KSFO's Web Wanderer

The Links for September 11, 1999

This week's special - KILLER FREEBIES ON THE NET!!!

Freei - free Internet Access! - Vlad

When I first heard about this, I thought it was some type of scam. Not just free email - but free internet access.

Then, a good friend Katie asked me to "tweak" her computer. She wasn't on the net, so I thought this would be a great time to check out Freei.

Well, it's very, very nice. I used to recommend people try AOL for 30 days to see if they like the net. No more. Use Freei.

The only "catch" - and they're very open about this, is that you get an ad banner while on the net. It's not THAT obnoxious, and you are getting the net - for free.

Connections were at 56K, and SOLID. Very nice. Check it out!!!

Thanks, Vlad!

My Talk - Kerry / Solinas

I featured My Talk on July 10th. Kerry turned me on to it. It's worth another mention - especially with the new "service".

My Talk gives you free email. Plus - you get an 800 number to call, toll free, and have your email read to you by a computerized voice. You give it commands (including "extension" and password) by talking into the phone. The voice recognition software is EXCELLENT!

Want to reply to a message? No problem. Just say "reply", and it will record your reply as a WAV file, and email it back to the sender. Very cool.

Plus - they added a new service. From Mytalk, you can make FREE 2 minute telephone calls - LONG DISTANCE, to anywhere in the country. I've tried it - it works VERY WELL.

If you haven't signed up for MyTalk yet, do it!

Broadpoint: Free long distance phone calls - Rich from Petaluma

OK, I was so proud about finding the free 2 minute phone calls on MyTalk that I told a bunch of people. Rich from Petaluma immediately showed me up. Broadpoint is a true phone free service. He says: "You have to listen to a few short commercials but it is free and works on any phone."

From the site: "When you are activated, you will receive a membership card with a Personal Identification Number (PIN) and a toll-free number to access FreeWay . Whenever you feel like making a free call, simply dial the toll-free number, enter your PIN and the number you want to call. You will then hear a series of advertising messages. You can listen to as many messages as you choose before the call is placed. Each message translates into two minutes of talk time."

"If, for example, you would like to listen to ten minutes of talk time you would simply listen to five messages before the call is placed. Approximately 30 seconds before the free time has elapsed, you (and only you) will hear a tone alerting you that the talk time is ending, allowing you to wrap up the conversation. That's it! You don't even have to change phone companies."

"The messages are designed to be brief and interesting. They’ll be about 10 to 15 seconds long, and will be as relevant to you as possible. Many FreeWay advertisers have developed special promotions available only to FreeWay members. Plus, our sophisticated, patented system allows members to speak to the advertiser or request catalogs or samples by simply pressing a phone key. It's that easy!"

For longer free phone calls, this beats My Talk. But it doesn't read your email to you. Get both - the price is right.

One downside - sign up today, and it'll take 30-90 days to get your free numbers. So - sign up right away!

Thanks, Rich!

Blue Mountain: Best free email greeting cards! - Herb

Originally Herb showed this to me, and over many months I've received a number of cards. Getting cards on the net is a lot of fun.

The Blue Mountain Cards web site has a list on the left hand side of the page with a list of holidays (tomorrow is Grandparents Day). There are BUNCHES of animated cards you can send - for free - to family and friends.

People really enjoy getting them. Send out a few.

MapQuest

I could get lost driving home from work. I'm genetically terrible with directions.

I use MapQuest a lot - especially the "Driving Directions" feature. Enter your starting address, and your ending address, and you get little maps plus DETAILED driving directions. There's lots of things - museums, airports, city halls, etc. programmed in, so you can select them rather than using a specific address.

You can reverse the route with a touch of a button.

You can also use AvantGo (another free service) do download maps to your Palm device.

Oh, yes. You get plain, old normal maps there as well.

Free For All!

"Free For All" picks are freeware picks. They have to be useful, cool, or interesting. Most of all - they have to be free. This week we're spotlighting graphics applications.

PassKeeper - B. Weed, Taxi Mike

B. Weed found it. Taxi Mike swears by it. I've had GREAT feedback about this program.

If you do a lot of web surfing, you quickly accumulate a lot of passwords for different sites. It's best to use different passwords on different sites, and it can quickly become very confusing.

Installation is simple. You've already done it. Passkeeper doesn't rely on any files outside of the directory it's in, so you can move it anywhere.

When you run PASS32.EXE for the first time, you will be asked to enter the password you would like to use to access PassKeeper in the future. This password is also the key to encrypting and decrypting your data. It is VERY important that you do not forget this password; if you do, your data will be lost forever (or at least until someone figures out how to crack Triple DES in a reasonable amount of time). You can change your password later, but only after logging in to the program.

Simple, small, and useful. Thanks, B. Weed and Taxi Mike!

InoculateIT: Free Anti-Virus Software - Nerdly

Nerdly says: "Mailissa and Win CIH will be back in one form or another. The need for strong virus protection is greater than ever. InoculateIT provides up-to-date virus protection and peace-of-mind without denting your pocketbook."

InoculateIT Personal Edition v. 1.0 for Windows 98/95/NT
Full Featured Antivirus software for Windows 95/98 and Windows NT workstation includes FREE software updates, FREE virus signature updates, and FREE online support.

Description: "InoculateIT Personal Edition (IPE) is easy to use, powerful antivirus for the desktop. Computer Associates is offering this as a service for PC users in order to significantly limit the damage caused by viruses to PCs. The increasing prevalence of viruses and the growing numbers of desktop computers has led to this initiative. Virus protection is an integral part of the PC and should not have to be purchased separately. It is as key to computers as brakes are to cars. Computer Associates is pleased to bring its considerable expertise in the corporate antivirus area as illustrated through the award winning InoculateIT product line, to the desktop. InoculateIT Personal Edition will protect Windows 98/95 desktops and Windows NT Workstation from all forms of viruses including macro viruses."

Visit Computer Associates to register and download [2.2M] this free software. .

Thanks, Nerdly! It's great to find a FREE solution to the virus problem!

Star Office - a free office suite! - Dudley, Kenny, Bob the Old Fogey

Kenny: "This one is huge in size but it's really cool. It's an entire office suite FREE for private non commercial use, and students. It's made by a German company called Star Division. Works in, Windows, Mac, OS2, Linux, Java, and more."

Dudley: "Apparently it is a full-blown Office package. It's put out by Sun and he thinks they are offering it free to get even with what Microsoft did to Netscape when it offered IE free when Netscape charged $ 50.00. It is 62 Megabytes to download or you can order a CD for $ 16 to $ 35 depending on how you want it shipped."

Bob the Old Fogey: "This week was a busy week on the Web's freebies front. Sun Microsystems loudly trumpeted its "new" office productivity suite this week. The program, StarOffice, offers a package that's compatible with Microsoft Office. (It even has the look and feel of MS Office and works with Office applications, as well)."

I haven't done the download or tested this, but the reviewers so far rate it excellent. Grab a copy (overnight, while you sleep).

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