The Windows world is hot! Did you hear or read that Microsoft actually released a LAPTOP last week? Yes they did! It’s called the Surface Book. This is a high end device. Microsoft is taking on Apple’s MacBook Pro, sparing no expense in quality materials. The Surface Books will ship soon and range in cost from $1499 to $2700.

Today, I come bearing some treats for you. While I always tell clients to be suspicious of FREE software: there are programs that are legitimately free:
1) Software developed by the operating system maker (Microsoft) or your computer manufacturer
2) Open source software — programs created by a non-profit foundation or a community of developers that freely share the code. In some cases you may, but are not required to, make a donation to support the project.
3) Software created by someone who simply wants to do good by others or because they work for a major company and are not allowed to sell their software. In some cases you may, but are not required to, make a donation to support the project.

The two programs I am giving you links to today fall under #2 and 3.
A. Irfan View: This is the best picture viewer that I know of. It can also edit pictures, resize them and save them in new formats. It is not really meant for importing pictures from a camera; that’s not how I use it.
http://www.irfanview.com/

B. Not Another PDF Scanner 2 (NAPS2): This is just a simple scanner program and should be much more efficient than opening the clunky program that came from HP or Canon or Your Scanner Company. I have tried it and I love it.
http://www.naps2.com/