The other day I came across a Squidoo lens all about these new web apps that are basically free replacements for your typical computer software. Whoever did the list must be awesome. (Ok I admit it, I wrote it…)

Since Squidoo was overrun by spammers and subsequently bitch slapped by Google, I figured why not add to it and post the list here?

So here goes:

 

Operating Systems

Yes, there are entire operating systems you can run over the web (or download for free.)

Ubuntu
A free, Linux-driven OS. It’s a great base for a low-cost or non-Microsoft system.

Eye OS
Access your “desktop” from anywhere.

Nivio
Like running Windows from your browser!

Desktop on Demand
Lots of apps, just like your desktop OS.

 

Office Suites and Apps

No need to shell out for Microsoft Office anymore. These free tools get the job done.

Zoho
Zoho is a web-based office suite.

Google Docs
Includes word processing and spreadsheet software, with the possibility of presentation software, too.

Open Office
This is one you have to download, making it very similar to Microsoft Office… but it’s free. Great for Linux users.

Think Free
A full-featured, online office suite.

 

Finance

From personal finance to billing, there are interesting online apps to get you started. 100% cheaper than Quickbooks!

Wesabe
A full-featured financial package to track your finances. It even integrates with your bank account.

DimeWise
DimeWise lets you budget and keep track of all your expenses.

NetWorthIQ
Track your finances and net worth, and even compare them to other companies who are using the service.

Fresh Books
An easy way to bill clients online.

InstaCalc
Online calculator that works instantly.

Calcoolate
Cool online calculator.

 

Sales and Marketing

Making it easier to separate people from their money.

Veetro
Offers project management and sales functions, such as lead tracking and customer support.

Qoop
Create logo merchandise, such as calendars, the easy way. (A bit more advanced than CafePress.)

 

Email

No need for Outlook anymore. There are a number of free email clients, and some of them have more features than Outlook.

Gmail
Google’s version of email. The best, IMHO.

Google Calendar
Integrate this with Gmail and it blows away Outlook’s calendar.

Yahoo Mail
Now with unlimited storage.

Yahoo Calendar
Integrate this with Yahoo Mail.

Thunderbird
A free email client you can download and run on your computer or server. From the people that brought you Firefox!

 

Web Browsing

Internet Explorer sucks.

Firefox
Browse the web with Firefox, it’s better and safer.

 

Online Radio

What kind of business doesn’t have a radio playing in the front office? But if your local FM radio station just doesn’t cut it, try this.

Pandora
Your own personal radio station with song recommendations and more.

 

Networking

When you can’t attend the local mixers or big conferences, keep in touch online.

Linked In
It’s like Myspace and Facebook, but for entrepreneurs and business professionals.

 

Collaboration

Work together while you’re apart.

Meebo
The do-it-all instant messenger.

Basecamp
An online collaboration tool from the great guys at 37Signals.

Concept Share
Collaborate in real-time without messing up the original document.

 

Security

This stuff will come in handy, especially if you spend your days on warez or pr0n sites!

AVG Anti-Virus
A free anti-virus software.

Spybot
Get rid of spyware.

 

Video Editing

You have to be on YouTube. And to do that, you’ll need some nice-looking video.

JumpCut
Edit in your browser.

Motion Box
Full-featured online video editing.

 

Photo Editing

Flauntr
A simple but powerful online photo editor.

 

Photo Storage

Flickr
The place to store and display your photos.

 

Computer Backup

Mozy
Free 2GB of storage space through an easy-to-use control panel that allows automatic backups.

Xdrive
Your own online storage for private storage or file sharing.

Gspace
Turn your Gmail account into a virtual hard drive.

 

File Synchronization

BeInSync
Sync your files between 2 computers, share up to 5 folders, and backup up to 1 GB of data.

 

There you go, a total of 37 free pieces of software!

Quick, Pop Quiz!

Why did I go to the effort of posting this list?

(a) To help you save money.
(b) Just cause I’m nice.
(c) Gurus are great and I’ve decided to quit making fun of them.
(d) Because it gave me a great place to weave in some affiliate links so I can make bank.

Once you’ve made your choice, post it in a comment below and we’ll see how many people get it right!

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I’ve mentioned a few things about social bookmarking before, from putting buttons on your blog to some social bookmark submission software, but never written specifically about a service called OnlyWire.

I would go as far as to say that OnlyWire is the best social bookmarking site there is, and get this - it does not store your bookmarks and it doesn’t let you socialize!

But it does something even better…

It allows you to submit your bookmarks to 19 real social bookmarking websites with just one click. (Well I guess it’s two clicks because you have to confirm the submission, but that’s a lot faster than submitting to sites individually!)

It works like this:

1. You sign-up at OnlyWire.com
2. You fill out your profile with login details for your various accounts for the other social bookmarking sites.
3. Drag the OnlyWire submission button onto your bookmarks toolbar.
4. Then just start using the OnlyWire button instead of individual buttons.

Like magic - your bookmarking becomes 19 times faster!

That one click will submit the page to Backflip, Bibsonomy, Blinklist, Blogmemes, Blue Dot, de.lirio.us, del.icio.us, Diigo, Furl, Jots, LinkRoll, LookLater, ma.gnolia, Markaboo, Rawsugar, Shadows, Simpy, Spurl, and Wink.

At each submission, you can pick out the title and tags, and you can choose which services you’d like to use (just in case you don’t want the bookmark listed on every single account.)

Like I said, it’s fast and easy and great. The only complaint I’ve heard is that it’s not natural to have your site bookmarked at all these sites under the same title (i.e. anchor text.) I don’t really see a problem with that though, because the title field defaults to the page title of the web page, and I imagine that most people just use that default title. So it actually would be natural to have a lot of social bookmarks under the same anchor text.

But if you don’t like it, whatever. It works for me

[This post originally appeared at InternetMarketingSucks.com]

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Catchy title, huh? Everyone wants to possibly save time and increase traffic

What we’re looking at is a new piece of software called Web2Submitter, and it helps automate the process of submitting your web pages to social bookmarking services. It’s common knowledge to most webmasters that they can get traffic by submitting their sites to these sites like Digg, Del.icio.us, and Reddit.

I didn’t think it took very long to do so, but maybe it takes a long time for some people, and that’s why this software came out. I can only poke fun at it in a few ways, as it might be a handy tool for some people. And unfortunately, the sales page doesn’t make totally outrageous claims that you’ll get rich overnight by using this software!

However, I picked out a few good tidbits from the sales page audio!

The first one was that this software is “not a spam tool.” It’s not a spam tool just like Microsoft Outlook, Mozilla Thunderbird, or another email client is not a spam tool. Unfortunately, unscrupulous people can easily use it to spam! This might not be the worst form of spamming, but it’s a nuisance. It will just lead to more spam on all the bookmarking sites, like I mentioned when I wrote about the crap that is submitted on StumbleUpon.

Next they say that “not many internet marketers are using these methods.” I beg to differ! Almost every blog i read these days has rows upon rows of social bookmarking buttons. There are Wordpress plugins that do this easily, along with a “Digg This” plugin for Digg submissions. All you have to do is click those buttons for easy submission to each bookmarking site. Or better yet, just let your readers submit for you!

I don’t have much else to complain about though. I guess the good thing is, it’s not some get rich quick scheme. It could be used legitimately, like one of those semi-automated tools for article submission. So it might save you some time. If that’s worth $47, then go for it.

It doesn’t make any real claims other than saving time and getting some links to your site. It’s assuming you’re taking the long way to submit your sites to these Web 2.0 places by logging-in and all that. I just use the buttons that i already have on my websites, so for me, it wouldn’t save that much time. I don’t spend 7-8 hours per week doing this already, but if you do, you have two options:

1) add the buttons to your site and submit via those (or just wait for your visitors to do it for you, which is what i prefer to do - and it takes no time on my part!)

2) buy this software and try it out; hopefully it saves you time.

If it sounds like the tool for you, here’s the link: Web2Submitter

If not, no big deal. I’m happy I read the sales letter because I learned about Only Wire, a free social bookmark submission service. It submits your page to 19 social bookmarking sites at once, saving you plenty of time.

Note: The Web2submitter link is an affiliate link. Why? Because I figured it’s possible to use this without spamming, and it’s only a time-saving software tool to help automate something you should do anyway. I don’t use this personally, so I don’t know if it’s any good or not, so it’s not actually a recommendation to purchase. But, the sales page gives you a demo so it’s no secret what you’re getting. And if you’re not satisfied, you can ask for a refund. If they don’t give you one, go straight to ClickBank and they’ll get the refund for you. And c’mon, I’d like to make a little extra spending money for myself! Wouldn’t you do the same thing?

P.S. Don’t forget to bookmark this post using the buttons below!

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For the majority of internet marketers, making money online is like hunting for buried treasure. They spend a hell of a lot of time and energy searching for the one thing that will make them filthy rich. They could put that time and energy into actually working on something, but that would be like “work.”

If you aren’t ready to take action, keep searching for your buried treasure. But if you’re ready to get started (or already started) here is a treasure chest that you might like. It’s actually Jonathan Leger’s Tool Chest, but the tools are free and could very well be a treasure in disguise

Here’s a link to the Web Tools.

Here’s a sampling of what you will find:

• AdWords Keyword Generators
• Domain Name Buyers Tool
• Link Cloaker
• Misspelled Keyword Generator

And even some others. I counted a total of 10 last time I checked.

The best part is that he includes a contact form on the page and welcomes you to submit ideas. If he likes your idea, maybe he’ll make it and let you use it for free!

Now go try these tools, and if you find them useful, Jon has some donation buttons in the top right corner of his page.

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Not much to say here, except that there is a new version of the VMN Toolbox out now. I mentioned this neat little tool a few months ago, and I’ve been using it myself ever since.

It’s free, it works, and it doesn’t screw anything up. What more could you ask for?

I just downloaded a copy, and you can too if you go here.

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I just found a 100% free way to make your life easier on the web! Now what makes this offer stand out is that it is not a free ebook, nor is it free keyword or site creation software garbage. It’s a real piece of software that does some neat little things, and appears to do them better than other tools.

VMN Toolbox offers: screen capture, color picker, sticky notes, magnifier, and virtual rulers. I haven’t installed this yet, but once I do, I’ll probably post an update on how it works.

Looks like good stuff, check out the site for screenshots and more info:
VMN Toolbox

Even if you don’t want the software, check out the site - it’s designed very nicely!

(So what prompted me to write this entry? I’ll let you know tomorrow…)

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