One of the greatest things about technology is that developers are willing to share their products and ideas for free. For the budget conscious computer user, this is a great blessing. That doesn’t mean all of the programs are easy to use, though. Where common computing tasks are concerned, it’s good to know where to find user friendly free software.
Office Tasks
An office software program is essential to all people’s lives. Whether you’re a small business, corporation or private individual, you write documents, keep records and create presentations. Microsoft Office is the most common product available for office type duties, but is can be expensive for someone on a tight budget. Open Office is a free software that is very easy to use if you’re familiar with Microsoft. The product has a very similar look and feel to it, and it allows the user to save documents in a word format so that everything will be compatible when sent to Microsoft users. This is an open source software, so a community of developers is always looking for ways to improve the product at no charge to the users.
Photo Editor
Photoshop is not something the everyday person can’t afford, and it can be confusing to use. Open source developers have created a free and user friendly software called Gimp. With this free program, you can upload your photos to your computer and then re-size, edit, reduce red eye, add special effects and even add text. It does require a deeper level of understanding to use in any complex way, but for the average person doing basic things, it’s a great free software product.
Video Editor and Player
For the movie buff, it’s very frustrating to look at a shelf full of old VHS tapes that can’t be watched. VirtualDub is a free video conversion software that doesn’t require any skill or even different hardware to make the conversion. Even if several movies are on one tape, this program will separate them for you. Then when you are done editing you can always use Windows Media Player or opt for the XviD codec installation to watch the newly edited movies. There are many free programs, that are easy to use, so do your search and save your money.
