Cheap software for the road

You’ve already spent hundreds of dollars on a personal digital assistant, or thousands on a laptop computer. Why blow more money on software?

That’s a question budget-conscious travelers have always asked themselves. But according to the Aberdeen Group, it’s something that all travelers – in fact, all technology users – are pondering today. Aberdeen expects to see a decrease in software and technology spending through the end of this month, as the economy struggles to regain its footing.

What better time to review inexpensive software options for your computer than now?

As is often the case with The Travel Technologist, there’s so much ground to cover when it comes to software that we can’t possibly hit all the worthwhile products in a single column. So I’ve split this subject into two stories: cheap software and freeware. Let’s start with the applications you have to buy:

iOmega QuikSync 3: I’ve always wanted a program that just backs up my files without forcing me to page through manuals or reconfiguring my PC’s system settings. QuikSync is extremely easy to install and once it’s on your system, you don’t even know it’s there. The application runs in the background and saves all of your important files to a designated backup disk. I’ve looked at earlier versions of QuikSync and wasn’t too impressed (the last incarnation could only back up to one of iOmega’s proprietary ZIP disks-yuk!) The $39.95 sticker price is worth every penny, a sound investment for when your PC crashes and you have to reformat your internal drive. As a traveler, you’ll also have the peace of mind that your laptop’s contents are safely stored elsewhere while you’re traveling.

WinFax PRO 10.0: Don’t fool yourself into thinking that the Internet has rendered the fax obsolete. If you travel overseas – especially to Europe – you’ll find a lot of people still prefer communicating by fax. I’ve tried just about every fax program out there, including some that aren’t being made any longer, and short of having a real, honest-to-goodness fax machine in your luggage (not always practical) my money’s on Symantec’s WinFax. The latest version generates photo-quality faxes and allows you to forward faxes by e-mail. There are small integration issues with Windows XP worth mentioning. For instance, if you uninstall the utility, Microsoft Word will launch with an error message, which is a little annoying. Still, this is an all-round excellent product and at $99.95, pretty reasonably priced.

Nelson Email Organizer: One of the most unwieldy programs in your laptop’s arsenal is almost certainly Microsoft Outlook. The reason: It was designed by college summer interns. There’s no other way to explain the absolutely impractical nature of the e-mail and scheduling application (I ought to know; I was an intern for seven straight summers). The antidote to a clumsy Outlook is the very elegant, unintrusive program called Nelson. The $29.95 application lets you do lightning-fast searches, organize and filter e-mail by priority and other characteristics, and weed out bulk mail. Best of all, the program doesn’t interfere with Outlook, so you can always toggle between the two programs and not have to worry about seriously screwing up your PC. I’ve worked with other e-mail programs, such as Eudora, that handle electronic messages better than Outlook. Short of switching programs – an unpleasant prospect, given all the exporting and importing you’re forced to do – Nelson is the most practical solution. When they work on the next version of Outlook, maybe they should hire these guys to fix it.

Next week, I’ll review the best free programs for travelers. See you then.

Christopher Elliott is the author of Scammed: How to Save Your Money and Find Better Service in a World of Schemes, Swindles, and Shady Deals. Critics have called it “eye-opening” and “inspiring” — it’ll “grab your attention and won’t let go.” Order your copy now on Amazon, Barnes & Noble or iTunes.

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