Originally published at Johndharvey.com. You can comment here or there.

I get asked for open-source (free) software recommendations often enough where I now keep a document that I just send to people when they start asking me for recommendations. Feel free to email if you have questions. The geekier amongst you will likely know about most of these solutions.

OpenOffice.org – Office Productivity

OpenOffice is an open-source office productivity tool that it very similar to Microsoft Office (but FREE!). Like Microsoft Office, this software package includes a word processor, spreadsheet, database, and presentation components. OpenOffice allows you to save your documents in Microsoft Office-compatible formats, so you can exchange documents with others who use Microsoft Office.
LINK: http://www.openoffice.org/

Thunderbird (& Lightening Add-On) – Email, Calendar, & Task Lists

If you want to also replace the Microsoft Outlook email/calendar/task client then one of the most widely-used free clients is Mozilla Thunderbird. It offers all of the same email functionality as Microsoft Outlook. In addition, viruses that target the Microsoft Outlook client are usually harmless within Thunderbird. Thunderbird on its own only offers email, but you can download and install a free add-on module called Lightening that adds calendar and task list functions. With Lightening, Thunderbird does pretty much everything Outlook can do.

If you synchronize your mobile phone with Microsoft Outlook, you can still do this with Thunderbird by using free services like Funambol and Plaxo. I use Plaxo, which is based on Funambol.

LINKS:
Thunderbird – http://www.mozillamessaging.com/en-US/
Lightening – http://www.mozilla.org/projects/calendar/lightning/
Plaxo - http://www.plaxo.com/
Funambol – http://www.funambol.com/

Firefox – Internet Browser

Mozilla Firefox is an open-source web browser made by the folks who developed Thunderbird. Firefox is more standards-compliant and targeted less by Internet viruses compared to Internet Explorer by Microsoft. If you create web sites (or web ads), then you should install Firefox so you can preview your work in both browsers (because stuff that looks good in IE does not always look right in Firefox, and vice versa). Firefox has about 15% of the overall browser market in the US, but a much higher percentage if you look at younger web users.
LINK: http://www.mozilla.com/en-US/firefox/

AVG Free – Anti-Virus Protection

AVG Free provides basic anti-virus and anti-spyware protection and is free. New virus definitions download and install automatically, so you don't have to worry about manually updating.
LINK: http://free.avg.com

Spybot Search & Destroy – Find & Eliminate Spyware/Malware

Detects and removes spyware, a relatively new kind of threat not yet covered by common anti-virus applications. It can also clean usage tracks, an interesting function if you share your computer with other users and don't want them to see what you have been working on.
LINK: http://www.safer-networking.org/en/

Ad-Aware Free – Find & Eliminate Spyware/Malware

Finds and eliminates spyware and malware living on your computer. Depending on the “trickiness” of the spyware, these threats can sometimes go unnoticed by either Spybot or Ad-Aware. Running both products on your computer will usually eliminate all of the threats on your computer.
LINK: http://www.lavasoft.com/products/ad_aware_free.php

CCleaner – Computer Optimization/Registry Cleaning

CCleaner (formerly Crap Cleaner) is a freeware system optimization and privacy tool. It removes unused and temporary files from your system - allowing Windows to run faster, more efficiently, and giving you more hard disk space. It also includes a registry scanner/cleaner that is both safe and stable. CCleaner allows you to backup your registry before you make any changes. This allows you to roll back to your old registry settings if something goes wrong. Note that when you install CCleaner, the product will ask if it can install the Yahoo.com toolbar for Microsoft Internet Explorer. Just uncheck the box and it won't install.

Definition of “Registry” (because I know you'll ask...): In Microsoft Windows operating systems, the registry is a single place for keeping such information as what hardware is attached, what system options have been selected, how computer memory is set up, and what application programs are to be present when the operating system starts.
LINK: http://www.ccleaner.com/

Eraser – Securely Erase Files/Folders FOREVER!

Eraser allows you to completely remove sensitive data from your hard drive by overwriting it several times with carefully selected patterns. Erasing patterns include DoD 3-pass, 7-pass, and Gutmann 35-pass options (among others). WARNING: Once something is erased in this manner it's really, really GONE! I'm not kidding … GONE!
LINK: http://www.heidi.ie/node/6

AxCrypt – File Encryption/Password Protection

If you have a file (of any format) that you want to keep absolutely private, AxCrypt will encrypt it and allows you to provide your own custom password to open the file.
LINK: http://www.axantum.com/AxCrypt/

KeePass Password Safe – Securely Store Usernames/Passwords

If you have to keep track of usernames/passwords for multiple websites, software packages, alarm codes, electronic devices, etc., then KeePass is a great product to both centralize and encrypt a database of your various passwords.
LINK: http://keepass.info/

Originally published at Johndharvey.com. You can comment here or there.

This young (3 years), high-energy Pit Bull mix adores people, play, and cuddles. Boomer has been at PARL for close to a year now. Why? We think part of it is that he's a mutt and many people come to PARL looking for purebred dogs. We also think that his size, energy, and the fact that he's a Pit Bull mix has held some people back. The fact is that he's one of the best dogs we've ever had at PARL and there's no *good* reason for him to  be here.

We need your help to find this great dog a new home. spread the word!Boomer is playful, people focused, and just loves to romp. Boomer is also a huge fan of cuddles and scratchies. If you're looking for a running partner, then this is the dog for you! Boomer has even had professional obedience training provided by Solid K9 Training.

Boomer's Petfinder.com listing.

Boomer's Flickr page.

Call 401-421-1399 or email adopt@parl.org.

• 10:50 Hand-feeding a seven-year old Persian cat whose face is so flat and teeth so worn down that he can't hold food in his mouth. #
• 13:46 Cat and kitten season is upon us. The rescue league took in 15 cats and five kittens (2-3 weeks) today. #

• 08:36 Giving a tour of the museum today. Then a haircut. Then go get a silent auction prize. Then go visit the parental units. Full day... #
• 16:56 The beer I'm drinking (and loving) right now: tinyurl.com/32kvch #
• 17:50 Installed Adobe AIR (www.adobe.com/products/air/) pluse a few AIR apps (including this Twitter client). Love it! #

• 19:01 More Drupal geeking. More Galactica. Hey, looking for a great image editor that's completely free? ... www.gimp.org/ #

• 21:26 Watching Battlestar Galactica, Season 3, on DVD. Also saw "The Bank Job". Incredibly uneven. #
• 23:20 Friends arrived. Not entirely sober. Watching Galactica. They have been converted. #

• 22:31 Geeking with Drupal. Creating banners for new Johndharvey.com. #

• 07:19 At Rhode Island Pet Show all day. #

Originally published at Johndharvey.com. You can comment here or there.

That’s a significant number for me these days. It represents a pretty major shift in my life (though not as in “I’ve come 180 degrees away from believing in the Tooth Fairy”) and lifestyle.

The number, 180, is the number I see when I stand on the bathroom scale. Not too many months ago, that number was 230. Last night, I picked up 50 pounds of weights and it stunned me that I had been walking around for years with enough surplus Harvey to keep a small sailboat anchored (at least in calm waters). So, here I am jotting down a few stray notes about it all.

Don’t worry. I won’t take up too much of your time with this personal crap, but I am quite happy that I made this personal goal. I feel better. I have more energy. Etc., etc.

As to strategy, I’m probably going to disappoint you. There were no fad diets, programs, diet group meetings, or any of that stuff. That works for some people, but I’m not in that tribe. My strategy essentially boiled down to this:

– Eat less crap
– Do more stuff

Yeah, I’m pretty sure that no one at Jenny Craig is looking over their shoulders and expecting to see me threatening their marketshare. Oh well.

Anywho, that’s about it. I’m also putting this out there because there have been a couple of people who thought I had lost all the weight due to a health crisis. No, not at all. I’m fine. I’m actually bordering on being fit.

Cheers,
John