Newsletter Archives

• Essential Office — Fewer bells, fewer whistles

  Posted on September 11, 2023 at 02:43 CDT by Deanna McElveen • Comment in the Forums

  FREEWARE SPOTLIGHT

  

  By Deanna McElveen

  My husband bought me a smart watch a few years ago. I use it the same way I used my old Timex — to tell me the time.

  I work with a lot of customers who purchase expensive office suites, such as Microsoft Office, only to be overwhelmed by the features. I have just as many customers whom I have steered toward free office suites such as LibreOffice. But even these can be daunting if you just want to write a Christmas letter, keep track of your members’ lodge dues, or make a chart of duties for volunteers at a town festival.

  Read the full story in our Plus Newsletter (20.37.0, 2023-09-11).

  Freeware Spotlight Newsletters, Office, Productivity

• DeviceRescue — So long, Device Manager

  Posted on August 28, 2023 at 02:43 CDT by Deanna McElveen • Comment in the Forums

  FREEWARE SPOTLIGHT

  

  By Deanna McElveen

  As frustrating and non-frustrating changes happen to Windows over the years, I wonder whether Microsoft just forgets about Device Manager.

  I doubt that 1998 Deanna (better hair) would find much difference between the Windows Device Manager in Windows 98 and Windows 10 or 11.

  The differences are primarily cosmetic, matching the overall changes in the Windows UI design. The functionality has not changed much in 25 years.

  Read the full story in our Plus Newsletter (20.35.0, 2023-08-28).

  Freeware Spotlight Deanna's Freeware Spotlight, Device Manager, Newsletters

• Folder Size Analyzer — What’s using up your hard drive?

  Posted on August 14, 2023 at 02:42 CDT by Deanna McElveen • Comment in the Forums

  FREEWARE SPOTLIGHT

  

  By Deanna McElveen

  You know what hardware-focused people don’t do? They don’t keep their computer’s software cleaned up. My husband is no exception. I’m going to show him where that hard-drive space is going.

  Folder Size Analyzer by TweakNow is a great tool for finding out where the huge files and folders are hiding on your computer. As I use it on Hubby’s computer, you can follow along to find out where your own large files are.

  Read the full story in our Plus Newsletter (20.33.0, 2023-08-14).

  Freeware Spotlight Deanna's Freeware Spotlight, File Size, Folder Size, Newsletters, Windows

• HiBit System Information — Meet your computer

  Posted on July 31, 2023 at 02:45 CDT by Deanna McElveen • Comment in the Forums

  

  ISSUE 20.31 • 2023-07-31

  FREEWARE SPOTLIGHT

  

  By Deanna McElveen

  A modern Windows PC has hundreds of hardware components and even more software programs to control it all. You don’t need to use a screwdriver to find out what you have.

  HiBit System Information is a free and portable utility that gives you everything you ever wanted to know about your computer in a neat, easy-to-navigate, tabbed interface. Because it’s portable, you can put it on a flash drive and go around snooping in everyone’s computers. With permission, of course.

  Read the full story in our Plus Newsletter (20.31.0, 2023-07-31).
  This story also appears in our public Newsletter.

  Freeware Spotlight Deanna's Freeware Spotlight, Newsletters, system information, Windows

• Universal USB Installer — because flash drives are cheap

  Posted on July 17, 2023 at 02:43 CDT by Deanna McElveen • Comment in the Forums

  FREEWARE SPOTLIGHT

  

  By Deanna McElveen

  In the immortal words of John Cleese, “And now for something completely different.”

  You are here because you love Microsoft Windows (maybe “love” is too strong a word), but that doesn’t mean you can’t dabble in other operating systems.

  Universal USB Installer is a free utility by Pen Drive Linux that allows you to easily download and create bootable flash drives for a gazillion operating systems and other bootable tools.

  Read the full story in our Plus Newsletter (20.29.0, 2023-07-17).

  Freeware Spotlight Bootable media, Deanna's Freeware Spotlight, Newsletters, USB Flash Drives

• Xelitan PDF Reader — The fastest way to open PDFs

  Posted on June 26, 2023 at 02:43 CDT by Deanna McElveen • Comment in the Forums

  FREEWARE SPOTLIGHT

  

  By Deanna McElveen

  When I open a PDF file, it’s usually because I need to view it — quickly.

  I don’t want to wait for my Web browser to open, if it happens to be my default PDF reader (increasingly the case these days). I certainly don’t want to open a program that just wants to sell me features (looking at you, Adobe). I just want my PDF to blink into existence!

  Read the full story in our Plus Newsletter (20.26.0, 2023-06-26).

  Freeware Spotlight Deanna's Freeware Spotlight, music, Newsletters, Piano

• AltSnap — A little bit of Linux in Windows

  Posted on June 12, 2023 at 02:44 CDT by Deanna McElveen • Comment in the Forums

  FREEWARE SPOTLIGHT

  

  By Deanna McElveen

  If you are a dual operating system user, specifically Linux and Windows, you know how frustrating it is to hold down the Alt key in Windows to move or resize a window — and nothing happens.

  If you have never used Linux, today’s free software will make you Linux-curious.

  Read the full story in our Plus Newsletter (20.24.0, 2023-06-12).

  Freeware Spotlight Deanna's Freeware Spotlight, Linux, Newsletters, Windows

• Three typing tutors — no more “hunt and peck”

  Posted on May 29, 2023 at 02:43 CDT by Deanna McElveen • Comment in the Forums

  FREEWARE SPOTLIGHT

  

  By Deanna McElveen

  Let’s face it, life is too short to be taking 30 minutes to type out an email or a witty Facebook rebuttal.

  Today, I’m going to show you three best-of-the-best — and absolutely free — typing tutors. Each one is a bit different, and each one has some pretty nifty features. So sorry, Mavis Beacon. You’ve always been a nice lady, but you are getting expensive! There is always a free alternative.

  Read the full story in our Plus Newsletter (20.22.0, 2023-05-29).

  Freeware Spotlight Deanna's Freeware Spotlight, Newsletters, Training, Typing Tutors

• Upscayl — Killer robots are good at other things

  Posted on May 15, 2023 at 02:43 CDT by Deanna McElveen • Comment in the Forums

  FREEWARE SPOTLIGHT

  

  By Deanna McElveen

  All you hear about these days is the lightning-fast advancements of artificial intelligence. It’s as if no one had watched a single science-fiction movie in the past 30 years.

  Luckily, until our toasters take us out in our sleep, AI can be pretty useful. When you lack the skills to complete a necessary task, many free software programs that use AI are ready to help.

  Read the full story in our Plus Newsletter (20.20.0, 2023-05-15).

  Freeware Spotlight Deanna's Freeware Spotlight, Image manipulation, Newsletters

• RoboMirror — robocopy’s fancy cousin

  Posted on April 24, 2023 at 02:42 CDT by Deanna McElveen • Comment in the Forums

  FREEWARE SPOTLIGHT

  

  By Deanna McElveen

  The ability to mirror two folders has been a Windows feature for about 26 years, using the robocopy command at a command prompt.

  Now, you can use robocopy with a graphical user interface (GUI), thanks to Martin Kinkelin’s open-source project, RoboMirror.

  Read the full story in our Plus Newsletter (20.17.0, 2023-04-24).

  Freeware Spotlight Backup, Deanna's Freeware Spotlight, Newsletters, robocopy

• Opal — Now I need a nap

  Posted on April 10, 2023 at 02:42 CDT by Deanna McElveen • Comment in the Forums

  FREEWARE SPOTLIGHT

  

  By Deanna McElveen

  Last year, a Gallup survey of over 3,000 adults in the U.S. reported that only 32% of us get “excellent” sleep; 35% get “good” sleep, and 33% of us get “poor” or “fair” sleep.

  The one thing that has helped calm my mind so I can fall asleep is sound. There is simply no way I can fall asleep in a quiet room. Give me that pan flute CD from the swap meet, or an episode of “Frasier,” and I’m out in 10 minutes!

  Read the full story in our Plus Newsletter (20.15.0, 2023-04-10).

  Freeware Spotlight Deanna's Freeware Spotlight, Environment, Newsletters, Sound

• Temp_Cleaner GUI — Just what I was looking for

  Posted on March 27, 2023 at 02:42 CDT by Deanna McElveen • Comment in the Forums

  FREEWARE SPOTLIGHT

  

  By Deanna McElveen

  When I go looking for a piece of free software for a particular need, I usually have a checklist in my mind.

  In this case, I was looking for a program that we could put on customers’ computers after a tune-up to help them in two ways. First is having a way to keep things cleaned out. Second is discouraging the client from downloading bundleware contained in other cleanup programs.

  Read the full story in our Plus Newsletter (20.13.0, 2023-03-27).

  Freeware Spotlight Deanna's Freeware Spotlight, Newsletters, User Interface, Windows GUI
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