Without an extremely good (read: loud) alarm clock ruining the party, it’s all too tempting to stay in bed just a little bit longer.

So if you don’t have a decent alarm clock, you know you’re in big trouble. A lot of people use their cellphone’s alarm, but that’s often just a mediocre solution.

We’ve scoured the internet looking for free alternative alarm clocks; great applications for your PC, Mac, Windows Mobile, iPhone and even Android that’ll make waking up a delight. Or at least a little bit easier.

(Windows) College Alarm Clock

Strangely enough, free alarm clocks for Windows are the hardest to find. An incredible application, but sadly costing $12, is the Citrus Alarm Clock.

When looking for a free Windows alarm clock, our biggest sacrifice is going to be the eye-candy. College Alarm Clock – these days unsupported by its developer, but still available for download – doesn’t look like much, but it comes packed with a truckload of functionality.

As the name implies, this alarm clock can especially come in handy for college students. It allows you to set different alarms for each day, and to skip a day, if need be or if the need is just high. You can use your own music to awaken, play a CD, or go with the old fashioned Beep.

College Alarm Clock isn’t a big comfort on the eye, but it does everything a decent alarm clock needs to do, and more.

(Mac) Alarm Clock 2

Alarm Clock 2 was developed by Robbie Hanson. This alarm clock looks like a typical Mac app; a slick design and incredibly simple interface. Don’t be fooled, it has a few surprises under the hood.

The application wakes your computer out of sleep mode, so you won’t have to keep your computer running. You can set up as many alarms (and timers and stopwatches) as you want, creating a different alarm for each day of the week, if you need it. Play an irritating array of sounds, or pick soothing music right out of your iTunes library.

(Web) Sleep.FM

Don’t like the preceding two applications? Maybe you’ll like this one better. Being an online web-app, it doesn’t matter whether you’re a Mac, PC or Penguin.

You can set two personal alarms. Due to the limited interface, these can’t be recurring or date-dependent. More originally, you can choose to wake up with a weather broadcast, or a voicing of the current time or date. Prefer to wake up to a female voice? Check the top-right page corner.

Tina has also previously profiled some more online alarm clock apps.

(iPhone) Alarm Clock Free

There are hardly any free alarm clocks available for the iPhone. True, most of them don’t even pass the one Dollar mark, but we still prefer free.

Alarm Clock Free, as you might’ve guessed from the name, is one of those scarce free alarms. Nevertheless, you’ll never need another one. This alarm clock supports all basic functionality, and does so in style. Set multiple alarms, wake up to a sound or to your own music, and better yet, be sure to use that big Snooze button!

(Windows Mobile & Android) Klaxon

For Windows Mobile, I’ve long been a fan of G-Alarm. It’s an ex-freeware alarm clock that forces math puzzles on you before you’re able to snooze. The app has now turned payware, costing around €5.

Klaxon is a Windows Mobile – and recently Android – alternative that (aside from the math puzzles) is very similar in style and quality.

It’s a slick, dark app that allows you to set multiple day-dependant alarms with your own music. One of the more original features of the alarm clock is that you can snooze by turning your phone upside down, or turn the alarm off completely by giving it a wild shake.

Download Klaxon here for Windows Mobile, and here for Android.

Do you ever use your computer or mobile to wake up? Tell us what (free) applications or websites you use in the comments section below!

Did you like the post? Please do share your thoughts in the comments section!

New on MakeUseOf ? Get cheat sheets and cool PDF guides @ www.makeuseof.com/makeuseof-downloads/

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LAlarm is a free laptop security alarming software. It has several different alarms to help protect your laptop, the most important of them being the Theft Alarm.

Install LAlarm

Download and install the free laptop security software here. LAlarm is free for personal use, and version 4.0 works with Windows Vista, XP (SP2 or SP3). On Windows 7, you can try the latest beta version 5.0. The download is less than 1MB, and the setup program looks the same as the main program that you launch after installation.

LAlarm runs as a background process when you start your laptop. In my tests, it took up an insignificant 7.5MB of memory, so you probably won’t even notice that it is running.

Improve Laptop Security and Protect Against Theft

Securing your laptop is simple and can be done in two ways:

1. If your laptop is connected to a power outlet, simply lock it with the Win+L key shortcut

2. If there is no power outlet available:

a) Use a neck-strap or USB extension cord with any old flash drive and insert it into a USB port

b) Tie the neck-strap or cord to a firm table

c) Lock the laptop with the Win+L shortcut

The LAlarm website shows an example of how this is done:

That’s it. Now, when someone attempts to steal your laptop, either the power cord or the USB flash drive will get disconnected from the laptop. This triggers the Theft Alarm, and the thief will get a nasty shock because the laptop will emit a loud siren like a car alarm. In my testing, I was worried about neighbors rushing to see what was happening! The alarm stops only when you unlock the laptop by entering your login credentials.

For additional laptop security, you can also enable the Inattention Alarm in the Options > Alarm tab. This will trigger if there is a specified period of inactivity on your laptop in unsafe zones. Let’s see what “unsafe zones” are next.

Restrict Laptop Use To A Safe Area

You can use IP addresses to define “Safe Zones” in which your laptop is considered safe. If anyone tries to use it outside the pre-defined safe zones, it triggers the Perimeter Alarm.

The Inattention Alarm also makes use of these zones, so that alarms don’t go off when you take a lunch break at work.

Email and SMS Alerts

After installation, one of the first things you probably want to do is setup email alerts for the alarms, for which you can only use a Gmail account and need to supply your Gmail password. As this is software installed locally on your laptop, you need not be concerned about supplying your Gmail password. LAlarm sends you a test email to verify that the email is working properly.

You can also configure SMS alerts to your mobile phone using Email-to-SMS gateways. Note that these alerts will work only if there is an Internet connection present at the time of laptop theft.

Automatically Destroy Data In Case Of Theft

In case your laptop does get stolen, you can configure LAlarm to automatically destroy pre-defined data folders. You set these via the Options > Destruction tab.

In addition to destroying data, you can also run any custom programs you want to execute in case of theft from the Options > Theft Response tab.

Battery and Disk Protection Alarms

LAlarm also has Disk and Battery protection to help you maximize your laptop battery life and warn you of impending hard disk failure. The battery alarm is triggered at low battery levels that you can customize, and works with Li-ion type batteries.

Doesn’t this laptop security software sound too good to be free? Will you use it to protect your laptop against theft? Let us know in the comments!

Did you like the post? Please do share your thoughts in the comments section!

New on MakeUseOf ? Get cheat sheets and cool PDF guides @ www.makeuseof.com/makeuseof-downloads/

• Your Computer, Your World – How to Keep Out the Mindless (51)
• Protect And Track Your Laptop In Case Of Theft (18)
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• Use LocatePC to Secure and Find Stolen PC for Free (18)
• Lockdown Will Secure Your Mac While You’re Away (4)

I was looking at Google Analytics reports and have noticed a lot of people searching around for a simple cross-platform, free Online alarm clock that they could use to wake themselves up. This would be something that is not installed but runs through a web browser giving it the cross platform ability. When looking for a free Online Alarm Clock, I needed a few features.

First and foremost, obviously, is the ability to wake me up. It should allow me to choose a tone and pop up a website so I can check the weather before I get dressed. It looks like I found the program I was looking for on the first try.

In addition to those meager features I was looking for it also threw this tip at me – forgo the alarm noise and wake yourself up to a youTube video – this is awesome!

Let’s take a look at MetaClock. Let’s navigate on over to their website and see what it is all about.

To set your alarm, first you need to tell MetaClock what time you want to wake up.

Next up you will need to select a tune to play – if you are going to utilize a YouTube video to wake you up you can uncheck the check box next to the “With the tune” drop down box.

Here is where I get to put in my weather website as well as a youTube video. You do NEED to make sure pop-ups are enabled for this web site and if you are having problems with that simply click the “How?” link next to ‘Make sure your browser supports pop-ups’. Then list your urls in the standard www.site.com format one on each line.

You can also choose to show random did you know facts, today in history and a countdown on your browser letting you know how much time is left until your alarm is activated and your websites are popped open.

The count down timer looks like this:

If you are using FireFox you will need to leave this countdown window on top of all your windows. It needs to have focus to launch the alarm music or spawn your pop up windows. So if you are using FireFox make sure you do this or your wake up will be converted into an epic fail…

You can see the YouTube video I choose to wake me up… Just for a good laugh

How do you wake up in the morning? Do you use a standard alarm clock? Do you have a geeky free, online alarm clock or some out of this world method for getting your lazy ass out of bed? If you do we would love to hear about it from you – simply leave a comment in the space provided below and we will be sure to add our witty banter to your comments!

And if you missed that url it is www.MetaClock.com.

Did you like the post? Please do share your thoughts in the comments section!

New on MakeUseOf ? Get cheat sheets and cool PDF guides @ www.makeuseof.com/makeuseof-downloads/

• The Best Alternative Alarm Clocks (Windows/Mac/Mobile) (12)
• LED Binary Clock is Geeky and Awesome (Windows Only) (5)
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• Best Online Alarm Clocks For Naps At Work (26)
• Your Computer, Your World – How to Keep Out the Mindless (51)

This little download makes me think about my binary watch from way back when…

Start by browsing on over to:http://www.softpedia.com/progDownload/LED-Binary-Clock-Download-15365.html and download the application.

The installer is in German but that doesn’t stop us MakeUseOf users from installing and using this awesome LED Binary Clock! It is not only cool it is also functional.

It includes a alarm so you can remember to go do whatever geeky things you need to do and not get caught up staring blankly at a bunch of blinking LED’s on your screen!

Just hit Installera and it will install. Avbryt is Cancel in case you were wondering! Once you are complete launch it from your start menu or icon and you will see the clock displayed on your desktop like so:

The settings are pretty basic as you can see below buy someone with some time on their hands could seamlessly blend it into their desktop.

And as I said before there is a Alarm setting that can set a audible alert using your own sound files as well as displaying a text message on your screen. You could also use this alarm to shut down your computer. See I knew there were practical uses for this

If you minimize the clock you can get it back by left clicking on the menu icon. The settings can be brought up by right clicking on the menu icon as well.

Go get your geek on and enjoy your weekend! Do you have tips, tricks or would you like to recommend a good free application then put us on! Feel free to email me at karl at makeUseOf dot com

Did you like the post? Please do share your thoughts in the comments section!

New on MakeUseOf ? Get cheat sheets and cool PDF guides @ www.makeuseof.com/makeuseof-downloads/

• The Best Alternative Alarm Clocks (Windows/Mac/Mobile) (12)
• Capture.NET: A Swiss Army Knife For Your PC [Windows] (21)
• Best Online Alarm Clocks For Naps At Work (26)
• A Great Free Online Alarm Clock – MetaClock (5)
• Your Computer, Your World – How to Keep Out the Mindless (51)

Sounds interesting?  Well that is what was quoted on the developer’s site and instantly caught my attention. After trying it (and ignoring minor quirks in UI and spellings) I must say I have not been disappointed.

I am talking about capture.NET. The tool is aptly called the Swiss army knife of PC tools because it just does so many things. I must confess that after looking at the site and its presentation I was a little wary of malware. However I submitted the file to VirusTotal and the results were 0 positive on 38 engines, so I went ahead and double-clicked to launch.

The tool has a Professional Version and a Free Version. The Professional version requires you to pay $15 for a license. However the Free Version is quite a handful in itself.  The features I am discussing are all available in the free version.  If you need something extra than you may like to have a look at the Professional offering.

Let’s just have a look at some of the features that capture.NET has to offer:

Screen Captures

Capture.NET allows you to take screenshots. Just like some of the commercial applications you can take screenshots by isolating windows, regions or take full screen grabs. The tool offers you a zoomed in view of the screen to help you precisely grab just the area you like.

Basic Image Editing

The captured image is then presented to you within an image editor, where you can do some basic editing. The image editing features include the ability to:

• Crop
• Rotate
• Add edge effects like shadows, torn edges, soft edges
• Convert pictures to Ascii (Cool!)
• The basic cut, copy paste, save etc

Post it Notes

Capture.NET provides you the capability to post notes on your screen. Just hit Ctrl + Shift + N and type in your note. You have now got an instant sticky note. You can also manage your sticky notes from the context menu accessed via the tray icon.

A Privacy Eraser

A mini tool that allows you to clean temporary files, the recycle bin, clipboard, cookies, MRU lists, Windows Events Logs and perform some minor tweaks like clearing the pagefile on shutdown.

A Color Picker

A great tool for web designers and programmers.  The color picker allows you to pick any color off the screen. It also provides you with sliders to generate color schemes or if you are really stuck, hit the random button to get a random color suggestion.

A File Format Convertor

This allows you to inter-convert between the various image formats. Just browse to images you wish to convert on your hard disk, select all images that you want to convert and choose the appropriate command. File Format Converter also allows you to convert chm files to html files.

A Tweaker

Tweaker allows you to perform some basic registry tricks on your system. It provides you with detailed information about your system and ready access to the device manger and the Windows System Information utility. Tweaker also has options to restore the settings for a hijacked Internet Explorer.

A Backup Expert

Backup Expert allows you to backup your mail (Outlook) as well as Internet Explorer favorites and feeds. Though honestly I missed Firefox support here.

Alarm Clock, World Time, Timer and Time Synchronization

Apart from the basic alarm clock functionality, the tool also offers count-down/count-up timer and time synchronization with a NTP server. You can also view the different time zones and time differences readily accessible through keyboard shortcuts.

Some Other Utilities

There are plenty of other features offered by capture.NET which I would have to leave for you to explore yourself. Some of them are great for programmers like the customizable Ruler or the Window Spy which gives you important information about windows, buttons, and other UI elements. Indispensable if you are into writing Autohot key scripts, Windows Programming or something similar. Others like the font viewer, calendar and lunar phases are more for your general use.

Definitely give it a try and let us know which ones you liked or if you use any other tools for accomplishing similar tasks.

Did you like the post? Please do share your thoughts in the comments section!

New on MakeUseOf ? Get cheat sheets and cool PDF guides @ www.makeuseof.com/makeuseof-downloads/

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But how do you make sure you don’t oversleep during the day, especially when you’re at work? You set an alarm! And since you’re at work, what are you going to use? Your computer, the internet and online alarm clock.

A nap is not the only situation where an online alarm clock comes in handy. Imagine you have half an hour until you need to head out for a meeting, but you need to seriously focus on something and don’t want to be bothered with watching the time.

Let’s look at some practical online alarm clocks you might want to use next time…

KuKu Klok

The Swiss made Kuku Klok offers a very basic and easy to use interface. Set the wake up time and select one of the four preset sounds.

This one’s actually terrific to play a prank on an unsuspecting individual because the electronic wake up sound is soooo horrible, almost like a smoke detector! Save this idea for April 1st or any other great occasion.

Avnoy Alarm Clock

This flash alarm clock isn’t much different from the one described above, although the three available alarm sounds are much nicer (and not suited for pranks). So why did it make it on this list? It’s stylish and it has a Snooze option which the previous tool is lacking.

Naked Alarm Clock

There really isn’t anything naked about this one and the creator admits frankly that they chose the name to make it easy to remember. All its alarm sounds are rather nasty, but hey, they’ll get your attention for sure!

Despite the ugly green color there are some very nice design ideas in this tool. For example the preset values for the minutes (black and white circles) or the 15 to 60 Minutes nap times setter, and the little info box in the bottom right which explains all buttons and functions when you move the mouse over them. All of that is very well done!

Music Alarm Clock

Finally an alarm clock that lets you pick really good alarms! The Music Alarm Clock provides some preset tunes or you can select a streaming radio station. The selection is international and not too bad. Once the alarm goes off it also offers a Snooze button for 5 minutes extra nap time.

Talking Alarm Clock (Windows)

Should you prefer to set your own tunes and should you prefer a desktop tool, I recommend the Talking Alarm Clock. It comes with a lot of options which allow you to perfectly tune your alarms.

Actually, I didn’t get it to talk to me. Apparently there is no matching “text-to-speech” engine available on my computer and I didn’t bother enough to make it work. Playing a custom media file however worked fine.

And yes, you can change the character. Along with the Dschinni there are Robby, Peedy and Merlin at your service.

For more online alarm tools, check out the MUO directory.

What are your secrets to a perfect nap at work?

Did you like the post? Please do share your thoughts in the comments section!

New on MakeUseOf ? Get cheat sheets and cool PDF guides @ www.makeuseof.com/makeuseof-downloads/

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Let’s start with Lockdown. It actually has some pedigree since it originates from iAlertU. It uses a few parameters to detect intrusion: motion, MagSafe adapter detachment, keyboard/mouse strokes and lid closure. Lockdown is activated either by pressing the Menu button on the particular Apple Remote paired to the Mac or by entering a password. Once activated, it will beep (akin to a car security system) and display a warning screen – Anti-theft Systems Active.

When triggered by the parameters mentioned above, Lockdown will maximize your system’s volume to sound a very loud alarm which can be set to be as long as 5 minutes, making it very embarrassing for the intruder while he (or she) is trying to shut it off. Little do they know that the alarm can only be neutralized by entering the password again or by pressing on the Menu button on the Apple Remote used to activate Lockdown.

A few seconds after the alarm sounds, Lockdown will use your Mac’s built-in iSight to take a picture of the intruder; and if your email address is entered in its preferences, Lockdown will send an email back to you containing the picture of the person who “tried” to access your Mac.

There is no way to get around Lockdown. Once triggered, it will still continue to sound even if the lid is shut because Lockdown prevents your Mac from sleeping. I’m guessing the only way to completely bypass it is to have a coin handy – to remove the battery and shut down the entire system. So as you can see, it’s not completely foolproof. Lockdown works best in situations where you’re only trying to guard your Mac from being perused while you’re away, or if you’re trying to catch that particular colleague whom you suspect has been messing around on it while you’re at the water fountain.

Lockdown is free but only works with Mac OS X Leopard.

Maybe sounding a deafening alarm at work isn’t such a good idea and you’re thinking that you’ll only require something which will protect your Mac against prying eyes.

MacLoc is a handy application which quickly enables Fast User Switching (which is a built-in feature in Mac OS X) to seemingly log you out. Only the Login window will be presented on the screen. This will definitely deter the simpleton busybodies from accessing your computer. Once you’re back at your desk, just log in again and your work is preserved.

How does this differ from the regular ol’ Log Out? When you Log Out, you’re essentially quitting all running applications. Fast User Switching will make all active applications stay active.

There are other ways you could lock your Mac desktop while you’re away from your desk. You could set a password-protected screensaver and one of the 4 hot-corners to activate the screensaver immediately but a violent swing of the mouse could set it off at any time – very unproductive at the workplace. You could also sleep your Mac but it’s actually quite a hassle to sleep and awaken your Mac each time you need to leave your workstation for 5 minutes. So, the easiest solution would be to use one of the 2 applications mentioned above.

Again, Lockdown and MacLoc are both free but Lockdown is only available for Mac OS X Leopard.

How do you deter prying eyes or itchy fingers from attacking your computer at work? Do share with us in the comments.

Did you like the post? Please do share your thoughts in the comments section!

New on MakeUseOf ? Get cheat sheets and cool PDF guides @ www.makeuseof.com/makeuseof-downloads/

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What would a bundled app of 145KB have to offer? Some nifty help if you look at it closely. Imagine you are giving a PowerPoint presentation to a roomful of people. Perhaps you need to get your point across with a chart but the guy on the fourth row can’t make it out. With a click of a mouse you can now zoom in and focus on that part of the screen with the important information and then zoom back out. You save your audience the pain of squinting.

Plainly speaking, ZoomIt gives you three tools to play around with.

• Zoom (zoom in on any area of your screen)
• Draw (draw on your screen, whether zoomed or not)
• Break Timer (to countdown till a break is up)

Zoom : Screen Magnifier for Windows

As a screen magnifier, I think this tool is the best free one out there. It does show quite a high level of magnification which can be seen clearly from a long distance. The screen can be panned around to the desired area of focus. The entire operation can be controlled by a toggle keystroke and/or the mouse.

Draw : Freehand Drawing Tool

The freehand draw function serves as a great presentation aid. Of the three features, this one is the richest. Use the mouse to circle or highlight any part of the display. Then, with a simple push of the E (’E’ for Eraser, maybe?!) key, the drawings are erased again. You can erase all the drawings or just the last one.

Or just use the screen like a white or black sketch pad to give an impromptu drawing or a typed remark. Or just have fun by drawing some simple shapes like circles, rectangles or ellipses. Change the width or color of the draw pen. To further enhance its appeal, you can combine the zoom function with the draw to give your presentations the savvy edge.

Break Timer

After the first two tools, this one is more of an anti-climax. It just acts like a countdown timer rolled into an alarm clock. You can get bit of a reminder help from it if you configure it to play sounds when the break time is up.

Inside the 145 Kilobyte Package

The first time you click the ‘exe’ file, it presents a simple configuration screen. The three functions (the ‘type’ function makes it four actually) are well explained with default hotkeys. Of course, it also allows you to specify your own. The program sits unobtrusively on the tray and all features are easily accessible with a right click.

ZoomIt is a free download, does not require Microsoft validation and is installable on all versions of Windows.

Did you like the post? Please do share your thoughts in the comments section!

New on MakeUseOf ? Get cheat sheets and cool PDF guides @ www.makeuseof.com/makeuseof-downloads/

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For your convenience, I’ve managed to gather a short list of the most frequently used Mac applications and provided a free counterpart for each of them. Hopefully, they’ll serve you as well as the paid versions.

This is MakeUseOf’s edition of Software for Starving Students.

Commercial app #1: AppZapper $12.95

AppZapper is an uninstaller. Mac applications are very simple to install: it’s a straightforward click-and-drag over to the ‘Applications’ folder. Uninstallation is supposedly just the same, dragging the application to Trash. But there are always remnants of the application in System and Preferences folders. An uninstaller finds these remnants and removes them as well. AppZapper is the best in the game.

Free counterpart: AppCleaner
There are hardly any noticable differences between these two applications, even if you put them side by side. AppCleaner works just as well as AppZapper.

Commercial app #2: Parallels Desktop for Mac $79.99

Parallels Desktop for Mac is a virtualization program which enables installation of multiple operating systems in a virtual environment. Use this to install Windows, Linux or any other OS while running Mac OS X at the same time.

Free counterpart: VirtualBox
Jason has covered this program in great detail. Check out his post to learn more about using VirtualBox and what it has to offer.

Commercial app #3: Xslimmer $12.95

Xslimmer is a program which removes unnecessary architecture from Universal Binaries. Because of Apple’s transition to Intel, developers had to make their programs cater for both PPC and Intel processors. It will also remove unwanted localization (language) files to drastically reduce the amount of space used by the application.

Free counterparts: TrimTheFat, Monolingual
TrimTheFat will only remove the PPC architecture from applications leaving the Intel side of it. Then use Monolingual to remove unwanted languages. Monolingual can also remove unneeded architecture but this feature is very unpolished and there are some reports that Monolingual causes severe damage to Intel Macs. Do not use Monolingual for that purpose, although removing languages works without a glitch. So, two free apps to replace Xslimmer’s functions. Using these two applications, you can very well free up several gigabytes.

Commercial app #4: CoverSutra 14.95€

CoverSutra is an iTunes controller and Last.fm scrobbler which provides a beautiful album art jewel case on the desktop. But 14.95€ is too much money to pay for something which will only help me control my music.

Free counterpart: GimmeSomeTune
Although GimmeSomeTune is free, in many ways it could possibly be better than CoverSutra. GimmeSomeTune can automatically fetch album artwork and lyrics, scrobble to Last.fm and has global hotkeys to control almost every aspect of iTunes.

Commercial app #5: TextExpander $29.95

TextExpander allows you to use customized abbreviations to “expand” frequently used phrases and text-strings. This application is valuable when you are always finding yourself typing the same line of text repeatedly such as in HTML editing.

Free counterpart: RapidoWrite
I honestly can’t tell the difference between TextExpander and RapidoWrite. To pay or not to pay?

Commercial app #6: Awaken $12.95

Awaken is an iTunes alarm, when it goes off, it will play a preset playlist. It can also be set to sleep your Mac after a certain time period is over, allowing you to listen to music while drifting off into slumber.

Free counterparts: iTunes Alarm, iTaf
I’ve covered this topic of alarms for iTunes before. iTunes Alarm and iTaf are very capable to perform the same tasks as Awaken, perhaps even more! Check out my older post to learn more about these little gems.

Commercial app #7: iWork $79, Office 2008 for Mac (Home and Student Edition) $149.95

I’m sure we all know what Office 2008 is. iWork is the Mac productivity suite which comprises of Pages (word processor), Numbers (spreadsheet) and Keynote (presentation).

Free counterpart: NeoOffice
NeoOffice is a full set of office applications and is a port of OpenOffice created specifically for Mac OS X. Some may argue that the interface is not as polished as it could be but we’re looking for productivity here. NeoOffice has just been recently updated and performs quicker among other enhancements. If what you’re looking for is a capable word processor (which is the most often used application within a productivity suite), why bother paying so much when NeoOffice is free?

Commercial app #8: Paragon NTFS for Mac OS X $39.95

If you are in a community where you’ll get exposed to a Windows NTFS formatted hard disk (like student life), you’ll definitely need to have NTFS support on your Mac. One method to do this is to buy Paragon NTFS. The other way is completely free!

Free counterpart: NTFS-3G with MacFUSE
I’ve explained how to use NTFS-3G in my first Macnifying OS X post. The NTFS-3G project has come a long way since it first started. The driver is pretty stable now and there is even a ublio version for better performance.

Commercial app #9: Photoshop CS3 $649

Photoshop is an image editing tool which is incredibly successful because it is simply so capable.

Free counterpart: GIMP.app
Right, this is a very touchy topic. So, let’s get this straight: No free application will ever be good enough to completely replace Photoshop. There are always alternatives if you’re not looking to spend $650 to touch up your photos. This is one of them. GIMP.app is specifically ported to Mac OS X so don’t mistake it with GIMP. Before this, running GIMP.app requires X11 to be installed but there is now an experimental native version which doesn’t need X11 to run. I’ve tried it, takes a little long to launch but it works. I don’t mind waiting a bit and saving $650.

Commercial app #10: Cha-Ching $40, MoneyWell $39.99

These two applications are personal finance managers, and pretty good ones at that. But they cost a bomb. I don’t know about you but I’m hardly willing to spend $40 to manage my finances.

Free counterparts: Cashbox, Mini$
Simple, easy-to-use, straightforward, free. That’s all I need. Granted, Mini$ and Cashbox are not as fully-featured as Cha-Ching and MoneyWell, they don’t have the fancy frills of schedulers and buckets styles but they still manage to help me keep track of my finances.

So I hope that this list prevented the major hole in your pocket which could have been if you paid for these applications. Are there any other applications you use which I didn’t list? Maybe you would like to find out if the application you were thinking of buying has a free alternative? Shoot away in the comments!

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So I’ve found 3 little gems which does around the same thing. They might not be as fully-loaded as Awaken, but they still do the job and they are free!

1. iTunes Alarm

iTunes Alarm is one of the most recommended applications for those who can’t afford Awaken. The concept is the same. If you want to play some music before you go off to bed, click on “Sleep” and it will ask for the amount of time before it puts your Mac into sleep mode. That’s the quick method. If you’d rather just pause iTunes, a new ‘Stop’ alarm has to be created.

You may create an unlimited number of alarms, of which they may be set to repeat on any day of the week. With each alarm that starts to play iTunes, you can set a ‘Snooze’ period of your liking, the volume level that the music plays at; and the playlist from which to play the music (or you may set it to play songs at random).

iTunes Alarm has to be open in order to be able to play/pause your music. So if you accidentally quit the application, you might miss your alarm (and be late for work – yikes!). Plus if you set your Mac to sleep after the timer has run out, iTunes Alarm has the ability to wake it to play your next alarm. Pretty cool stuff.

2. iTaf

Another alternative is iTaf. The application is only slightly different from iTunes Alarm. Every alarm event which you create starts playing from iTunes and can be set to stop playing after a certain period of time. So, instead of hitting the ‘Snooze’ or ‘Stop’ button to turn your music off, you can enjoy it while getting dressed in the morning and leave for work without bothering about it. iTaf will then automatically pause iTunes and sleep itself (or shut down) after the time frame has elapsed.

One thing that puts iTaf above iTunes Alarm is the ability to shut down your Mac. It also has more superior scheduling options like setting a single day off from a weekly alarm (comes in handy when it’s your birthday and you don’t want to be woken up!)

3. iTunesTimer Widget

Lastly, iTunesTimer is a bare-bone, simple Dashboard widget which can only start playing your iTunes, pause it or sleep your Mac. It is a one off timer which doesn’t have any scheduling function and it doesn’t repeat or snooze. You control how long you want to play your music with the slider, which is not very accurate (I couldn’t get the timer to set at 10 minutes) but I guess that’s not very important. The catch with this little gem is its simplicity.

I also wrote about Snooze in my article “Dashboard Widgets You Can’t Live Without“. All it does is basically sleeps my Mac when the time is up. Actually, it’s got no music function, but I just wanted to add it in as an option.

If you’re a Windows user, Aibek wrote an article about addons for your iTunes, although sadly, alarms are not one of them. If you’re looking for an alternative to iTunes, here’s Mark’s article about Songbird.

(By) Jackson Chung is a full-time medical student attempting to perform a juggling act with relationship, studies and his future.

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Frankly, I hate to share my own, private laptop, however for a long time it was inevitable. Over that time people lost respect and thought it was OK to use my computer, just to look something up real quick.

It annoyed me to no end, so I unconsciously developed a few strategies to make it very unattractive to use my laptop. Let me share…
1) No Desktop Icons

You wouldn’t believe how many people are stunned by an empty desktop. They’ll rather leave it alone than mess with the start button or some funny looking menus.

2) Different Interface
Even an alternative Windows theme is unsettling for the standard user. Macs are not commonly used around here, and I found that transformation packs can do wonders. People seriously believe my computer is a Mac, which makes it seem very complicated to use, and thus unattractive. Let me say the laptop case looks nothing like a Mac and the keyboard gives it away with the infamous Windows key. Yet all they see is the interface and it stops them dead in their tracks. I installed FlyakiteOSX for the slightly different look, but there are a few alternatives..

3) No Taskbar

Now that’s a killer! Something must be seriously wrong with this machine and I’d say it deters close to 90% of people. Unsolicited users that keep their hand firm on the mouse in hopes of uncovering a hidden secret must be very curious. Those that have the bright idea to use the Windows key, are true pros.
I hide my taskbar with XNeat Windows manager. Actually the taskbar is not hidden, it’s just transparent and lights up on mouse-over. It’s also a good way to hide open windows. If you want to be super smart, don’t keep the taskbar in its default location or replace it entirely with something else, for example a dock program.

4) Unusual Icons
Personally, I love to use unique icons for most folders on my computer. Before I used transformation packs I discovered that even using some of the not so commonly seen default Windows icons, makes people be wary of using my laptop, since they don’t understand what they see, if they see anything at all.

Right-click any folder, select >properties, switch to the >Customize tab, and click the >Change Icon… button, then pick an icon from the SHELL32.dll list and enjoy.

If you’re tired of the same old Windows icons, try Free Icons Download, CrystalXP.net or the Icon Archive for something fresh. Note that you will need .ico files to replace folder icons, but many icons actually come as .png files. There is an ingenious little tool called AveIconifier which can instantly transform dozens of .png files to .ico and vice versa.

5) Ultimate Protection

You can simply log yourself out when you leave your desk and use a Kensington lock at all times. However, for those times when a lock is not practicable or when you just want to go that one step further to keep obtrusive people away and efficiently protect your computer from theft, get your hands on a free copy of Laptop Alarm. It’s a small exe tool, no installation required, just download and run. You can activate up to four different actions that will trigger a very loud alarm. They are loss of AC power, shutdown or log off, unplugging of the USB mouse, and mouse movement. In Options you can set an unlock password and the sensitivity for the mouse movement detection. Unfortunately, the SMS alarm service signup is not working. Once your computer is locked with Laptop Alarm, it’s safe unless the password is hacked or both AC and battery power are removed. The tool also works on desktop computers.

Constant change has been the greatest success factor in keeping my laptop to myself. From the start all desktop shortcuts have been gone, one day the interface looks like Vista, the other like a Mac, then the wallpaper keeps changing, now there’s this funny menu, the other day there was some weird second menu, as of late the taskbar is gone and what’s next, is the damn thing going to speak to me?
In the meantime we have a separate laptop for presentations and the like at work. Mission completed.

Are you in a similar situation? Do you proudly share your computer? If not, how do you preserve your digital privacy? Please share!

(By) This post was written by one of our regular authors, Tina from Recommended.

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