# Best Free Software?



## Nathan (Jul 21, 2003)

The post about software piracy got me thinking about all the great free software that is out there. 

What free software do you use?

I use Open Office (MS office alternative) 
http://www.openoffice.org/

Zone Alarm (firewall)
http://www.zonelabs.com (make sure you select the free version)

MSN IM 
http://messenger.msn.com/

Anyone else?


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## Grumpy (Oct 8, 2003)

I've never really used a free software multiple times. It's pretty much junk, or you have to pay for it.


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## Nathan (Jul 21, 2003)

I disagree. There is some great free software out there!

A lot of companies give away their basic version of a product in order to get you to buy the Delux version that costs $$$. ZoneAlarm is a good example of this. Its a great free program.

Open Office on the other hand is open source and totally free. While its not as user friendly as MS Office its a great tool. There are a lot of companies that need to be able to open MS Office documents but cannot afford MS Office. Open Office will do it for you and even save as a MS Doc.


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## Grumpy (Oct 8, 2003)

I dislike zonealarm because of the advertisements. Infact I don't put ANY software on my computer that advertises like zone alarm, AIM, Real PLayer etc...

Demo ware can be great but expires, so it's not really free.

Open source is another story because it's open source and free to anyone, which is a beautiful thing. WHen you brought up free ware I was thinking about the crappy little downloads at download.com I never thoguht to think about open source programs like Open Office and the million other open source programs out there. Open source is a good thing and I fully support the open source movement. 

Back when I used open office it was in it's early stages and wasn't too good. I should give it another look.


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## Grumpy (Oct 8, 2003)

Also wanted to mention since we are now talkign about open source, if you really want a good free program try the RedHat Linux 9.0 operating system. While not quite as user friendly (YET) as windows it's almost as good and it's FREE. www.redhat.com


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## Nathan (Jul 21, 2003)

Grumpy said:


> I dislike zonealarm because of the advertisements. Infact I don't put ANY software on my computer that advertises like zone alarm, AIM, Real PLayer etc....


My copy of zonealarm has no ads whatsoever.




Grumpy said:


> Back when I used open office it was in it's early stages and wasn't too good. I should give it another look.


Its still a few problems but all in all its pretty good now.


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## ContractorChris (Mar 9, 2010)

Ok, so I had to jump in on this one. First Open Office is a wonderful software suite and I'm glad I saw it mentioned. Second if you're looking for an easy to use Operating system (I was happy to see any Linux distro mentioned) Ubuntu is by far the most user friendly out there for Linux distro's at the moment. It is also 100% free and has a huge public support level now, because so many companies are sending it out pre installed on their systems. 

@Grumpy - I've been using Zone Alarm free for 3 years now and I've not seen an ad yet. I don't know what you were using if it had ads but it wasn't the free version of Zone Alarm. I agree with you in the no using of software with ads built in, but Zone Alarm Free is a great program for Windows based systems.


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## Chris G (May 17, 2006)

This has to be a record.


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## Darwin (Apr 7, 2009)

I use softpedia. They have over 400K free software programs as well as reviews of the free stuff.

I have to disagree with the free stuff is junk. I have found the free stuff is sometimes better than the cost-money stuff. 

Plus, softpedia is rated #19 according to Alexa's top websites in the country for free software.

A classic crash and burner from '04. What?


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## JonM (Nov 1, 2007)

http://www.malwarebytes.org/

http://kingkongcapture.com/

http://free.avg.com/gb-en/download


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## DenverPainting (Nov 29, 2009)

I think that there are incredible free software's out there and I think that open office & AVG's antivirus are at the top of the list!!!

Here is a list of the top freeware software out there: You can view it through cnet's website:

http://download.cnet.com/windows/3150-20_4-0.html?filter=licenseName=Free&tag=rb_content;contentNav


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## rselectric1 (Sep 20, 2009)

Chris G said:


> This has to be a record.


Six plus years. Wow


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## mdurbahn (Mar 12, 2008)

open office
quick books online
avg virus
skype


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## Ayerzee (Jan 4, 2009)

rselectric1 said:


> Six plus years. Wow


I'm waitin' on one from '03 :laughing:


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## chris n (Oct 14, 2003)

Ayerzee said:


> I'm waitin' on one from '03 :laughing:


 http://www.contractortalk.com/f11/wording-proposal-120/:w00t:


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## MOTB (May 13, 2009)

*quick books online is not free*



mdurbahn said:


> quick books online


this product is not for free, but there is a trial that is. For those of you who do review it, it is not the same as quickbooks for windows. But it is pretty slick as a web based accounting package. Biggest issue is that it is not tailored to the front office of a contractor but rather the back office of accounting. And since this post focused on free, I would like to point out that I do provide a FREE version (not a trial) for MyOnlineToolbox.com. And it is tailored specifically for contractors and subcontractors.
Brian


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## RandomTask (Mar 24, 2010)

Here's my 2 pennys.

I use *xTuple* for accounting, CRM, and ERP (I mentioned this in another thread), it's open source and free.
It's a client/front end for *PostgreSQL*. PostgreSQL is a free database, which I also love.

*GanttProject* is a good project management software replacement for Microsoft Project. 

For marketing and things of that nature, I use "*Inkscape*." It's outstanding for the average user who doesn't want to spend money on other expensive publishing software. *Scribus* is great for publishing documents.

*Openlaszlo* is an environment for devleoping xml rich-internet applications, it's somewhat complex to get it up and running. But what I like it for is developing and testing general HTML pages.

*R* This is a stats program. Way better than SPSS or STATA. If you're into such things.


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## Hammer_Nail (Jun 16, 2008)

*Open Office*

Open Office is great why BUY MS Publisher when you can get Open Office *FOR FREE !:clap:*


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## moorewarner (May 29, 2009)

Hammer_Nail said:


> Open Office is great why BUY MS Publisher when you can get Open Office *FOR FREE !:clap:*


Open Office :thumbup: all I install, on Linux or Windows, but if you want to try a DeskTop Publishing (DTP) application head over to Scribus and check it out.

http://www.scribus.net/

:thumbsup:


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## 480sparky (Feb 1, 2009)

Not much trade-related from me, but I'll throw out these freebies:

GIMP (kinda like PhotoShop)

FotoSizer (batch-resizes images)

Instant Eyedropper (Allows you to pick out a single pixel of an image and gives you the color data of it)

Comodo (computer back-up)

Exifer (edits image's EXIF files)

IrfanView (image editor)

GPS Utility (create GPS routes on computer, then upload to GPS unit)

Celestia (really cool if you're into astronomy or science)

Virtual Moon (another astronomy goody, focusing on the moon alone)


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