In my youth I used to copy programs from friends to use on my computer. When I found out that this was called piracy, I tried for awhile to ignore my conscience, but eventually decided I needed to 'Go Legal.' Problem was, I didn't have the cash to buy all the software I needed. To my surprise, I found out that most of what I needed was free!
So, if you are in a similar situation, here are some leads to free software. If the phrase is in capitals, put that into Google as your search term to find the correct page.
If you need an Office suite of programs, ie. Word processor, Excel type spreadsheet program, Presentations program and Database program, it's all for free and is Microsoft office comaptible from Sun Microsystems. It's called OPENOFFICE, and version 2.4 is about the latest. It's about 130MB, so it might take awhile to download. You can download an earlier version, which is smaller, if you want to save money on your downloading costs.
If you need to view and print one of the new Microsoft Word documents, like a .docx type, Microsoft offer a free download of the WORD VIEWER program. If you already have an old version of Word and you want to open the newer type of document, there is another free program called the FILEFORMAT CONVERTER, which will enable you to view these new fangled doc files.
If you want a nice audio program, that can load and play a whole bunch of stuff, and also converts from one format to another, and allows you to edit and record, try AUDACITY. It's an open source program and works very nicely. Also remember that Microsofts Media Player is also free, if you are running Windows operating system on your PC. You might just have to authenticate your version of Windows with them.
If you want an operating system, and can't afford Windows XP or Vista, there are quite a lot of Linux versions out there which are free. Try looking for UBUNTU LINUX which is a free version from Mark Shuttleworth (Remember the Russian Space Tourist...) You can also email him, and he will send you a totally free double CD (or 10!) so that you can get it even if you haven't got a computer yet!
To easily set up all the funny settings in your computer, download the little utility TWEAKUI and just run it by double clicking it. There's a whole pile of things that you can do with it. And it's made by the Microsoft guys. It's not very big, so it will download quickly.
If you need photediting software, there is a program called IRFANVIEW for image manipulation that's free. Also GIMP which is free, but it would be my second choice.
If you need an Anti Virus program, a very good one, that I use myself, is AVG FREE edition. The latest version is 8.0 or above. It's about 47MB to download, and it will want to update itself everyday, so just make sure you go through all the settings before you forget. You can turn the update feature to manual if you don't want to be downloading things every day.
If you want Bible software, like free Bible versions, Free commentries, all downloadable and able to be installed on your computer, try looking for E--SWORD. It's amazing how this stuff can be free.
If you need to read a PDF file, you can download the ADOBE ACROBAT READER for free.
There are many many other free things available. The list above is just a drop in the ocean of what's available. But at least this will get most of the average guys immediate needs sorted out, and you don't have to be a pirate any longer !
