More Free Stuff

Hard on the heels of last week's article, here's another article from ComputerWorld with more free software and some services.
One that intrigued me right on the first page is a service to which you can forward emails you get when you buy stuff on the web. They'll find the tracking number and give you a unified page where you can see all the different things you're waiting for. This will save me a lot of time (though, sadly, no money whatsoever).
On page three there's a free program that lets you set up an encrypted "virtual drive" - great for keeping sensitive stuff safe, especially on vulnerable machines like laptops, as well as software for blocking spam and viruses.
There are pages full of some really neat stuff. Just one warning: you can "invest" a lot of time here, because there is so much excellent material to explore.

Free and Excellent Software

Here's an article from ComputerWorld which lists a bunch of software (from email to Office suites to graphics to money to antivirus to....) which is mostly free (a few items offer enhancements for a bit of money, like generally $10 or so). What is very exciting about the items on the list, though, is not only the low price, but also that in many cases the free stuff outdoes the expensive stuff - now THAT'S something I can really appreciate!

Ease Office 2007 Frustrations

If you're frustrated by the changes in Office 2007, here's some help:

a cheat-sheat for Word 2007 – http://www.computerworld.com/action/article.do?command=viewArticleBasic&articleId=9010482

a cheat-sheat for Excel 2007 – http://www.computerworld.com/action/article.do?command=viewArticleBasic&articleId=9028228

a cheat-sheat for Powerpoint 2007 – http://www.computerworld.com/action/article.do?command=viewArticleBasic&articleId=9063119

If this isn’t enough and you find yourself frustrated on an ongoing basis, you might want to invest in a copy of Classic Menu – free to try for 30 days at http://www.addintools.com/english/menuoffice/, about $30 if you like it and want to add technical support (doesn’t seem to actually time-out). It adds the old menus and commands to the new office, so you get the best of both worlds. (Thanks to Mel Ming for making me aware of this one.)