2009 Links in Review, Part 1

This is the first Double Click column of 2010!  It is hard for me to believe but this is the beginning of the ninth year I have had the honor and pleasure of writing Double Click for all of my readers.  I am happy to continue as long as you like.  Please shoot me an email occasionally to let me know!  As usual…for my first column of the year and at the request of many emails I received, we will look at all of the Internet sites I mentioned last year.  So sit back and get your fingers ready.  By-the-way, if you are a clicker you can go to the DoubleClicks.info site and read the column the day it is published in the paper and actually click the links.

Here they are in their order of their appearance with short descriptions if needed.

• Open Office, a good free Microsoft Office substitute.
• Windows Live Mail, Microsoft’s free online email application.
• Thunderbird, another free email application.
• Avast!, a free antivirus and anti-spyware program.
• Windows Defender, Microsoft’s free application to protect your computer against pop-ups, slow performance, and security threats.
• Spyware Blaster, another app to protect against spyware, adware, browser hijackers, etc.
• Advanced System Care 3, free program used to maintain ands keep your computer running smoothly.  Note: some readers reported issues with this although it has worked well for me.
• Cuil.com, GoodSearch.com, Yahoo.com, Google.com, Live.com (now Bing.com) & Melzoo.com, various search engines (you know my favorite if you have read the column much).
• MySpace.com, Facebook.com & Twitter.com, three of the most popular social networks (twitter.com/rondoyle is the one that I use).
• Microsoft.com, the name says it all.
• Google Toolbar, the best of many browser toolbars, others mentioned; Alexa, AOL, Ask, Dictionary.com, Dogpile, eBay, MSN, Yahoo and Groowe).
• Google Desktop Search, Google application which enables you to very quickly and accurately search your local computer.
• TrueCrypt, application that allows you to encrypt your files for security purposes.
• Wallpaper Changer, allows you to change your desktop background at a specified interval. If you have Windows 7 you no longer need this.
• OnlineConversion.com, converts between most any type of measurements.
• Carbonite.com, Mesh.com & SkyDrive, cloud file storage; last two are owned by MS and are also free.
• Netflix & Blockbuster, DVD and digital movie rental sites.
• PayPal, eBay, iTunes , online payment and purchase sites.
• Hallmark & Dayspring, online e-card companies.
• Hamachi, a free hosted Virtual Private Network service that can securely connect computers on a network.

Next week we will visit part 2 of last year’s links.