FREE Opensource Software to Replace Microsoft Programs and Utilities

PC USERS - You can avoid using problematic (and sometimes expensive) commercial software programs by using FREE opensource software. Some of these programs can be used on multiple platforms, to include smart phones.


This is not a complete listing. Feel free to add to it as needed.

Thunderbird (Use instead of Microsoft Outlook/Live Mail)- Thunderbird — Software made to make email easier.

Sumatra (Use instead of Adobe Acrobat) Free PDF Reader - Sumatra PDF

Firefox (Use instead of Internet Explorer) Browse Freely

Open Office (Use instead of Microsoft Office) Apache OpenOffice - Official Site - The Free and Open Productivity Suite

VLC Media Player (Use instead of any media player like Microsoft Media) Official download of VLC media player, the best Open Source player - VideoLAN

Inkscape (Use instead of CorelDraw or Adobe Illustrator) Draw Freely | Inkscape

7-Zip (Use instead of Winzip or Winrar archiving utility) 7-Zip

Sunbird (Replaces the Microsoft Outlook calendar) Mozilla Thunderbird - Lightning Calendar

GIMP (Replaces Adobe Photoshop, after a fashion) GIMP - Downloads

Audacity (Free audio editor and recorder) Audacity

Filezilla (Free, Open source FTP utility) http://filezilla.sourceforge.net/

Keepass (Free, open source utility to store and manage passwords) KeePass Password Safe

Pidgin (use for instant messaging and supports many popular messengers) Pidgin, the universal chat client

Notepad++ (Replaces traditional Microsoft notepad) Notepad++ Home

GNUCash (Use instead of Quicken or Microsoft Money) Free Accounting Software | GnuCash

 

You might as well send it back and get your money refunded! The best part about Open Office (to me) besides being free, is you can export your work as .pdf (and it costs money with Adobe to do that in Win with MS) --It does everything MS Office does and more. Definitely get Firefox (or Cliqz) because IE is just garbage and Chrome may not be as secure as one would hope.