The Older Geek

I am a bit of a software addict. I love downloading new “toys” to play with and discovering new and efficient ways to do things on the computer. Since so many of you like my previous post, The Ten Best OTHER Free Software Programs, I’m doing it again.

Fences
This is an incredibly classy and helpful software program. It’s by Stardock. Fences are small, customizable malleable boxes on your desktop that contain your desktop icons. Fences give a very slick, uncluttered look.

I happen to have a messy desktop, filled with dozens of files and images. Fences allows me to reign them all in. Double-click the desktop to make everything disappear– instant housecleaning! Double-click again to have them reappear. You can resize fences, make them transparent, change colors, move them around, etc. I love this program. There’s a free version and a pro version.

PhoneTray Free
This is a handy little software program that allows you to use your computer to manage all your telephone calls. You need a modem installed in your computer (or you can buy a data-fax modem USB adapter very inexpensively). If you want to take advantage of the Caller ID feature through PhoneTray Free, you must have a Caller ID-capable modem or data-fax modem USB adapter. I love the fact that you can zap telemarketing calls. The software also keeps a log of phone calls, too.

WiseStamp Email Signatures
This one is new to me. It’s a small program you download that inserts a custom signature into your webmail. It also works with Thunderbird. Unfortunately, it does not work with any Windows email clients (my email clients of choice). WiseStamp looks great, and I just may switch to Thunderbird just to have such professional-looking email signatures! See the website for more details.

Secunia Personal Software Inspector
This is a good program to run from time to time. It’s a great safeguard against those little malicious popups that may appear out of nowhere: “Update Abode Reader NOW!” “Update Java NOW!” Some of these warnings are malicious– if you click on the “update,” you’re surreptitiously downloading malware that can dump a virus in your system, or take it over. Secunia is the middleman, so to speak. It scans for real updates for the various programs you have on your computer (such as Google Chrome, Java, Mozilla, Adobe, etc) and will update them if you so choose.

Stellarium
This is something akin to Google Earth, for the heavens. Stellarium is beautiful. It is the brainchild of astronomy students and professors and computer geeks, and they did a stellar job! Stellarium is a sky map– it displays constellations, stars, planets, and more in real time. There are dozens of settings, and tons to explore. The kids and I love this program. Free!

Trillian
This is a good all-in-one instant messenger. I don’t like a lot of program clutter, especially with 4 or 5 instant messengers running in the background because everyone has a different IM program. Trillian wraps them all into one IM program. Set up your IM accounts, and Trillian will detect the buddy/contacts lists. From there, use only Trillian as your one and only IM client to send and receive IMs to friends who use other IM clients.

ObjectDock
This is a very cool software program. It’s made by Stardock, the same dudes who made Fences. ObjectDock is a Mac-ish desktop organizer. It sports the same desktop dock as the Mac, but it is for Windows users. ObjectDock is customizable. It’s GREAT for eliminating all the clutter on the desktop, and for having your favorite or most-used programs right on the desktop. Unfortunately, ObjectDock only works with 32-bit Windows, which is a real bummer. Most of the medium-range and higher-end computers are going to 64-bit, so ObjectDock may become extinct unless the creators update it. There’s also a paid version for more options.

In the next series of terrific software, I’ll address Addons for Firefox, and some great website “cloud” applications that I have found very useful. So stay tuned!

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