Finding pictures isn't easy

This isn't a recent picture, because our flowers aren't that far along yet this year but we're hoping. This is a collage from 2008.

A friend is shopping for a new computer to replace his old one, and some of the suggestions I offered him may be useful to others as well. For example, a lot of new computers these days come with sample or demo or trial versions of some popular software, like an office program perhaps, or an anti-virus suite, or one for handling your pictures and videos. What they aren't saying is that a lot of that stuff is either already built into Windows 7, or is freely available on the web if you do a little hunting.

For a complete free office suite, have a look at this one.

For a very good free anti-virus, try this one.

Avast 6 even in its free version has features you can't even get in some of those widely-advertised other brands, and it does a very good job too. You really should check it out.

And if you're offered a trial of PowerDVD, and you likely will be, just remember that Windows 7 has a built-in program called Windows DVD Maker, as well as Windows Media Player, and  Windows Media Center. That PowerDVD program is only of benefit to you if you purchase its Ultra version which allows you to play Blu-ray disks, and costs between $75 and $100 - and that only helps you if you already have a Blu-ray Player installed. I hasten to add that your standard DVD player such as the kind that comes with your new computer does NOT play Blu-ray disks, which require a whole other player, and there's no magical program that can convert your standard model into the Blu-ray kind, because it's all about the lasers used to code or decode the disks. Without the right ones, it's back to the shop. So try out the stuff that comes with your new machine before you spend big bucks. And remember that there's a lot of good freebies out there, if you do some searching. Some of them are even easier to use than the "standard equipment" versions, and work just as well or better.