Useful Software for Free
The holidays are over. You got that new computer you were waiting for but no software. On the other hand, maybe you didn’t get the new computer, and you just discovered that Microsoft will stop supporting Office 365 on older computers running Windows 10 or older when they retire it in October this year. This month we will share software that you can get and use freely. We have shared some of these programs in the past and some may be new to you, but everything this month will be free to download and use. So, let’s get started.
Office Suite
An office suite is a collection of software that typically includes a word processor, a spreadsheet, and a presentation package. Office 365 is the current version of Office Suite software from Microsoft. Microsoft recently announced that when they retire Windows 10 the updates to Office 365 will no longer work on versions of Windows 10 and older. Microsoft has also announced that it will remove the simple WordPad word processor, which has been a part of Windows for many years. They will include a trial version of Office 365, but to use after the trial you will need to pay an annual subscription.
While several alternatives to Office 365 exist, the one generally considered the best is LibreOffice. LibreOffice is both free and Open Source and can be easily downloaded and installed directly onto your Windows or Linux computer. It even installs on Chromebooks, Android and Apple devices. It includes Writer, a work processor, the Calc spreadsheet, and Impress, a presentation package. In addition, it includes a basic drawing package, a Math Equation editor, and Base, a database management program. While LibreOffice is not the only free office suite available, many consider it the best alternative product out there. It is included with most Linux installations and my family, and I have over 15 years of experience using it.
Email, Contacts, and Calendar
Microsoft provides a version of Outlook with Office 365. Outlook includes an email client, a calendar program with the ability to schedule meetings, and an address book to store, names, addresses, phone numbers, and email addresses for all of your contacts. Different versions of Outlook may be provided with Windows 11. My copy of Windows 11 appears to include an “Outlook Classic” as well as the current version Outlook for Office 2021 (not 365). If you have Windows 10 you may also have a program called Mail and Calendar which includes simple contacts and calendar applications. These programs are often simpler than those provided with Outlook. Currently, it is not clear on the status of these simple email related programs when Windows 10 retires.
Thunderbird is the most popular Outlook alternative email client and includes the address book and calendar features. The Mozilla organization originally developed Thunderbird, but it separated into its own organization. The software is also free and open source, and runs on Windows, Linux, and macOS. This makes it a good choice if you plan to stick with Windows 10 or move to Linux.
Drawing Software
Microsoft provides Paint, a very basic package to draw some simple bitmaps images. There is better software freely available. First is Inkscape. Inkscape is a vector drawing program. It creates vector drawings that are stored in the standard SVG (Scalable Vector Graphics) format. A vector drawing is scalable, with the ability to increase and decrease in size while still maintaining its appearance. Adobe Illustrator and Corel Draw are two commercial packages that also support vector drawing. These tools are great for creating illustrations and diagrams.
Photo and Painting Software
Use Paint software to create or edit pixel art. Pixel art includes the ability to touch up photos or use painting skills to create images as if they were painted. This is like tools like Adobe Photoshop or Corel Painter. The free and open-source tool to do this is Gimp. Gimp has been around for many years and is available for Linux, Windows, and macOS.
Securely Storing Passwords
The three most popular browsers Chrome, Firefox, and Edge all offer secure password facilities within the browser. This of course limits the passwords to those browsers storing the password you need. KeePass is a free and open-source utility for securely storing passwords and recovering them when needed. Plug-ins are available to integrate KeePass with your favorite browsers making it convenient to work with multiple browsers. I have over 1000 passwords to manage. The ability to store the passwords and restore them when needed is very helpful.
Shrinking and Encrypting Files
WinZip is a commercial tool for compressing files and making them smaller. It also provides the ability to encrypt the data in the files to protect them. Years ago, Microsoft added the compression capability to Windows. From the file explorer right click and select send to compressed folder to compress a file or a folder in Windows. However, Windows can’t encrypt.
7-Zip is free software that compresses, decompresses, and optionally securely encrypts or decrypts the contents as well. It is a good way to send secure files across the Internet or via email attachments.
Media Player
Under Windows Accessories, you should find the old original Windows Media Player (WMP) or, maybe even the “Windows Media Player Legacy”. These old tools for some reason seem to be better than the new ones created for Windows 11. I have used WMP for years to convert my CDs to collections of MP3 files that I can listen to as I work or copy them to my phone or table and listen to when I travel.
The VLC media player makes a good alternative that is both free and open source and play music, MP4 video, CDs, DVDs, and other media formats. It also works on Windows, Linux, Android, iOS, and macOS.
About FOSS
I want to add just a few words about Free and Open-Source Software or FOSS. This is software created by hardworking developers and organizations that choose to give the software they build away. You don’t normally see any advertisements or nagging to donate. They may ask for optional donations to help them cover their costs, but their contributions are typically worth more than they ask. If you find one of these products that you get value from, consider contributing. Or, even better, volunteer. Believe it, or not, you do not have to be a “techie” to help.
This has been a short introduction to some of my favorite free software. I hope you try some out and enjoy.