When it comes to word processing, most users – home and businesses alike – turn to Microsoft Word and the entire Office Suite (Word, Excel, PowerPoint…). However, for those looking to enjoy similar functionality without the cost, we recommend you try Open Office. Click HERE to download it today!

If you are using Windows Vista or 7, you can try to download Office Starter, which comes with Microsoft Word and Excel.

What we have found very useful for many people, is a program called CutePDF. With CutePDF, you can print without actually printing! Click HERE to download.

CutePDF installs itself on the computer as a printer, so that when you are in any program, you can “print” the document using the CutePDF printer and instead of printing on a piece of paper, it saves it as a PDF on your computer.

1. This is great if you are looking to print a webpage for reference, but don’t need to actually print it out.

2. Ever needed to send a Word/Excel document or a QuickBooks invoice via email but wanted to send it as a PDF to look for more professional? If yes, CutePDF can save the day for you!

The proprietary eponymous regarding an email program is Microsoft’s Outlook. Due to the expense involved, many home users opt for Mozilla’s Thunderbird which, like Open Office, does the trick without the expense! Click HERE to download it today!

For starters, having an anti-virus program actively running and updated is crucial. Do you need to purchase an anti-virus program? No! You can use Avast or AVG which offer free versions of their anti-virus program. To download Avast, click HERE. For AVG clickHERE.

Install a filter, adjust the settings and confirm the filter is installed securely! Which filter do we recommend? It depends on what you are looking to do, but if you are would like a free filter, then we would recommend K9 or Norton’s filter.

For K9 click HERE.

For Norton click HERE.

Microsoft has removed the WiFi manager, therefore you might want to download one HERE.

If you upgraded the Operating System to Windows 8 on your own, you might not be able to watch any videos, therefore click HERE to download VLC media player, which plays almost anything!

Do you miss the good old Adobe Reader? Click HERE to download Adobe Reader. (Adobe Reader is the default program to read PDF’s for most people.)

If you are still using Office 2003, there is no reason to upgrade. However, when people send you documents made in later versions of Office, the file name is saved with an additional “x” by default (i.e. “.docx”). So how do you open the newer files? Download the Microsoft Office Compatibility Pack HERE.