Posts Tagged “reformat”

Or The Freeware Strikes Back.  Choose your title.  I won’t be offended.

Last week I published a post about some of my favorite freeware utilities that I like to use before I reinstall Windows.  They don’t need to be used exclusively before a reinstall, but they have proven to be very useful to me.  There are a few more free apps that helped me as I reformatted two different computers on five different occasions over the past few weeks so I thought I’d bring them to your attention.

ProduKey
With all of the product keys that are required to legally use software these days, it can sometimes be difficult to keep everything straight.  Produkey will scan your computer for installed Microsoft programs and then provide detailed information about them such as product keys and product IDs.  All that you need to do is run a scan and then print out the results.  It’s a very handy tool that no geek should be without.

Years ago, it used to be that when I needed a program, I’d either buy it or find somebody who could give me a copy.  With the internet the way that it is now, nearly every application you could want can be found online.  However, downloading copyrighted software poses its own set of problems that may not be worth the money you’d be saving by downloading the latest version of Adobe Photoshop.  Therefore, I propose an alternative: freeware.

Over the past few years, freeware has taken a giant leap forward.  Most people are familiar with applications such as Open Office and Linux that have taken a piece of Microsoft’s pie.  Whether these people have used these applications is beside the point.  My point is that there are viable alternatives to expensive programs out there that don’t cost a dime.  On this note, I thought that it would be fun to share some other free applications that I have fallen in love with over the years.

I would tend to think that I have a little more expirience using a computer than most people.  Not all people, mind you, but most.  I own a Mac and a PC and use Windows and OS X (sometimes at the same time).  I’ve had to teach myself how to recover from any sort of system crash in Windows, and that there isn’t really a way to recover from a crash in OS X (so don’t go screwing around in there).  But it wasn’t until this last weekend that I think I might have hit upon the fundamental difference between an Apple and a PC.