some cool free tools
A short list of some of the free applications that I use on a daily basis;
- ImgBurn - a lightweight CD / DVD / HD DVD / Blu-ray burning application. Very handy if you don’t have commercial software installed or simply as a no frills alternative to the normal bulky apps. Plus it plays a very cool jingle when a disk has been successfully created, making you feel victorious.
- FireFox 3 - Need I say more. If you don’t have it yet, get with the program mmmkay?
- Filezilla - Brilliant in both its guises as client and server. Why people still use anything else is unclear. The de facto standard FTP client/server in my opinion.
- Twirl - For Twitter. Needs Adobe Air.
- RescueTime - “…the neatest, sweetest application I’ve ever seen. This is exactly what I need. It’s free, it’s functional, and I can forget about it. Perfect.” Nuff said.
- nLite - If you install Windows a lot, this is for you. If you work with Virtual Machines, this is for you. If you basically work in IT, this is a very handy application and a must have.
- Zenmap (Nmap) - Free security scanner, handy to quickly test firewalls and general security on networks and servers
- K-Lite Codec Pack - Never worry about annoying codecs/funny video formats again. This plays them all. Well almost.
- WinRAR - Free compression tool, supports most common formats.
basic introduction
If you are a small company doing business in South Africa, you will most likely be used to paying ridiculous and ever increasing amounts of money for just about everything. From diesel (the new petrol) to power your fossil fuel abusing German urban wagon, to your promised ADSL connection due for installation next week - touch wood.
In fact we have become so used to things becoming more expensive every so often, that paying R10 for a Castle is now considered a bargain?
After finishing your one Castle and not tipping the bar lady, you realize that your ISP is charging you R400 per year, just like that - for your domain name. And most likely in the region of R20 per mailbox per month. How did things come to this you may ask yourself? You really want another Castle but cannot afford it. It is only the 19th now remember? Payday is on the 25th.
my new blog
At last, the time has come to give the whole blogging thing a proper bash. See my Twitter badge to the right? You bet you, I am micro blogging too.
The past five years of my life, I have been working in IT as a Systems Administrator. Most of my time is spent looking after web servers, which, as other SysAdmins would surely tell you, is a truly terrifying job to be doing in this day and age. Not sure what we do? This is what we do.
My core focus with this blog will be entry level tutorials/basic info posts, aimed at the “normal guy”. For instance how to make use of maturing technologies like Google Apps to give your small company a proper web presence. Every so often I might post something not so entry level or about things I find interesting.
I have a keen interest in the new wave of technologies coming from the likes of Google, Microsoft and others. Working at an ISP/web design/hosting company it affects me directly to a large degree.
