To start with, ditch internet explorer and start using firefox browser, it’s so much better! Many people dont realise that you can run more than one browser on your computer and they require no technical knowledge to install. Read more about some of the freely available software online.

Recommended FREE Open Source Software

There are literally thousands of free open-source software applications online, but many of them are poor quality, buggy and are likely to cause problems on your computer, but the following list are high quality free applications which you can download and install without cost.

Safety

Free antivirus – AVG antivirus has been around for a long time and is very effective.  This version is free and is advisable for anyone who is failing to run any anti virus software. Un-install norton and install this now!

Free firewall – We love zone alarm products here and use he internet security suite on our PC’s here, but for a basic firewall, you can’t go wrong with this. If you upgrade to full version, you get even more protection.

Spyware remover – Adaware is one of the best and most used free spyware removal packages available.

Spyware and malware remover – Spybot search and destroy is another excellent and free spyware and malware removal package. Spyware complements Adaware and should be used along with AVG Antivirus, Zone alarm, and Adaware to ensure your PC remains free from viruses, trojans and spyware.

Free remote backup – Free remote backup is finally here! With Mozy you get 2GB of free backup space, so you can download it and have it automatically backup you data at a free, secure and remote location.

Recover deleted files – Free software to recover files that you have deleted on your computer, digital camera or removal drive! This software is really simple to use and extremely useful!

Image editing

User-friendly image editing – Free image editing software that has been made to replace the basic paint from Windows. With Paint.net you can create and alter photos using layers, add effects, and a number of other tools. It’s very useful and easy to use.

Photoshop alternative – The GIMP is an alternative to Adobe’s photoshop. The GIMP has a lot features that Photoshop has including clone, airbrush, layers and lots of effects. It has come over from the Linux O/S and is typically techy, but very good indeed.

Illustrator alternative - Inkscape is an alternative to Adobe Illustrator. It’s a is a Vector Graphics Editor which basically means it’s useful for for graphic design, page layout, typography, logos and sharp-edged artistic illustrations.

Make your own panoramas – This free program makes creating your own panoramas using your digital camera extremely simple! I’ve tried loads of different “stitching” software, but this one is easily the best! Believe it or not, auto-stitch is completely free!

Andrea Mosaic – AndreaMosaic is a photographic mosaic software with which you can create your own photographic mosaics and with your own pictures. I’ve used it to create a number of photo mosaics and would really recommend it!

Media

Picasa 3 – Well, another google product release, which is easy to use, free and allows gallery creations which can be shared with the public or kept private for personal use.

Audacity – Edit and create digital audio files quickly and easily with this free audio editor

Super – If you need a simple, yet very efficient tool to convert (encode) or play any Multimedia file, without reading manuals or spending long hours training, then SUPER © is all you need. It is a Multimedia Encoder and a Multimedia Player, easy-to-use with 1 simple click.

Quicktime Alternative - as it says on the tin!

Real Alternative - as it says on the tin!

Windows Media Player 11 – I am not a fan of iTunes at all and this is the alternative which doesn’t encode your audio and allows you the freedom to adjust what format your music is in, protected or unprotected.

Internet tools

Mozilla Firefox – The Ultimate Browser! Step aside Internet Explorer, your days are numbered. This really is a superb browser, excellent on PC, MAC & Linux and delivers a perfect tool for browsing the net.

Mozilla Thunderbird – Free email client to replace microsoft outlook express or mail. Works on PC, MAC & Linux and is good, but not really for business clients.

Skype – Make free phonecalls and video calls using skype and even reduce your outbound costs by using their skype to landline service. Awesome software (essential over broadband) and ideal for speaking to friends, family and business contacts worldwide)

Voice Recording software for Skype – as it says on the tin!

Net transport 1.9 – This version of the software is free to use and you can use it to download media off the internet, for example to download streamed files like real audio files and wmv files completely.

Allway Sync – This free program synchronizes folders and files between computers and other storage devices. This program has a feature to automatically synchronize any folders selected at regular intervals to ensure your files are kept secure. Its simple to use and free for personal use so I would recommend it.

Filezilla - One of the cool bolt on’s for Firefox, this software is an ideal ‘bolt on’ embedded FTP client for use inside the Firefox browser.

Other

Open Office – Very nice, free open-office software including all the tools you expect from microsoft office but without the cost you’d expect from buying microsoft office! Very cool, perfect on various O/S.

Dark room – A full screen text editor which helps you write on your PC completely free of distractions! This is the PC equivalent of Write Room a mac application.

Google Earth – Certainly a wow factor, if you’ve not used this before. A great app by google, with some controversy over it’s latest streep view…

PDF reader – In my opinion this software is better than Adobe because it is much less resource intensive so very quick to loads up

PDF creator – as it says on the tin!

Primo PDF – PDF creation and conversion tool

Tugzip - compression tool for packing files into archives

Xint – Notepad alternative