Don’t spend a dime takes a look at all how you can save money by using free software rather than expensive alternatives. There is a helpful guide to choosing a computer but the prices are all in dollars so specific advice is a little limited here.

Currency doesn’t matter when the software is free. The first software to come under attention is the office suite with separate chapters for word processing, spreadsheets and presentations. It’s no surprise to see Open Office and Google Docs. Personally I prefer Zoho but Google Docs is still a good choice. Google is also recommended for email and calendars.

I was pleased to see that the advice doesn’t stop there and other important, but maybe less exciting, topics are also covered including anti virus protection and backup. There’s even an alternative to the ever popular (and expensive) World of Warcraft.

This is a very useful introduction to the world of free software, and includes enough help to get you started with all of the recommendations. A longer list of alternatives would be good, especially for the blogging section, although there’s nothing wrong with the suggestions on offer. This book is a good investment when compared to the cost of the software that you could otherwise pay for.

Title: Don’t Spend a Dime – The path to Low-Cost Computing
Author: James Floyd Kelly
Publisher: Apress
Price: £20
ISBN: 978-1-4302-1863-0

It is comprehensive and covers all of the different parts of Basecamp and clearly states which features are restricted to the paid for accounts.

The other useful explanation covers the project limits on accounts and how archiving projects lets you get on with another project without deleting all the details from the last.

Some understanding of the basic project management concepts is helpful but the book does explain all of these as they are covered. An example would be the description of project Milestones.

Sams Teach yourself Basecamp in 10 minutes is everything I look for in a pocket guide. It's small enough to fit in a bag or notebook case but doesn't leave out and important information.

Title: Sams Teach yourself Basecamp in 10 minutes
Author: Patrice-Anne Rutledge
Publisher: Sams
Price: £15
ISBN: 0672331039

Asking around the office revealed that it will appear if Internet Explorer is still selected as the default browser. Frankly I'd stopped it from asking and just started browsers with the Quick Launch toolbar or with Launchy.

The annoyance with the selection window was that there was no way for me to tell it that I already had several of the alternative browsers installed and wanted to use one of them as my default.

In the end I clicked on the install button for Opera just to make the window go away and cancelled the download. I restarted the computer and the Browser Choice window hasn't reappeared. Despite the fact I haven't changed the default. I suppose it's the taking part that's important.

The app gives a public way of tracking your progress, and then best way to quit it to be accountable to someone. Making that someone your entire friend list seems like quite a good idea.

There's more advice and help to be found on the main site.

1) Loud Laptops

Laptop computers don't have a great reputation when it comes to sound quality, and with good reason: most have tiny, tinny speakers packed into the case as an afterthought. This year, though, several of the biggest computer names at Cebit have been showing portable computers that, they claim, are designed to sound great.

The Asus NX90 is certainly eye-catching: it's huge and completely covered in brushed aluminium. And, alongside some unusual features such as the two touchpads - one on either side of the keyboard - it has a powerful sound system provided by Bang and Olufsen IcePower. Its speaker enclosures have a volume of 108cc, and although it's very hard to judge the quality of sound in a busy trade show we can testify to the volume on offer.

A similar product was also on show at the stand of Asus's key rival MSI. Its GT660 gaming laptop packs a Core i7 processor, Blu-ray, two hard disks and Nvidia 285M graphics, but also a 2.1 sound system from Dynaudio - again, it's impressively thunderous.

2) Smart Storage

Network attached storage devices are to be found everywhere at the show, with the manufacturers seemingly adding new functions each and every year, but a few in particular stood out. The new Thecus N4200 has an unusual case with two displays, but there's also a lithium-ion battery in the back - if the mains power supply fails, this gives it enough power to shut down properly, saving your data.

Not to be outdone, rival Qnap was demonstrating its new QMobile tool for the iPhone and iPod Touch - this gives access to the multimedia functions of its NAS devices from any Apple mobile handset.

3) Neat Networking

Network storage aside, there are plenty of clever networking products on show. We particularly liked Devolo's new Smart+ powerline network adapters: instead of using LEDs to indicate the network status, these use an LCD display to provide far more information on the status of the network. The company was also showing this prototype of a new product due in September - this little white box will run at speeds of up to 500Mbps:

Also, good news for anyone who was tempted by our review of the AVM Fritzbox but couldn't stretch to the price: the company is launching a new, simpler model with the ISDN functions removed and a much lower price. The Fritzbox WLAN 3370 includes 802.11N networking, and should cost around £115 - it'll be available in a few months.

4) Powerful Programs

Although Cebit includes hall upon hall of new computer hardware, there are also dozens of software vendors showing off their new tools. As we reported previously, security firm Kaspersky Lab used Cebit to launch its new PURE antivirus product - read our story on that here.

Another clever new tool could be found on the Laplink stand. The company is adding a new feature to its PCMover software called the PCMover Image Assistant. This allows users to move both programs and files from a hard disk image to a new PC: so, for example, if you have an image backup of a Windows XP computer, and that fails, you can use the tool to move your programs onto a new Windows 7 PC without having to first reinstall XP. As well as appearing in future versions of PCMover, it'll be included with some disk imaging tools from O&O.

5) New and Unusual

From USB keys in every imaginable shape to foldable pianos to somewhat tasteless computer accessories (don't ask) there's all manner of odd goods on show at Cebit. Some look downright awful, but then there are a few unusual products that caught our eye. Thermaltake's Tt eSports brand may have a very strange name - that extra "t" is not a typing error - but its new keyboard might appeal to gamers or workaholics: reach around the back and there's a small fan that can be clipped onto the top of the keyboard to keep your fingers cool during frantic activities such as gaming or filling in an online self-assessment tax form at the last possible minute. The keys also illuminate in any one of 256 colours.

Also, while Asus and MSI compete to show the biggest range of unusual PCs - from 3D desktops and laptops to concept models and Asus's Bamboo range ("panda friendly", we're assured), there's one computer that really sticks out: the Eee Keyboard.

We saw a prototype at last year's Cebit, but with the finished product due in May this device finally seems to be ready for the market. It has a 5 inch capacitative touchscreen built in, runs Windows XP and can link up to your television via an ultra-wideband transmitter. It uses an Atom N270 processor, 1GB of memory and will be available with 16GB or 32GB of solid state storage - expect to see it on sale for less than £600.

One disadvantage is that it is always a folder I have to find when opening files from within a program. So I wondered if it is possible to add it to the folder shortcuts on the left of the the Open dialogue box.

The first few suggestions included editing the Registry, which isn’t really a satisfactory solution, and certainly not one I’m happy to suggest to readers. The potential for mistakes just isn’t worth the effort.

As is often the case, the friendly alternative to editing the Registry is to use TweakUI for XP. It provides an accessible interface for these helpful changes.

The change is very simple to make. Once TweakUI is installed and started click on the small plus next to Common Dialogs and then on Places Bar. Select the option ‘Custom places bar’. There are several places already set up that can be selected by clicking on the drop down menu arrows, or you can simply click in the and enter and address by hand. If you’re confident doing this, find the folder in Windows Explorer and copy and paste the contents of the address bar. Click on Apply to save the changes and then OK to close the window.

But Office?

The reason for including Office in the title of this post is that the open dialogues in Office 2003 and the beta of Office 2010, don’t use these settings. As most of my work is in Word, you can imagine my disappointment.

If anyone knows of a fix, I’d be very grateful to hear it.

Of course, the upshot is that the negotiations took so long (first they had to decide what kind of choice to give people, then they had to decide how to do it, then they had to decide which browsers to include, in which order and so on) that it's four months since Windows 7 started selling and the ballot screens are only now beginning to appear.

So if you see a strange Browser Choice icon on your screen, here's what it is and what to do with it.

The first we knew of it was when a new option appeared in Windows Update:

It detects the note being played and shows how in tune it is. I’ve used it both with the microphone built into laptops or an instrument plugged directly into a device such as my Mobile Pre. The detection is fast and you can adjust how quickly it updates the needle.

The bar down the right-hand side of the window shows the instrument preset, in this case an ordinary six string guitar. There are other presets for a variety of other instruments including bass, violin, viola and cello. New presets can be created but the notes must be in pitch order, which is a minor irritation with instruments such as the ukulele.

Other tools include a harmonics graph and a basic recording facility.

The macro must be set to run every time the spreadsheet is updated so you can’t use the recorder. Our example uses a score sheet for the BBC Weekly Quiz.

Before we start writing any macros, though, we need to decide on the colours for the winner cell because the macro will refer to the colour by its number not the name. A list of the colours can be found at at mvps.org. I printed out the spreadsheet and wrote the numbers down as I found them.

Click on the Tools menu, Macro and then Visual Basic Editor. Alternatively you could press Alt and F11 as the keyboard shortcut to launch the Visual Basic Editor.

Double click on Sheet1(Sheet1) in the section VBAProject (7 days quiz.xls), where the text within the brackets is the name of the spreadsheet. Click on the drop down menu at the top of the right hand section of the window that says (General) and select Worksheet. Next select Change from the drop down menu on the right. Left-click in the gap above the first text [code]End Sub[/code].

Type [code]Dim winner As Range[/code], press Enter and then type [code]Set winner = Range(“E4”), where E4 is the cell with the winners name in. Press Enter and type [code] Dim winnerColor As Integer[/code], press enter twice, type [code]Select Case winner.Value[/code] and press enter.

The following section is where you enter the name of each entrant their colour. For example type [Case “Nick”[/code], press Enter, type [code]winnerColor = 3[/code] and press Enter. Repeat this for as many people are in the quiz.

When all the names are in the list, type [code]End Select[/code], press Enter and type [code]winner.Interior.ColorIndex = winnerColor[/code].

The completed code should look the screenshot on the right.

Click on the save icon in the toolbar at the top of the Visual Basic Editor to save the changes. Click on the Excel icon to the left of the Save icon to return to the spreadsheet. Try changing the scores to test that the correct colours are used.

Apart from having to use the Visual Basic Editor to add or change the entrants to the quiz, the only drawback with this solution is that Excel Macro Security must be set to Medium to allow the macro to run.

TimeEdition is a time tracker that offers lots of advantages over trying to keep track of time with pen and paper. It divides time by client, project and task. If that sounds a bit corporate you could divide time up between Subject, Project and essay. All of these can be selected via the drop down menus and then started with the play button.

The link above is for the Windows version but there are Mac and Linux versions on the TimeEdition download page.

There are some helpful tools to make sure that it is as accurate as possible. It keeps an eye on the computer and will automatically stop if the computer is left idle for a certain length of time. Alternatively, the timer can be set to display a countdown to give a greater sense of urgency.

One disappointment with TimeEdition is that it has no way of keeping it on top other windows, so I found it easy to forget to start the timer again after getting a coffee or lunch.

TimeEdition is also very capable at exporting the information it gathers. Files can be created for Excel, CSV, iCal or XML. If you fancy being very open (and therefore scarily accountable) TimeEdition can create appointments in iCal, Outlook and Google Calendar based on the time spent of different projects.]

TimeEdition is open source, so there’s no charge for downloading or using it. Unlike far too many open source projects, there’s a well written manual, so there’s no need to mess about with settings getting your bearings.

I have to admit that I’m using Klok, an Adobe Air program for my own personal time tracking. This is mainly because it can show how the week has been spent and it has a simple system for making template projects. TimeEdition is a much better program if you want to charge for time spent on projects and the autopause avoids forgetting to stop the timer when nipping out for lunch or a coffee. TimeEdition also has the advantage that it is self contained in one folder, so you can run it from a USB memory key or from a folder synchronised online with a service like Dropbox.

Setup is laughably simple. Plug a microphone in one end (I used a Behringer Ultravoice XM8500) and plug the other end into a spare USB socket on the computer. Both Windows XP and Windows 7 on my test computers installed the drivers automatically and the microphone was ready to use. It should work with Macs as well.

The one limitation is that it cannot provide the phantom power (48v) required by some condenser microphones, though at this price it’s not an issue.

The sound quality was very good with little background noise.

The cable is 5 metres long and only costs £20, which should leave money left over to spend on a good microphone.

It appears in the Ribbon in Word, Excel and PowerPoint 2007 and 2010 and shows your current score out of a total of 420. With just 48 points I’ve still got some way to go. The scores don’t carry across the different programs so there’s plenty to learn.

Points are given for completing version tasks in three categories: Working with Text, Page Design and Layout and Getting Artistic. Up to 44 points are awarded for basic tasks when using the Ribbon.

It’s aware of some of the new tools in Office 2010 like Text Effects and screen shots. Challenges for all versions of Office include working with SmartArt, Charts, watermarks and line numbers.

Once the tasks have been completed you can share you score using Facebook.

Even if you’re not interested in proving your prowess with Office, the Ribbon Hero is a useful learning tool.

Sorry to disappoint those who don’t like the Ribbon, but it’s staying. Some consolation might be found in the fact that it can now be customised.

One change that had immediately caught my eye in the Technical Preview of Office 2010 is that the Office button has had a makeover. It’s no longer in the top left corner of the screen; instead it is slightly below with an old style program icon above. I still think that this is something of a step backwards in terms of User Interface design; corners are considered infinite in size (you can’t miss them) and the new one is also smaller.

Chris explained that the user feedback had shown that some people hadn’t even realised that it was a button and had contacted technical support asking how to print from documents. It’s a reasonable justification, but I still preferred the button from 2007.

There are some small changes to the file format but this shouldn’t give any problems to anyone using Office 2007. Chris followed up by saying “The compatibility pack for Office 2003 will be updated to support the version of Open XML supported by Office 2010. Office 2007 users should also update their installation with the latest updates to ensure their version is aware of the new formats in Office 2010.  The delivery method of these updates has not yet been decided.”

It's not always a problem, type www.computeractive.co.uk into Google and the website is the first result in the list. But, type www.snipca.com/X911 (a shortened link to Windows Update) and there are no matches.

Surely it's not beyond the likes of Google to look through the search term and warn that it might be a link in the wrong place if www or http:// is found.

Now it looks like the final kind of phone in the home, the mobile, is going to be added to the Fritzbox fold. AVM has announced the Fritz!App (scroll down to the bottom), which will be available for iPhone and Android. It will allow the smartphone to connect to the router and then use the landline or access the built in answer phones. Incoming calls can also be routed to the smartphone.

All sounds quite impressive so I’m hoping that this will be available for current models like the 7270 and not just the new ones announced at Cebit.