New to the Big Bad Wild West Internet? Are you prone to drowning frequently in the tsunamic waves while surfing the World Wide Web? Don’t know why the heck some media files ask for their buddy Real Player? Well, here’s the answer to these headaches.
Google has recently launched another freebie service for download, Google Pack. In essence it is a marketing ploy to distribute loads of Google software, but the sweeten the package by allowing you to add your own software from a list. Here’s what they have to offer:
- Google Earth: This must-have app will literally make the world your oyster.
- Google Desktop Search: Haven’t tried it out since I like Yahoo! Desktop Search better. One problem is that it stores the index online, while Yahoo! does it offline. So a lost connection means goodbye to desktop search. The benefit of both over normal Windows search facility is that it is ‘search-as-you-type’, i.e., results are displayed instantly.
- Picasa: Google’s photo organizing software that allows you organize and edit photos. It also gives options for publishing online. For starters though, I would advice Adobe Photoshop 3.0 Starter Edition; Picasa is damn to cheery (like the doors in the Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy) for me to like it.
- Google Toolbar for Internet Explorer: Nice toolbar, but I like Great Quizzard’s Toolbar more.
- Mozilla Firefox with Google Toolbar: Another must-have. There’s a link for this at the starting of this blog.
- Ad-Aware SE Personal: Award-winning spyware and adware removal app.
- Norton Antivirus 2005 Special Edition: A 6-month subscription to that crap. OK, fine it works for beginners, but I use avast! 4 Home, although it’s not advisable for first-timers.
- Adobe Reader 7: Useful to read those PDFs.
- Google Talk: THE app used by Gmail user to, well, talk and chat.
- RealPlayer: My favorite media player. Believe me it can play EVERYTHING, except ‘.ogg’ files. Good for playing streaming video/audio.
- Trillian: A product of Cerulean Studios, this can connect to every IM account, like AOL, MSN, Yahoo!, Google, ICQ, etc.
- GalleryPlayer HD Images: Never even heard of it, but sounds fun if you own a broadband company.
Remember, you have the option to select the ones you want, or don’t. Also, this would take a very looooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooong time to download if you have a slow connection. Also, download it as a pack only if you are in a jiffy to join the cyber community, I like to search and hunt down software the old-fashioned way.
