Open Source (free) Software Everyone Should Use
People frequently spend money on crap software that a lot of the time has a better open source (free) alternative version available. This is a list of applications that most people should use not only because they’re the best of their breed, but because they are simultaneously free!
7-Zip
Ever encountered a compressed/zipped file that you were unable to extract/unzip? Never again.
Audacity
Ever been annoyed trying to use the Sound Recorder in Windows for longer than 60 seconds? I know I have. It’s possible but not optimal. In any case, Audacity records for as long as you want it to and allows for a plethora of different ways to edit your recording.
Foxit Reader
Sick of the Adobe PDF Reader freezing all the time? I know I am. Foxit Reader never freezes because it is lightweight and is therefore ridiculously fast!
GIMP
Can’t afford Adobe Photoshop? This is the best image editing software you can get that won’t cost you a penny. I’m not going to pretend that it is as good as Adobe Photoshop or even close, but it is constantly getting closer.
KeePass Password Safe
You have two options these days. Use the same password for everything and risk your personal security or use KeePass to make extremely unique and complex passwords for everything. You just need to make sure that you have backups of your password database, your master password is secure, and that you remember your master password.
Mozilla FireFox
The best web browser there is. All the plug-ins available make this browser immensely powerful for anyone. Great for anyone from the average web user to the professional web developer.
Mozilla ThunderBird
If you’re not into the whole web mail gig, this is the best email client there is by far. It doesn’t constantly freeze like Microsoft Outlook, it’s lightweight and very smooth. Nothing else compares.
NotePad++
This is essentially the default Windows Notepad only on steroids. It has lots of useful tools helpful to anyone. It has particularly useful features for developers.
OpenOffice
If you can’t afford Microsoft Office’s Suite, this is the next best thing. It can accomplish many of the same tasks, with a few bonus features that Microsoft Office doesn’t have to offer. Microsoft Office however is still far superior in most ways.
uTorrent
This is the fastest, easiest, and most powerful BitTorrent client I have ever had the pleasure of using.
VLC Media Player
Have you ever tried to play a video file and it didn’t work? It said you didn’t have the proper codec or the file has been corrupted perhaps. VLC Media Player can repair damaged files and has almost any codec you can find. If you can’t play a video in VLC Media Player it is very likely you won’t be able to play it with anything.
