Computer software, for both personal and business use, can be expensive -- and it's among the first places where people make an effort to cut corners, or find alternatives. Unfortunately, probably the most commonly-used method is also probably the most dangerous one, and could land you in a whole lot of trouble, along with destroying your computer and costing you tens of thousands of dollars in data recovery -- if it's even possible in Avira Antivirus Pro License Key the first place.
But cheer up! In this short article, I'm going to exhibit you how to own your cake and eat it too -- and it'll be a better quality cake than you could ever buy. Does that sound too good to be true? Read on, and I'll prove it.
The Wrong Way
You know this 1: all you've got to accomplish is ask your friend -- the main one who's so great at finding those "cracked" programs on the Internet -- to burn you a CD... MS Office, Word, whatever, he'll be very happy to oblige. In reality, he's just found this great site in Eastern Europe that's got everything you've ever dreamed of!
As is usually the case with this kind of "free" software, there's an invisible cost -- and it might just become more than you bargained for.
For a very important factor, a lot of the so-called "cracked" software contains viruses -- and nowadays, those tend to be more than just a prank. Much of it's distributed by organized criminal groups that use those viruses to take over your computer and put it to use as part of their'botnet ', a network of computers that does anything from sending spam to cracking bank security -- all without your knowledge. Obviously, this makes your computer run more slowly, uses up a lot of your network bandwidth, and possibly fills up your disk with incriminating material.
Even when the "warez" you got didn't come with that sort of infection, an illegal or unregistered copy of commercial software can usually be switched off, on the Internet, by individuals who wrote it (example: research'Windows Genuine Advantage angers Chinese'in Google.) Imagine having your computer turn off in the center of a business day... imagine all the computers in your company doing so. Not just a good risk to take, right?
You are able to argue this time, but... really, you're legally and morally in the incorrect once you do this. It's only not really a good position to be in, especially if you're trying to run a business.
The Right Way
Welcome to the world of Open Source software, where in actuality the rules are completely different.
Downloading software? Sure -- but you don't have to invest hours and hours looking for special "wareZ d00ds" sites; individuals who write the software ensure it is available right at their site. Free. Yes, really free. Free of legal tangles, and more often than not at zero cost.
Safety from viruses? Yep, got that. You see, the main Open Source culture is to help make the code available along side every program -- and any programmer taking a look at the code would be able to spot a virus and eliminate it. Problem solved.
Want to offer copies away? Feel free; in reality, it's encouraged.
Whether you're using it personally or for business, you have nothing to worry about: you're not breaking any laws. Sure, it's little of a problem for some people... but it's easier to to be on the proper side than the wrong one.
So, What Sort of Software is Available?
You can find tens of thousands of Open Source programs available, for literally every application you could imagine. Here are my seven favorite software tools, listed by category:
Web Browser: Mozilla Firefox -- Chances are, you're already using it. It passed 500 million downloads back in 2008, and hasn't slowed down since. A lot of people simply call it "the world's best browser ".
Mail Reader: Mozilla Thunderbird -- Thunderbird provides a large feature set, supporting all standard email protocols and extensions. Additionally it features a built-in feed reader and spell checking, along with an integral USENET news reader, along with a wide array of "add-ons" -- freely-downloadable software plugins to extend its functionality.
Office Suite: OpenOffice -- includes a phrase processor (Writer), spreadsheet (Calc), presentation software (Impress), drawing and graphing tool (Draw), something for creating equations and formulas (Math), and a database, reporting and form tool (Base). Reads Microsoft Office files, too.
Photo Editor: GNU Image Manipulation Program (The GIMP) -- GIMP has been in continual development since 1995. It has powerful painting tools, support for layers, channels, and filters, multiple undo/redo, and editable text layers.
CD/DVD Burner: InfraRecorder -- supports nearly all different formats including rewritable disc, multi-session disc and dual-layer DVDs; audio CDs can be created with just a couple simple drag and drops. Other important features include disc copying, audio CD ripping, ISO generation, and burning images. For sale in more than 20 languages.
Media Player: VLC -- this is a flexible media player designed for just about any os including portable/handheld computers. VLC plays most of the common media formats, both video and audio, along with DVDs and today's popular DivX and MPEG4 movies. Most streaming media is supported as well, including Windows Media (wmv) and QuickTime. Advanced features incorporate a skinnable GUI and playing media directly from ISO files. VLC is also available as a Firefox plug-in and as an ActiveX component, rendering it simple to see any embedded video format during your browser.
Archiver: 7-Zip -- 7-Zip is a wonderful file archiver that supports the following formats for packing/unpacking: 7z, ZIP, GZIP, BZIP2 and TAR -- and the following for unpacking only: RAR, CAB, ARJ, LZH, CHM, Z, CPIO, RPM and DEB. It integrates well to the Windows shell (right click menu). 7-Zip is also for sale in 60 languages.