. It’s all about choice – with Linux you get it in spades.

a look at Distro Watch (http://distrowatch.com), which provides news on the latest releases, along with information on pretty much every distribution out there, including download links and where to order installation discs by mail.

Ubuntu (www.ubuntu. com) has become a popular distribution of late due to its ease of use, a very supportive user community and the effects of a marketing budget behind it. It’s a good starting point for anyone wanting to give Linux a try, not least because the installation CD is also a live disc. This enables you to try out the OS by booting your computer from the disc without making any changes to your hard drive.

There’s an install link on the desktop if you want to set it up more permanently on your PC.

Linux offers a range of open-source programs, including most of those featured in this article

GUI Pronounced “gooey”, this stands for Graphical User Interface, which is the point-and-click environment used by computers that enables people who aren’t programming experts to use them.

The Ubuntu live CD enables you to try out the OS without making changes to your PC. Only install it if you like it

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29/9/08 5:40:16 pm

Get free software Take the open-source road

Draw vectors with In k scape Few open-source tools are as powerful as th

is vector graphics app

Graphics programs ca n fall into two dif ferent ca tegories: raster and vector. Ra ster graphics include photo graphs and drawings compos ed of a pattern of pixels. Ve ctor graphics are more co ncerned with shape.

For example, draw a triangle in a raster gra phics program and when yo u zoom into it you’ll see that the sloping sides are ste pped.

This is a result of the pixels that make up the tri angle’s side, which produce a noticeable jagged ed ge. In contrast, a vector pro gram would preserve the tri angle shape no matter how big you made it.

Of course, there are times when each approach is appropriate for a parti cular the advanta ge of ve ctor projec t, but if you wa them all in proportion nt to graphics. You can us and create clean lines an e one of sa ving you time in the d shapes a number of preset sh then vector graphics ap es to process. If one shape is the draw part of an imag overlaps way to go. Inkscape e. You another one then yo (www. can then selec t thi s u can inkscape.org) is a ve shape, change the order the ctor change its colour, siz y appear graphics program, an e and by choosing Objec t > d a very orientat ion and add Raise other good one at that. or Lower. It’s much like shapes to it. using layers in standard ph It’s possible to group oto Advantage of vector editing programs. Yo s several shapes togeth u can The walkthrough be er and als o copy and paste gro low mo ve or ups to res ize them at the gives you some idea quickly produce multi of same time, thus keep ple s of ing any objec t that you cre ate.

Inkscape’s object-ba sed approach enables you to reposition any par t of your pic ture without damag ing oth er elements

STEP-BY-STEP Gro oup, rotate and resize o bjects

Draw a shape

Click View > Zoom > Zoom 1:1. Select the rectan gle shape from the left-h and toolbar. Click and dra g out a long thin rectangle and click Yellow to make it filled with yellow colour. Do the same to make a red -filled circle.

Resize and Rotate

Click the arrow point er and select a shape. Us e the handles to make the shape a different siz e.

Click the shape once more to see the arrows change directio n. Use these handles to rotate the rectangle.

Group the shapes

Select the circle and drag it to the top of the rectangle. Using the arrow tool, click the rectan gle , hold [Shift] and click the circle. Press [Ctrl] + [G] to group the m together for ease of transformatio n.

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Get free software Take the open-source road

Audio excellence Master audio editing with Audacity Now that you’ve used Juice to receive and store podcasts, you may have caught the bug and want to record your own.

Audacity (http://audacity. sourceforge.net) gives you the equivalent of a multitrack studio so all you need is a decent microphone.

The program offers a range of sound-editing features, but a standout one is Noise Removal. Launch the program and open a file that you’ve recorded before.

Select a section of the track

that should be silent, but contains some background noise. Choose Effect > Noise Removal > Get Noise Profile.

Now select the whole track that’s affected by this noise and choose Effect > Noise Removal > Remove Noise. Play the track back to see if you’ve corrected the problem. If you haven’t or other aspects of the sound were lost, choose Edit >

Undo Noise Removal. Now repeat the removal but adjust the degree of noise removal using the slide control. You may need to use a little trial and error here.

Record multiple tracks and mix them with a variety of filters using Audacity

3D modelling in Blender

Software on your disc

Even animation giant Pixar uses this incredible free tool Where Inkscape dealt with objects in two dimensions to create pictures, Blender (www.blender.org) works in three dimensions to produce models and scenes, complete with lighting and texture.

It’s one of the applications used to create CGI (ComputerGenerated Imagery) effects and animation and so it takes some learning, but the results speak for themselves. For a full guide to help you learn Blender from scratch check out the WikiBook Blender 3D: Noob to Pro at http:// en.wikibooks.org/wiki/ Blender_3D:_Noob_to_Pro. The annotation shows some of the features available in this powerful application, but tackling CGI isn’t for the faint hearted. Like any art form it takes time to learn. What’s remarkable is that a powerful professional tool such as this is available to anyone to download for free.

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1

Close up

2

You can split the screen in Blender to show multiple views of the same object.

In this case, we’re seeing a close up of a section of the current model. To select any object within the model, right-click it.

4

Vertical view

The view on the left shows the object from above. This is a front view, which you can tell from the axes information at the bottom left. It shows z and x instead of y and x in the alternate view.

Mode selection

Blender has a range of modes that enable you to do different jobs. Here, Object mode is selected that’s used to move objects about or view them from different angles. Edit mode enables you to make changes.

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Draw panel

These drawing tools enable you to turn on or off layers in the image, or to display the wire frame for the selected object. Click Solid to see the current object shaded as if it were produced from a solid material.

PCAnswers

29/9/08 5:40:24 pm

Get free software Take the open-source road

Player controls

LC Watch movies with V

5

Use these controls to change contrast, brightness and saturation as you would for a TV set. Use the Restore defaults button if necessary.

Image adjustment

e, Use these to play/paus skip forward or back or stop the video. Use the arrow buttons to speed up or slow down playback and the eject le. button to load a new fi

1

Progress indicator

Open dialog

Video filters

Use these filters to transform the image.

You can invert the a colours, distort it with wobbly effect or choose it Magnify to see parts of more clearly.

4

ils For deta ing m on strea C see with VL 9 page 7

Use this option to browse to an audio or video file that’s on your PC, to open a DVD or to select a stream that’s available over the network or from a capture device.

3

Software on your disc

This shows how far through the file you’ve played. You can click and rds drag it to move forwa or backwards through the current file or to jump to different parts.

2

handles any format? media player when VLC Why rely on any other

e There are plenty of fre so why media players about, th VLC? should you bother wi most Quite simply it’s the dia flex ible and useful me nd. VLC player that you can fi /vlc) (www.videolan.org y format plays pretty much an it, from you care to throw at and flash video to DVDs files in most video or audio between.

Supported files formats To see the full list of www. that it supports, go to atures. videolan.org/vlc/fe to stream html. You can use it and files over your network from even to re- encode files er. It can one format to anoth video play back media from alogue capture cards with an can or dig ital tuners. You such also correct problems und or as unsynchronised so efacts. video interlac ing art pports VLC media player su those play list files including n use in M3U format. You ca to open, its play-list mana ger y lists. edit and save new pla for your It’s a one-stop shop on. whole media collecti

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Get free software Take the open-source road

Other open-source gems There’s a whole world of feature-rich free tools out there…

MusikCube Manage your

Software on your disc

music collectio n with next to no prio r knowledge re quired MusikCu

be (www.mus ikcube.com) audio player is an that includes a lightning-fas database of yo t ur tracks, enab ling you to create dynam ic play lists ac cording to yo previously ob ur served listeni ng habits. It ha a simple inte s rface, too. Inst all and launch the program and then choo se File > Mus Library > Add ic Directory to ad d your music folder. Now us e as your mai n music player to benefit from the dynamic features.

MusikCube ca n manage all your MP3 trac ks and sort th em according to preference

are Softwur disc on yo

MP3sGt thaeivnolume again while

Never adju audio files has listening to usic track

all your sures that MP3Gain en dard an st orm to a tracks conf e volume rang

am ting when ifferent It’s frustra s or when d it b t ie u q d n nt volumes. loud bits a d at differe e rd o c re d with the re tracks a dling aroun d fi e b to nts to music, No one wa n listening e h w ls o tr ing else at volume con ing someth o d in. n e h w y p://mp3ga especiall P3Gain (htt a nd M s . k e c m a ti tr e c the sam lyses musi a n a n’t t) o e d .n e that you sourceforg in them so in a g e th modifies that? w handy is have to. Ho

ind W ld r o W A S A N nd Jupiter on a , Moon, Mars a

Get the Earth rt out! h eat your hea rt a E le g o o G – Software plate arc.nasa.

ind. ttp://worldw World Wind (h planet and th access to e gov) gives you You can view ighbours too. some of its ne or zoom into satellite level the world from maps that e stunning 3D the globe to se to give a ta da pographic use NASA’s to bored with detail. If you’re high degree of moon? e not explore th o the Earth, why it a spin to ve gi Moon and Choose File > de. see the dark si

wn on Get the lowdo e space th om fr h rt Ea selves experts them

on your disc

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Get free software

7-zip

Softwa Why p on yourre disc ay for an arc you ca h n com press ive manage W i n do fi ws ha r, whe les for s X P on n free? wards handled zi p fil , bu co

Take the open-source road

es fro m pr e t z ip i m sends ssion. You’r s just one fo e y GZip f ou a RAR ar still stuck rm of if som or chive e on e o handl mat. 7-zip (www r a file in es a r a .7 nge o forma z i p .o fc t s fil e s, ena ompressio rg) open bling n mos t you t fil e s comp ress fi . You can a o lso l e s u differ ent st sing five andar ds.

Try these too...

Free c om decom pre ss ion an p cour t ress ion co d e sy o m es f 7-zip

Even more open-source software to explore

Eraser Eraser offers several secure methods of destruction

Electronically shred hred ed d secure s files to prevent unauthorised access to them One of the problems with the digital age is that files can be recovered after deletion. Computer files need to be overwritten several times to ensure that they can’t be recovered. Eraser (www.heidi. ie/node/6) enables you to do this, adding a secure erase option to the right-click menu and an erase option to the Recycle bin.

er or poZ Kom editor f YG web

are c Softw ur dis on yo

A WYSIW ice going or pr b pages , TML we H es the best n e o t a g r ne tin

e to exis e eed to g ke edits net) will do th If you n a m o t d r. e e e z n o ly p simp .kom er (www functioned as y KompoZ ll u f equate n’t as t it’s ad job. It is u b , e g itch ntPa say, Fro ses. You can sw ing e u e t s s o d w an for m a previe or precision n e e w t be o de f HTML c o de the full ste in c a p r o w. , g in mal vie edit s in nor snippet we b a u e, e a sy Get fre m p o Ze r w ith Ko

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Software on your disc

It’s very difficult to cover every open-source application worth its salt, but here are a few more that are well worth a look in.

Avidemux (http://fixounet. free.fr/avidemux) is an excellent video editor and processing package that’s great for transcoding or adding effects to video. If OpenOffice.org is a little sluggish, try Abiword (www.abisource.com) for word processing or Gnumeric (www.gnome. org/projects/gnumeric/ downloads.shtml) for spreadsheets. Both are nippier than their OpenOffice.org counterparts and yet still support MS Office files.

If you want to chat across different networks, think about installing Pidgin (www.pidgin.im). It covers all major networks and is fine for text chat. To upload or download via FTP try Filezilla (http://filezillaproject.org), a powerful FTP client. If you need to convert video give MediaCoder (http://mediacoder. sourceforge.net) a try.

Finally, if you need to keep track of appointments then try Mozilla Sunbird (www. mozilla.org/projects/ calendar/sunbird). It’s an excellent calendar. ■

thoring

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