a quick note about free software
Be careful downloading 'free software.' Most free software available on the Internet is actually malicious in nature. Virus, Spyware and Adware are included in the installation, and they can cost you your privacy, your data and even cold hard cash as they bring your computer to its knees and you have to have a PC Technician remove them. My recommendation is to not download any software packages unless you thoroughly check them out before installation.
That said, not all free software is bad. The software recommended on this page is fully tested, highly recommended, and safe to download and install.
Enjoy!
free windows software
VLC Media Player is a free DVD/Movie player software, and works great for Windows 8 Home users. If you have Windows 8 Home, install this software to allow you to play DVD Movies in your DVD drive. Also plays a variety of download movie formats.
OpenOffice.org is a fully capable Office Suite free for download. Generously contributed to the public by Sun Microsystems, and now a part of the Apache Project, OpenOffice.org is the best Office Suite you can buy - and its FREE! Just the ticket to get you off that Microsoft Upgrade Treadmill. It can read and write Microsoft Office format files including Word, Excel and Powerpoint. Although conversion is not 100%, most home PC users can get by quite nicely without Microsoft's outrageously insecure and overpriced Office Suite.
Chrome is a Safe, Secure, Standards based web browser that can take the fear out of surfing the 'net. It's fast, free and safe to use.
AVG Free Edition Antivirus for Personal use is a great antivirus solution based on AVG's excellent Professional product. If you need Antivirus protection (and who doesn't), I highly recommend AVG products. AVG works great hand-in-hand with SpyBot S+D below
SpyBot S&D is an excellent free spyware scanner from Patrick M. Kolla and company. Its one of the few unbiased and sure spyware scanners available even among those you pay for. Works great hand-in-hand with AVG Free Edition above.
GIMP is an acronym for GNU Image Manipulation Program. It is a freely distributed program for such tasks as photo retouching, image composition and image authoring.
It has many capabilities. It can be used as a simple paint program, an expert quality photo retouching program, an online batch processing system, a mass production image renderer, an image format converter, etc.
GIMP is expandable and extensible. It is designed to be augmented with plug-ins and extensions to do just about anything. The advanced scripting interface allows everything from the simplest task to the most complex image manipulation procedures to be easily scripted. .
SpeedFan is an excellent free tray utility that will display various sensor readings on most desktop and laptop PCs. Keep an eye on processor temperature and diagnose a failing hard drive with this excellent free must-have tool.
Bullzip's PDF Printer allow you to create PDF documents in Windows from any application that can print. A must have for any electronic filing or document sharing.
An easy-to-use and free tool for batch resizing of JPG pictures and photos. Drag and drop to easily make large resolution pictures smaller for eMailing.
free linux software
Ubuntu is a Linux Distribution that's won wide acclaim for its ease of installation and complete software set. Started as a project to make PCs affordable for third-world countries, it's matured into very capable desktop and server versions that are definitely worth a look. There are many different flavors of Ubuntu available - ours is Lubuntu built to provide a lightweight quick Linux featuring the LXDE Desktop.
free games
- Crack Attack! for Windows/Linux/OSX
A free game by by Daniel Nelson, Crack Attack! is a tetris style game that's captivating and challenging.
