Handy Little Freeware Programs (& mobile apps).

These are my favs at the present:

Rather easy to use image compositer by the demonic Microsoft.

Microsoft Research Image Composite Editor (ICE)


If you listen to music on your computer:

MusicBee - Music Manager and Player

Personally I absolutely despise iTunes and am not a big fan of Windows Media Player. Both, IMO, try to take over the PC. MusicBee is easy to use and does things like I want them done

 

Slipdigit,

I find Microsoft ICE is very handy stitching stuff together, much to my delight and the chagrin of some of the people I thrust them on ...

Regards ...

 

I have fun with it. I have made 360o photos of my parent's land. I also have an that I made image of my front yard that extends from one side of the house, across the yard to the other side of the house. My daughter and one of my dogs is standing in seven differnt places all the way across the yard. I would take a picture, rotate the camera and have her and the dog move, then take another picture. I did this about seven times, then stitched the seven pictures together as one HUGE panorama. If I could print the panorama out, it would be three feet tall and 27 feet wide. I would love to get on one of the large buildings downtown and do a 360o shot of the nearby large city.

I use it from time to time. Clunky, true, but it is about the best FREE PC based E-book reader. I like free.

 

http://www.libreoffice.org/download

 

Rav4

I too can recommend LibreOffice which I have had on my PC since upgrading to Windows 7

I also rave over Snipping Tool which I think is the best thing since cut bread

Ron

 

Sadly my computer guru is no longer with us so may I pick your collective brains? My own computer experience goes back to the 60's but sort of falters after Windows 95 when I retired.<br /><br />I have recently upgraded? to Windows8 which I'm advised does not support Outlook Express which was my preferred email handler (for a variety of reasons I have several email addresses which it handled brilliantly). When I upgraded to Windows7 I used Windows Live (can't remember if it was because you then had to buy Outlook which was previously part of Windows or part of my Office suite)and I think that this is now handled by Skype or something. The mail handler in Windows8 doesn't appear (unless I'm missing something) to facilitate my requirements.<br /><br />So is there a free or inexpensive email handler which is compatible with Windows8, which will handle several email accounts, alert me to mail coming in, manage my contacts and differentiate spam from the bona fide stuff?<br /><br />I hope that this isn't a deviation from the purpose of the thread.<br /><br />Don't get me started on Windows8!!!!!

Why are my paragraphs squashed up?

 

CTNana,

I have always had success follwoing this website's advice. http://www.techsupportalert.com/best-free-email-client.htm And lookie there, they like Adam's suggestion of Thunderbird, also.

Here is the home page in case you are needing other free apps. Some are quite good and they are free if I didn't mention it. http://www.techsupportalert.com/

 

My thanks to you both Adam and Jeff.

I'll download that this evening.

Just read Windows 8 blurb again and it is suggesting that I can load multiple accounts but I must be doing something wrong because I don't see it as an option anywhere. I spend more time trying to find stuff in Windows 8 than actually doing anything.

Adam, no I didn't cut and paste but have located the lightswitch and have just clicked it so we'll see what happens.

Thanks again guys.


p.s. "lightswitch" worked! - Thanks

 

Some very good Firefox add ons.
Adblock Plus, Do Not Track Me, No Script, Pocket and WOT.

 

CTNana,

The native Mail App in Win 8 does not support POP (Post Office Protocol) and that may be your problem ...?

Using email accounts over POP on Windows 8 - Windows

If you do establish it's a POP problem there are work arounds. Microsoft has a history of abandoning old mail programs when they move onto to the next OS.

Regards ...

Further Comment: I've been using Thunderbird for years and it has served me well. It's quite capable of handling huge amounts of mail. I have archived email on it going back to 2003.

 

For anybody else with the same problem I have finished installing and customising Thunderbird and it is brilliant.

I had a bit of a problem with the message displaying as a little tiny thing within a huge border. I have spent hours messing about with menu choices and reading forum contributions before I finally gave in and found an excellent manual on their website! Must have caught this reading instruction thing as a last resort from my husband! Solution was so obvious I'm embarrassed to admit that it was simply "Ctrl" and "+"!!!

Anyway thanks again Adam, Geoff and Cee.

Will I live long enough to get used to Windows8?

 

Libre is the successor to Open. I upgraded. Just as good, with one or two more features.
Michael

 

Still very happy with Thunderbird but I do have two minor irritations and hope that one of you will be able to help.

When I reply to an existing email, there appears to be no rhyme or reason as to where my reply can be found, i.e. above, below or even in the middle of previous text. Is there a setting somewhere that I am missing?

I am now the lucky? recipient of a deluge of emails, the content of which I will leave to your imagination. Is there a "block sender" facility and if so where?

And to answer my own question, there is no way that I will live long enough to get used to Windows8!

 

Hi CTNana,

I'm not sure if I understand your problem fully?

One of my irritations with Thunderbird for a new reply is that it doesn't automatically show the string of previous messages just a blank page. I have to go into Options on the toolbar and select "Quote Message". Still can't find a permanent setting for that.

Mine then shows all the previous messages in order. From there you can select where you want to put your new message. I always go to the top with the cursor and create a space for the new message. That way you retain the correct message order (yours and theirs). I operate Thunderbird in tab mode, but writing a new message always opens in a new window for me. Occasionally the senders program or mail service will mess things up, but that's another story.

T-Bird does have a message filter capability (under Tools) which I have never used, but it can be set up to handle messages in various ways. That's something you would have to be very careful with as you could end deleting messages you don't want to if set too broadly. The problem is that the crafty spammers change their address with every new message in which case you may have to target words in the message itself. Your online server (mail provider) may also have options available for blocking from there as well.

Hope that helps ...

 

Thanks again Cee.

I've PM'd rather than clog the thread up.

 

For all you naughty people out there, a web search engine....

https://startpage.com/