freebies

Unexpected Freebie Handouts

        Prez Art Gorski gave out unexpected freebie goodies to those attending Saturday's monthly PMUG meeting at the Library.  The handouts were a surprise gift from this Apple User Group, http://appleusergroupresources.com  who had mentioned PMUG in their September Milestones list on home page.  Ward Stanke mentioned it to me, I wrote an email to thank them, and here came the goodies.  Art is rationing them out, so you can expect a freebie of some kind at the next several PMUG meetings.

One Hundred Free Software Programs

"MakeTechEasier created a list of 100 free software for Mac OS X," writes John Carter. "I seriously doubt that anyone would want to install every one of them, but you might find something of interest here. For the history buff, there’s Mactracker (provides detailed information on every Apple Macintosh computer ever made). If you don’t have Pathfinder (a really neat substitute for Finder), then you might want Hide-unhide (show hidden files). If you like frills, try BumpTop (3D desktop). Spark (a powerful and easy Shortcuts manager) is sure to find a home for some. And then there are my favorites, NeoOffice (compatible with and a substitute for MS Office) and GIMP (compatible with and a substitute for Photoshop)."

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Free Phone Calls

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        Free!  Did that get your attention?  Jim Hamm explains, "I sent out an email some time ago on this subject, but I was just helping a friend get started with Google's call phone service so I thought I'd send this info out again in case you'd want to try it.
        "If you have a Google Gmail email account (it is free if you want to get one) you can call, for free, people anywhere in the U.S. using Google's Call Phone service. Here is the link to more information.
        "This can save you money by not paying for long distance calls on your house phone or save you minutes on the use of your cell phone. Voice clarity is as good as talking on a regular phone or cell phone. You just log into your Gmail account, click the 'Call Phone' link on the lower left side of the screen. A dial pad opens, and you use the cursor to enter the phone number and then click call. Also, a plugin is available for download if you would want to video chat as well. International calls can be made as well, but for a fee.
        "If you or someone in your family calls long distance a lot, this may be worth looking into. Actually, since it's free, there's no downside to giving it a try. Well, maybe one downside: the call shows as originating in California, not from your regular number."

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Door Prize Awaits You on Saturday

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          On Saturday, 4-17, a PMUG member will win a nifty prize, thanks to Jim Hamm.  The door prize will be a free license for the Radium Radio Player.  Scroll down this page to the original article, "We Have a Winner; He Likes the Prize" and read about it.
          Jim liked his new Radium Radio Player and wrote to the company with a few questions and good comments.  He bragged about PMUG and asked if they'd give the free license for Radium as a door prize.  That same day he got an affirmative answer, and so...... be sure to be at Saturday's PMUG meeting.  Remember, it's at 2:30 p.m. for this month!

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Finding a Bargain

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Today both De Prez Allen Laudenslager and David Passell sent us links to the same discount software for "10 Top Mac Apps." David found the same bargain at MacUpdate. Allen comments that one app in this software group is Parallels 5 that was demonstrated at this month's meeting. David remarks, "If something seems to be too good to be true, it usually is."   So, see what you think.

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A Helpful App for Helping Others

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Now, we hear from John Carter,  "I keep finding applications that allow me to 'see' a client's computer screen and assist them with their problems. The latest one that I have tried out (and Jackie is right now using it to assist one of her clients) is CrossLoop. It is a program you have to download and install on your computer. Creating a login is optional. You can either share your screen with another user or view their screen. It is all free.

"CrossLoop is different from Skype screen sharing in that you can optionally control the mouse of the accessed computer and take over control of that computer, if they so allow it. It is also different in that you have to use a phone line to talk to the other user while using this application. So for those people who don't use Skype, this is by far the best alternative to screen sharing.

"Jackie and I really like this app. It's simple. It's clean. It works! And it's FREE!"

"CrossLoop is VNC without the admin panel and all the hassles that go with trying to make VNC work between two computers. CrossLoop works in the most simple fashion possible. I got CrossLoop working between my Mac and the Windows XP OS on my Mac under Parallels with no feedback loop issues and absolutely no hassles in getting it to work.

"If you haven't tried CrossLoop as a replacement for VNC, you don't know what you're missing."

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Free Download to Clean Up Programs

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"Many of you may have heard me complain that my Macbook locks up if I leave it running with the case open and don't do anything with it for as little as 3 minutes." De Prez Allen Laudenslager continues, " I downloaded OnyX and ran the clean up programs. Seems to have fixed the problem! Since it cleans up more than one thing in each category I can't tell exactly what was wrong or what fixed it.

"Do I really care? NO! I just like that it now works right.  OnyX is free and downloads from the Apple site." Need details?  Allen suggests you contact Roger Lakner.  And he thanks Roger, for the help.

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Free How-To Guides

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Here are 15 free guides available for download, or you can read them online. Jim Hamm sends us a link to makeuseof.com  and goes on to say, "I'll start out by reading the following three guides:
The Incredible Free Manual for Every Mac User; The Underground Guide to the iPhone; The Big Book of iTunes. I'm going to post a note of appreciation and subscribe to their newsletter for their handy tips."

Downloads Archive from K. Komando

From the Kim Komando website here is her downloads archive as recommended by David Passell.

He notes, "Check out the list of links to the right. On the lists summoned by any category, she has tagged, with appropriate symbols, which freebies are Windows and which are Mac. There is some fine print. The freebies may only be for a week or so, or on a trial basis. However for a collection it looks pretty promising.   Regards, David
P.S.  I said to myself I would stop browsing at 10:00 a.m. and here it is 10:17. WWW truly means World Wide Waster of Time:)"