March 24, 2011 Freeware SIG Session

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There was no PowerPoint presentation for this session, nor was there a handout. This post will have all the links referenced during the session.

The session opened by informing all that IE (Internet Explorer) 9 and Firefox 4 (both full and portable versions) were released during the week. Also advised that IE 9 does not work on MSWindows systems lower than Vista, so if XP is being used you will have to stick with IE 8, but make sure to keep updated.

The main portion of the session for the evening dealt with some freeware for working with text.

The three shown were:

StripMail

A portable utlitiy for cleaining up email text for easier reading and use of information. I say portable because, there is no need to install as it is run from the .exe file.

Version 0.99h was the version shown, a newer version is available at the link, along with a more in depth explanation of what it is and what it does.

Download

The link to obtain your own copy of this freeware utility is:
http://www.stripmail.net/

Information From Other Sources

If you would like to read what some others have said about StripMail, check out the following links to a couple of blog postings:

http://www.addictivetips.com/windows-tips/format-and-clean-up-text-of-emails-for-easier-reading-with-stripmail/

http://www.techsupportalert.com/remove-unwanted-formatting-from-text.htm

http://download.cnet.com/StripMail/3000-2369_4-10892623.html

NoteTab Light

A portable freeware Windows Notepad replacement, featuring tabs, runs off USB Drive, no installation, libraries for HTML, XHTML and CSS for blogging and website development, and much more.

The version used was 5.7b, a newer version is available at the link.

Download

Direct link: http://www.notetab.com/downloads.php (At this time it is the third download button on the page (Download | light)

Quickly, I went over how easy it is to use for using quick HTML tags in a blog post, and how I use it all the time for things like that. Also, showed how I can have a bunch of different TXT files open at one time, so I can switch back and forth.

Information From Other Sources

Blog posts about NoteTab Light:

http://www.makeuseof.com/tag/ditch-your-windows-notepad-for-notetab-light/

http://johnbmarine.blogspot.com/2011/03/notetab.html

PhraseExpress

A freeware text replacement utility, install or portable version.

This particular piece of software shown in response to a question about text replacement at the February session.

The version used was PhraseExpress USB v8.0.127 (the portable verion), also available are a desktop install version, and a network edition.

Download

The downloads can be found at: http://www.phraseexpress.com/download.htm

This was explored in depth, as there was no previous information available.

We went through setting up a snippet of text to be used in an email signature, assigned a hot key, and set up for autocomplete.

We copied text to the Windows clipboard from various locations and then saw how they were all listed. If you close PhraseExpress before saving the clips somehow they will dissappear, as the utility does not autosave. But, it is still better than the Windows Clipboard, in that it keeps all that was copied while PhraseExpress is running, instead of each replacing the other in Windows Clipboard.

There is lots more that can be done with PhraseExpress, but we did not have time for more than just an overview.

Information From Other Sources

Blog post about PhraseExpress:

http://www.makeuseof.com/tag/4-cool-applications-productive-text-editing/

Other Items Discussed

BRCS Special Interest Groups

When told that the links to the freeware discussed would be posted on this blog, it was found that very few knew how to access the blog.

This prompted a short review of the http://brcs.org Special Interest Group page, reachable by clicking on the Special Interest Groups button of the homepage. This has information regarding the current Special Interest Groups with links to further information about each.

The link to this blog, was pointed out.

Also, all were encouraged to comment on any of the posts, and/or to email me at the address shown under the Freeware/Open Source SIG listing.

April 28, 2011 Session

No specific topic is scheduled for the April 28, 2011 session, suggestions are welcome.

May 26, 2011 Guest SIG Leader

The May 26, 2011 session will be led by Paul Nappo, during my abscence.

Where I Find Free Software February 24, 2011 Session

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After a long absence due to meeting place being unavailable for November and December of 2010, and the moderator’s unavailability for January 2011, the BRCS Freeware Special Interest Group (SIG) met in the evening of Thursday, February 24, 2011.

The subject was where to find free software. We were actually able to go to a few of the sites mentioned, and then our connection to the internet suddenly died out.

The presentation, notes, and a document containing all the links mentioned, have been posted in LibreOffice, Microsoft, and PDF formats at:

https://app.box.com/v/brcs-freewaresig.

These are all under a Creative Commons license, so you may use, alter to suit your own needs, share with others, etc., as long as attribution to http://brcsfreewaresig.blogspot.com/ is shown, it is for noncommercial purposes, and it is shared under the same licensing.

As always, please comment if you need more information, or if you have further information.

October 28, 2010 Freeware SIG Session

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The files from the October 28, 2010 BRCS Freeware SIG session, Online Storage, have been posted in the OnlineStorage-Oct10 folder at https://app.box.com/v/brcs-freewaresig.

The notes and presentation files are posted in OpenOffice.org, Microsoft Office, and PDF formats with Creative Commons licensing, to allow other user groups to utilize as well.

If you use them, please let me know and what your comments are.

While you are at the box.net location, check out what has been posted for previous sessions. There will be nothing for the November 2010 session, as that is Thanksgiving evening.