I work as a teacher so I could talk about educational software for a long time. Ever since the notion of software appeared, it had more or less educational purposes.The first recorded use of hardware and software in education dates back from the 1940s, during WW2. That was the time when American scientists developed flight simulators for airplane pilots to help them train for different situations that could appear in the sky.  So, because they couldn't afford to risk a lot of airplanes and the lives of the pilots until they learn how to do it, they used this simulator for training.
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Educational software developed in time and nowadays there are probably thousands of websites and companies that offer educational software. You can find it both on CDs, DVDs and even online. All of them aim to teach a certain thing by using interactive and funny methods, both for adults, but mainly for children. Most of this software is designed for home use, because at school the teachers only use it as additional material, while at home they do it all, including the job of a teacher.


Some of the best educational software for children are : Disney Interactive - uses interactive activities based on Walt Disney cartoon characters like Winnie the Pooh, Aladdin , Mowgli and Mickey Mouse, The Learning Company's reader RabbitThe Cluefinders and Zombinni series.

Besides the classroom aids used by the teachers, there is the courseware that is designed mainly for college students and adults. The term combines two words: course and software. First it was meant to be an additional material for university professors, but in the meantime its meaning changed to a course support nowadays.



Then there is the reference software that is not structured to teach people something, but it offers valuable help because it contains a lot of specific information in a certain field. They are dictionaries, on magnetic support or online support. Even Wikipedia is included in this kind of software, with the specification that it is developing permanently, growing like a living organism.

Some computer games are thought to have educational value, for example the games that involve building cities and the setting in is the Ancient Rome, for example. By playing the game, the users find out a lot of details about the buildings, habits, society and socialization during that time.

There is another kind of educational software user in corporate training - people who work in certain companies use it to learn different computer applications that are necessary in their work in the company.

Generally this kind of software is designed for specific educational purposes. For example when you want to learn a foreign language, you get the software that helps you learn a certain language. In order to learn a foreign language you have to cover four different basic skills: listening, speaking, reading and writing. And this software includes different activities for every skill: you have audio support for listening, written texts for reading and different exercises for grammar and spelling. You can find it in electronic form or online, too.



You can find driving test software and you can use it to practice before getting your driving license. It's better to learn how to react in certain situations than to be forced to face them when they happen. in fact this software provides several maps and a real wheel and real pedals; all you have to do is watch a screen and act like you are really driving the car: break, speed, slow down when it's a curve, avoid dangers and respect the established itinerary.

There is software for learning to perform human and animal disection.

There is interactive geometry software or all kinds of software for all kinds of purposes.



Here is a list with ten of the most popular educational software:

1. WordWeb (language software) - is more than just a simple dictionary, as it offers word definitions, synonyms, antonyms and words related. it works both online and offline and it's easy to use.

2. Athan (Azan) basic is a religious software designed especially for Muslim believers. Besides the normal prayers that appear on screen when the time is right for one of the five times when a Muslim has to pray every day, it also offers a special compass for orienting the user towards Mecca.

3. Client for Google Translate 4.2.241 - the most famous and widely used translation free services in the world.

4. Google Earth - uses maps and diagrams, images taken from satellites and a combination of maps and real land in order to find certain locations or even learn the geography of some regions. It's very interesting because the maps and the satellite photos are real and you can actually see what the land looks like from space. It provides different degrees of zoom.

5. Power tab editor - music software

6. Oxford dictionary of English - language software

7.Typing Master Protyping tutor - teaching tools

8. Ela- Salaty -religious software

9. Viper- the anti-plagiarism software

10. Rapid typing tutor - teaching tools

There is a good variety of educational software and all variants are, no doubt, very good and very documented. However, the most widely spread are those for children. There are lots and lots of pleasant kinds of software that teach little children how to write, how to recognize letter, sounds, learn numbers, etc. But the most appealing thing is that every software wants the user to learn something by having fun and by using entertainment. All the images are brightly colored and nice, attracting children. They consider they are playing rather than learning. They learn cause and effect and interact with cartoon characters, all activities taking place in a relaxed atmosphere.

I'm so glad that things evolved this way, because i hated the old teaching methods where all the children had to stay still in their desks and listen to the teacher , then repeat mechanically, like little robots. Now both teaching and learning are by far a lot more  fun and a lot more challenging than they used to be.

Everybody knows that it's hard to make money and even harder to keep it. Some people have a natural talent managing money and getting the most of it, while other people, myself included, have no idea how to manage "the beast" and just take one day at a time to see what happens next. The problem is that at the end of the year the mail keeps bringing all kinds of envelopes containing bills, tax notifications, overdue payments and so on. That's the moment when I feel desperate and don't know what to do. I feel lost among so many forms I have to fill in and so many taxes and declarations and debts. I'm afraid I might lose my car or worse, my house. That's when I realize I need professional help (not a shrink, if you are thinking of it) - I need personal finance software.
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I prefer working with computer software rather than dealing with people I don't know and I don't trust, not to mention the fact that I must share all the details about my income, expenses, accounts, debts and so on and I find this kind of information really private. I don't know if I'm being paranoid, but I prefer it that way. Now I have to start comparing different kinds of software in order to find the right one for me.

There are dozens and dozens of personal finance software offers with different names, produced by different companies, but they all do the same thing: help the user manage their personal finance and gain financial independence. With the help of this software you can keep track of the money that comes in or goes out of your budget. Most software allow users to track assets, liabilities, investments. Besides, there is also a business personal finance software that can help you manage a small family business.The software packages usually offer graphics that can help you visualize your financial situation. All you need to do is install the software and then supply the necessary information. You will get help as where to save money (for example you spend too much money on trifles and the soft suggests you to reduce the amount spent on little things). It can also be a valuable guide when it comes to taxes because it usually has financial law incorporated. So you get advice what to do to deduce certain sums from tax paying, for example when you get a life insurance or something like that. It depends of your state and its law.

This personal finance software is very useful if you establish a target, because, after a thorough analysis, you are said how long it takes to accomplish your goal and how much you have to save every year in order to accomplish it. The main long term goals of people are: saving money for a happy retirement, buying a house or a car, saving money for the children's education, paying all the loans, etc. In order for a financial analysis to be relevant it must be for at least one year. This kind of software can guide you with online banking and bill pay, but also how to make clever investments in order to multiply the money you have already saved. Some can teach you more complex financial operations like: trading stocks, mutual funds and bonds transactions and keep you up to date by supplying the latest information of your investments. you receive real time stock reports via email and other necessary information so that you can make the best financial choice and invest your money wisely.



There is also a kind of online personal finance software and you can use it via an internet browser, but I don't really trust this; after all I give them all my personal data, including passwords and account information and I am supposed to trust them that nobody will use it. I don't know, but I don't want to find out either after the damage has been done.

When you choose some kind of software for personal use and when you choose personal finance software in particular you should take into consideration a few things, I call them tips or advice:

- ease of use and installation - It's very important that the software were easy to install because it is designed for personal use, for normal people, not professionals and if you don't even know how to make it work, how are you supposed to use all its applications and features?

- online system of banking, paying bills - it saves you a lot of time and energy and allows you to have a permanent look at your bills and other payments you have to make.



- personal investing feature available - It is important to have this feature in the software package because you can do your financial and budget analysis on paper, but you need some competent advice regarding your investments so that you can secure your future.

- financial planning - It's important to know what is your present financial situation, but you need a very good planning in order to be able to achieve your goals and manage your finances.

- tax information- This feature can help you save some money if you have the right information about how to deduce certain amounts of money. After all "information is power".

- reporting - It's very useful to know everything that is to know about your money, investments, expenses, bills paid and so on. So make sure you get regular reports about your financial situation.



In the end I'd like to suggest some of the most famous personal finance software in the world, tested and used by so many people:

Quicken Premier 2009, Microsoft Money, Mvelopes Personal Budgeting System, Mint.com, Ace Money - The Personal Finance Manager, PiggyBob in all versions, Gnu Cash and many others.

Now my advice is to start using one of those software offers or at least follow their advice and manage your budget as well and as responsible as you can in order to have a peaceful life and also to offer some comfort for the loved ones.

Computers have become indispensable tools, devices in our lives. We work on computers, socialize on computers and store files on them. Our personal computer is full of information, all kinds of information - sometimes irrelevant and obsolete, but sometimes very important and irreplaceable. Let's imagine that you have all the photos that you have taken ever since the digital camera was invented stored on your hard drive, together with all kinds of unnecessary information that you neglected to delete. But one day your computer gets his revenge on you and breaks down and you lose everything. I compare it with amnesia, because it's like losing all your memories when you lose the first photos of your son, your daughter's first tooth or step or the happy days of your honeymoon. It's heartbreaking. But in this case the loss is only emotional. There are though some cases, like a small family business, where losing data means disaster. Only when something like that happens to you (ok, maybe not that bad, but you lose some files), you learn a valuable lesson: you should always back up your files if you want to have them. Accidents and disasters happen all the time and it's better to think of it before the unhappy event.
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First people stored information on floppy disks when they wanted to back it up. But back then floppy disks were quite expensive and has limited storage space. So the first backup software was used to split the information in order to put it on several floppy disks. Then, computer science evolved rapidly and data backup was made on CDs, DVDs and even hard drives, because their prices diminished a lot and their storage space increased considerably. Now the backup software was used to compress data in order to fill less space. Nowadays there are a lot of kinds of backup software and your data may be stored online, offline or on remote servers.

But before choosing the best backup software for you, you should consider a few things: if you have only little data to backup, use another hard drive. Then choose your software that is compatible with you; there is software designed for beginners, easy to run and for less complicated operations and there are software packages for professionals, that contain special features, encryption codes and so on. Always try to get ease to use backup software that gives you clear instructions and the control panel is intuitive and convenient and offers you future automated backups. There are plenty of applications that offer you different features; all you have to do is be informed and find the one that suits you best.

Here are some examples of recommended software for an efficient backup for your computer:

- Genie Backup Manager - it's very fast and has all the possible features to backup Windows registry, Favorites, Outlook data and other system files . The latest version even has a disaster recovery option which allows an unbootable PC to be restored from a backup copy of the operating system. The only problem is that it might be too sophisticated for beginners.

- NTI Backup Now - has one of the best interface designs. Still, the lack of encryption can be a disadvantage for some users.

- NovaStor Nova Backup - very good backup software with many extra features such as virus scanner. It can create an image file of your boot desk drive.

- Handy Backup - is very easy to use and very simple and this thing will be liked by many users.

If you have some valuable data on your email, you can get some free online backup software. For example Back2Zip now uses Amazon S3 to offer you unlimited online storage. Its storage service is safe and secure and you have the possibility to recover your data online, without much trouble.

- GFI Backup Home Edition 2009 - There are four main menus in the interface which contain options for creating backups, viewing previously created backups, file restoration and synchronization jobs. It is free now, but it does a lot more than just copying data from one place to another or providing small options like placing the data on a removable drive. Its options include ZIP compression, password protection and even AES encryption for more security.There is an option available to receive email notifications about the success of the operation or the problems encountered.

I hope I taught you an important lesson: keep your valuable things safe, no matter if they are jewels, paintings, rare books or photos, files, emails and other computer related stuff. Think about it: when you use a backup software it's like putting all your assets and priceless things in a vault. You know where they are and that they are safe, even if you can have access to them any time you want. From time to time you can even add other valuable things in your vault and secure them all again.