Essential Free Software For Your Computer.

With a new year just starting why not update your PC or laptop with the latest FREE or Open Source Software?

You could not only save yourself a fortune in software licensing, but also increase your productivity with some of the free custom add-ons.

 Below is a list of the 6 most essential pieces of software that every PC should have.

  1.  Firefox

Alternative for Internet Explorer or any other internet browser, has the same basic functions as all the other browsers, but it is updated every couple of months and tends to be much more stable. There is a large developer community behind this browser, who are constantly creating new add-ons to increase the browsers functionality.

mozilla.org

  1. Thunderbird

Is a great alternative for Microsoft’s outlook, its made by Mozilla the same people who created Firefox. It allows you to have multiple email accounts and calendars. It can also sync with exchange and Gmail. Lots of downloadable add-ons are available to customise the email client for your needs.

mozilla.org

  1. ImgBurn

Alterative for DVD/Blu-ray authoring software. Burn any file, directory or image file to CD, DVD or Blu-ray disc.

It also allows you to create image files from discs or directories or individual files.

imgburn.com

  1. AVG

AVG Free has all the features you need to protect your PC from viruses, worms and most other malicious software.

free.avg.com

  1. OpenOffice

Alterative for Microsoft office includes Write (word), Calc (Excel), Impress (Power Point), Draw (Publisher), Base (Access). If you are familiar with the way office works then the layout and functionality should be fairly straight forward for you to learn.

openoffice.org

  1. VLC

Alternative for Media Player – Small compact video player that supports pretty much any format you can through at it from DVDs to avi’s.

videolan.org