Best Free Software Two

Posted by Mitch Mitchell on May 24, 2009

I hope you enjoyed the first part of this little series on the best free software, and now here’s some more you may or may not known about.

Blogger – Those of you who are long time readers of this blog know how much I hate going to Blogger blogs, so this might seem like an odd contradiction for me. This is probably the easiest way for people to get into blogging if they want to explore what the world of blogging is all about. However, if you’re looking to really do something with a blog, get out!

WordPress – We’ve gone from my least favorite to my most favorite. Maybe you can’t totally customize everything, but there’s thousands of themes, and if you have any knowledge whatsoever you can change different things on all of them. Of course, this is a WordPress blog; yeah!

Meebo – I actually wrote a post on Meebo in February, so you know this will probably be a positive review. It’s an online service that allows you to connect to multiple IM’s at the same time. Yes, there are many other services that do this, but the beauty of it is that you can add a window to a website and, if you’re logged in, people who visit your website can talk to you. Read my post and see the images I showed from one of my business sites.

Trillian – If you don’t want to be locked into having to use a browser to access multiple IM’s, then Trillian is the way to go. I use Trillian more often than Meebo, I have to admit, mainly because I don’t want to hold what I call office hours all the time, and if I’m signed onto Meebo I will be.

Google Toolbar – Almost as much as I love Google Desktop, I love having Google Toolbar on my browser. Sure, most browsers today have something built in already, but there’s just something about having the toolbar wherever I decide to place it that works well for me.

Greasemonkey – I’m surprised I’ve never really written about Greasemonkey except in passing a couple of times, but I love this thing. What it does is allows you to change certain things on webpages you visit that either you want to eliminate, or that you want to look differently. As opposed to Stylish, which changes the entire look of a site, Greasemonkey is more specific. For instance, on Facebook, I’ve added a couple of scripts which make the pictures bigger if I hover over them, and I’ve added one that eliminates some of the advertising, though not all of it; I might have to go back and take care of the rest of it at some point.

PDF995 -I actually loved a different program, but that’s before I ended up with a Vista computer, which wouldn’t run the sucker. This program works pretty well, and it’s free, but with the free version you have to deal with a little bit of advertising every time you use it. But it gets the job done, which is creating pdf files.

And there you go. I hope you’ve enjoyed this, and found something useful.

Tags: free software, Google Desktop, Google Toolbar, Greasemonkey

15 Comments »

Althea Garner:

Hey, Mitch,

GREAT talking to you on the phone today – there’s something special about that one-on-one, yes? Why don’t more of us get to speaking to each other on the phone?

I HATE BLOGGER! I switched to WordPress some time ago but have not updated. Perhaps because of all the adverse comments I see on your blog?

Anyway, just wanted to put my .02c in…….

Althea Garner´s last blog post..

Mitch Reply:
May 25th, 2009 at 12:18 AM

Hey Althea; it was great talking to you. As for the adverse comments, well, I think I’d hate Blogger less if it made the default comment area so everyone could either put in an email address or click on something so they could get comments on posts they write on.

May 24th, 2009 | 10:58 PM

Justin:

I’ve been using Trillian for a long time to keep all of my IM accounts in line and highly recommend it. They are beta testing Trillian Astra which is really cool and integrates Twitter also, so if you can still get in on the beta it is worth your time!

Justin´s last blog post..List of The Top Marketing Blogs

Mitch Reply:
May 25th, 2009 at 6:21 AM

Goodness Justin, integrating Twitter,… I’m just trying to imagine what that would look like. Seems like it might be kind of confusing on the reading part; I guess we’ll find out. Thanks for the information.

Justin Reply:
May 25th, 2009 at 7:33 AM

I have to admit that it is a little overwhelming at first, but with a few option tweaks, it is actually pretty cool. The link to Triallian Astra is http://www.trillian.im/ if anyone wants to sign up for the beta.

Justin´s last blog post..List of The Top Marketing Blogs

May 25th, 2009 | 2:03 AM

Dennis Edell:

I’ve always just used the individual messengers, no browsers or combos of any kind.

Dennis Edell´s last blog post..Would Even The Slightest Hint Of Porn Stop You From Advertising?

Mitch Reply:
May 25th, 2009 at 3:43 PM

I used to also, Dennis, but after awhile, so many people were using so many different ones that it got confusing, so being able to find a place to pull them altogether just seems the smart way to go.

Dennis Edell Reply:
May 26th, 2009 at 8:51 AM

Makes sens. Personally I only use Yahoo 1st, AIM 2nd, and just learning skype.

Dennis Edell´s last blog post..Would Even The Slightest Hint Of Porn Stop You From Advertising?

Mitch Reply:
May 26th, 2009 at 9:13 AM

I’ve been reluctant to try Skype. There was a different program about 9 years ago that I liked, and so did my family, and then the next year they started charging for it and that just messed us up. I know the basics behind it, but I’m just not ready to trust this type of thing again just yet.

May 25th, 2009 | 3:14 PM

wilhb81:

I’m sorry, Mitch, as I didn’t know that you have such a deep hatred on Blogger’s blogs. Guess my blog is one of those that being listed in the “hatred list” as well?

wilhb81´s last blog post..The Useful Business Tips 31: 5 Effective Tips On How To Pleasing Your Customers!

Mitch Reply:
May 26th, 2009 at 9:03 AM

Wil, I like the content, but here’s my problem. To post messages, I’m registered with one name, and that’s for my business blog. Yes, I can change to “name/url” or “anonymous”, but that means if I leave a comment, I never get anything back if you respond because there’s no place to put my email address. Therefore, it’s kind of an empty comment to leave, unless I decide to choose my business blog email account.

Now, for what you write, that works okay, but for most of what people write, leaving my business account isn’t the way I’d want to go. Now, I understand that Blogger has a different way you can set up to accept messages that allows people to do just what you have to do if you visit my blog. I’ve even seen it. But most Blogger people don’t set it up; I figure it must take some time or knowledge to do it that way. I don’t know.

But that’s my issue with Blogger; certainly nothing personal against anyone who decides to use it.

May 26th, 2009 | 2:43 AM

nyt kontor:

Didnt know about PDF995. That’s awesome dude.

Mitch Reply:
May 26th, 2009 at 9:04 AM

Glad to help you out, Nico. Good luck with it.

May 26th, 2009 | 8:36 AM

Kikolani:

I have stayed out of the instant messaging world for a while now. I have one for my office, and I keep it strictly for my co-workers, otherwise I would be on it all day long. I used to have Trillian for that reason, and would spend hours chatting with people. Sometimes I miss it, but most of the time, I like the freedom of send me an email, and I’ll reply when I can, without having to do it right that second.

Also, WordPress is highly customizable, once you spend the time finding all the right themes, plugins, coding hacks, etc., which seem to be spread out all over internetland. But the pieces are out there…

~ Kristi

Kikolani´s last blog post..Fetching Friday – Resources, #FollowFriday, PageRank & SEO

Mitch Reply:
May 29th, 2009 at 8:23 PM

I don’t know that I’d want to go out and say WordPress is perfect, but it certainly works well for me. And I don’t do a lot of instant messaging myself, but when I need to, I like to make sure all my bases are covered.

May 29th, 2009 | 8:04 PM

I'm Just Sharing