The friends and family must haves.

There are a few apps I want to throw out there that are almost must have for your friends and family users. Most are Vista and Windows 7 but some can apply to the still using XP users.

With the exception of all XP users; this download adds the new features for Vista users and adds the missing features for Windows 7 users. Two main features that most home users will use most from these services are Live Photo Gallery and Mail. Most of the users I recommend this software to enjoy the Live Photo Gallery for the tagging and the new facial recognition process of organizing and enhancing their photos. While not perfect it gives Windows users a great free tool to manage photos in a fashion similar to iPhoto. The option to sign into your SkyDrive, Flicker, Facebook, YouTube, and others including the option to add a few select others such as Picasa Web etc. (Click the picture for the link to download.)

The second part to Live Essentials requires a Hotmail or Live mail account to access Windows Live SkyDrive. With SkyDrive you get 25 GB of online secure storage that you can use to upload Photos, use as a backup drive for computer files, or share files across multiple computers you may use. In addition to getting free online storage; with the Live account you have access to Office Online to edit Documents, Spreadsheets, Presentations, and One Note for Notes. None of these require the application installed on the computer but does require an active internet connection to change edit. (Click the picture for the link to signup.)

The next application I would like to share is Trillian Instant Messenger. We all know our family members use IM or Facebook to communicate every now and again. Trillian has a great interface, tons of options, and connects to almost every chat client you can throw at it. To include: Facebook, AIM, Yahoo!, GTalk, MySpace, IRC, Skype, and so on. Not only can it chat; it also sends you notifications on arriving emails for the attached accounts. For social sites such as Facebook you can view wall posts from friends and comment right inside the application without opening your browser. Double click and it brings you right to the page in you web browser. (Click the picture to download Trillian.)

The last application I want to include is TeamViewer. This is the best remote desktop application I have personally used over the years. It is free and has a Business solution for Premium users. Almost four days out of the week I tend to receive a call to work on a friends or family members computer. The first thing I tell them is to load this program. Once installed you receive a unique set of numbers that represent the computer it is installed on. It also provides a alphanumeric password that changes daily automatically. Or for the more worried user you can click and change it with one click if you like. It has the essentials needed to do almost anything such as; remote control, presentation, chat, file transfer, video and audio, and the option to record the session etc. A must have application if you ever need to work on your friends computer or just want to access your home computer from the office, smartphone, or laptop (thumb drive app, iPhone, and Android apps available). Click picture to download TeamViewer.)

Wise Registry Cleaner. Each plays a key role in keeping a computer running great. Though user error can never stop most problems that accumulate viruses, spam, and such. I can personally say after years of use practices and working in the I.T. industry these are the apps I recommend. All free and not to heavy in the resource area. A few quick details on their uses. Microsoft Security Essentials will scan you computer for virus and malware. ccleaner scans the hard drive and registry for temp file, unused data, ect. Basically rids all the things left unused. SpyBot S&D checks for spyware; usually downloaded from the internet and sends back data from your computer. Lastly Wise Registry Cleaner will rid the registry of unused components that can begin to degrade Windows. Hope this list will help users enjoy their computer use and aide in productivity.

Why all the hype Positive and Negative on the latest Windows OS's

All across the web we see Pros and Cons to Microsoft's latest Windows 7. Every blog, tech site, and news feeds have put out their input on the product. It has become such a heavy topic that it has drawn controversy from every corner. When the reality of the whole thing is; Microsoft has done the best their staff and developers can to produce a product within the business model they put together in delivering an OS around the every three year mark.

The many MS haters and Apple haters out there are going to criticize the OS and produce one sided opinions all day long. The end result will have very little to play on Microsoft's bottom line. Take a look at a couple of things Microsoft has to consider when they create a new OS. They know that no Mac user is going to fully convert to Microsoft. So they either conscious or subconscious (don't work for them so no facts) produce a UI that Mac lovers will purchase and run with bootcamp or completely virtual. You will not get that from Apple nor should you expect that. Microsoft is software centric. If the previous OS fails then they need to listen more closely to the community and fix what failed. While keeping in mind they're not going to please billions of users individually. If that were the case then they would lay the OS out like a Linux distro and you pick your favs. They attempt to at least put out a few versions with different options and price range but they keep to the core market they are approaching with each. They did that while improving compatibility in Windows 7. Microsoft is business first and consumer second. Their product has to fit the business model first and then adapt to the consumer. It has lacked to do this properly with Vista. That is why they had to go back to the drawing board and re-engineer Windows 7. I don't know of many businesses other than small businesses that ever upgraded to Vista.

The opinion that Vista was the worst OS: Well I upgraded when Vista came out and personally I would not completely put it on the worst side. Is it fast? Depends how much hardware you have! Is it slow? Depends on your tolerance! For those who say that Windows 7 is the greatest well guess what. It is only an improvement on the kernel from Vista. Sure some better code, performance tweaks, and UI changes have set it aside and to the norm people believe that it is a complete overhaul. So why should Microsoft not market it as such. Vista was a huge risk that Microsoft needed to take to make a serious change in their OS. I give them props for making that shift. We did at least get a more improved kernel. Vista was not the greatest but it functioned and provided some needed security that lacked from previous OS's. It is not like you have to upgrade from Windows XP or Vista to Windows 7.

To conclude; Microsoft is by no means a perfect solution. There is no perfect solution when it comes to computers. There never will be. There are only options and niche. If you love Apple then you sacrifice some gaming and office solutions. If you love Microsoft then you sacrifice simplicity, media to a point, and elegant design. If you love Linux then you are going in your own path the same way the three big names did in the beginning. So hype! Yeah that is why these three guys did their own basement work to begin with. They wanted it their way. To be known for what they think the OS should be. Like it or love it you at least have an option to have your OS of choice and they are almost to a point running along the same hardware. So I get the fanboyism. Though the post may look fanboy on the Microsoft side, I use variants of all three OS's everyday and IMO they are what they are and should stop being compared. They are OS's sure but each serve a different purpose.