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IRA WILSKER
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March 13, 2010
OpenOffice 3.2 – Free Competitor to Microsoft Office
by Ira Wilsker
WEBSITES:
http://extensions.services.openoffice.org/en
http://templates.services.openoffice.org
For only the third time in the ten years that I have been writing this column, I am not using Microsoft Word as my word processor to write this column. For one column about three years ago, I used the then new Google Docs to compose my column, and saved the output in the Word format requested by the Examiner. About two years prior to that, I used the then new OpenOffice as my word processor for a column about OpenOffice. Now that a new release of OpenOffice, version 3.2, is available which includes full file compatibility with Microsoft Office 2007, I concluded that it was worthy of another look. My first impression of this new version is very positive, as it has much the same look and feel of the Microsoft products that I have been using almost exclusively for the past many years. I had no learning curve with OpenOffice, and proceeded to use it immediately. While this new version can read and write files in the latest Microsoft formats, and is so feature rich that it would be a worthy competitor to Microsoft Office, it does have one overwhelming advantage over Microsoft Office; that is that it is totally free to download and use by anyone. Unlike some other free software that is only free for personal use, but mandates a fee for corporate or academic use, OpenOffice is absolutely free for all users.
I have been considering writing an updated review of OpenOffice for quite a while, as it has been garnering a lot of positive reviews in the media, but two recent events provided me with the impetus to write this review today. First is that a new version of OpenOffice was recently released (version 3.2), which included several enhancements and compatibility improvements with the latest Microsoft Office file formats. The other reason was an email I received today asking for help, we have an 80 year old man, recently lost his wife... his computer went out, so we went and got one from <local computer store>. Question, is there a program like Microsoft word that we can download free for him. He has to write letters and makes signs for his lodge. i have done searches but am afraid to download something that may not work. thank you in advance!! <sic>. I replied back with the link to OpenOffice, which will do what this gentleman wants, and much more.
OpenOffice is a large download (149 megs) and is available from OpenOffice.org. OpenOffice is also one of the most widely downloaded suites on the internet, with over 100 million copies of version 3 downloaded within the past year, with millions more of the earlier versions being downloaded. With numbers like these, OpenOffice has earned a large and loyal following. OpenOffice is not just for English speaking Windows users, as it is available in 80 of the world's languages, and for almost all popular operating systems including GNU/Linux, Sun Solaris, and Apple Mac. It is simple enough for a novice user to master, and comprehensive enough for an experienced office suite user. According to the OpenOffice web page, OpenOffice.org 3 is easy to learn, and if you're already using another office software package, you'll take to OpenOffice.org 3 straight away. Our world-wide native-language community means that OpenOffice.org 3 is probably available and supported in your own language. And if you already have files from another office package - OpenOffice.org 3 will probably read them with no difficulty. To test this, I opened a variety of word processor, spreadsheet, and presentation files created in Microsoft Office, and all opened successfully. I then created some similar files with OpenOffice, saved them in the appropriate Microsoft format, and my copy of Microsoft Office opened them without a hiccup. I also tried opening some old WordPerfect (word processor) and Quattro (spreadsheet) files with OpenOffice, and they also opened and displayed flawlessly. The listing of file formats available for import or export with OpenOffice is nothing less than spectacular, with every format I could think of listed, as well as many I am not familiar with. If an unusual document format is encountered, OpenOffice can likely open it.
I am currently typing this using the OpenOffice Writer, which is the word processor included in the suite. When I first opened it, it looked almost identical to my Microsoft Word, and all of the keyboard shortcuts that I used regularly in Word, worked flawlessly in Writer. Writer can read and write many more file formats than Word, and has an integral PDF creator to make PDF files out of any documents that can be opened or created with OpenOffice. Writer is feature rich including auto correct, auto complete, auto format, styles and formatting, text frames and linking, automated table of contents, indexing, bibliography, references, illustrations, tables, and other features found on its expensive commercial competitors. I searched and tried, but I could not find any feature missing on Writer that is available on the commercial products.
I have been using Microsoft's Excel spreadsheet utility for several years for a variety of financial and data tasks. Excel has a near monopoly in industry as the spreadsheet of choice, replacing the classical Lotus and Quattro, both of which I used extensively in the past. I opened several of my Excel spreadsheets in OpenOffice's Calc, and they opened without any problems. Calc looks just like Excel, and has a similar menu and command set, which meant that there was nothing new for me to learn in order to master Calc. I tried creating color graphs and charts in Calc, and the same skills set I have for Excel worked fine on Calc. I have used a lot of the integral calculation functions in Excel, and they were all available in Calc. A Function Wizard in Calc makes the implementation and inclusion of mathematical and statistical functions very easy. Calc has proven itself to be a very worthy competitor to Excel at a price that can not be beat (free!).
Microsoft's PowerPoint is the defacto standard for presentation software, and I have used it frequently for the many presentations that I have done. OpenOffice has a very capable competitor with its Impress, which can read and write PowerPoint files as well as most other presentation formats. Impress looks very similar to PowerPoint, and like the other components in OpenOffice, employs a similar menu structure and keyboard shortcut set. Special effects, transitions, sounds, video, and other features are integral with Impress, allowing the user to do anything that he can do in PowerPoint. Impress files can be printed as PDF files by simply clicking on File – Export as PDF, or exported into dozens of other file formats, including most graphical formats, and the web page HTML format, by clicking on File – Export. This same process can be used to create a video in Macromedia Flash SWF format, where the Impress presentation can be viewed as a video, with a mouse click advancing to the next slide. Impress is a powerful presentation utility, and is very capable of being used to create very professional appearing presentations that can be played on almost any computer. Impress can also be freely used to show PowerPoint presentations even if the user does not have PowerPoint.
Many of us use a lot of images and graphics for a variety of purposes, and these images often need to be edited, cropped, have captions or labels inserted, merged, or otherwise manipulated. While there are many commercial and freeware utilities that can perform these tasks, OpenOffice has a utility aptly named Draw that can be used as a free standing but comprehensive imaging editor, which is also integrated into the other OpenOffice functions. Draw can import, export, and edit almost all graphic formats, including JPG, GIF, BMP, WMF, PNG, TIFF, Kodak Photo CD PCD, and many other graphic formats. In addition to manipulating graphics, Draw also has smart connectors that can be used to quickly create flowcharts, organization charts, network diagrams, and other forms of diagrams and charts. When used with the Writer word processor, Draw is capable of being used to create posters, brochures, pamphlets, and other items for display or distribution.
Another common utility incorporated in most office suites is some form of database utility, and OpenOffice is no different by including a comprehensive database utility with the simple name Base. Base can be used to create or modify tables, forms, queries, and reports. With its own HQSL database engine, Base can be used to manage information and data, or the user can use a variety of wizards, design views, or SQL views. I am personally not a database wizard, but I was able to quickly create a simple data base using Base, and mine it for information and reports.
The entire OpenOffice suite has over 500 free extensions available which can be used to enhance the capabilities of OpenOffice. These extensions add dictionaries in many languages, forms, templates, clip art galleries, and many other features. One that I especially like is Sun PDF Import Extension, which allows the user to import and modify PDF documents. Another extension that I will be trying is the Presenter Console which gives the presenter more control over his presentation by showing the upcoming slide, slide notes, and a presentation timer. What is unusual is that only the presenter sees this console, while the audience only sees the current slide. The hundreds of other extensions available provide a wealth of additional capabilities to OpenOffice.
For those who would sometimes prefer to use pre-made templates to accomplish a variety of tasks, OpenOffice has hundreds of free templates available at templates.services.openoffice.org. Templates come in three primary categories, Business, Education, and Private, with over 600 available templates. Some of the most popular templates include several resume formats, calendars, business cards, business letters, brochures and pamphlets, newsletters, meal planners, automated invoices, greeting cards, APA-style templates that would be suitable for college or university students, fax cover sheets, weekly planners, recipe cards, and hundreds of others. By using a template, complex tasks may be as easy as filling in the blanks, and producing professional appearing output.
OpenOffice has been adopted as a standard office suite by hundreds of colleges and universities, government agencies at all levels, businesses of all sizes, and millions of individuals. Some countries have also adopted OpenOffice as a national standard office suite, as well as many cities. At least one US state has adopted OpenOffice as its standardized office suite, much to the consternation of Microsoft and its supporters. I have been recommending OpenOffice to my students as a free alternative to Microsoft Office. In these tight fiscal times, switching to a free open source office suite that can read and write almost all of the existing Office formats might make a lot of sense. The State of Texas, for example, has set Microsoft Word as the defacto standard for state documents; with massive budget cuts being implemented statewide (including at my college), imagine how much money could be saved by phasing in the free OpenOffice as a replacement for the very costly Microsoft Office. Anyone who currently uses Microsoft Office can instantly use OpenOffice, and with its outstanding file compatibility, almost nothing would be lost from any existing Office documents.
Sorry Microsoft, but the free OpenOffice may possibly displace you as the predominant office suite. Free is a very hard price to beat.













February 27, 2010
Personal Finance Websites Help You Spend, Save, and Invest
By Ira Wilsker
WEBSITES:
http://finance.yahoo.com/personal-finance
http://finance.yahoo.com/how-to-guide/index
http://finance.yahoo.com/calculator/index
http://moneycentral.msn.com/personal-finance
There are three basic uses of money; you can spend it, save it, and invest it. Any economics student can tell you that money is one of the scarce commodities, and the household never seems to have enough of it. There are thousands of websites that can help you spend, save, and invest wisely, such that the little money that we do have can go farther.
There are many websites that can help us spend our money more wisely by finding bargains, or by using coupons. One place that I check for bargains several times a day that includes both local brick-and-mortar stores as well as online sites is Dealnews, at dealnews.com. This website tracks bargains and posts them continuously updated throughout the day, and includes items from several categories (electronics, clothing, groceries, music, and many more). Items that may be listed at any given time may include coupons for local restaurants, unadvertised specials for local home improvement centers, deeply discounted merchandise from both local retailers and online stores, and often some free items (commonly music, free samples, and computer software). Dealnews also has an extensive and searchable library of coupons that can be used locally or online.
Many of us have found that the use of coupons can dramatically save us money at the supermarket, restaurant, auto service company, and other local stores. There is no reason to be ashamed to use a coupon, as the manufacturer or retailer would not publish them if he did not want us to use them. One of my favorite grocery coupon websites is AOL’s Shortcuts.com. Shortcuts has dozens of manufacturers coupons available at any time, but rather than require the user to clip them from the newspaper, or print them, Shortcuts automatically loads them on to the supermarkets shoppers card. Nationally, there are many supermarket chains that participate, but locally Kroger is the only participant. Registration is required, but free to use the service. Every week, a listing of dozens of new coupons is released which the user can select from by simply clicking on the displayed item. Within minutes, the coupons are electronically loaded onto the shoppers card account, and are automatically deducted at checkout when the product is scanned at the register, all without paper coupons. The Shortcuts website tracks and displays the coupons used, available coupons, and the expired coupons. Shopping lists can be printed that display the available coupons
Another competing website that works much the same way as Shortcuts is CellFire, at Cellfire.com. While CellFire will load grocery coupons on the shoppers card, it also offers digital coupons for non-grocery items and services that can be displayed on most modern cell phones. These coupons that can be displayed on the cell phone are intended to be shown to the clerk at the counter to get the discount or promotion, and include discounts for local photo studios, florists, auto services, and other discounts. The CellFire service is free, but requires that the user register a cell phone number which will only be used to display the requested coupons.
Other useful coupon websites that offer printable coupons, mostly for grocery items, are SmartSource at www.smartsource.com, and Coupons.com (www.coupons.com ). Both Coupons.com and SmartSource also have printable coupons for local restaurants, florists, auto services, photo studios, office supplies, and other businesses. Both of these sites require the installation of a proprietary coupon printing utility in order to securely print the coupons and verify their authenticity to the retailer.
In terms of the saving and investing, there are many legitimate websites that offer a wealth of information on banking and investing. My personal favorite is Yahoo! personal finance site at finance.yahoo.com. While the main page is heavy on investing information, including continuously updated stock quotes and business news, there are also tabs for a wide assortment of other personal finance information at finance.yahoo.com/personal-finance. Categories of personal finance information presented include banking, college & education, family & home, insurance, loans, real estate, retirement, and taxes. A selection of detailed How-To Guides (finance.yahoo.com/how-to-guide/index) show how to accomplish a wide assortment of financial tasks, including mortgage basics, how to buy a car, how to get out of debt, deciding on traditional IRA or Roth accounts, retirement planning, and many others. An assortment of financial calculators are available at finance.yahoo.com/calculator/index, and include calculators to figure mortgages and monthly payments, cash flow, a CD analyzer, how long will it take to pay off my credit cards, the value of a college education, and a Coverdell Education Savings Account calculator. I personally used the Coverdell ESA calculator to help plan a college savings and investment plan for my new granddaughter. One other interesting feature on Yahoo! Personal Finance is the Rates table that shows the current national average interest rates for home mortgages, home equity loans, savings accounts, auto loans, and credit cards; this chart is updated on a daily basis.
Not to be outdone by Yahoo!, Google also offers a finance website at www.google.com/finance. This Google site has excellent and comprehensive finance information including stock quotes, business news, and portfolio tracking, but lacks the comprehensive personal finance information that is offered on Yahoo!’s finance page.
Microsoft offers its Money Central at moneycentral.msn.com, which is a typical page primarily devoted to investment information, and also offers a personal finance page at moneycentral.msn.com/personal-finance. While not as feature rich as Yahoo! Personal Finance, it does contain comprehensive information on banking, family and college, insurance, retirement, savings and debt, and taxes. Looking at the MSN Retirement and Wills Center (articles.moneycentral.msn.com/RetirementandWills), are a selection of retirement articles, as well as calculators fro retirement planning. The other sections in MSN Personal Finance also contain a variety of relevant articles and calculators.
There is a lot of information available online to help the reader spend, save, and invest wisely. Check them out so you too can improve your financial standing.




















February 20, 2010
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February 13, 2010
February 06, 2010 Scumware and Scareware Warning and Removal By Ira Wilsker
WEBSITES: http://www.fbi.gov/pressrel/pressrel09/popup121109.htm http://www.usatoday.com/tech/news/2009-06-09-cybergangs-scareware-hackers_N.htm http://www.networkworld.com/news/2009/101909-scareware.html http://blogs.zdnet.com/security/?p=4297 http://online.wsj.com/article/SB123976230407519659.html http://www.malwarebytes.org/mbam-download.php http://www.malwarebytes.org/mbam/database/mbam-rules.exe http://www.emsisoft.com/en/software/free/ http://download1.emsisoft.com/a2usb.zip http://www.microsoft.com/security/malwareremove/default.aspx
Many of you have had the experience of having a popup or window open on your computer that tells you that your computer is infected with a substantial quantity of viruses, worms, Trojans, and other forms of spyware. Typically, these warning messages, which may appear to be authentic Windows warnings, instruct the user to “click here” to remove the malware. Upon clicking, another window opens which solicits a fee, typically $29.95 to $49.95 (or more) to purchase software to remove the infection. The software being offered has an attractive and professional looking interface, and often carries a name that is intended to inspire confidence, sometimes even being similar to reputable product names that we have heard of before. Trying to close the window often results in the popup reappearing again, almost instantly. If we choose to ignore the warning or close it, it may continue to reappear whenever we click on a webpage, open our own already installed programs or security software, or randomly. These warnings may scare us, or become so intrusive that many of us will pay to purchase the recommended software to clean our computers of malware and restore the usability of our machines. By doing so, at a minimum, we just became the victim of a scam that according to the FBI has duped Americans out of an estimated $150 million. If it was only money that was lost, the damage would be bad enough, but the infection and hijacking that produced the popups and warnings in the first place may have also destroyed our existing antivirus software, deactivated our firewall, transmitted our vulnerabilities to unknown miscreants, and made our computers vulnerable to continued attacks. Purchasing, downloading, and installing this rogue software may possibly also open us up to even worse attacks such as turning our computers into spam sending zombies that can generate massive income for the zombie master. Other identified hazards of this software may include the installation of keylogging software to steal our usernames, passwords, and credit card information to be sold on illicit websites for criminal purposes including credit card fraud and identity theft. Simply put, your computer may physically be in your home, but for all practical purposes it belongs to some crook somewhere who in reality has control over it for nefarious and pecuniary reasons. This may sound like science fiction or the theme of an action movie, but the scenario is a sad reality that has been repeated on millions of personal computers. The victims of this scam may have visited websites, often legitimate websites, that have been victimized themselves by hackers who installed the dangerous code that can infect a computer by simply opening a webpage, causing the malware to be loaded onto the victim computer. In some other cases the infection can occur by clicking on an apparently authentic looking online advertisement, opening an email attachment, or simply doing other online activities. A lot of the victims clicked on links posted on Twitter, YouTube comments, instant messages, links illicitly planted in search engine results, and ads posted on legitimate websites. Many of these “drive-by” infections are explicitly designed to evade antivirus and anti-spyware software, and once on the computer, may destroy the ability of the antivirus and anti-spyware to provide any future protection. The authors of this malware are smart, and if the legitimate security software is indeed neutralized, it will still appear to load and even update, as well as display the program icon in the tray by the clock, giving the user a false sense of security that his computer is still protected. Not just is the computer no longer protected, but some of the malware sends out invitations to other cyber crooks to visit the buffet of purloined computers and help themselves to the bounty of goodies that may be available, as well as allow them to install additional spyware and malware on the victimized computer. Some of this illicit activity is done in a multi-level marketing or pyramid model where cyber criminals can pay the master crook for access, and then resell this access to others, who can then sell to others, each paying a fee or commission that is passed up the line to the master crook. This is not some obscure threat or risk that we face, but a very common occurrence. According to the security company F-Secure’s senior researcher Mikko Hypponen, one of these master criminals recently ran a contest offering a $36,000 Lexus sedan to the top-selling affiliate. According to a report in USA Today, in 2008, SecureWorks researcher Stewart infiltrated a Russian group known as the Baka Software gang. He accessed documentation showing one affiliate earned $146,525 in 10 days by spreading promotions for a worthless program, called Antivirus XP 2008, to more than 154,000 people, and closing sales to 2,772 of them. Another record showed five top Baka Software affiliates earning weekly commissions averaging $107,604. In another example of the degree of infection, Microsoft reported that its Malicious Software Removal Tool found one specific fake security program on 4.4 million computers! There are hundreds or thousands of these rogue programs currently infesting countless millions of computers. This begs an answer to a rhetorical question; would you really want to give your credit card number and security code to a crook that is probably in Russia? If you fell for this scam, contact your credit card company immediately and tell them what happened; also ask them to chargeback the charges made on your card by the crooks. If you feel that you have been victimized there are some free utilities that can likely detect and kill the malware. Since much of this malware will not be initially detected by the protective software on our computers, and may in fact neutralize the protection that we do have, simply performing a scan with the security software we already have may provide little or no benefit. It should also be noted that if the user cannot access the websites of the legitimate utilities that can detect and kill the malware, that is a sure symptom that the victim computer is under the control of the cyber crook. I am now receiving daily emails and phone calls from people describing a similar problem, complete with the typical symptoms of a scumware or scareware infection. I have had very good results with a few free utilities that will likely detect and kill the malware, and remove it from our machines. While there can be no guarantees that they will continue to work well, they do have a proven track record, and so far, have fared well in this cat and mouse game where the cyber crooks keep developing something new, and the security companies have to come up with a way to detect and kill the infection. My first choice is Malwarebytes Anti-Malware, available for download from www.malwarebytes.ORG. I emphasized the .ORG because there have been knock-off websites with other upper-level domains designed to explicitly scam people looking for the authentic product. Malwarebytes has both a free version and a commercial version. As is customary, the paid commercial version has more features and capabilities, but the free version is fine for detecting and removing most malware. Download it (probably from a link redirecting the user to CNet’s Download.com), install it, update it, and perform a scan. A quick scan will detect malware in the most common locations in just a few minutes, but a full scan will be much more thorough, and may take an hour or two to run. If the user cannot directly access the malwarebytes.org website, but is redirected somewhere else or totally blocked, then that is a sure sign that the computer has been hijacked. If this happens, download Malwarebytes to another computer, and copy it to a flash drive or CD, and install it from that media. It may also be a good idea to manually download the latest updated signature files (called rules), from www.malwarebytes.org/mbam/database/mbam-rules.exe, as access to the update server may also be blocked on the infected computer. Install the Malwarebytes on the infected computer, and then run the file mbam-rules.exe to update the software. If there is memory resident malware detected, Malwarebytes may direct the user to reboot the computer, and Malwarebytes will then automatically rerun at boot, killing the malware before it can load. Update it and rerun it frequently to help keep your computer clean of malware. The other utility that I use along with Malwarebytes to detect and kill malware is A-Squared Free, available for download from www.emsisoft.com/en/software/free/. A-Squared Free has a commercial sister product, A-squared Anti-Malware (www.emsisoft.com/en/) with more features and a memory resident component that provides real time protection in addition to the security software already on the computer. Both versions also integrate a full featured virus scanner to detect more than most other scanners. Download one of the versions of A-Squared (the free version is adequate if the user only wants to detect and remove malware and viruses), install it, and update it. Do a quick scan for a quick clean, and a deep scan to detect more potential threats. A-Squared also detects fragments, or pieces of code that may be a threat. Since a detector as sensitive as A-Squared may occasionally detect a file and label it as a threat, but it is really a false-positive, I choose to initially quarantine anything that is found, rather than delete it. That way, I can recover any files that may have been misdiagnosed. A-Squared is another product whose website is commonly blocked by malware, in order for the malware to protect itself from removal. If that happens, the A-Squared software can be downloaded to another computer, and copied to a flash drive or CD, and installed from that. An alternative designed explicitly for just such an occurrence is A-Squared Emergency USB Stick Files (download1.emsisoft.com/a2usb.zip). This version, which is kept up to date continuously on the Emsisoft website, is a 67mb download which contains all of the necessary files, is intended to be copied to a flash drive, and installed on the infected computer from that media. After the computer is cleaned of malware, the user will often notice a marked increase in performance. Do not be complacent, because you may still be victimized even though your computer is likely clean. Since your logons, user names, and passwords may have been compromised, it would be a good idea to change them, and repeat the scanning process on a frequent and regular basis. It may also be necessary to reinstall your security software, as it may have been destroyed by the malware. Consider installing another layer of security that works in addition to your security software, and enhances your protection, making a re-infestation less likely. The paid commercial versions of Malwarebytes or A-Squared Anti-Malware would be good choices, or a freeware product such as Threatfire (www.threatfire.com) would provide enhanced protection in addition to the traditional security software.
January 30, 2010 Another service that can download YouTube videos directly to your computer is Download-YouTube.com. This site is very easy to use from any browser. Simply open the desired YouTube page, and in the address bar of your browser insert the phrase "download-" (download hyphen) before the word "YouTube " in the URL, and the user will be directed to the Download-YouTube web page. On the Download-YouTube page either click on the "Click here to download" link, or right click and "Save Link As" or "Save target as" and the file will be downloaded in the native YouTube FLV format. One of the easiest free YouTube downloaders is Orbit Downloader, available at www.orbitdownloader.com. This download tool has some of the highest editor and user ratings on the popular download sites, and can accelerate downloading of not just YouTube videos, but most general downloads as well. Orbit Downloader integrates seamlessly into Internet Explorer, FireFox, and Opera, and includes a "Get It" button that appears when connecting to YouTube that offers a single click download. YouTube videos will be downloaded in their native FLV format.
January 23, 2010 |
January 09 & 16, 2010
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January 02, 2010
What You Need for that New Christmas Computer By Ira Wilsker
WEBSITES:
http://www.microsoft.com/security_essentials FREE Security software
http://www.cloudantivirus.com Panda Cloud Antivirus
http://free.avg.com Free AVG
http://www.avast.com Free Avast!
http://download.cnet.com/ZoneAlarm/3000-10435_4-10039884.html
Now that Christmas and Hanukkah are past, many of you have opened that new computer and delved deep into its features. Preliminary estimates are that a huge number of new computers were purchased this holiday season, and a refresher is in order such that you have some idea of what you may need with that new computer in order to maximize your computing security and safety.
Most new computers came with some edition of Windows 7 installed, which appears to be a vast improvement over the Vista which was installed on last year's holiday computers. Despite its improvements, Windows 7 still has vulnerabilities that need to be addressed. Contrary to some allegations floating in cyberspace, I am utterly convinced that some comprehensive security software is an absolute necessity. Almost all new computers come with a limited trial version of security software, such as Symantec's Norton, or a McAfee security product. While these trial versions are functional for their short life expectancies, the clear intent is to sell you a paid subscription, often at an un-discounted full retail price, once the limited version expires. Be aware that it is not the unbiased recommendation of your computer manufacturer that you purchase that particular software, but a crass commercial activity, whereby the computer maker may have been paid to put that trial version on the computer, and may receive a hefty commission in the event that you pay for a subscription. One major computer maker even offers not to install this commission bearing software on new computers for a $50 fee! That should be an indication of its value to the computer maker.
You need decent protective software, consisting, at a minimum, of antivirus, anti-spyware, and a firewall. While you may be protected for a short time by the trial versions of the security software factory installed on your computer, you have time to shop around for deals on security software, or to try some of the free titles that are available. Watch the Sunday sale books for the big box electronics stores and office supply companies, as many are offering deals, including high value rebates on major security titles. As I type this, one big box store in particular has three major comprehensive security suites advertised for between free and $10 after rebates; each package is good for up to three licenses, meaning that you can legally install it on up to three computers. Two of those three titles are the exact same products that are commonly installed as trial versions on new computers that offer an annual subscription for $40 to $70, but are available almost for free (after rebates) from the big box store.
Maybe holiday bills are coming due, and you would like to save some money by using some of the free security software that is available. There are some excellent freeware products available that will do as good a job protecting your new computer from cyber threats such as viruses, spyware, and malware as the expensive commercial software, and sometimes even better! One such free product is Microsoft's new Security Essentials which is a no frills but competent security product that can protect that new computer from viruses, worms, Trojans, and most other malware attacks. Fully compatible with Windows 7 (and Vista ), this product can be downloaded for free directly from Microsoft at www.microsoft.com/security_essentials. Another excellent free product that can protect your new computer from malware threats is Panda's new Cloud Antivirus, available at www.cloudantivirus.com. Other very reputable free products are AVG's AntiVirus Free Edition (free.avg.com) and Avast's Free Home Edition (www.avast.com).
You need to have a firewall to protect your computer from intrusions by outsiders, such as hackers and crackers. Users are often blissfully unaware that while online, inadequately protected computers are very commonly probed or attacked by miscreants looking for weak spots. A good firewall makes this more difficult as it acts like a guarded and locked gate that greatly restricts unauthorized access from others in cyberspace. The firewall built into Windows 7 is minimally adequate, and should be turned on unless supplanted by a third party firewall. Many of the comprehensive security suites include a firewall, and there are several free firewalls available. The most popular free firewall is ZoneAlarm Free Firewall, available for free download from CNet's Download.com download.cnet.com/ZoneAlarm/3000-10435_4-10039884.html. With almost 50 million downloads from CNet alone, the ZoneAlarm Free Firewall is probably the world's most widely used free firewall, and it has well earned that distinction.
One very strong warning is appropriate here; do not, under any circumstances, purchase security software that first appears as a popup window on your new computer and informs you that you are infected with a raft of viruses and Trojans, and that for a fee, you can download its product and forever rid yourself of the threats. This is a scam known in the trade as scareware or scumware and is often worse than useless, as it often installs even more malware on your computer and protects you from nothing, and possibly even opens up your computer to a wider attack by key loggers, password stealing Trojans, and other terrible threats.
Something that is often overlooked that is a threat to computers is the electricity that is essential to operate them. In reality, we do not always receive clean electricity, but instead receive power that varies and has surges, spikes, and other forms of electrical noise. Bad electricity, mostly in the form of power surges can kill a computer quicker than a bullet can. Another imperative is a good quality surge suppressor which should infallibly be used between the computer's power plug and the wall socket. A surge suppressor may look somewhat like a common power strip, but its internal electronics are dramatically different. Look for a UL 1449 label indicating that the suppressor meets UL standards, and the higher the joule rating and faster the response time, the better. I carry a small surge suppressor in my laptop case, and have a larger one (actually a UPS or Uninterruptible Power Supply) attached to my desktop computer. Many surge suppressors also come with connections to protect phone (and fax) lines, network cables, and TV cables, all of which can carry electrical noise and power spikes to the equipment. Bad electricity can instantly fry sensitive computer components, and a good suppressor offers some valuable protection. Most of the time the user will never know that a suppressor just saved their precious electronic equipment from certain destruction, as it typically performs its tasks silently. Suppressors do wear out and need to be replaced periodically, with failure often indicated by an LED showing that the suppressor is no longer protecting the equipment.
There are other useful items for that new computer that will increase its functionality and longevity. More memory will improve performance up to certain limits; 32 bit Windows 7 can use up to 4 gigs of memory, and the 64 bit Windows 7 can utilize much more than that. Memory is readily available and can often be installed by the user, but may not be cheap. I recently spent about $50 (after rebate; $75 before rebate) for 4 gigs of additional memory for my 64 bit Windows 7 machine, and there was an increase in performance.
That new laptop really needs a good case to protect it from bumps and physical shocks. Laptop and notebook computers are often fragile creatures, and need substantial protection from physical harm. Get a good carrying case for your size laptop, and be sure that it has a lot of padding on all 6 sides and gives the computer adequate protection from all directions. You may never know when that case protected you from a cracked screen or worse, which would have either been a very large repair bill, or an otherwise useless computer. Play it safe, and get and use a good case for your laptop.
My late grandmother Dora had an old-world expression that she said anytime anyone in my family made a major purchase or received a major gift, and I am wishing the same for you and your new computer, Use it in good health!