MEETING DATE
 Fri July 15th, 2005 

Victor Laurie Presents 
Finding Useful Free Software on the Internet

By Sandy Rand

On the Internet, you’ll find shareware and freeware programs. Shareware is not free. The author expects you to try the product and send a check to register if you decide to keep it. While you don’t have to pay for freeware, some authors encourage donations or even a post card thanking them (this is known as cardware).

There are many free programs, in a variety of categories, available on the Internet. They range from the very useful to the dangerous. Some of the best include Ad-Aware, Spybot-Search and Destroy, Mozilla Firefox, SpywareBlaster, ZoneAlarm and Adobe Acrobat Reader. How to find the good ones will be discussed and some examples of Vic’s personal favorites will be shown.

Vic Laurie is an outstanding speaker and has presented previously at BCUG meetings. In May 2003, he did Windows XP, Now or Later? Then, in October 2004, it was Safe Shopping on the Internet.

Victor Laurie received a Ph.D. in Physical Chemistry from Harvard University. He then joined the Chemistry Faculty, first at Stanford University, and subsequently at Princeton University. He began using computers as a research tool in 1956 and has been using them for a variety of purposes ever since. Now retired, he lectures frequently on computer topics and is especially interested in encouraging Senior Citizens to use computers. For more info, see Vic Laurie’s website, www.vlaurie.com.