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Mac OS 8 Troubleshooting Training CD #4 - Macintosh

Gene Steinberg understands that the new Macintoshes--like all computers--are systems of hardware and software, and that neither may be separated from the other. Upgrading and Troubleshooting Your Mac: Mac OS X Edition is an intimate picture of modern Mac hardware (the Power Mac, PowerBook, iBook, and iMac platforms) and the points at which it interacts with Mac OS 9.1 and Mac OS X. As you'd expect, readers learn how to select and install add-in hardware like SuperDrives and supplementary RAM, but the Mac makes those procedures pretty easy by design. The real value in this book comes in two areas.

First, Steinberg answers all kinds of common, but officially unaddressed, questions. Is it absolutely safe to put your laptop through an airport x-ray machine? How does a G4 behave when a SCSI card is malfunctioning at the hardware level? What happens if you try to make an officially unsupported graphics card work? Do third-party processor upgrades work? He explains most of these matters with stories taken from his experience as a longtime Mac user.

Second, the author knows a ton of tricks for working with the Mac OS itself, and is liberal with his recommendations of utilities for diagnosing, repairing, and adjusting its behavior. His thoughts on how to solve problems by reinstalling your operating system without wiping out your installed programs will save you time in all but the gravest situations. You'll find this book particularly valuable if you do upgrade and repair work on unfamiliar Macs. --David Wall

Topics covered: Changing and adjusting hardware on modern Macintosh computers (PowerBooks, iBooks, iMacs, Power Mac G4s, and, to a lesser extent, Power Mac G3s). All the key subsystems get attention: monitors, networks, SCSI chains, FireWire peripherals, and hard drives. Special (and especially valuable) coverage of Windows emulators and video capture hardware appears as well.

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iMac, iBook, and G3 Troubleshooting Pocket Reference

If you are among the millions of Mac users today, then you need an up-to-date and comprehensive reference that will provide fast answers to your software, hardware, network, and system maintenance questions. The iMac, iBook, & G3 Troubleshooting Pocket Reference is a handy, common-sense guidebook that covers the full range of basic problems and troubleshooting procedures. Written by Mac expert and enthusiast Don Rittner, this crystal clear and concise reference provides you with the all information you need, from basic to more advanced topics, at your fingertips!

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Troubleshooting, Maintaining, and Repairing Macs

*Strong Mac audience - with growing sales of G4s, iMAcs, and iBooks, users need a comprehensive troubleshooting reference. *Competing books are out of date - ours will cover the latest models, including PowerBook and system revisions. *Follows successful format of the Bigelow TMR reference. *Comprehensive coverage --covers over 1000 Mac hardware symptoms and contains easy-to0use "symptoms-at-a-glance" section.

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Bosch Fuel Injection & Engine Management: Theory of Operation, Troubleshooting and Service Using Common Tools and Equipment, High Performance Tuning, [BOSCH FUEL INJECTION & ENG -OS]

The press has called Tekserve Corporation, the idiosyncratic Macintosh repair store in New York City, "The Epicenter of Mac Culture in NYC", "The leader in Apple triage services" and "warm and eclectic - maybe even a little eccentric".Unfortunately, not everyone can get down to Tekserve's West 23rd St location for the clear, down-to-earth Mac troubleshooting advice that Tekserve's owners dispense. For the rest of us, O'Reilly & Associates has published the Macintosh Troubleshooting Pocket Guide ($12.95) written by David Lerner and Aaron Freimark, of "the world's best Macintosh repair shop".This slim pocket guide has the answers to frequently asked Macintosh troubleshooting questions. Imagine the quirky record store in the movie "High Fidelity," or the popular "Car Talk" show on National Public Radio, and you'll have a good idea of this book's flavor.Tekserver has long provided its customers with a free "Frequently Asked Questions" document. We recently discovered this FAQ sheet and realized that-- like New York itself-- it was too good to leave just for the New Yorkers. With the help of Tekserve, we turned this FAQ sheet into the Macintosh Troubleshooting Pocket Guide.The Macintosh Troubleshooting Pocket Guide covers the most common user hardware and software trouble, from disks stuck in drives to lost files. It's not just a book for Mac OS X (although it includes tips for OS X and Jaguar, the latest release), it's for anyone who owns a Mac of any type-- there are software tips going back as far as OS 6. The Macintosh Troubleshooting Pocket Guide distills the answers to the urgent questions that Tekserve's employee's answer every week into a handy guide that fits in your back pocket or alongside your keyboard.

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Microsoft Windows Vista Inside Out

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You're beyond the basics, so dive right in and troubleshoot Windows 7 -- from the inside out! This supremely organized reference packs hundreds of prevention tips, troubleshooting techniques, and recovery tools. It's all muscle and no fluff. Discover how the experts keep their Windows 7-based systems running smoothly -- and challenge yourself to new levels of mastery.

• Use quick and simple guides to prevent problems such as data loss and identity theft
• Get the very best out of the Windows 7 built-in features
• Make your own quick fixes to the most common problems
• Handle viruses and other threats, and get tips to help protect against cyber-crime
• Learn advanced troubleshooting techniques by understanding how Windows 7 works
• Use step-by-step guides to diagnose and repair system and hardware issues
• Recover and restore the operating system -- and your files -- in the event of a disaster
• Use power utilities built into Windows 7 for performance, maintenance, and advanced diagnostics
• Get a companion ebook and additional content online

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Training for Mac OS X Maintenance and Troubleshooting, Volume 1

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Mac OS 8 Troubleshooting Training CD #3 - Macintosh

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Training for Mac OS X Maintenance and Troubleshooting, Volume 2

Microsoft Windows Vista Inside Out

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Mac OS 8 Troubleshooting Training CD #2 - Macintosh

Gene Steinberg understands that the new Macintoshes--like all computers--are systems of hardware and software, and that neither may be separated from the other. Upgrading and Troubleshooting Your Mac: Mac OS X Edition is an intimate picture of modern Mac hardware (the Power Mac, PowerBook, iBook, and iMac platforms) and the points at which it interacts with Mac OS 9.1 and Mac OS X. As you'd expect, readers learn how to select and install add-in hardware like SuperDrives and supplementary RAM, but the Mac makes those procedures pretty easy by design. The real value in this book comes in two areas.

First, Steinberg answers all kinds of common, but officially unaddressed, questions. Is it absolutely safe to put your laptop through an airport x-ray machine? How does a G4 behave when a SCSI card is malfunctioning at the hardware level? What happens if you try to make an officially unsupported graphics card work? Do third-party processor upgrades work? He explains most of these matters with stories taken from his experience as a longtime Mac user.

Second, the author knows a ton of tricks for working with the Mac OS itself, and is liberal with his recommendations of utilities for diagnosing, repairing, and adjusting its behavior. His thoughts on how to solve problems by reinstalling your operating system without wiping out your installed programs will save you time in all but the gravest situations. You'll find this book particularly valuable if you do upgrade and repair work on unfamiliar Macs. --David Wall

Topics covered: Changing and adjusting hardware on modern Macintosh computers (PowerBooks, iBooks, iMacs, Power Mac G4s, and, to a lesser extent, Power Mac G3s). All the key subsystems get attention: monitors, networks, SCSI chains, FireWire peripherals, and hard drives. Special (and especially valuable) coverage of Windows emulators and video capture hardware appears as well.

Price: $39.00

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Upgrading and Troubleshooting Your Mac(R): MacOS X Edition

Gene Steinberg understands that the new Macintoshes--like all computers--are systems of hardware and software, and that neither may be separated from the other. Upgrading and Troubleshooting Your Mac: Mac OS X Edition is an intimate picture of modern Mac hardware (the Power Mac, PowerBook, iBook, and iMac platforms) and the points at which it interacts with Mac OS 9.1 and Mac OS X. As you'd expect, readers learn how to select and install add-in hardware like SuperDrives and supplementary RAM, but the Mac makes those procedures pretty easy by design. The real value in this book comes in two areas.

First, Steinberg answers all kinds of common, but officially unaddressed, questions. Is it absolutely safe to put your laptop through an airport x-ray machine? How does a G4 behave when a SCSI card is malfunctioning at the hardware level? What happens if you try to make an officially unsupported graphics card work? Do third-party processor upgrades work? He explains most of these matters with stories taken from his experience as a longtime Mac user.

Second, the author knows a ton of tricks for working with the Mac OS itself, and is liberal with his recommendations of utilities for diagnosing, repairing, and adjusting its behavior. His thoughts on how to solve problems by reinstalling your operating system without wiping out your installed programs will save you time in all but the gravest situations. You'll find this book particularly valuable if you do upgrade and repair work on unfamiliar Macs. --David Wall

Topics covered: Changing and adjusting hardware on modern Macintosh computers (PowerBooks, iBooks, iMacs, Power Mac G4s, and, to a lesser extent, Power Mac G3s). All the key subsystems get attention: monitors, networks, SCSI chains, FireWire peripherals, and hard drives. Special (and especially valuable) coverage of Windows emulators and video capture hardware appears as well.

Price: $32.95

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Training for Mac OS X Maintenance and Troubleshooting: Set of 2

Microsoft Windows Vista Inside Out

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iMac Buyer's Guide January/February 2000 Video Issue, iMovie, A Look at OS 9, AirPort, Quicken 2000, Tips and Troubleshooting Secrets, Video Effects Made Easy

MacHome magazine supplement

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Macintosh Troubleshooting Pocket Guide for Mac OS

The press has called Tekserve Corporation, the idiosyncratic Macintosh repair store in New York City, "The Epicenter of Mac Culture in NYC", "The leader in Apple triage services" and "warm and eclectic - maybe even a little eccentric".Unfortunately, not everyone can get down to Tekserve's West 23rd St location for the clear, down-to-earth Mac troubleshooting advice that Tekserve's owners dispense. For the rest of us, O'Reilly & Associates has published the Macintosh Troubleshooting Pocket Guide ($12.95) written by David Lerner and Aaron Freimark, of "the world's best Macintosh repair shop".This slim pocket guide has the answers to frequently asked Macintosh troubleshooting questions. Imagine the quirky record store in the movie "High Fidelity," or the popular "Car Talk" show on National Public Radio, and you'll have a good idea of this book's flavor.Tekserver has long provided its customers with a free "Frequently Asked Questions" document. We recently discovered this FAQ sheet and realized that-- like New York itself-- it was too good to leave just for the New Yorkers. With the help of Tekserve, we turned this FAQ sheet into the Macintosh Troubleshooting Pocket Guide.The Macintosh Troubleshooting Pocket Guide covers the most common user hardware and software trouble, from disks stuck in drives to lost files. It's not just a book for Mac OS X (although it includes tips for OS X and Jaguar, the latest release), it's for anyone who owns a Mac of any type-- there are software tips going back as far as OS 6. The Macintosh Troubleshooting Pocket Guide distills the answers to the urgent questions that Tekserve's employee's answer every week into a handy guide that fits in your back pocket or alongside your keyboard.

Price: $7.99

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Mac OS X Troubleshooting How-To: Real Solutions for Mac OS X Users

Despite Mac OS X's ease-of-use, Mac users frequently encounter frustrating problems with their systems. And, when they do, they frequently have to resort to online forums (if they can get online), or trek to the Apple Store and wait for a "Genius" to help them. Now, former Apple Genius and current MacGuruLounge.com host Matt Waschchuk has delivered a faster, more practical solution: Mac OS X Troubleshooting How-To. When time is of the essence, Mac users and support professionals can turn to this book for reliable, easy-to-implement help with nearly 200 troubleshooting and system maintenance tasks. This book's completely up-to-date, tested, and step-by-step procedures address all recent versions of Mac OS X, including Snow Leopard 10.6. In addition to guiding users through troubleshooting steps, each chapter helps them understand why the problem occurred, and why the solution worked. Among the many topics covered in depth: problems that can be solved by adding or reinstalling software; techniques for cleaning or fixing libraries, caches, preference files, and application support files; problems with the Internet and applications such as Mail, iChat, and Safari; wired and AirPort wireless networking woes; problems with peripherals ranging from printers to iPods and iPhones; backup/restore, OS X reinstallation, and disk cloning; startup problems; and much more.

• A concise, task-based guide to hundreds of crucial Mac OS troubleshooting and maintenance tasks: helps solve problems more quickly, reliably, and efficiently
• Tested, step-by-step procedures for everything from startup problems to AirPort troubleshooting, permissions and preferences to iPods and iPhones
• Authored by MacGuruLounge.com host and former Apple Genius Matt Washchuk

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Troubleshooting Mac OS X

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Apple Training Series: Mac OS X Support Essentials v10.6: A Guide to Supporting and Troubleshooting Mac OS X v10.6 Snow Leopard

The only Apple-certified book on Mac OS X v10.6, this revised best-seller will take you deep inside the latest big-cat operating system—covering everything from installation to automation, customizing the operating system, supporting applications, setting up peripherals, and more. Whether you're a support technician or simply an ardent Mac user, you'll quickly learn and master the new features in Mac OS X 10.6, including native support for Microsoft Exchange Server 2007. Following the learning objectives of the Apple Certified Support Professional exam, this self-paced book is a perfect guide for Apple’s training and a first-rate primer for computer support personnel who need to troubleshoot and optimize Mac OS X as part of their jobs. Chapter review sections and quizzes summarize and reinforce acquired knowledge.

The Apple Training Series serves as both a self-paced learning tool and the official curriculum for the Mac OS X and Mac OS X Server certification programs.

Price: $64.99

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Mac OS X Disaster Relief: Troubleshooting Techniques to Help Fix It Yourself

Ted Landau, founder of the MacFixIt Web site, has made a career of helping others keep their Mac OS machines running happily. In Mac OS X Disaster Relief, the author of the bestselling Sad Macs, Bombs, and Other Disasters trains his diagnostician's eye on Apple's new-from-the-ground-up operating system. Full of tips, tools, and preventative measures, this easy-to-follow guide not only gives you specific solutions to a raft of Mac OS glitches, it also helps you prevent disasters and sharpen your own diagnostic skills.

The same philosophy that underlies Sad Macs operates here: You canfix most Mac problems yourself. What you get are smart, common sense solutions and sound maintenance advice, delivered in plain English. But just because Mac OS X Disaster Relief eschews jargon doesn't mean it lacks depth: the book covers OS X's new features, the pros and cons of updating system software, Library directories and folders, files and font maintenance, crash prevention and recovery, printing and networking problems, Unix commands for OS X, and more.

Price: $34.99

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Professional SQL Server 2008 Internals and Troubleshooting

A hands-on resource for SQL Server 2008 troubleshooting methods and tools

SQL Server administrators need to ensure that SQL Server remains running 24/7. Authored by leading SQL Server experts and MVPs, this book provides in-depth coverage of best practices based on a deep understanding of the internals of both SQL Server and the Windows operating system.

You'll get a thorough look at the SQL Server database architecture and internals as well as Windows OS internals so that you can approach troubleshooting with a solid grasp of the total processing environment. Armed with this comprehensive understanding, readers will then learn how to use a suite of tools for troubleshooting performance problems whether they originate on the database server or operating system side.

Topics Covered:

• SQL Server Architecture
• Understanding Memory
• SQL Server Waits and Extended Events
• Working with Storage
• CPU and Query Processing
• Locking and Latches
• Knowing Tempdb
• Defining Your Approach To Troubleshooting
• Viewing Server Performance with PerfMon and the PAL Tool
• Tracing SQL Server with SQL Trace and Profiler
• Consolidating Data Collection with SQLDiag and the PerfStats Script
• Introducing RML Utilities for Stress Testing and Trace File Analysis
• Bringing It All Together with SQL Nexus
• Using Management Studio Reports and the Performance Dashboard
• Using SQL Server Management Data Warehouse
• Shortcuts to Efficient Data Collection and Quick Analysis

Note: CD-ROM/DVD and other supplementary materials are not included as part of eBook file.

Price: $59.99

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ShareTool extends from the beginning of the "net Bonjour

I seem to spend time trying to use the data and is hosted on a machine that I am not near--used Dropbox, LogMeIn, Timbuktu Pro media and go back to my Mac inordinate amount but now is to add one more tool in my arsenal: Yazsoft's ShareTool. ShareTool you can safely share, through the Internet, all the services, in particular on the computer, as well as all services on your computer has access to the local network.

Submit this trick work Yazsoft claims-and extended--Bonjour, Apple Protocol-advertising services-device through the local network.Such services include OS X's own print, screen sharing, sharing iTunes and iPhoto sharing third-party services such as Skype and sources varied BusyCal--If their services through the use of the software advertised to the Bonjour, and ShareTool charges for the use of the Internet.(More precisely, ShareTool makes computer on my network attempts to access content and services appear as if it were not really in the same local area network content and services on the computer.)

You need at least two copies of ShareTool: units and local resources, are installed on your computer, and the second copy of each of the remote computer from which you want to use these services, and resources.

Computer's shared resources you can start the ShareTool, and then click the share button. ShareTool is automatically opened ports individually numbered door kind-router IP address of the external access to the attachment.You can restrict access to the services to offer or provide any.

(Such as other remote-access services, including back to my Mac router must be generally available IP address.Ideally, it also uses NAT-PMP or UPnP opens a connection to the outside world, although using the instructions in the manual of ShareTool's and Yazsoft Web site permissions can be assigned manually. for more information about UPnP NAT-PMP and see Troubleshooting back to My Mac)

ShareTool sharing computer displays router publicly available IP address and port ShareTool.You can create an e-mail message, select the contacts you via email or specify ShareTool automatically every time the settings are changed, as always, when sharing is enabled. If you prefer instead of an IP address, hostname option ShareTool to enable dynamic DNS services one of the three large DDNS; ShareTool automatically joins the hostname you want-for example, glennsremote.homeip.net-router IP address.

On the remote computer to start ShareTool, click Connect, and then type the host computer's IP address or host name and port number; last connections will be remembered and you can choose from the pop-up menu.Click continue and enter a valid Mac OS X user name and password sharing computer.ShareTool uses SSH to encrypt (two computers, for the connection between this account is used to start AN SSH session. "Note that you want to use ShareTool, you must deploy a host computer in the sharing pane of system preferences, Remote access option that activates SSH.) ShareTool-window appears every remote services are available by default, you can set up access to more ShareTool.

If you are using Firefox, diluted ShareTool also offers the option to move forward or backward through the secure: it automatically determines to create a secure tunnel to the Firefox browser and your home computer.(You can also do this in Safari, even if it requires several manual steps.)You can use this simple secure VIRTUAL PRIVATE NETWORK (VPN) tunnel true as an alternative to protect the user to browse in public places.(ShareTool is also cleverly to Bonjour already encrypted VIRTUAL PRIVATE NETWORK (VPN) tunnel.)

May Wonder how ShareTool is different from the OS X's back to my Mac property with Leopard and Snow Leopard Mac secure connection by using Bonjour networking.Is three.First, back to my Mac interest is a two-way sharing the same MobileMe account between computers, ShareTool share in only one direction. on the other hand, deals with iTunes and iPhoto ShareTool sharing that Apple prevents actively as the previous, my Mac. ShareTool is a one-off purchase with back to my Mac requires an active MobileMe subscription.

Although it may sound complex, ShareTool is a relatively simple way to securely access the media, and more from your home or Office Mac wherever you are, even bypassing Apple no extra iTunes blockade.

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Add Macintosh computing news you can visit the Macworld. Copyright © 2010 Mac story Publishing LLC., all rights reserved.

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Free desktop tools that aren't t OpenOffice

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Get tech advice from thousands of PCWorld MembersRate and recommend the latest tech productsShare your thoughts in blog and article commentsGet free excerpts and exclusive discounts on Super GuidesSigning up is free and easy.Free Desktop Tools That Aren't OpenOffice

By Serdar Yegulalp, Infoworld

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Most everyone who's had some experience with free open source software has learned about the OpenOffice.org suite of productivity programs: a word processor, spreadsheet, presentation, database, and drawing tool that provide a good deal of the functionality of their commercial counterparts. For users who need powerful productivity tools but don't require a high degree of compatibility with Microsoft-formatted files, OpenOffice.org is almost a no-brainer.

But apart from OpenOffice.org, what else is there? I dug into my own program folders and searched the far corners of the Web to come up with a cache of free and open source productivity applications for a range of desktop productivity tasks: word processing, page layout, graphics editing, illustration, task management, and more. Some of these tools are worthy substitutes for expensive commercial counterparts. All of them are available for Windows, and nearly all are available for Linux and Mac OS X as well.

[ Read about InfoWorld's top picks among open source applications, platforms, and tools: InfoWorld's Bossie Awards 2010: The best open source software of the year. | Track the latest trends in open source with InfoWorld's Open Sources blog and Technology: Open Source newsletter. ]

Free productivity software is hard to get right, which explains why for every one program I included here, three others didn't make the cut. We still have no viable free open source video-editing solution yet, for instance -- although a number of projects, like VideoLAN Movie Creator, are in the works. But the roster of available free programs has grown remarkably in the last few years alone, and new apps of all kinds continue to pop up.

Desktop productivity tool No. 1: AbiWord 2.8.6 If all you want is a simple word processing application, and OpenOffice.org is overkill, consider AbiWord 2.8.6. Written to emulate the look and feel of Microsoft Word circa Office 97 through Office 2003, AbiWord also dependably emulates the vast majority of Word functions. Especially useful is a live-collaboration function that lets you connect to another AbiWord user across a network and work on the same document in real time. A word of caution: AbiWord can be tripped up by documents created in other programs. Some types of formatting aren't properly preserved, and some features supported in Word (and OpenOffice.org) don't always function as expected. When working with files created outside AbiWord, you should use copies instead of the originals.

AbiWord is word processing circa Word 2003. You'll find few frills -- or distractions.

Desktop productivity tool No. 2: Scribus 1.3.8Scribus is a free open source desktop publishing program, one written with the kind of attention to the UI as displayed in Inkscape and Paint.NET. It sports layout and design tools that are on a par with commercial competitors, has a macro language à la GIMP with a number of prepackaged macros (for example, a calendar generator), can produce professional-quality CMYK PDFs, and even includes a "preflight check" function to make sure what you see really is what you get. Note that you get the best results when you use Scribus in conjunction with a dedicated text processing system; it's not a word processor in its own right and isn't suited yet to automatically laying out long-form documents. Also, as with Inkscape, internal support for color-matching systems like Pantone is missing, although you can partly work around this limitation.

Scribus comes with a number of templates for reuse, such as this newsletter template. Note the story editor window, which is designed for direct editing of the contents of text frames.

Desktop productivity tool No. 3: SeaMonkey 2.0.6 Mozilla's "suite" product, which bundles Web browsing, email, IRC chat, and an HTML editor in one application, hasn't received nearly as much attention as Firefox or Thunderbird, both of which are now incorporated as part of the SeaMonkey bundle. Much of that disinterest has been due to SeaMonkey not being updated as aggressively as other Mozilla programs, but the new 2.0 branch -- which started coming out late last year -- is worth a look. Apart from the plug-in friendly browser and email client, the most useful portion of SeaMonkey is the HTML editor, which is slightly more polished than KompoZer but isn't available separately. It's no substitute for a full-blown page design app like DreamWeaver (what is?), but it works well for basic HTML assembly and cleanup, and also as a way to examine the tag structure of existing pages. If you're already sold on Firefox and Thunderbird, SeaMonkey serves them with an extra helping.

In addition to Firefox and Thunderbird, Mozilla's SeaMonkey includes a useful HTML editor, shown here editing a page in HTML tag viewing mode. The attributes for the selected are shown in the pop-up window.

Desktop productivity tool No. 4: GIMP 2.6 The name is an acronym for GNU Image Manipulation Program, and among free software advocates GIMP has become a staple recommendation as an alternative to Photoshop. Many of Photoshop's tools are re-implemented here: layers, editable text objects, support for a remarkable number of image formats, even support for Photoshop's own brushes. One major plus is the panoply of third-party scripts and add-ons that extend the program's functionality. But the program's biggest minus remains, even after many years, its clunky user interface -- like the non-native file picker dialog that shows up in the Windows edition.

GIMP implements many of Photoshop's functions, including the ability to use Photoshop's own brushes.

Desktop productivity tool No. 5: Paint.NET 3.5.5 This spectacular program comes closer than any other to replacing Photoshop for the casual user. It's neither cross-platform (it's Windows-only) nor open source (although it is free for use). But it's far more elegantly presented and immediately useful than its open source counterpart, GIMP. Layered editing, a gallery of plug-ins, tons of built-in effects (even some GPU-accelerated ones), and support for just about every major image format make this program well worth having. Paint.NET has some weaknesses -- namely, text handling is awkward, and there's no way to create nondestructive manipulation à la Photoshop's adjustment layers. Both of those are being worked on for future editions of the program, though.

Paint.NET's toolset is close enough to Photoshop that most people can start using it with minimal retraining.

Desktop productivity tool No. 6: Inkscape 0.48 Free software's answer to Adobe Illustrator, Inkscape is polished, powerful, and loaded with tools that don't require a lot of guesswork to use well. Its native file format is conventional XML, and it can import and export from a whole bevy of existing vector and raster formats, as well as PDFs. The most recent version, 0.48, adds multipath editing, improved text handling, an interesting "spray" tool, and broad support for ICC color throughout the program.

Sophisticated tools and precise controls make Inkscape powerful enough for most vector art and design work.

Desktop productivity tool No. 7: Dia 0.97 A simple tool, but not a simplistic one, Dia is a flowchart and diagram drawing tool that is much like an AbiWord for illustration, in that it gives you only what you need to create a certain class of design and doesn't burden you beyond that. The controls can be a little persnickety; it assumes, for instance, that people will draw new shapes by starting at the top-left corner and moving down and to the right. (You get odd results if you try drawing objects from right to left.) But for the most part, Dia is easy to use, and it comes with a whole slew of common object categories -- electrical, hydraulic, programming, and so on -- that make it easy to jump-start a drawing of most any sort.

Creating a quick design with Dia. The elements in the Flowchart box at the left can be replaced with primitives for a great many other applications.

Desktop productivity tool No. 8: FreeMind At first glance it's tempting to lump FreeMind in the same category as Dia, but it's been designed from the inside out to satisfy a separate need. It's a drawing tool specifically for creating "mind maps," or diagrams that illustrate conceptual frameworks. The command keys and default behaviors are well chosen, so it's not hard for someone to dive in and quickly start brainstorming. The resulting map can be exported as graphics or a data tree (such as an XHTML document), or even as a Web page that replicates the layout of the original mind map.

FreeMind is a drawing tool and editor for brainstorming. The presentation of each node in a "mind map" can be customized enormously.

Desktop productivity tool No. 9: GTD-Free David Allen's Getting Things Done productivity system has helped many people get their lives in order. GTD-Free helps you automate the GTD system, so you don't have to rely as much on pieces of paper or manual notes. Organized into four action tabs -- Collect, Process, Organize/Review, and Execute -- it lets you see all stages of your GTD workflow at a glance. The program lets you use either a flat XML database (simple) or an ODB-format database (scales well), and you can switch from the former to the latter at any time. Also included are some example action lists to help get you started if you're new to the GTD methodology.

GTD-Free provides you with a framework to implement the "Getting Things Done" methodology without using reams of paper.

Desktop productivity tool No. 10: Task Coach 1.1.3 If tackling the Getting Things Done methodology seems too daunting, take a look at Task Coach. Task Coach uses a much simpler, checklist-oriented approach to help you stay on top of your workload. Tasks can be organized into any number of categories, assigned dates and progress percentages, and time-tracked so that you can get an idea of how long you're spending on any given project. More advanced features, like creating subtasks or adding "effort" annotations to a given task, are there if you need them, but you don't need to know how to use them to make use of Task Coach. I also like how you can visualize your tasks as more than just a list; there's a calendar view, a timeline, and a hierarchical view (for subtasks). The task lists can also be synced via iCalendar (ICS), or through a Funambol server if you use one.

Task Coach is a simple checklist-based task management tool, with more advanced productivity management features under the hood if you need them.

Also on InfoWorld:

Is open source a dead end for desktop applications?Bossie Awards 2010: The best open source software of the yearTop free troubleshooting tools for WindowsMore great free troubleshooting tools for WindowsTop 10 Windows tools for IT prosThe best free open source software for WindowsThe best free open source software for Mac OS XInfoWorld review: Free remote access tools for Windows and Mac

This article, "10 great free desktop productivity tools that aren't OpenOffice.org," originally appeared at InfoWorld.com. Follow the latest developments in applications, open source, Windows, Mac, and Linux at InfoWorld.com.

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For more IT analysis and commentary on emerging technologies, visit InfoWorld.com. Story copyright © 2010 InfoWorld Media Group. All rights reserved.

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