Taking Care of Your Computer For Free -- The Best FREE Software -- Talk at the Kinnelon Library Wed 7 PM Apr 11 2012

It Costs No Money!

I will be giving a talk at the Kinnelon Public Library Wednesday, Apr. 11 at 7 PM, which is the 4th of 6 such talks a month apart, on the subject of taking care of your Windows PC, new or old, with special attention in Part 3 to:

The Best FREE Software for Your PC, including :

1) Libre Office (Open Office) A Microsoft Office Substitute -- Do Not Pay for MS Office -- you can get Word, Excel, Powerpoint, and more workalikes, that suit most everyone just fine. Works just fine with Office files, such as doc, ppt, xls, and so on.

2) Google Chrome -- If you are still using IE, don't -- Chrome is SO much faster, and simpler to use that you need to switch right away -- unless you like waiting around for your browser to catch up.

3) Google Picasa -- Hands Down the Very Best Photo Manager, Light Editor, Uploading and Sharing, and Printing Program, EVER. If you rake photos and print them, you must have Picasa.

4) Dropbox --Share a common directory with other computers, family and friends!  Never lose a critical data file again! Share and sync your Quicken, Outlook, Powerpoint, or whatever files with another computer, and you CANNOT lose them ... well ... hard to, anyway.

5) Skype -- Free video Phoning for everyone, except for the price of an HD VidCam (less than $50, sometimes less than $25). Works easily, great for family and business.

6), 7), 8), ... and so on. We have a list -- there has to be something on there for you!

Come find out what you have been missing, and avoid spending money on expensive commercial software!

We will repeat our "Open Mike" period at the end of the talk so you can find out why your computer isn't doing what you want:

All of you Kinnelon and North Jersey people, and everybody else, are welcome to come.

Call the Kinnelon Library at 973 838 1321 and reserve a spot.

See you there!

~Ted


PS: Check out the Working Computers Blog article, The 7 Best Free Software Programs As Of January 2012, for more on the subject -- we will have more software to recommend at the talk

PPS: This talk pertains to PCs running Windows 7, Vista and XP

Photo Credit: various websites

You get the idea!

Taking Care of Your Computer For Free -- How to Buy the Right Computer Cheaply -- Talk at the Kinnelon Library 7 PM Mar 15 2012

What? You don't like it??? It's the latest thing ...

Whoops, I meant to post this earlier in the week! Y'all come now, y'hear?

I will be giving a talk at the Kinnelon Library tonight, Thursday, Mar. 15 at 7 PM, which is the 3rd of 6 such talks a month apart, on the subject of taking care of your Windows PC, new or old, with special attention in Part 3 to:

Buying the right Computer, and Not Paying Too Much for It, including :

1) Who to buy a computer from and how to get the best price, by at least several hundred bucks.

2) What kind of computer you really need and how you can make sure it lasts a long time.

3) How to get the Very Best Deals on related computer equipment and software as well as consumer electronics of all kinds.

I will discuss where you can get the best deals online for top tier name brand machines such as Dell and HP and whether or not you should consider an extended factory warranty, as well as buying from local resources such as BJ's, Best Buy, and so on.

We will repeat our "Open Mike" period at the end of the talk so you can find out why your computer isn't doing what you want:

Ask Your Questions and Solve Your Problems --"Open Mike" -- Questions such as

1) Is my machine too old? When do I need a new machine?

2) How can I "pin" that program to my Taskbar, and what is a "Gadget?"

3) Why does my computer ... ?

4) If you have a laptop with a problem, bring it along and we'll take a quick look.

5) Questions and on-the-spot diagnosis will be limited by the time available!!!

All of you Kinnelon and North Jersey people, and everybody else, are welcome to come.

Call the Kinnelon Library at 973 838 1321 and reserve a spot.

See you there!

~Ted


PS: This talk pertains to PCs running Windows 7, Vista and XP

Photo Credit: various websites

Maybe this would be better ...

Kinnelon Library Talk -- Taking Care of Your Computer Part 2: Bootable and Cloud Backup, Feb 15, Thurs 7 PM

Don't Just Be a User! Take Care of that Relationship! With Your Computer!

I will be giving a talk at the Kinnelon Library Thursday, Feb. 16 at 7 PM, which is the 2nd of 6 such talks a month apart, on the subject of taking care of your Windows PC, new or old, with special attention in Part 2 to:

Software to Backup Your Computer including :

1) How to be Rebooted and Back in Business in minutes after a system drive failure.

2) What is the difference between an Archive backup and a Mirror backup and why you should care.
     Hint: One boots the computer and the other ... doesn't.

We will explain Bootable Mirror or Clone  Backups, On-Line Backups to the "Cloud", and take questions from the audience on  their computer's ills and mysteries.

And we'll show how to do this stuff with Free Software!

If you want to read about what will be covered and what won't, take a look at the Working Computers post  titled, Taking Care of Your Computer for Free -- Bootable Backup / Cloud Backup -- Talk at the Kinnelon Library Feb. 16 7:00 PM, which goes into detail.

All of you Kinnelon and North Jersey people, and everybody else, are welcome to come.

Call the Kinnelon Library at 973 838 1321 and reserve a spot.

See you there!

~Ted


PS: This talk pertains to PCs running Windows 7, Vista and XP

Photo Credit: various websites

Taking Care of Your Computer for Free -- Talk at the Kinnelon Library this Thur., Jan. 19 7:00 PM

It needs a little love!

I will be giving my 2nd talk at the Kinnelon Library this Thursday, Jan. 19 at 7 PM, which is the first of 3 such talks a month apart, on the subject of taking care of your Windows PC, new or old, with special attention in Part 1 to:

Free Software to Disinfect Your Computer including :

1) What to do when you first notice that you have an infected machine.

2) What are Restore and Recover and why you should care

The free software includes Malwarebytes'  and Spybot's  free programs which you can download and install from these links.

I cannot over-stress the importance of acting quickly if you think you have such a problem, so whatever you decide to do, pursue disinfection yourself, or have someone do it for you, do it right away. 


How to Surf Safely -- Howto explore the internet without getting infected, or having your identity stolen:

1) How to know if a website or download is safe

2) When to say Yes and when to say No


Ask Your Questions and Solve Your Problems --"Open Mike" -- Questions such as

1) Is my machine too old? When do I need a new machine?

2) What is the best Free On-Line Backup?

3) Why does my computer ... ?

4) If you have a laptop with a problem, bring it along and we'll take a quick look.

5) Questions and on-the-spot diagnosis will be limited by the time available!!!

All of you Kinnelon and North Jersey people, and everybody else, are welcome to come.

Call the Kinnelon Library at 973 838 1231 and reserve a spot.

I am looking forward to seeing all of you previous attendees (from last summer), and all of you new people

See you there!

~Ted


PS: This talk pertains to PCs running Windows 7, Vista and XP


Photo Credit: www.cosmosmagazine.com