The Clean PC Installation 2010: Top Free Programs You Can’t Live Without – Part II
See Part Ifor programs 1-5.
6. Email – Thunderbird. But only Thunderbird 2. Not Thunderbird 3. I’ve used Thunderbird for a long time, but on a recent install of Thunderbird 3, I found the interface for setting up accounts very annoying. While this isn’t a full blown review of Thunderbird 3, I immediately had difficulty configuring an IMAP account. Because it takes all of 30 seconds to configure an IMAP account in Thunderbird 2, I went back to Thunderbird 2. I figure that if I can’t figure it out in 30 seconds, then I don’t want to see what else is going to be difficult to configure in the program.
7. Image Management - Picasa 3. Hands down. I’ve used quite a few image organizers, and Picasa keeps getting better and better. Version 3 lets you easily tag people by face; it has facial recognition built-in, so that after teaching the program a bit about who the faces are, you can easily and quickly tag your photos (see my computer New Year’s resolution #1)
8. Backup and Synchronization: Syncback is a fantastic program for keeping all of your files consistent. You can choose to backup, synchronize, or a combination of the two. The program allows multiple profiles for different backup or sync operations, and allows you to easily review any file changes before they become permanent. There is a freeware version, as well as a paid version that has more features such as real-time updating.
So that’s my list. I’d be interested to see if you have any additions (or subtractions).
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