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I’ve been seriously considering checking out Linux for a couple of years now. The only thing that’s been stopping me is the fact that I can’t use my favorite apps like Photoshop and Dreamweaver.

There are great open source alternatives available, but I’m mostly just too lazy to want to
relearn. Not to mention, Photoshop is the industry standard for professional graphics designers and web developers. I’ve invested a lot of time into Photoshop.

For those of you that are unaware of what Open Source is, it basically refers to a program in which the source code is available to the general public for use and/or modification from its original design free of charge. For a complete understanding, you can read more at the official website of the Open Source Initiative.
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There is some great software available that can easily replace the expensive popular ones. If you’re on a budget, then here’s a list of some great alternatives you can check into! I’m only going to list the most popular, but if you were to do a search on this, you’d definitely find more.

1) Windows This is of course the most obvious one, so we’ll start with it.

Alternatives:
Linux Taken straight from the Linux site. “Linux is a free Unix-type operating system originally created by Linus Torvalds with the assistance of developers all over the world. Linux is freely available to everyone.” Personally, I have always wanted to learn more about Linux and try it out, but I don’t want to have to give up Photoshop and other Windows and Mac based softwares I’ve already invested so much time into learning. Still might make the jump someday though.

2) Adobe Photoshop Probably the most well known and widely used graphics editing software.

Alternatives:
Paint.Net An open source bitmap drawing and editing application. Known for their simple and easy to use application with an intuitive user interface.

Gimp Probably the oldest and most well-known open source graphic application. It’s been around since 1995, and has become a widely used alternative to Photoshop. You can also checkout Gimpshop, it’s a modification of GIMP, intended to replicate the feel of Adobe Photoshop.

3) Adobe Dreamweaver This is the most widely used WYSIWYG editor on the market. The most expensive, too!

Alternatives:
Quanta Plus Steadily becoming a worthwhile competitor to the commercial web editors on the market. Quanta Plus’s features include multi-document interface, and WYSIWYG editor.

KompoZer It’s a wysiwyg HTML editor aimed towards advanced users. I’ve heard this comes equipped with a very good CSS editor.

4) MicroSoft Office Very expensive on it’s own.
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That brand new PC that you bought a while back inevitably slows down. This is caused by a number of things. Depending on how computer savvy you are, will depend on how many different things are slowing your PC down. Some people regularly delete files like temporary internet files and cookies by doing a Disk Cleanup on a regular basis. These same people typically do a regular disc defrag. This helps, but there’s much more needed!

Let’s talk about some other things that can be done to put some zip back into your aging and ailing PC.

Number 1 - Do a Fresh Install of Windows XP
I’m mentioning this option first, because if you decided you had enough know how to do this, then you can skip the next two options.

By doing a complete reinstall of Windows, I’m talking about completely reformatting your hard drive and installing Windows fresh. This means that you’ll have to reinstall all of your software, some hardware, and probably set up things like mail and internet service again. Not to mention you’ll need to go get all the recent security and critical updates.

The benefits to reinstalling Windows fresh are:

• The registry will be clean and unfragmented
• All unnecessary files will be gone
• Boot up will be much quicker

So if you’re not ready to tackle a fresh install of Windows, skip this option and move on to the simpler optimizing options.

I’m not going to go into a step by step tutorial on reinstalling Windows here. If this option doesn’t frighten you, then you probably can handle it. If you have another computer available to you while doing this, just put any problems you come across in Google or Yahoo. That’s what I do when I get into trouble.
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Ok, maybe you haven’t actually been dreaming of it. At least maybe daydreamed! Actually, to be honest with you, I never really gave it much thought until I came across this product.

The idea of having color coded file folders in your My Documents folder for instance could be pretty cool. Not to mention the organizational value. Or maybe your desk top Icons. Especially if you have some real artsy applications going on. Why do all the file folders have to be boring old manilla anyway?

The best feature of Folder Marker is that it’s FREE! Once you’ve installed the program, you can change any folder icon on the fly. Just right click on it, and choose a color coded icon from the drop down menu. You can also highlight a group of folder icons and changed them in one click of the mouse. One last cool feature I’ll mention, is that you can add up to 10 of your own icons to Folder Marker and also use them from the right click context menu.

For a full list of the features, go directly to Folder Marker and download it for FREE! Get the feeling I get excited about the FREE part?

Happy marking. Hope you like it!
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As a website designer, and a blogger, I’m always dealing with different web hosting companies. I try to stay on top of who’s offering what, and what it all means to you and me.

There have been times that I’ve had to deal with different hosting companies to either, solve a problem a client is having, or to get a current site moved to another hosting company. I can’t believe how difficult some companies are to navigate through their admin panel. BlueHost uses CPanel 11. I’ve only come across a few others that use this. It’s so easy to find your way around and get things done.

Hostgator, Lunarpages, and HostMonster are the others I’ve seen. I’m sure there are some others, but I haven’t found them. By the way, HostMonster is a subsidiary of BlueHost.

GoDaddy had me pulling my hair out trying to get to their DNS pointers. The only thing I’ve found good about GoDaddy is their sexy advertisements. Just goes to show you, Sex Sells!
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According to Wikopedia, In Case of Emergency (ICE) is a program that enables first responders, such as paramedics, firefighters and police officers, to identify victims and contact their next of kin to obtain important medical information. The program was conceived by Bob Brotchie, a British paramedic, and promoted in May of 2005. It encourages people to enter emergency contacts in their cell phone address book under the name “ICE”.

According to a research performed by Vodafone, fewer than 25% of people carry any details of who they would like telephoned following a serious accident. I have to be honest, at this moment, I don’t carry any of that information either. But I can tell you that I did just put my emergency contact number under the name of ICE in my cell phone address book!

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