Security Software
Security Software is important for any computer user. Many people lock their doors at home or on their car, so why not lock the door to your computer. Please attempt to protect yourself from those individuals who want to take advantage of you and your stuff. Below are a list of my favorite software for this purpose.
- AVG Anti-Virus: There are many anti-virus software programs out on the market. Currently, my favorite is AVG. It seems to do the best job with the least impact on the PC.
- Avast: Avast is a FREE anti-virus software that does a pretty good job and does not advertise. You are required to register every year and get a new key, but that is a small price to pay to get something for free.
Synchronizing Two Computers
Synchronizing two computers can be a major hastle. I have been searching for solutions to synchronize my home computer, my work computer, and my laptop for years now and have come up with what I think is a very practical solution. Thanks to a recent conversation with my co-worker Tim, I was able to check out a piece of software called "SyncMyCal". This software will synchronize calendar and contact information from outlook to a gmail calendar (also to a google apps calendar).
If you are new to the sychronization process then you may want to check out Beyond Compare which is filed under the File Management section of this website. It will help you to compare the files you have on two different computers and make sure they are in sync.
- IMAP Mail
- Dropbox - This is a great program that is FREE for 2Gb or less. It is a small application that loads onto multiple computers and all the files stay synchronized between the two, three or more computers. I actually use Dropbox on my work desktop, my laptop, and my home desktop. If you decide that you want to use it, shoot me an email and I will send you a referal email. Check out this video for details on how the program works.
- Sugar Sync - Sugar Sync is another program that is similar to dropbox, but they do not have a free version. They do however, have more storage options available. I personally have not tried this option but it looks like a good solution.
- Xmarks - xmarks is a bookmark syncronization tool that allows you to keep many computers and browsers synced up. It is compatible with Internet Explorer, Firefox, Safari and Google Chrome. If you use bookmarks in your browsers and need to keep all your browsers the same, the xmarks is a great solution.
- SyncMyCal