Evan Youngblood

For home users, Microsoft now offers a free set of anti-virus and anti-malware tools called Windows Security Essentials. You can download your free copy here.

I faced a dilemma, my media collection had exceeded the capacity of my 1TB hard drive. I began adding additional content into a second disk, but that required switching between “Media” and “Media2″ on the media centers placed around the house. I was looking for a solution which would future-proof my setup as much as possible. Enter the Drobo.

The Drobo (www.drobo.com) is a RAID-like device that allows you to insert up to four SATA hard drives, connect them to your computer via USB or FireWire 800, and use them as a single external drive. The concept is very well done, in that you can put in random drives, as opposed to a RAID setup where the capacity of the drives used must match. Data Robotics took extra care in making the Drobo good looking as well as very simple to use. You don’t need any knowledge of RAID, NAS, or SANs to make the Drobo work on your setup, just plug it in and go. (continue reading…)

Web Browser:

Firefox (Free)

Email Client:

Thunderbird (Free)

Presentation Software:

Keynote ($79, iWork Suite)

Word Processor & Spreadsheet:

OpenOffice.org (Free)

Instant Messenger:

Adium (Free) – Compatible with MSN, Yahoo, AIM

OS Add-On:

Default Folder X ($34.95) – Add functionality to make saving and opening files a breeze

RSS Reader:

NetNewsWire (Free) – Integrates with iPhone/iPod Touch to sync your news feeds

FTP Client:

Filezilla (Free)

Text Editor:

TextWrangler (Free)

AdBlock Plus download page
There are people who will argue with me on this, but I believe users have the right to turn off annoying flash-based ads on web sites. No mainstream company can make a product that turns off ads, but an individual team can, enter AdBlock Plus.

AdBlock Plus is my number 1 pick for a Firefox extension. I never see an ad on the Internet. That’s right, even at sites like msnbc.com or MySpace — I have NO ads on my screen. All thanks to AdBlock Plus.

AdBlock Plus includes the ability to subscribe to blocking lists, and you can add your own filters to get the ads that it doesn’t automatically block. If AdBlock ever blocks something you want, just click the ABP icon in the toolbar to disable the filters temporarily, or permanently on the web site you’re on. I can’t stress enough how much I love this extension. I accidentally opened a link in IE a day or two ago to a web site I visit on a regular basis and was greeted with a screen-over flash ad throwing snowballs at me. YUCK! Open the same page in Firefox and no ads, none.