Free Software

I found an interesting article from Lifehacker that discusses free software alternatives to other commercial software. I am always looking for free rather then expensive software options and I found this article to be very informative.

I have used OpenOffice as a free alternative to Microsoft Office and I have been pleasantly surprised at how closely these free apps match the Microsoft versions. It includes free applications that replicate Word, Excel, and Powerpoint. I was also impressed at what a good job OpenOffice does of Opening Microsoft files. Sometimes there are some formatting issues, but for the most part they open flawlessly for me.

I have also used AVG as a free anti-virus program for family and friends. No computer should be without a good anti-virus program and I have found that AVG works quite well and seems to get anti-virus updates just as often as Norton/Symantec that I use at work.

Thirdly, I would like to endorse Mozy as a back-up solution for your computer. So many of us do not ever take the time to back-up important files on our computer. This is getting more and more important as so many of us keep important financial documents and digital pictures on our computer. A friend of mine was recently devastated when she lost a year's worth of digital pictures of her family. One of the nice features of Mozy is that it is easy to use and automatic. Another important feature is the fact that the files are stored remotely at their data center facility. The nice thing about that is that you do not have to worry about theft, fires, and hurricanes (important where I live) destroying both your computer and your back-up. The free version gives you several Gigs of storage and a paid home version for more storage is priced very reasonably.

I hope you enjoy the article and enjoy using some of these programs. If you have any questions or suggestions of other free apps feel free to add your comments to this post.