My Computer, Part II: Software
In My Computer: Part I: Hardware, we discussed how our computer's configuration was determined by our needs and the size of our wallets. The equipment featured in that system illustrates the intersection of our needs and our budget; this is a good demonstration of digital common sense and how to get more bang for your buck.
The software you need depends on the job(s) at hand. Writing a letter? You need a word processor, like Microsoft Word. Creating profit & loss statements for a project at work? You need a spreadsheet program, like Microsoft Excel. Building a website? You need webpage creation software, like Macromedia Dreamweaver (reviewed here).
When we discuss software, though, there is another factor to consider: compatibility. Do the people you work with use the same programs as you? If they don't, is there some other method you could use that would allow them to read your document?
This is one reason why Microsoft Office has become the de facto productivity software—some estimates place Office on 95% of all business computers worldwide.
The table below lists the software on that same computer and tries to tell you why we used that brand or version as opposed to any other.
Updated: Friday, November 18, 2005
Note: Items in red have been upgraded.
OPERATING SYSTEM: |
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Microsoft Windows XP Professional |
Updated to Service Pack 2 (see our review here) , featuring Microsoft's improved Firewall, new Security Console and offering the most effective protection against Internet nasties to date. |
Microsoft Windows XP Professional |
As we've said elsewhere, hands down the best operating system (OS) Microsoft has ever created. Coming in two flavors (Home & Professional) Windows XP is the OS that just won't crash. |
PRODUCTIVITY SOFTWARE: |
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The most popular productivity software suite on the market; some estimates place it on as many as 95% of desktops worldwide. If you're already using Office 2000, we recommend you stay with it for now. Office XP and it's successor, Office 2003 do not offer compelling reasons to upgrade for most users and lack the stability of Office 2000 in it's present incarnation. |
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Pretty much used up all the features offered by Dreamweaver 4; I tell people I upgraded in order to remain competetive, but essentially? I just WANTED it. See our review. |
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Macromedia Web Suite, V. 4 |
Includes Macromedia's Dreamweaver 4, Fireworks 4, Flash 5 & Freehand 10. Just about every thing you'll need to build professional-level websites. We prefer Dreamweaver's finer control over Microsoft FrontPage's ease-of-use or Adobe GoLive's obtuse menu structure. |
We hadn't upgraded this program in quite a while and wanted to be able to create PNG's, among other things. This version is more Web-savvy, too. |
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Paint Shop Pro 6.12 |
The poor man's PhotoShop. Can do pretty much everything PhotoShop can do, but costs less than $100 USD. |
UTILITIES: |
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The free reader, useful for viewing these cross-platform .pdf documents. We don't bother listing the various versions of many of these utilities; we just upgrade 'em as new versions come down the pike. |
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Makes pop-ups and banner ads just go away. Highly recommended. |
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Download accelerator. Useful for when you need to download a large group of files; all downloads are queued and downloaded in sequence. Highly recommended. |
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Anti-spam software; after training, this will stop all spam from reaching your inbox. |
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Had a few problems with the Norton (no surprise there); these guys have always written big, heavy, demanding programs, worming their way into every facet of your computing experience. If it was only this look-at-me interface, I might still be using their product, but worse stuff started to happen. This program—primarily their antivirus program, slowed XP's boot time to somewhere North of three minutes while disabling my access to my network and the Internet. Ooh, give me more of that! I was able to pick up the standalone version of the Trend Micro at CompUSA, only $19 USD after the rebate. The only thing I don't like about the program is the way it insists on grabbing the focus when it updates itself, but you can turn that off. |
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Norton SystemWorks Professional Edition |
Including Norton's Anti-Virus program as well as Ghost, a disk-cloning utility for making speedy backups. This 2003 edition has the best versions of these programs Symantec has ever made. |
Convert any document into a .pdf file; one of the easiest (and cheapest) programs we've ever seen. |
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We like the name, but we love how it really does search & destroy all the adware/spyware on our computer. And did we mention it's FREE? |
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Bill & Steve (if you have to ask...) bought this program and it's company—formerly Giant Software—and are currently giving this program away. Do not hesitate, do not linger—go download and install this program STAT! It is one of the best spyware/adware prevention and removal tools on the market today. |
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A software firewall, used to keep the bad guys at bay; with this program installed, the hackers & crackers just can't find you—and that's the way, uh-uh. uh-uh, we like it. |
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MULTIMEDIA |
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Rips our music CDs into mp3s, organizes 'em and let's us build playlists for pretty darn cheap. We like pretty darn cheap... |
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For viewing Quicktime movie clips—very high-quality and very highly recommended. |
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The other must-have movie player. Also plays music files. |
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