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Yoda
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Whatever you do, don't click on a green box that says Download. You will get MySearch. It hijacked my browser Google Chrome. I had to uninstall Chrome, stood on my head but finally was able to remove it. I was trying to download a demo of Flight Simulator FSX to compare it with X-Plane 11 that I downloaded a couple of days ago. FS 2004 will not run in Win 10 apparently. Ironically, there seems to be no demo for FSX. Stupid me.
 
Over the years I have seen a lot of freeware that uses a "downloader" utility instead of allowing you to directly download the program you want. Typically when I see that a downloader program starts when you click "download", I abort the process. Downloader utilities frequently try to install unwanted stuff and change settings. Even if you are VERY careful reading all the verbiage that goes along with the download process it is easy to miss small print that says you are authorizing the program to install junk and change browser settings. I guess it is an unfortunate part of the world we live in now.
 
Basil - it was on a flight simulator board. Not to fear. I have seen that green box on other sites though. It promises maps, etc. What you get is a new browser. It works - but who wants it?
 
dklawson said:
Over the years I have seen a lot of freeware that uses a "downloader" utility instead of allowing you to directly download the program you want. Typically when I see that a downloader program starts when you click "download", I abort the process. Downloader utilities frequently try to install unwanted stuff and change settings. Even if you are VERY careful reading all the verbiage that goes along with the download process it is easy to miss small print that says you are authorizing the program to install junk and change browser settings. I guess it is an unfortunate part of the world we live in now.
Click to expand...

Exactly right. The interesting thing to me is that they tell you what they're about to do, but in such a way it's easy to miss.
 
When something is "freeware" the product is YOU.
 
Boink said:
When something is "freeware" the product is YOU.
Click to expand...

Probably true more often than not. However, there are some good programs available free. They are often provided free with the hope that you will buy the more functional, purchased version. A few programs that come immediately to mind are, IrfanView (image viewer/editor), VueMinder (a program similar to Outlook), and of course... MalwareBytes (to remove malware).
 
dklawson said:
Probably true more often than not. However, there are some good programs available free.
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Some more: Linux OS, Gimp (photo editing), Libre Office suite (word, excel, presentation program, database), Thunderbird (email). All of these work on Windows except for Linux, natch.
 
As part of my XP-8 upgrade (making the ridiculous Windoze 8 look and function like XP) was Outlook Express.
You can get OE Classic in a free version (I did). I had Thunderbird and it was...cumbersome for me, coming from all these years with OE.
 
Thanks for the list (programs). I only knew of a few.
 
GregW said:
Some more: Linux OS, Gimp (photo editing), Libre Office suite (word, excel, presentation program, database), Thunderbird (email). All of these work on Windows except for Linux, natch.
Click to expand...

Greg, I had not heard of Libre until your post. I made a quick visit to the company's website. If I read the overview correctly, it sounds like it can open files from similar Microsoft products. Is that correct? Are there limits on what versions? (For example, is Libre limited to opening Microsoft files created under older versions of Microsoft Word or Excel?)
 
Hi Doug,
Here is a screen grab from their User Guide. My version must be newer that the guide because it can open Word 2013 docx files according to the "Open" option from the file menu. Honestly, I don't use the program all that often.
writer.jpg
 
the only games I ever open are on steam
 
We used Open Office for years and moved to LibreOffice a couple of years ago. We've had no MS Office file compatibility problems that I know of. We use it daily for word processing (letters & manuals) and spreadsheets. It's an excellent package.
 
coldplugs said:
We used Open Office for years and moved to LibreOffice a couple of years ago. We've had no MS Office file compatibility problems that I know of. We use it daily for word processing (letters & manuals) and spreadsheets. It's an excellent package.
Click to expand...

I've been thinking about getting Open Office, but until now had not heard of LibreOffice. Why did you move? What is it about Libre that you like better than Open?
 
Basil said:
I've been thinking about getting Open Office, but until now had not heard of LibreOffice. Why did you move? What is it about Libre that you like better than Open?
Click to expand...

It appeared at the the time that OpenOffice development was slowing down & many of the folks had moved over to the LibreOffice effort. When we originally started working with OpenOffice, it was still proprietary and owned by Sun. Sun open-sourced it and it's bounced around several organizations for years. The Libre effort just seemed more stable to us.

Today I understand that the OO group has settled down & updating regularly again. Frankly, once you set a few options to your liking it's very hard to tell the difference between the two packages. Either one works fine.
 
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