One of the largest overheads that small and home based business encounter is the often high cost of computer software. The majority of business ventures start with modest or very little capital, many are home based initially and every spare dollar is vital to success.
Whether you already have your own business or just seriously considering it, appropriate business and protection software for your computer is vital. Chances are you will need at least a word processing program, a spreadsheet program, an accounting package, perhaps a database and presentation program. If you are looking at setting up a website you will also need a program to edit HTML and web pages. Don’t forget the most important of all computer security - even if you only use your computer to receive email and for research on the internet – anti-virus, anti-spyware, anti-malware and firewall programs.
All of this software is readily available commercially however it will cost you many hundreds, possibly several thousand dollars. If you are like me, working full time just to make ends meet, you may not be able to justify the expenditure when every spare dollar goes into promoting your fledgling business. After all this business is meant to get you out of the red not put you deeper in it! Well, there is a solution – open sourced software and freeware software both legal. Many software companies have a free but limited home or one user version of their product. When you can afford it or when the program becomes indispensable to your operations upgrade to the full version.
- Word processing, spreadsheets, database, presentation manager, drawing program, open source alternative and compatible with MS Office formats.
http://www.openoffice.org/
- Turbocash accounting, open source accounting package, available in 17 languages, suits most tax systems. Turbocash would require some accounting knowledge to use.
http://www.turbocash.net/
- NVU web page and HTML editor, open source similar to MS Frontpage easy to use.
http://nvudev.com/index.php
- Picasa, very useful image organiser and editor from Google
http://picasa.google.com/
- Thunderbird email, Firefox browser, open source a great alternative to Outlook and Internet Explorer, enhanced security and tabbed browsing means fewer windows open at one time.
http://www.mozilla.com/
Over the past few years I have found the following free software to be invaluable in protecting my computer system from the “net-nasties” out there. If you want to keep your system clean use them all. Hat’s off to the providers, they deserve our support. On some sites you may have to search for the free version.
- AVG, Anti-virus, automatic updates, email protection, an excellent product.
http://www.grisoft.com/
- Spybot, Anti-spyware.
http://www.spybot.info/
- Ad-Aware, anti-malware and spyware.
http://www.lavasoft.de/
- Zone Alarm, firewall, a must have.
http://www.zonelabs.com/
Other great sources for free business and home software are the CD’s and DVD’s given away with most computer magazines. Usually there are two or more fully functioning software programs on each disc, sure it may be last year’s version but do you really need all the bells and whistles when you first start using it? Often, programs sound great in reviews etc. but after you install them on to your system and start using them you find they can not do what you wanted. If you paid top dollar for what amounts to trial software, you would not be happy.
I have lost track of the programs I have installed, found to be inadequate and later thrown out. These days I search for free alternatives and upgrade if I find it suits my needs. Don’t buy it – try it.
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