I have a huge budget for software, to run my business and some just for fun.
BUT, it’s always a very nice surprise to find something of great value, that fills a need, and doesn’t cost anything. Over the past year or so, I’ve kept a list of my Top Freebies.
I’d like to share these with you. I have no affiliate relationship with any of them, so this is totally unsolicited information, and I stand to gain nothing by telling you, except the satisfaction of knowing I’ve passed on some great information and possibly made your life easier.
- Mozilla Firefox – This is my browser of choice. It is a free and open source web browser, and its popularity is gaining rapidly on the incumbent Internet Explorer. For more information, you can visit Mozilla’s website. Just put a dot com after the name. There are also some fantastic plug-ins and add-ons to this browser. It’s worth getting familiar with.
- Jing – This is my favorite screen capture software. I can hardly believe it’s free because it’s so powerful – quick and easy to use. It will also give you 5 minutes of video capture. You can download it from jingproject.com. It is part of a great family of programs, e.g., it’s the “little brother” of Techsmith’s Camtasia Studio. There’s also SnagIt. Check them all out, but download Jing for sure. The little half-sun sits at the top of your screen, ready for instant use without clicking or searching for it.
- Skype – This freeware package allows users to make telephone calls to other users of Skype for free. Calls to a regular phone line or a mobile phone can be made for a very small fee, but the basic service is free. This is a great VoIP service used a lot by people living in different countries who are computer savvy enough to also take advantage of the web-cam feature. It also has instant messaging and file transfer features. Definitely worth looking into!
- Open Office – You can find this software at the open office dot org address. This is the leading open-source office software suite that includes word processing, spreadsheet software, presentation software and also a data base management product. It comes in many different languages and works on all common computers. You can read and write files that are compatible with the more well-known MS Office software. It’s completely free. If I hadn’t already spent my money with Microsoft, I wouldn’t.
Thank you, Jeanne! I just downloaded “Jing”. Can’t believe it’s free!
And we single moms are always looking for a bargain. 🙂
This post would be a great addition to the Pink Ladies Power Tools. Hope we can get all the rest of the #blog30 gals to contribute!
Hugs,
Melanie
Hi Jeanne,
Firefox is my browser of choice also. The thing I like best about it is all the free addons you can get for it.
Great tips on the other software. Should save some people plenty of money!
Hi Jeanne! Thanks so much for the tip about Jing, I’m going to get it right now. And I agree, Mozilla is terrific (although it does crash a lot when I have too many tabs open) — and their free “FireFTP” software works great.
Are you ready for the new #blog30?
Evelyn
Great list! I almost can’t believe I’m NOT the only one who recommends and uses OpenOffice. I thought practically everyone I talked too just used Ms office 🙂
Just like Deb, I also use Firefox … though I also use Chrome. Both have their ups and downs. Plus, it’s actually nice to use two because then you can be logged into wordpress, make changes and see what the site looks like to a regular user without logging out all the time.
Great list. Thanks for recommending Jing.
Piotr,
Thanks for stopping by. You’re going to LOVE Jing; if you don’t have it, be sure to go to Jingproject.com and get it. I’ve been a little hesitant to download Chrome because that would mean I would have 3 browsers. There’s probably no harm in it, so I might look into it. If you run across anymore great freebies, let me know. I’m doing another post and article on more freebies.
Evelyn,
Thanks for the comment. I haven’t tried the FireFTP software but I think I’ll give it a try. I’ve had some problems lately with Firefox just simply refusing to respond and I have to reboot to correct it. Kind of annoying, but maybe it’s that I’ve had too many windows open. YES, I’m in for the new blogging challenge with Jeanette! I’m excited to see where it will take us all. Thanks for staying in touch.
Hi Melanie,
Feel free to add it to the Pink Ladies Power Tools. I’m going to be doing another post on more freebies. I LOVE a bargain, too! You’re doing the new blog challenge, right?
Jeanne,
Jing in particular is awesome, especially if you want to send someone a quick video… automatically copies the link to the video to your clipboard, so all you have to do is paste it into an email to them.
Yep! It’s one of the best freebies I’ve ever found.
Jeanne
Jeanne: I loved the info about “Open Office”. I run into people all the time who want to be more efficient, but can’t sprong for M/S Office. Great tip!
Mynders
BBSTutorials.com
“Helping Online Business Owners solve their technology issues!”
I’ve heard about Jing, but never tried it – now I will. Does Jing produce videos that I can upload to YouTube? Or do I need some type of conversion application?
You can upload straight to YouTube.