Songbird is my new favorite music management software. Why? Because with it I can organize songs on my desktop and explore music throughout the web.
Using the Mozilla platform, Songbird allows me to browse the web searching for songs while keeping track of my music collection on my computer. I can easily find music tracks available on a site to play them, download them, or dig deeper through different web pages to find more stuff on the bands and artists I like.
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A desktop publishing (DTP) software is mainly used to produce documents such as brochures, newsletters, newspapers, and even books. If you’ve heard or worked with Adobe’s PageMaker you’ll probably be happy to know there is an open source “alternative” project called Scribus.
Although Scribus doesn’t work with the file formats created by the other proprietary programs (ie. Adobe’s InDesign), it can work between these softwares through svg, eps, or pdf file formats.
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I’ve recently had to tweak two Windows computers because they were acting too sluggish. When I checked the processes running, I found several MS Live apps running and also when searching on the list of programs installed, there were several more MS programs installed. Microsoft really tries to push their products. Which is why I really don’t like to use their tools, even freewares.
aMSN is a MSN instant messaging client (aka Live Messenger) that you can install and run without noticing a difference from the proprietary original software.
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ClamWin is a good open source antivirus program for Windows (the Unix version is called Clam AV, the engine behind Clam Win).
From my tests it has a nice detection rate. It has automatic downloads, shell integration (where you can use its functions through right-click). It also has plug ins for email verification.
The bad thing about ClamWin is that it doesn’t have (yet) a real-time scanner so you’re left at manually run system checks.
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If you have important document files you want to keep safe on your computer the best way to go is with TrueCrypt. This program allows you to create an encrypted volume where you can store files, programs, or even an entire operating system.
This program is very simple to use. You first create the volume you want with its size, mount the volume (where it will appear as a real disk), and start packing it with files.
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Nowadays you can find several really good open source or freeware BitTorrent clients. Why choose Deluge? Because…
it is open source: you’ll be much safer against having a sneaky hidden process running on your computer; it is multiplatform: if you use (or you’re planning to use) more then one operating system, you can install Deluge wherever you want: on Linux, MacOS X, or Windows. Choosing multiplatform apps you’re more likely to remove yourself from the claws of proprietary operating systems.
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