Surf and Work Safely in Wi-Fi Hot Spots

The ability to access the Internet from anywhere, whether its your favorite java joint or a hotel in Maui, is one of the best ways to beat the rate race and work wherever you want.  However, it doesn’t come without risk. Free and even fee-based wi-fi access while on the road doesn’t guarantee security of your private information. If you access your bank account, buy something using your credit card or access private membership sites, all your login and password information can be stolen from hackers.

But now there is a solution. Hotspot Shield from Anchorfree offers a free security application that creates a VPN (virtual private network) between your laptop or iPhone and the Internet thereby preventing hackers from seeing and stealing your information. Hotspot Shield is easy to install and runs on:

• Windows Vista
• Windows XP
• Windows 2000
• Mac OS X (10.5 Leopard)
• Mac OS X (10.4 Tiger)

To get your free copy or to learn more, visit AnchorFree’s Hotspot Shield page.

Get rid of trial and “crapware” pre-installed on your computer

Getting a new computer is always fun. Its like starting with a clean slate without the blips and glitches that come with use. However, new computers are not actually a clean slate. They come with a host of trial programs that many people don’t use. PC Decrapifier is a free program that will scan your machine (old or new) and uninstall many of the common trialware and annoyances found on many PCs from big name OEMs (here is a list of current programs it scans for).

After installing, PC Decrapifier runs a wizard in which you can tell it how long you’ve been using the machine as well as check for updates on the software. Before running the scan, take advantage of the program’s option to create a restore point just in case something goes wrong. Finally run the scan to discover a host of trailware and OEM programs lurking on your computer. If you’re not sure what the program is, you can click on the item for more information. Then just mark the items you want to remove and click the “Next” button.

To learn more or download the program, visit PC Decrapifier.

One Stop Shop for Movie/Book/Game/TV Reviews

Not sure if its worth $10 per person to see the latest movie releases? Should you wait for the paperback version of the new bestseller saving more than 50% of the hardback price? Before you spend your hard earned money and time, check out MediaCritic.com for the latest reviews from top newspapers and publications around the country on movies, books, games and tv shows. MediaCritic.com offers a “Metascore” (average of the critics’ scores) for each item giving a quick glance at its overall rating. You can read the critics’ reviews as well as the opinions and ratings from non-critics. You can post your own opinions or participate in group discussions.

You can access the information through the website or through an RSS feed or your smartphone.

Decipher Abbreviations and Acronyms

Have you ever come across an abbreviation or acronym and not known what it meant? Acronym Finder is a dictionary with over 600,000 abbreviations, acronyms and initialisms. Simply type in the abbreviation or acronym to get a list of possible definitions. For example, ICPC is used to refer to Interstate Compact for the Placement of Children or International Conference of Police Chaplains as well as several other meanings.

If you still aren’t sure which meaning is the one you need, you can further categorize the definition into areas of information technology, military and government, science and medicine, organizations and schools, business and finance, or slang, chat and pop culture. The last category can be a bit help with texting and instant messaging.

Visit Acronym Finder to learn more.

Free Project Management Software

To do lists can keep you focused and one task. But if you’re involved in a project that has many steps and to-do’s, it can be difficult to keep track and on target. There are many good online project management programs you can use for a fee, but if you don’t need to coordinate with colleagues, a simple free project management software can help.

Gantt Project Management offers a free easy to use chart-based project management tool.  With the Gantt Project Management tool you can create tree-heirarchies to help track tasks within projects, create dependencies between tasks (complete task A before completing task B), create PDF or HTML reports and exchange data with Microsoft(R) Project(TM) and spreadsheet applications.

The software can not only help keep business and work-related projects in order, but it can be used for personal projects such as home improvement plans.

Visit Gantt Project Software to learn more and download your free copy.