Free Software you should be using

Here we go with a Christmas present, from us to you – all perfectly gift wrapped.

Ok, so that is me being cheesy and putting a Christmas spin on this post, but you can’t blame me, can you?

There’s lots of free software out there, to perform anything from photo editing to compressing files, some of which is poor and some of which is great.

The angle I’m coming at with this post is that of helping you with day-to-day computer use and getting a little more out of your computer performance.

Let’s crack straight on with my first gift for you, and that is Google Chrome.

Google Chrome is the web browser, from you guessed it, Google! It’s an alternative to the likes of Internet Explorer, Edge, Firefox and Opera. For me, Google Chome is the best of the bunch. It’s the quickest to load webpages, it’s the most secure and it’s clean and simple to use. If you’re struggling to load webpages, or it’s just taking too long, then download and install Google Chrome and give it a spin. I’d expect (unless there is something overall wrong with your computer or network) to perform quicker than what you’re currently using. Google Chrome is literally the first thing I install onto any new computer that comes through Lucid Towers.

My next gift to you is the Crap Cleaner, also known as CCleaner.

CCleaner (desktop edition) is another one I’ve used for years. The product itself has morphed over the years moving from just cleaning up old files, into an uninstaller tool and drive wiper. The main thing I  use it for is cleaning up Junk/Old/Temp files from computers. Running this little tool can clear you significant drive space which is being hogged by Junk files you just don’t need. It can also clean up old settings, but be careful with that side of things and take a backup before removing old settings. It’s super quick to analyse and carry out its duties and can speed up your computer by having less clutter on your system. There is also the handy tool for reviewing what your computer runs when it starts-up, giving you the opportunity to stop anything running which shouldn’t be there.

My third and final gift to you is Tree Size.

Tree Size allows you to easily review what data you have on your computer, and how much drive space it’s consuming. Using this tool, you might be able to remove some old data to free up drive space, to save you replacing your hard drive. There is also a small argument by freeing up some drive space, and running a defrag might boost performance a little as well (but not massively). If nothing else, this tool might just give you some pointers as to what’s taking up your drive space so you can archive, delete or move it accordingly.

And that concludes the present giving for this year. Go forth, enjoy, and as ever we’d welcome any feedback.

Gavin Moorhouse is the owner of Lucid Computer Solutions Ltd, a Redditch-based IT Support business and Microsoft Partner. At times in December, he pretends to be Santa.