The Best Things in Life Are Free

Well, they say, the best things in life are free and in the geek world, it's too good and its true.

Internet:

Mozilla Firefox

I stopped using Internet Explorer for almost a year now, and I use Firefox instead. If you're as tech-savvy as I am, you'd probably know that Firefox is a better browser than IE. First, it renders web pages as they should really look like. Secondly, it has tons of great features (tab browser, security features, live bookmarks, etc.). Plus, it's much less prone to viruses, unlike IE which can easily be targeted by bad software through its ActiveX controls. Plus, it really looks better. And if there's something you want in your browser (like the ability to create pictures from webpages or save entire websites), Firefox has hundreds of extensions that you can install (also freely) to improve web browsing.
. It runs on Windows, Linux and Mac.


Mozilla Thunderbird

Thunderbird is the Email Client and brother of Firefox. Like Firefox, it has a nice clean look. It also supports RSS feeds and News feeds, has built-in security features and has hundreds of extensions for those who want a little more.

Antivirus, Anti-spyware and Anti-hacker intrusion:

Unless you're running a Mac. Be very afraid of computer viruses, spywares and hackers, from direct intrusion to deceitful methods, did i say phishing, there's even whaling now..

So for those of us who use PCs, I recommend using a good and free antivirus: Comodo Antivirus or AVG, the free one will suffice.

There's no need for me to explain about an antivirus program. Suffice it to say that everyone running Windows should have one.

A firewall is a special software (or more effectively a hardware) that keeps hackers and intruders at bay, blocking them from accessing your files and your system. Windows XP and Windows Vista comes with a firewall program, this will do if you don't have much memory left but it's not as sophisticated as Comodo's Firewall Pro which is also free..

Spywares are nasty little software programs that record your actions while using your computer. Some spyware are key-loggers that record everything you type--including your passwords, personal information and other sensitive data. Others record your movements through the net. BoClean makes sure that your computer stays spyware free by removing known spyware programs and blocking other applications that install them.

Other notable free anti-spyware products is Adaware.

You can download the Antivirus, Firewall and Anti-Spyware programs at the Comodo Free Products page.

Word Processor, Spreadsheets, etc..basically WORK Software..

Microsoft Office is great, but it's not free. This is where OpenOffice.org comes in handy. It's a MSOffice alternative that provides the same features but is totally open-source hence Free..

OpenOffice features a full office suite: Writer for wordprocessing, Impress for presentations and Calc for spreadsheets. It also features Math for creating equations, Draw for creating nifty graphics and Base for your databases.


OpenOffice.org Writer

The programs have a very similar interface with the MSOffice programs, making them easier for your use. Plus, they support open standars (which is the future of your documents) and they are very easy to install.

You can get them through the OpenOffice.org Website.

Free and open source music player:

musikCube

Like iTunes and Windows Media Player, musikCube supports the usual MP3s that we all use. But aside from that, you can install other extensions that will make it play other audio formats, like ogg, wav, wma and even aac files (yup, iTunes and iPod music files!). It can rip directly from your cds and it has a very nice and minimal user interface. Other great feature is being able to connect to a FreeDB server to retrieve music information.

Aside from your Music Library, there's also a Collected Library, where new music files will appear, in case you don't want them to be in your Library immediately. Makes it easier to preview downloaded files without them being added immediately to your music library.

There's a lot more cool features and a dozen cool plugins to extend musikCube (like a nifty plugin that will automatically update your YM status message with the title of the track you're currently listening to.). You can find out more about musikCube and download the program from the musikCube Website.

Photo/Art Software:

There's the GIMP (Photoshop alternative), Scribus (InDesign/Publisher/Pagemaker alternative) and Inkscape (Illustrator alternative).

The GIMP

The GIMP (which stands for GNU Image Manipulation Program) is a program for digital image editing. Like Photoshop, it supports layers, custom shapes, brushes and a host of other image editing tools. Although it's not as robust as Photoshop, it is certainly a good program that almost anyone can use. You can download the GIMP at the GIMP.org website.

Scribus

Scribus is a desktop publishing software, for those who want to create newsletters, magazines, posters and other nifty printed materials. Not as robust as InDesign, but is certainly better than using Pagemaker or Publisher--or worst, Microsoft Powerpoint or Word--for creating your printed stuff. You can download it at the official Scribus website.

Inkscape

Inkscape, is a vector illustration software. If you're into drawing and nice vector illustration, then you'll certainly going to like Inkscape. And unlike the GIMP and Scribus, Inkscape is just as robust as Adobe Illustrator. It's great for illustration work, and is certainly one of those free apps that should be on every creative person's computer. You can grab your free copy at the Inkscape Website.

Try out these apps and see for yourself how good it feels to get things free.