November 22, 2008

EarthLink Tools: Free and Premium

The free software available on the EarthLink site starts with a free email address, free EarthLink account with personalised settings, free music downloads in the continental USA and Canada and the MindSpring VOIP client (the equivalent of Skype but supported and backed by one of the world’s largest ISPs). Prices are competitive with Skype’s. There is also a spyware scanner and a full computer protection suite including an anti-virus and firewall bundle with automatic updates from EarthLink for anyone connected to the Internet to download and try. There is also a toolbar add-in for Firefox, demonstrating yet again that EarthLink is committed to its users. Firefox was the fastest-growing Internet browser for a time and EarthLink has recognised that many of their users prefer Firefox over Internet Explorer.

Once a customer subscribes to any of the EarthLink products, even more important protective software becomes available, the parental control suite. This service makes it possible to allow children online time windows, block access to your child by strangers, block attachments and undesirable sites. Emails are sent to the parent before they get to the child and teen-friendly software versions are offered. EarthLink allows the parent to set up a profile for the child which allows access to all web sites except the 3 million EarthLink has blocked or a list of a few thousand definitely “kid-friendly” sites. Communications between a child and a list of known friends and family can be approved, and any communications from or to anyone not on the list is first forwarded to a parent before delivery. Peace of mind regarding the child’s Internet activity is almost guaranteed.

Site Builder is another immensely powerful and valuable tool. Purely from a cost perspective, the user is saved hundreds of dollars in software licensing for the multiple applications it would take to provide the Site Builder features, and the professional developer costs it would take to get even the most basic web service embedded in your page. The Site Builder software makes it possible for the small and medium business experts themselves to put their own updated, fresh content on the business site. Eliminating the outsourcing time and costs of constantly updating the company web site makes the Site Builder an extremely attractive proposition, exactly as intended by the EarthLink strategists: EarthLink has chosen its service offerings very carefully around the customer experience and to deliver real value.

For dial-up users there is EarthLink accelerator, claiming to increase download speeds by up to 5 times over standard dial-up. This speeding up is achieved by adjusting image quality on downloaded data so that less image data are downloaded. There is no lack of tools or software applications from EarthLink that support a comfortable, safe and enjoyable Internet experience.

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