There are thousands of free programs available on the internet that claim to be able to change your life. However, if someone reset my computer right now, here are the first 5 pieces of free software I would install.
1. AVG Antivirus
Anti-virus software is extremely important for any PC or laptop. When you buy a new PC or laptop, you shouldn’t even access the internet before making sure that you have some good anti-virus software installed on your computer. You can buy anti-virus software such as PC Internet Security and Norton, but if you can’t afford it or can’t be bothered to buy any, you should definitely check out AVG Antivirus. It is free and does the job – what more can I say?
2. OpenOffice Suite
When office suites are mentioned, Microsoft Office is usually the first one that pops into people’s minds. However, there are many others that are available, and some of them are free. Microsoft Office can be very expensive to buy and sometimes doesn’t seem worth all the money. If you haven’t got an office suite and don’t want to pay to get one, you can download OpenOffice for free. It includes all of the tools and will integrate seamlessly with Microsoft’s suite.
3. Dropbox
A lot of people choose external hard drives, CDs, memory sticks and other devices to backup their files. However, if you ever lost them or they were destroyed in a house fire or other accident, you would lose everything. Online backup solutions are the best thing to use, but you might want to use other methods as well. Dropbox is a great and free service that will automatically sync files with their servers. Although the free version doesn’t allow for large backups, the software is essential for anyone who actively uses multiple computers.
4. VLC Media Player
How annoying is it when you download a video and you can’t find the right program or codec to run it? VLC Media Player is literally the most amazing piece of media software I have ever used. It plays, quite literally, everything that I have ever thrown at it and will even work for DVDs.
5. Pidgin Messaging Client
Almost everyone uses some sort of messaging client. Whether it is AIM, MSN, gTalk, Facebook Chat, Yahoo!, or others, in this day and age is it inexcusable to not be contactable online. Most people use more than one which is why Pidgin is a great option. Login to multiple accounts at once and remain in the loop without running a large number of programs.