Note – after using this program for a couple of weeks, my desktop disappeared. Literally all the icons on my desktop went away. I also noticed that when you install the Fences program it also installs “Stardock Impulse,” another program taking up resources. They don’t ask you if you want to install it, they just put it on your computer – not very nice.
I have now uninstalled both of these programs
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Chances are your desktop looks something like this – probably a lot worse. One solution to organize and keep things a bit neater is the FREE program Fences. I’ve tried it on two XP computers and it does a great job, although I did have to reboot on one computer. Here’s what my desktop looks like after I Fenced it in.
Windows Live Movie Maker is a free download for Windows 7 or Windows Vista. It appears to be a nice option for people that just want to do basic movies. It uploads to YouTube and Facebook and allows you to make your own DVDs. The limitations are that it only will save in a WMV format and won’t allow you to do picture in picture or add a voice over.
If you’re coming back from vacation with hundreds or thousands of vacation pictures, your next step after moving them to your computer is figuring how to share them with friends and family. The problem these days is that everyone has a digital camera which takes pictures of ENORMOUS size. How can you get them down to size which are more reasonable and easy to send or load on a website. FastStone is one Free option which will allow you to resize, crop, reduce redeye, and all those basic functions you want to do before you release them to the world.
Two other great features is that it will do batch processing, you can change multiple files at one time, and you can also create a slide show. I’m impressed!
BB Flashback Express has a free screen and audio capture utility which sure beats having to pay $100’s to use Camtasia. I haven’t given it a try (I have Camtasia),but for free what have you got to lose?
Many times I’ll get a phone call wanting some computer help and I try to help as best as I can, but it’s always aggravating since I can’t see the other person’s computer screen. Here’s a solution – LogMeIn.com.
If you have them setup a LogMeIn account and download and install the software, you can then view their computer screen and see exactly what they’re doing. This is FREE for the basic version while the Pro version is $200. There are similar products, but no other free versions of similar software.
Here’s a nice YouTube video explaining the process:
If you’d ever like to know what hardware and software (including serial numbers) are on your computer, you have two nice options. Belarc or System Information. Both are free and will tell you everything you need to know about what is on your computer.
I’m trying out a new program which “Sandboxes” your applications. www.sandboxie.com
Note that there is a FREE version of the program without all the bells and whistles. The free version is OK if all you want to do is surf the web securely.
One example is that whenever I run Firefox it runs in a protected area so that even if I do visit an infected site, the changes are not permanent and in fact anything which might be changed is lost when I close Sandboxie. You can listen to a great podcast about the program at this link.
Many times I’ll get a phone call wanting some computer help and I try to help as best as I can, but it’s always aggravating since I can’t see the other person’s computer screen. Here’s a solution – 
PCMAG.com has a great list of 173 Free applications which might just be all you need for your computing needs. (
