They come in hand to the people who do not want to buy Microsoft* Office or download a very large file. Just get one of the many free text editors available out there (small files to download, really).

To make a short story shorter, these are the programs I tested:

Abiword 2.4.6

Abiword is an Open Source program and it is cross platform – you can run it across many operating systems.

It has many advanced features and yes, it has a portable version , (very useful if you write your blogs or emails on someone else’s computers or in Internet Café’s).

It allows you to convert text to table and tables to text, and it has all the nice, advanced features that Microsoft* Word has and more.

I have been using the portable AbiWord when Microsoft* Word 2000 kept crashing on me and I liked it very much. It is also, very useful when you do not have administrator rights and you cannot install programs (like me at work, good way to trick the admins!).

You can save your documents as txt, doc, mht, html, abw, awt and text.
You can also create web documents with AbiWord.

This text editor is very similar to Microsoft* Word as GUI (Graphical User Interface) and features. Even the icons are almost the same as in Windows* Word .

You can insert pictures, links date, time and it has many Paragraph formatting features. Really nice software.

It can save the documents as *rtf, *txt and *htm or *html.

I would recommend it to anyone who needs a Free Clone of Microsoft* Word.

If you like the software you can donate some money to Angelic Software – support small developers.

Jarte

At first, when I installed Jarte, I thought that the interface was …funny (to put it this way).

Then, when I checked the functionality of the program, I was surprised.

It has a configurable auto save function, a clipboard that can be viewed at any time by clicking on the clipboard icon, a very easy to use interface, it can open, edit and save txt, rtf and doc files and you can open multiple pages in tabs. With the sidebar you can access formatting options easily.

It does not have an option for creating tables or structuring the text differently.

Meanwhile I was writing this article; they (Carolina Road Software) posted a beta 3.0 version. Nicer interface and “clickless operations” (meaning that on mouse over, the menus are displayed.). Not bad at all.

CopyWriter

This program looks like a notepad with advanced features and the ability to open *txt, *doc, *rtf and binary files and save *txt and *rtf files.

It has very nice features and the layout is very, very basic.

It can be copied to your USB thumb drive. It does not support very large files (*sad smiley*)

IntelliEdit

This program has a layout very similar to wordpad. It opens, edits and saves txt and rtf files.

What makes it different?

Auto completion. Type 1 or two letters and a list of words is displayed. Press the key that corresponds to each option (1-0).

In the Help file, there is a Tutorial on how to update your keywords, phrases. I guess this could be helpful for writing repetitive phrases although I would recommend Robotype(download here) for text-expansion programs.

Yeah Write

Yeah Write is a program that allows you to create letters, notes, memos, diaries and your own journal.

It has pretty advanced features and it uses tabs and subtabs. This way you can edit your journal, memos and write letters in the same program, just by switching tabs.

However it knows to read rtf and txt files. I opened a doc file and I got a whole bunch of weird looking characters.
It has a free version which “includes 50% of the features” and a full version that costs $19.

“Sport Scribe has been developed as a word processor and emailer for use by club secretaries who need a straight forward means to communicate with their members. Of course it can be just as useful for anyone who needs an easy to use word processor. Best of all Sport Scribe is FREE.”

The program has very nice features. Most important (to me at leastJ) it has tables! Yes, the one you can use to create charts. And advanced formatting text options.

It opens, edits and saves rtf, txt and htm, html files. Not bad.

Delphad lite

"Delphad is a Freeware Text - and RTF Editor with embedded HTML & Picture Viewer functions.
Delphad supposed to be a Word Pad replacement, because it includes all the word pad features plus plenty of additional functions.
With Delphad you can almost open any file, edit text or rtf, open Word Docs. It includes a term box to store often used phrases for a fast utilization and a file list box for browsing fast through all files of a directory. Delphad can embed OLE objects like Excel or wav files orpictures in a rtf document. Delphad also comes with a WYSIWYG Font box like the one in Word 2000 .
Delphad comes with setup & uninstall support!”
I think this pretty much says it all, the Graphical User Interface, is pretty much like Windows* 98.

QJot

Is a WordPad replacement and it is very small. Once installed, you can just copy and paste the files on your USB drive and you have yourself a portable text editor. For its size, I couldn’t ask for more. It opens edits and saves rtf, txt, htm, html and doc files (MS Office* 95-2002).

Tomahawk PDF+

Tomahawk PDF+ is not only a text editor! It opens excel files, rtf, txt and htm, html files and converts them to pdf files. It will not open but it will save doc files.
If you needed to convert excel files to pdf, here it is. The best free solution!

If you have any suggestions or preferences and you do not see them listed here, leave me a comment. I will make sure to include them.

Star Office is like a Microsoft* Office that molds to your needs and has full technical support, all the nice extras, templates and it is cheaper (only $69.95 US at the time I am posting this article).

Star Office is developed and sold by Sun* the same folks who created Java* the well-known browser plugin that makes our lives easier (or not) when browsing the Internet.

I am not sure which one was the first but the thing is that Open Office and Star Office are very similar. The main difference is that Star Office has all the templates and all the clipart that Open Office does not have. And of course that Open Office is freeware.

System requirements for Star Office can be found here. Don’t worry, I am sure your computer will do just fine.

Star Office components and their Microsoft* equivalents :

Now, you will ask me, “Isn’t this blog supposed to be about freeware?”

Yes, it is! Although the Star Office suite costs $69.95 US, it can be downloaded for free as part of the Google Pack software!

I have no idea why or how Google* and Sun* decided to include a Star Office for free in Google Pack but I am happy about it!

You can download the Google Pack here. Select your language, the applications you want to download, and there you go!

Floppy Office Suite is only 1917 kb.

Due to its very small size, the extras and blows and whistles are inexistent. So it is more a question of functionality than visual effects.

Floppy Office is a freeware office suite that contains:

- Ted Pad is a basic text editor

-Spread 32 is a basic spreadsheet like Microsoft Excel but with reduced functionality.

-KPad is a word editor that allows you to create, open and edit and save .rtf and .txt files.

-NpopUK is a replacement for the well known Microsoft* Outlook and supports authentication, address book and multiple accounts.

-PDF Producer creates .pdf files from text files.

-100k zipper creates and extracts .zip files.
-iFTP will allow you to upload and download files from your FTP server.

-RenameFiles allows you to rename multiple files at once.
-dsDel is a secure file shredder. Simply drag and drop the files you need to secure delete and they are gone forewer!

-Tiny is a tiny J web server. Open Tiny box, with tiny box open the Tiny.exe and there you go, the rest is quite self-explanatory.

-Eve is a vector drawing program.

-dscrypt is an encrypter, decrypter which allows you to uhmmmm, decrypt and encrypt files with drag and drop.

-mempad will allow you to save your notes in an easy to read and organize format.

-Xpass will allow you to see Windows* passwords. It did not work for me with the latest Portable Firefox.

This is all that comes packed with Floppy Office. I think that is more than enough keeping in mind it only takes 1917 kb of space in your thumb drive, floppy disk, email account, etc.

You can download it here.

For more information, you can visit xtorts homepage.

The programs included in the Floppy Office suite are freeware programs produced by different programmers that are not related to each other.

I think the suite should be called in fact Floppy Office collection and not Floppy Office suite.

There is no technical support for the whole Office suite. However, you can contact the software developers and send them any inquiries you may have regarding their product(s).

There is no such thing as making huge amounts of money over night on the Internet. Unless it’s a scam. Usually working on the Internet is just like working in an office. Sometimes it is even more work to do (if you are a blogger, you know what I mean). You will still need a certain level of knowledge depending on the field you apply for.

If you conduct a search on Google®, most of the hits are sites that offer unreal amounts of money over night on the condition that you purchase some “package” or some “kit”. None of these sites actually explains what the scheme is.

These are three easy steps to avoid scams on the Internet:

1. Don't purchase any “packages”. When you go to ask for a job at Microsoft® they will not ask you to pay anything before you start. And this goes for any serious company. Stuffing envelopes will not make you a millionaire. Serious companies don't depend on individuals to stuff their envelopes with correspondence (an example of a common scam) or process their medical orders-plans (think of how troublesome that would be for a big company).

If it seems to good to be true it probably is not true.

2. Do not give credit card information or personal information online unless you are sure you know what you are doing. This is the most common way that identity theft cases occur. Use one of the many search engines to Google the name of the site. Additionally try a search with the following keywords: SITENAME+SCAM. If an email address is required, better create a fake email address just for registrations. This way you will not receive tons of junk mail in your regular email account.
3. Look for the job description and for the bling bling of the site. If the site sounds like a commercial and it is throwing numbers and money at you, it is very probable that you are on the wrong track.

Jobs that you do not want:

Stuffing envelopes

Processing medical plans.

Creating Craft Work

Creating a Pyramidal structured Website that will make you millionaire.

How to distinguish scams:

Most of the work-at-home-job scams will ask you to pay a small fee. Don’t. As I mentioned before, a serious employer will not ask you for a fee to start working. Did you ever had to pay a fee to start working?

Lack of information. The site says many times that you will make lots of money with little effort without going into details on how to do so. It seems that they are teasing you just to get in.

The mechanism is a pyramidal system, a cash generating machine - stay away from this kind of thing. Someone has to lose so the first participant in the game wins.

There is no explication of how the site works.

There is poor or nonexistent contact information.

Check the availability of the product on the market /how the service works.

Imagine yourself doing your job according to the site. Question everything that is said there.

Contact the company behind the site and ask them to explain to you in detail how the system works. Ask them to provide you with a physical address which you can verify.

Surveys

There is a great deal of websites that provide all kind of online survey forms. You need to be very careful. Some of them simply create an email database which is later sold to other companies as "leads"(email addresses of potential customers)

Before signing up for any of these services, create a fake/temporary e-mail address.
Look at this: http://sterling-investments.net/mail/show.php . All these addresses are people who applied online for a WAH (Work from home) job. It is related to another scam site (http://www.haworth-solutions.com/) that looks quite real, so make sure to contact the site and ask them where do you get your money from and when you get paid. Also ask them what they sell and how it works.

Scam.com forum - A forum where you can ask about a website, idea and receive answers from other experienced users.

Scam.com forum on MLM pyramids - Very useful forum and a good place to check on MLM pyramidal systems.

Sites for surveys that really work:

www.yellowsurveys.com

http://www.surveysavvy.com/

http://www.globaltestmarket.com/

http://www.opinionoutpost.com/

Remember that you will not become a millionaire overnight. It takes dedication and time to build a successful business in real life or over the Internet. Or a lucky strike. You do not want to waste your life trying to find that lucky strike, though.

Websites that require some kind of technical knowledge or a certain level of technical/computer skills:

www.getafreelancer.com

www.rentacoder.com

http://www.freelance.com/

http://www.elance.com/

http://www.allfreelance.com/

https://www.google.com/adsense/

On the above mentioned sites, you can also find data entry jobs or translation bids.

Please note that on the above mentioned websites, you will be posting bids so the employer gives you the job. The success as a freelancer consists on offering a low enough price for your services and a good enough execution time for the project.

If I have omitted any website that really, really works, please leave a comment with the URL of the website. You are not the only one looking for an online job! Don't be selfish :) . (there are millions of us!)

OEM stands for Original Equipment Manufacturer. This means that a component (mostly chipsets and PCB’s in our case) was purchased by a computer manufacturer from a chipset or Printed Circuitry Board manufacturer and integrated in a branded system (Laptop or Computer).

Examples:

For example, if your HP*, Dell*, IBM* (or whichever brand) computer has an AMD* or Intel* processor inside, if your processor fails, you will not call AMD* or Intel* for warranty and technical support. You will call the computer manufacturer and ask them to provide you with technical support, software or drivers.

It is just like when you buy a refrigerator branded by Atlas* and it has a Samsung* engine. If the engine stops working, you will not go to Samsung* you will call Atlas*.

Many folks do the other way and they end up being frustrated and upset because they do not receive technical support or replacements.

Why?

Well, big companies would rather sell thousands of items to another company at a lower price than sell small quantities to end-users.

What is Retail?

Retail items are products designed for the end-users. Intended to be sold one-by-one and in this case, for retail (boxed items) technical support is provided by the item manufacturer.

The difference.

The difference between OEM (Original Equipment Manufacturer) and Retail products might be huge, unlike many end-users think, the OEM’s actually modify both hardware and software provided by the manufacturer to better integrate them into their systems.

If you buy a laptop system that has a wireless network card integrated, the manufacturer of the whole system may have modified the frequency and the voltage of the card to grant more battery life to your laptop.

If this is the case, you cannot use the drivers that are available from the manufacturer of the wireless network card with the integrated wireless network adapter.

It might never work.

Or it may work and give you some performance issues.

Or it may crash. Anyway, you get the idea.

What is the advantage of buying OEM versus Retail?

You will take advantage of all the features that the Retail product has. The OEM/ODM might leave out or modify the features.

You will get support from the manufacturer of the product. This means that you will be able to get support for advanced features of the advanced features. Also, warranty wise, the manufacturer might be a better choice.

OEM software.

OEM software, especially OEM Operating Systems, are sometimes designed to work only with the system they are bundled with.

I would not advise you to purchase OEM software. You might end up having some software that does not work or software with limited functions.

Personally, I would prefer freeware or buying the software I need.

Before upgrading your branded laptop, I strongly recommend you to contact the system manufacturer, provide as many technical information on the product you wish to purchase and ask them if they recommend you to upgrade. Otherwise you might end up purchasing some add-in card or memory that does not even work with your system…

Note:If you are here because you have a problem with your OEM product, contact the system manufacturer. If you have a Retail product, contact the manufacturer of the product.

If your item came as part of an OEM system and you connected it in some other machine, configuration, just forget it…

*Names mentioned in this document are property of their respective owners.