The holidays are usually a great time of getting together with family and friends. I do not know how or if you are planning that this year, but I hope you have a great holiday season whatever you have decided.
Also, as I have been asked this year and others, “Why don’t you write about the best computer to buy for this Christmas?” Well, I have not done so for several years. However, now there are many, many hundreds of computers available and I do not have time or money to invest in each one so that I can let you know. My advice has been for a while to get a brand name, with a good guarantee, and to buy the highest number on any hardware available for the system that you can afford. (i.e., RAM, Hard Drive, CPU, etc.) You will be in pretty good shape.
Now, those of you who know me and read my articles also know that I am known as a tightwad, a miser, penny-pincher, cheapskate, and many other seemingly unflattering terms. If you listen to our show on WSVA Radio with Jim Britt and me, he will give you a few others. 
The reason is that I feel if I use a good, free program, why should I pay for a pro or advanced version? It usually does not provide much more in the way of benefits.
However, even I (the skinflint) have a few which I feel are worth purchasing. So here is what I feel are the most desirable paid apps, for me and maybe you. I have written about these previously and you may check out details at GrayHaired.Tech.
Malwarebytes is one of the best protection apps against malware. I pay for the full version which is usually $39.99/year. However, right now there is a holiday sale for only $23.99. Use this link if you are interested, ghtech.site/mwb-sale.
Revo Uninstaller, the best application uninstaller has other great features. It also has a sale this month. It is regularly $29.95/year and right now is only $17.95. That is for the Pro Portable version, not the standard version. The reason I suggest that version is it may be installed on multiple computers, ghtech.site/revo-sale.
Next on my list is Google One. If you have a Google account you already have 15 GB of free cloud storage, known as Google Drive. However, if you need a lot of online storage as I do, consider Google One. I need a lot of storage for the many projects, articles, work, video, and audio work I have done. Google One is affordable compared to others. I have the next size up at 100 GB for $1.99/month or save a little at $19.99/year. You can check out the other options at ghtech.site/googleone for prices and more information.
Finally, a toss-up of two good maintenance applications. CCleaner (ccleaner.com), $24.95/year and Glary utilities (glarysoft.com), $19.97/year. They both have an excellent free version, but I think the paid versions are even more worthwhile.
If you know of some you think are worth paying for or any that you wonder about, let me know. I will check those out and let you know.
Here is hoping for a better 2021 than 2020 so I leave you with prayers that we have a Happy New Year!
