SITE NEWS FROM MARTIN O'SULLVIAN:

A friend of mine gave me such a nice compliment on this site that it inspired me to do an update when I really didn't intend to do one until November or December. So let's call this the Autum update. I will keep my usual ramblings to a minimum, and go right to the freebies. Ohhhhhhhhhhh how I love freebies!

Move down to the freebies to read more details about what this update has to offer, and don't forget you can click on my past updates link to view an archive of all previous updates.

1) Justin.tv - A site to view live streams of movies, TV, and live sports
1b) Honorable mention to myp2p, ovguide, and hulu.com
2) PagePlus SE - An amazing rare free program. Full Desktop publishing (brochures, flyers, invitations, cards, etc.)
3) Photobucket - Why you should have this, even if you store your pictures on Facebook, and elsewhere
4) Avast Anti Virus Free home edition
4B)Free Firewall, adware/spyware, and Windows Cleaner


See a picture below? too small? Just hover your mouse over it and it will expand to a larger view.

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justin.tv

Let's start off with a wonderful free online service. If anyone ever reads this site, they know I love free TV and movies. Well, this is kind of like that, but yet different at the same time. Justin.tv is live video feeds of movies, sports, and a varied amount of other categories. Here is a real example. Bret Favre is now a Viking. I wanted to see his first game as a Viking, but in my New Jersey area the game was not being televised. It was being televised on local Fox in Minnesota. I popped on Justin.tv, and there was the game. I watched a great quality picture in full screen mode. A few days later I felt like watching a movie. I went to Justin.tv to see what was being shown. I watched THE ILLUSIONIST, 300, and the new Star Trek movie ALL IN ONE DAY! (Easy to do when you throw your back out and all you can do is not move other than to shift the pain lol). All in high quality. No player needed, as you just watch the movie on the web site. Just pick the category and check it out what is love on Justin.tv.

click here to visit Justin.tv

Hover mouse on picture to expand


This next screen shot shows the small view of the movie (or whatever you watch). Notice the square on the bottom right. Click that and the movie will play in full screen mode. Escape key to return to normal size. These are LIVE channels, so you do have to catch the movie in the beginning, but I often do. The screen shot is from the movie Proposal starring Sandra Bullock and Ryan Reynolds.




TIP: I do have to be honest and tell you for free movies and TV I use Hulu.com, and other free movie and TV sites sites (ovguide.com) more than justin.tv. With Justin.tv sometimes in the middle of a sporting event or movie it may stop, and tell you the channel was ended from streaming due to copyright stuff, so they pull the channel for 24 hours. This I find happnes less than 10% of the time. Also I prefer myp2p for live NFL sports ( http://www.myp2p.eu/index.php?part=sports ). Also a good idea to download FREE Sopcast. Google sopcast. download and install, sign in as anonymous and in myp2p any football game with the sopcast link will play. If you see "Other" as the link this usually means the game plays on the website and no program is needed. Also TVants, and TVUplayer come in handy for myp2p (both free). And Myp2p is for all sports, not just the NFL. I covered Myp2p in a past update so you can view my archives for more info.

PagePlus SE Desktop Publisher

Did you ever have the need to make a great flyer, Brochure, business cards, business envelopes, invitations, and you try to use the programs you already have, but they fall short of getting the result you have in your head? Freeserif is a company that offers many free programs (about 5 or 6). However, their Desktop Publisher is the best. Not only is it a free Desktop publisher, but in the world of freeware, desktop publishers are almost non existent. In fact, I only know of one other, and it is a very technical program. This program anyone can do, at any age. Great for school projects too. I have reviewed this program in the past, but decided to throw it in again for the purpose of your children's possible needs for school. Not just for kids though. I have used this program to write a beautiful thank you card for those that came to my mothers funeral. The woman who owns Trinka's funeral home said she was stunned by how professional it looked, and also said she never saw a nicer thank you card. Nicer even then the ones she would have provided.

PagePlus was also used by me and my son a few years back to make an incredible brochure for a school project. I have used it for business cards, invitations, and so many tasks. It truly is a full Desktop Publisher, with a look and feel like a visual word processor. Oh, and get this... their site has over 500 free templates, full manuals, and more... all free. The birthday card templates are great, and in a pinch, I have used that too. My screen shot below is a birthday card, but there are so many other templates. Use your own imagination to the uses you could get out of it. HEY IT'S FREE! Here are some of the things you can do with this amazing free program using their templates, or making your own: * Greeting cards in all categories (birthdays, congratulations, etc.)
* Brochures
* labels
* Posters
* Banners
* Business stationary
* Business cards
* Calendars
* Invitations
* Postcards
* Flyers
* Menus
and more
click hereto visit Freeserif PagePlus SE, and also where to download all the free templates Below are a few screenshots. This program is so great for the whole family it deserves a few, not just one.
Hover mouse to enlarge photo:








Photobucket

Many of you may already be aware of Photobucket. A free online gallery for all your pictures. I understand that Facebook, and so many other places can store your pictures, but I want to get into why Photobucket is valuable even if you have your pictures stored on Facebook, Myspace, etc.

I use Photobucket for many reasons. The least being just a place to store pictures, although that is a reason onto itself. Here is a list of why I have Photobucket...

A) I stress all the time the three most important words in computers is BACKUP, BACKUP, BACKUP. If your computer crashes, or even if Facebook becomes a paid outlet and you decide not to continue using it, it is nice to know that Photobucket has them all in one place in case of emergencies.

B) It is a great way to have a public (or private) URL where all your family, friends, and others can view your pictures if they so were inclined to do so. You may not want all your relatives, friends, or whoever to be on your Facebook list, but you may wish to share your pictures of your vacations, etc. with anyone. In my case I have a photobucket account that is an ongoing project for my family, and relatives that stores pictures from the early 1900s to present (or will when complete). They get the URL and can view and add comments if they wish. To show you what I am talking about you can click on O'SULLIVAN FAMILY NJ to see how one can set up an account. Folders on the left, and folders within folders. Click on a picture and it can even be full screen, slide show, etc.

C) While this web site is all about freebies I once in a while mention a thing or two that is not free. This part is one of those thingys. With Photobucket, friends, relatives, etc., can order prints and it is very inexpensive (15 cents I believe).

D) Something I plan to do this Christmas is the gifts part of Photobucket. Cups, mousepads, T-shirts, etc. can be ordered for gifts. While I am aware not many people would want to have my mug on a mug (lol), I do plan on making gifts for my sister and brother for Christmas of my parents, or places. See below what Photobucket offers as gifts.

E) You can also order a CD of all your pictures, download the entire album as another form of BACKUP.

F) If you share your password and ID with your immediate family, or relatives everyone can add their photos making it a huge database for your entire family. Like a picture genealogy.
G) You can share your Photobucket pictures (individually) on Twitter, Facebook, etc with a simple link
... and I am sure there are reasons I have not even thought of yet as to why have something like a Photobucket account, and you may come up with your own reasons.

The Gift section of photobucket: Hover mouse to expand



(True story: As I am writing this update about Photobucket my sister just emailed me about prints she just received from Photobucket! What are the odds of that! Ha! She said they came out great!)


A glimpse at Photobucket:




Avast Free Anti Virus

Time for a serious, free, money saving program. This deals with security. In the past I have touted a free anti virus program called AVG. AVG anti virus was, and still is an incredible anti virus program. However, after using it for several years I removed it. I will tell you why in a moment. First I want to tell you why I use FREE anti virus programs. Norton's and Mcafee are great anti virus programs (with a built in firewall), but each year they ask you to pay 20 to 30 dollars just so you can keep updating them to have the latest virus databases. In this way, you never own the program. You are really just renting it. AVG updates every day forever, free! The program is so good that Norton's and Mcafee have tried to sue AVG for offering their product for home use for free, but have failed to win. So why did I remove it from my computer? AVG, did a revamp of their program. When it went from version 7.5 to 8.01, the new version adds 3 minutes to your start up time when you turn your computer on! THREE MINUTES! all because of one file avgrsx.exe. It takes that long for it to load. I find that to be unacceptable. I, and many others I have discovered, have written to AVG to explain why we all were uninstalling it.

So, it was time to do a little investigating for a new free anti virus program. One that would not sacrifice the quality of protection, and is also an award winning freeware program. I have found such a program. Yes, of course free. Avast is also a big name in the security niche. It has all the features of AVG, and even one that AVG doesn't have. Besides the ability for auto scheduling of scans, or manual scans whenever you wish, it also checks incoming emails (as AVG does) for viruses or Trojans. It also watches in the background in real time, and updates forever for free. Thus, like AVG saves money each year opposed to Norton's and McAfee. However, what Avast does that impressed me, was it makes a backup of every file and stores it in its own database. If an important file becomes infected, and can not be healed, It simply gets rid of the file, and plucks the same file from the database. Making the attack as if it never happened. It builds this database every three weeks automatically, so the database is always current. This task is best to be done when you are asleep as it does take over an hour to do, but I find it an intelligent way of combating an attack that is too much for any anti virus program. Yes, truth is there are many viruses that can bypass any anti virus program, and this database is a great way to prevent the toughest virus from getting its way.

Read more about Avast anti virus (free version) at:
Avast anti virus

Hover mouse to enlarge photo:
Below is the look of Vista, but there are many "Skins" that can be chosen on their site so you can customize how the program looks.


TIP: If you are ever hit with a virus that you feel has compromised your computer, no matter how much security you have installed, one of the best ways to get rid of a devastating virus is to simply use your system restore and pick a date to a day or a week before the virus gotchya. Your computer would then have no trace of it at all. I only advise this when all else fails.

TIP 2: Although not really part of this update, I want to mention some other programs I covered in the past to go along with a free anti virus program. A complete security system includes A) Anti Virus B) Firewall C) Adware, malware, spyware cleaner, temp files cleaner.
If you do decide to use a free anti virus program, please also get the following free security programs for a complete security fortress.

The best firewall: Zone Labs ZONE ALARM firewall free version. It is the best firewall there is. After install, select free version and not the 15 day trial of the paid version. Click Hereto get read and download it.

The best anti spyware/adware free program: A-squared. Also after install select free version and not the 15 day trial. You will be asked to run an update before you use it for the first time. Do so. You can read, and download it from Here

The best cleaner for temp files where the Malware and Trojans set up files reside, as well as cleaning all temp files is not just one. There are so many good ones out there. One being Eusing Windows Washer. You can read about it, and download it from Here

However, you may also wish to visit snapfiles.com and type in CLEANER in the search box (check off FREEWARE afterwards just to see the freeware only). Then you can view what is offered and pick one that perhaps is inline with your computer experience (Beginner, intermediate, expert. But the one above is a good one for everyone.


Snapfiles Free Programs

Click here to go to their site and check it out!

I am often asked where do I get or find these freebies (free programs or free services online). Well, I do tend to search for new ones all the time. However, each Monday of each week, even if I don't do updates on this site, I do to Snapfiles. Snapfiles has the best freeware of any site. So that is one of my secrets I am sharing with you. Just go to the above link, and on the upper right corner select FREEWARE. a list will load of so many categories you will be stunned. Want a free anti viruses program instead of paying each year? A free firewall? How about a free office suite? Maybe a free program to fix your registry? There are so many topics to choose from you will be stunned. All FREE, and more important... free of viruses, Trojans, malware, adware, spyware. Just free good programs. So before you go to the store to buy a program for your children for school, or for you, go to Snapfiles first and see if they have a program that can do what you need. With the money you save you can send me a Christmas Card! (or not).

Here is a partial screen shot of their site, Go see the whole thing! Place mouse over image to expand



Another great site for free programs in every category is Sourceforge. This is made up of entirely Open Source programs. This means people all over the world (The smart ones unlike me) contribute to add, and add, and add code to programs until the program is perfected. This is done by making the program code available to anyone to improve the program, then it is tested by pros to be deemed a completed software program. Some of the best free software is open source (Openoffice, The Gimp, Audacity, Ubuntu, etc.) If you need a program don't go to the store first. Check to see if Snapfiles, or Sourceforge has an alternative that does what you need... FREE!

Click here to go to Sourceforge and have fun exploring all the Freebies!







Don't like my music? Type in the search and play your favorite band or artist while you check out the freebies on this site. Or just press the pause or stop button.

I have so many music players that can be embedded into a web site, MySpace, Facebook, or any blog, but for the moment I like Dizzler. So even though it was part of a past update I decided to keep it around for a while. If you like it there is a small link below the player so you can get your own Dizzler. Many skins to choose from to change its looks. Make playlists of your favorites. If you download the desktop version you can even listen to AM or FM radio from all stations around the country.



So that concludes the update for The Fall of 2009. Move down to see even more freebies, leave a comment, ask me a question, or tell me a joke! etc. As for the next update? Who knows! I don't even know what I am doing ten minutes from now! So check back.

Sincerely,






Have a comment? As long as it's not a reminder that I owe you money, the Guestbook is a good place to leave one. Perhaps you have a question where to find a free program? The form after the guestbook is where to ask. I usually answer within 24-48 hours. Enjoy your day!



Click Here for my Blog of my past updates and freebies



I am now on Twitter! Click Here Don't know what I am doing yet Ha! but here it is!

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