PortableApps
There are multiple portable app repositories and there are many more portable versions of software not included among some of the more popular repositories. I have mentioned portable apps in previous posts. The repository I turn to the most is portableapps.com.
Why portable apps. Okay older-timers remember back in the day when the application was one file, mytool.exe, etc. Remember before Microsoft created the Registry for Windows 95. It was simple, it was a few files, there were no pesky "installers" or incomplete uninstalls. Everything was contained in its own directory and when you got sick of it you just deleted the thing. Now don't get me wrong DLLs and shared components have their place, but I think the windows world of programmers have gotten a bit carried away.
I like portable apps because they don't dirty up your system, they don't pollute your registry, they are usually light weight, and faster than the full blown app. You might also be surprised at how many of them have all the same feature sets. Or those that drop features, how you didn't really need or use that feature anyways.
But wait there is more. What about the college kids that don't have a PC and use school and internet cafe PCs. Get yourself a nice thumbdrive, load up your favorite portable apps, browser, word processor, RSS reader, etc. All you settings, bookmarks, favorites are where ever you go.
But wait, Act now and we'll throw in this bonus offer. You won't leave data, behind. Browsing history stays on your thumb drive not the PC, chat logs, cookies, images, virtually no evidence is left behind that you were there. **Note check and verify the behavior of the app, all apps are not crated equal, some may leave various artifacts on the system, this is not a get out of jail free card. For example Windows will still keep a log that a USB device was connected to the system. A good forensics analysts can still track you.
Portable apps, give them a go.
PortableApps
18 July 2013
16 July 2013
Foxit Reader / PDF-XChange Viewer
Foxit Reader
PDF-XChange Viewer
We have mentioned PDFs in the last two posts. While a small utility to create PDF documents is great, how do you interact with the PDF files you have created, or other PDFs that you download from third parties.
I mention to tools here, Foxit and PDF-XChange. I have personally just started to use these tools as an alternative to Adobe PDF Reader. I mention these two tools specifically because they both have portable installers.
Both applications have more options and features beyond simply reading or viewing PDFs both can do text searching, PDF-XChange allows for limited editing, FoxIt allows for the adding a digital signature (rubber stamp).
Both applications have had their share of vulnerabilities, often attributed to weaknesses in the PDF format itself. While security through obscurity is not a recommend action, it does sometimes have a place, and each of these two tools has the advantage of not being as big a target as Adobe to the malware creators.
Give one or both of these two a spin and see if you don't like them better than your current PDF reader.
PDF-XChange Viewer
Foxit Reader
PDF-XChange Viewer
We have mentioned PDFs in the last two posts. While a small utility to create PDF documents is great, how do you interact with the PDF files you have created, or other PDFs that you download from third parties.
I mention to tools here, Foxit and PDF-XChange. I have personally just started to use these tools as an alternative to Adobe PDF Reader. I mention these two tools specifically because they both have portable installers.
Both applications have more options and features beyond simply reading or viewing PDFs both can do text searching, PDF-XChange allows for limited editing, FoxIt allows for the adding a digital signature (rubber stamp).
Both applications have had their share of vulnerabilities, often attributed to weaknesses in the PDF format itself. While security through obscurity is not a recommend action, it does sometimes have a place, and each of these two tools has the advantage of not being as big a target as Adobe to the malware creators.
Give one or both of these two a spin and see if you don't like them better than your current PDF reader.
PDF-XChange Viewer
Foxit Reader
15 July 2013
CutePDF Writer
CutePDF Writer
CutePDF Writer is a very nice light weight app for creating PDF documents. CutePDF Writer is less an application that you interact with and more like a shim that is installed between your PC and printer.
Once CutePDF Writer is installed it displays as a printer destination. Simply print the document or file you want to convert. Select CutePDF Writer as your printer. Select where to save the output file. You now have your document saved as in PDF format.
CutePDF Writer
CutePDF Writer is a very nice light weight app for creating PDF documents. CutePDF Writer is less an application that you interact with and more like a shim that is installed between your PC and printer.
Once CutePDF Writer is installed it displays as a printer destination. Simply print the document or file you want to convert. Select CutePDF Writer as your printer. Select where to save the output file. You now have your document saved as in PDF format.
CutePDF Writer
14 July 2013
Libre Office
Libre Office
Libre Office, think MS Office but free.
It does all the same stuff, I can open most if not all documents created with MS Office.
If you really need more portability between devices and programs, just convert your final doc into a .pdf.
This is actually preferable anyways as the end users ability to make further changes to the doc is very limited if not completely removed.
Libre Office
Libre Office, think MS Office but free.
It does all the same stuff, I can open most if not all documents created with MS Office.
If you really need more portability between devices and programs, just convert your final doc into a .pdf.
This is actually preferable anyways as the end users ability to make further changes to the doc is very limited if not completely removed.
Libre Office
13 July 2013
Greenshot
Greenshot
Greenshot is an awesome little tool if you do lots of screen shots. Especially handy for creating detailed instructions and how to guides.
Greenshot will drop an icon in the task bar for easy activation, or you can use a number of keyboard shortcuts to activate the app.
Once a region of the screen has been marked and captured, you can re-capture the same region at a later time. This feature is exceptionally handy when doing screen shots of an install process where the same window is updating through various steps and options.
Once a region is captured you can send to to a number of outputs from the system 'clipboard' to your email client, to a word processor, to an image manipulator, etc.
There are other similar tools but of those I have used I prefer Greenshot.
Greenshot
Greenshot is an awesome little tool if you do lots of screen shots. Especially handy for creating detailed instructions and how to guides.
Greenshot will drop an icon in the task bar for easy activation, or you can use a number of keyboard shortcuts to activate the app.
Once a region of the screen has been marked and captured, you can re-capture the same region at a later time. This feature is exceptionally handy when doing screen shots of an install process where the same window is updating through various steps and options.
Once a region is captured you can send to to a number of outputs from the system 'clipboard' to your email client, to a word processor, to an image manipulator, etc.
There are other similar tools but of those I have used I prefer Greenshot.
Greenshot
11 July 2013
GIMP
GIMP
GIMP, the GNU Image Manipulation Program. Think free photoshop. MS Paint is okay if all you want to do is shrink the resolution of a photo or for making some quick screen shots. However, when you really want to play with pictures GIMP is the tool of choice. It rivals any features and function of multi-hundred dollar applications.
"bring out the gimp"
GIMP
GIMP, the GNU Image Manipulation Program. Think free photoshop. MS Paint is okay if all you want to do is shrink the resolution of a photo or for making some quick screen shots. However, when you really want to play with pictures GIMP is the tool of choice. It rivals any features and function of multi-hundred dollar applications.
"bring out the gimp"
GIMP
Pidgin
Pidgin
So we got some security patch monitoring, we have anti-malware installed, we have test driven some alternate browsers and a few privacy extensions.
Now you want to start replacing the daily use tools for something free, and more robust.
Enter Pidgin, the universal chat client.
Pidgin supports virtually all the protocols,
AIM, Bonjour, Facebook, GoogleTalk, IRC, MSN, XMPP. Yahoo, SILC and more. If you need to send a message Pidgin can probably do it. Pidgin is also available for Windows, Linux, Mac. On of the major benefits to Pidgin is its native support for SILC. What is SILC you say? Think encrypted IRC. Pidgin also has numerous add-ons such as OTR, off the record, to reduce the logs that are retained from conversations. It is the best of both worlds providing flexibility and optional privacy/security.
Pidgin also has a good language support and spell check capability.
My only real complaint with Pidgin is that on the Windows client the user data is directly tied to the logged on account of the windows host. This is not the case on the *nix clients. So if you want to use an alias on Windows you have to also have an alias Windows account from which to run the app.
Keep in mind also that if you want to be secret squirrel and keep your communications private you can only control what is on your local client. Familiarize yourself with the practice and policies of the server and/or service to which you are connecting. If you user server werecordeverything.com just because you clear the logs on your client does not mean that there is not a copy being saved on the server.
But if you don't want to install multiple service specific clients or if you want a common look and feel across multiple systems, give Pidgin a try.
Pidgin
So we got some security patch monitoring, we have anti-malware installed, we have test driven some alternate browsers and a few privacy extensions.
Now you want to start replacing the daily use tools for something free, and more robust.
Enter Pidgin, the universal chat client.
Pidgin supports virtually all the protocols,
AIM, Bonjour, Facebook, GoogleTalk, IRC, MSN, XMPP. Yahoo, SILC and more. If you need to send a message Pidgin can probably do it. Pidgin is also available for Windows, Linux, Mac. On of the major benefits to Pidgin is its native support for SILC. What is SILC you say? Think encrypted IRC. Pidgin also has numerous add-ons such as OTR, off the record, to reduce the logs that are retained from conversations. It is the best of both worlds providing flexibility and optional privacy/security.
Pidgin also has a good language support and spell check capability.
My only real complaint with Pidgin is that on the Windows client the user data is directly tied to the logged on account of the windows host. This is not the case on the *nix clients. So if you want to use an alias on Windows you have to also have an alias Windows account from which to run the app.
Keep in mind also that if you want to be secret squirrel and keep your communications private you can only control what is on your local client. Familiarize yourself with the practice and policies of the server and/or service to which you are connecting. If you user server werecordeverything.com just because you clear the logs on your client does not mean that there is not a copy being saved on the server.
But if you don't want to install multiple service specific clients or if you want a common look and feel across multiple systems, give Pidgin a try.
Pidgin
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
