Free Alternative To Microsoft Office

Im sure most of you are familiar with the Microsoft Office Suite. You know Word, Excel, Powerpoint and Access. Im sure most of you know that it cost over $100. Well there is an alternative and best of all its totally free! It is called Open Office. I have been using it for years and honestly I have yet to run into a problem with it. I can do anything with it that I would want to do with big $100 product. You can download Open Office here: http://www.openoffice.org/ if you would like to give it a try. I highly recommend it and I install it on many of my clients computers upon there request.

IMPORTANT: Make sure that you change Open Office so it saves in the Microsoft Office format. Otherwise if you email a file to someone or try to open it at school in Word or Excel it will not open. Just follow the instructions in this video and your set.



Also I recommend unchecking the box that says "Warn When Not Saving In ODF or default format." If anyone needs help setting up Open Office just let me know.

Be looking for more Free software I will be highlighting in coming posts.

File Your Taxes Online For Free

If you feel confident enough to do your own taxes or if you use the short form when you file your taxes this is for you. I have done this the past 2 years when I filed my taxes and it is super easy. You can file your Federal Taxes right on the IRS website at: http://www.irs.gov/efile/article/0,,id=118986,00.html

For filing your state taxes you can use one of these if you live in Kentucky: http://revenue.ky.gov/FFAOffers.htm You can also use it to file your federal and its usually around $9.00 But you should be able to file just your KY State Taxes through one of them and then file your Federal through the IRS website link.

If your in Ohio go here: http://tax.ohio.gov/divisions/communications/electronic_filing_options.stm for free filing options.

Protecting Your Facebook Password While On Public Wifi Hotspots

Have you ever used wireless internet at a hotel? at an airport or even the library? Public wireless hotspots are very easy and convenient to use. No password needed you simply connect to the network and your online. You can get on your Facebook, email, check your bank account etc. The problem is with the convenience of a open wireless hotspot comes a consequence.  Have you ever stopped to think could someone steal my usernames and passwords for sites I am logging into on public wifi? The answer to this question is yes they can but it can be prevented. For example if you log into your facebook or twitter someone can steal your password very easily using a program called firesheep. Firesheep makes it so easy that a 10 year old kid could steal your password on a public wifi network. I was going to create a video explaining this and how to defend against it. I have found someone else has already created an excellent video explaining this already. Have a watch and you will have a better understanding.


To download the extension for firefox mention in the video Https Everywhere visit:  https://www.eff.org/https-everywhere

If you do not use firefox and use Internet Explorer (Which I do not recommend) I recommend using Hot Spot Shield when you are on a public wifi network. You can get it here:  http://hotspotshield.com/

The basic principle to know is if a website  starts with http:// then your password CAN be stolen on a public network. If it starts with https:// your password CAN NOT be stolen.

Examples:

http://www.facebook.com Your password can be stolen

https://www.facebook.com Your password can not be stolen