The Google Pack: Lots of Software, for Free
What to do
- (Windows XP Users - Only Available in Certain Countries). Google has bundled a lot of free software in it’s Google Pack. We recommend the Google Pack for anyone who is looking to get a whole bunch of quality software for free. Notable in the Google Pack is Google Earth, the amazing free Google Software that enables you to view the world through satellite imagery.
- When you are the Google Pack page, Google provides you with the option of keeping or removing the software that you don’t want for download. You may not want all this software. To de-select software, click on the remove link under each software name - that software will not be downloaded.
The one software we don’t recommend you download is Norton Anti-Virus. Not because it’s not a great product (it is) but because the free subscription to Norton protection updates only lasts six months.
Instead, you could remove this from your Google Pack download, and instead get free anti-virus software with updates.
When you have chosen all your software, click on the blue Download button and the ‘Google Pack Installer’ file will download. Double click the ‘Google Pack Installer’ to install the software you have chosen.
When you download the Google Pack, you will also download something called the ‘Google Updater’. The Google Updater is a free program that will update your Google Pack software according to the preferences you choose. To edit your preferences, right click on the Google Updater (it should be in the right hand corner of the screen - and looks like a pyramid of balls) and select preferences to change your preferences for the updater. You can learn more about the Google Updater here.
A little more
The Google Pack is a great way to get a whole bunch of free software all in one download. The Google Pack includes everything from Mozilla Firefox (to browse) and Picasa (to better view digital pictures on your computer) to Ad-Aware (to help fight spyware on your computer) and Adobe Reader 7 (to help read pdf files). If you are looking to get a lot of free quality software all at one time, consider the Google Pack.
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