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9 lines
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13 years ago
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<p>Later this month I'll be canceling my subscription to a leading security suite that runs on two of my home-office PCs. I'll replace it with Microsoft's free <a href="http://download.cnet.com/Microsoft-Security-Essentials/3000-2239_4-10969260.html">Security Essentials</a>, which I've been using on my notebook since I bought it two years ago. I realized several months ago that I simply no longer needed to spend money for the convenience of an all-in-one security app.</p><p> That got me thinking: Is there <i>any</i> software that the average PC user needs to pay for? Most of us bought our current operating system--usually Windows or <a href="http://download.cnet.com/Apple-Mac-OS-X-Snow-Leopard/3000-18513_4-90306.html">Mac OS X</a>--as part of the purchase of the computer itself. Do-it-yourselfers have Linux as a free-OS alternative.</p><p> The programs we use for work, such as
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<a href="http://www.cnet.com/microsoft-office/" section="luke_topic">Microsoft Office</a> and specialty apps like <a href="http://download.cnet.com/Adobe-Photoshop/3000-2192_4-10966847.html">Adobe Photoshop</a> or Intuit's <a href="http://download.cnet.com/Quicken-Deluxe-2010/3000-2057_4-10052050.html">Quicken</a>/<a href="http://download.cnet.com/QuickBooks-Pro/3000-2066_4-10523.html">QuickBooks</a> accounting software, are likely provided by our employer. (People who work from home and/or for themselves have to buy their own software, but they can at least write off the cost of the programs they use in their work.)</p><p> What about all those commercial security suites and system utilities? I ran down Amazon's list of the <a href="http://www.amazon.com/gp/bestsellers/software">20 best-selling software titles</a> to find those for which no viable free alternative is available. Granted, my criteria are pretty broad: the freebie has to offer only the basic functionality of the fee-based product and an interface that won't stymie the average user.</p><p> Excluding
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<a href="http://www.cnet.com/mac-os-x-snow-leopard/" section="luke_topic">Mac OS X Snow Leopard</a> (number 8 on the list) and two
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<a href="http://www.cnet.com/windows-7/" section="luke_topic">Windows 7</a> Home Premium upgrades (standard and three-user family pack at 10 and 11, respectively), only two titles on Amazon's top 20 have no free equivalent that I'm aware of: Honest Technology's <a href="http://www.honestech.com/main/vhs-to-dvd-50-deluxe.asp">VHS to DVD Deluxe</a>, which tops the Amazon list, and Nuance Communications' <a href="http://download.cnet.com/Dragon-NaturallySpeaking-Preferred/3000-7239_4-18799.html">Dragon Naturally Speaking</a>, which comes in at number 18.</p><p> Here's a rundown of Amazon's top-selling programs and their free counterparts.</p><p> <b>Keep Office on the shelf</b><br/> It's no surprise that Microsoft Office 2010 takes four of the top 20 spots on software-sales list: Office 2010 Home & Student is number 2, Office 2010 Home & Business is 12th, Office for Mac 2011 Home & Student Family Pack is 13th, and Office for Mac 2011 Home & Student 1 Pack comes in 17th.</p><p> In September 2009, I described several <a href="http://news.cnet.com/8301-13880_3-10354199-68.html">free alternatives to the Office suite</a> and to the individual apps bundled in Office. My favorites remain <a href="http://download.cnet.com/OpenOffice-org/3000-18483_4-10263109.html">OpenOffice.org</a>--despite its bulk--and the <a href="http://download.cnet.com/Jarte/3000-2079_4-10212778.html">Jarte</a> word processor, which is based on the WordPad app that's bundled in Windows.</p><p> OpenOffice.org and other alternative suites support the standard Office file formats, although not Office 2007/2010 XML file types (.docx, .xlsx, and .pptx). An advantage for many people is the programs' use of the old-style menus rather than the Office ribbons. Personally, I'm accustomed to the ribbon look and have no problem switching between the new and old interfaces.</p><p> Since the introduction of the free <a href="http://news.cnet.com/8301-13880_3-20052631-68.html">Google Cloud Connect</a> add-on for Office earlier this year, I've come to depend on the ability to sync Word documents, Excel spreadsheets, and PowerPoint presentations with Google Docs automatically. There's no version of Cloud Connect for OpenOffice.org, but a rough equivalent is to use the free <a href="https://www.dropbox.com/">DropBox</a> service, which lets you save up to 2GB of data online (pay versions support up to 100GB for $20 a month of $200 a year).</p><p> The service adds a DropBox folder to your PC that you access in Windows Explorer just like any other folder. It's easy to share whole folders or individual files by sending people links via e-mail. The files are accessible from any Internet-connected device, including iPads and smart phones, using an Explorer-like directory.</p><p> </p><div class="cnet-image-div image-LARGE2 float-none">
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<img class="cnet-image" src="http://i.i.com.com/cnwk.1d/i/tim/2011/07/10/07_11_11_DropBox1_610x399.jpg" alt="DropBox file list"/><p class="image-caption">The free DropBox service lets you access and share files easily from any Web-enabled device (the PC interface is shown).</p>
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<span class="image-credit">(Credit:
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screenshot by Dennis O'Reilly/CNET)</span>
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</div> <p> Using the default OpenOffice.org file formats can cause problems when you share files with people who don't use the suite, so it's safest to stick with the more-universal .doc, .xls, and .ppt formats when creating files in OpenOffice.org or other Office alternatives. Documents, spreadsheets, and presentations created in OpenOffice.org that you save as Office files work without a hitch in Word, Excel, and PowerPoint. Only your accountant will know the difference.</p><p> <b>Take the freeware approach to security</b><br/> Security programs take 6 of the top 20 spots on Amazon's software-sales list: <a href="http://download.cnet.com/Norton-360/3000-8022_4-10651162.html">Norton 360</a> (No. 3), <a href="http://download.cnet.com/Kaspersky-Internet-Security/3000-18510_4-10012072.html">Kaspersky Internet Security</a> (No. 6), <a href="http://download.cnet.com/Norton-Internet-Security-2011/3000-18510_4-10592551.html">Norton Internet Security</a> 1 user-3 PCs (No. 9), <a href="http://download.cnet.com/Norton-AntiVirus-2011/3000-2239_4-10592477.html">Norton AntiVirus</a> (No. 14), <a href="http://download.cnet.com/McAfee-Total-Protection-2011/3000-2239_4-10763479.html">McAfee Total Protection</a> (No. 15), and <a href="http://download.cnet.com/Norton-Internet-Security-2011/3000-18510_4-10592551.html">Norton Internet Security</a> for a singe PC (No. 19).</p><p> As I mentioned above, I will soon replace the commercial security suite I've been using on the PCs in my home office with Microsoft's free alternative, Security Essentials. Vendors of commercial security apps are quick to point out the many other benefits their products provide, including backups and other system-maintenance tools. There may be a convenience benefit in taking the all-in-one approach, but the fact is, you can keep your PC safe and running smoothly without spending a penny for extra software.</p><p> <b>Getting by with free maintenance tools</b><br/><a href="http://news.cnet.com/8301-13880_3-20020762-68.html">Last fall</a> I wrote about a commercial utility program I thought was worth its $40 price. Several readers commented that the software caused them more problems than it solved, and since then I've heard from one reader who blames the program for wiping out her laptop PC entirely.</p><p> That experience helped convince me that most PC users have no need to pay for any application or online service that promises to fix their machine or improve its performance. It was heartening to see that no special-purpose system utility made Amazon's list of the 20 best-selling titles. That's not to say the tools that come with Windows are necessarily best of breed.</p><p> In particular, I prefer the free <a href="http://download.cnet.com/EASEUS-Todo-Backup-Free/3000-2242_4-10964460.html">Easeus Todo Backup</a> to the backup utility built into Windows, as I explained in <a href="/8301-11310_39-10469489-285/free-backup-utility-outshines-windows-7s-built-in-disk-imager/">March 2010</a>. Back in <a href="http://news.cnet.com/8301-13880_3-10160103-68.html">February 2009</a> I compared several free Windows system tools, including the popular <a href="http://download.cnet.com/ccleaner/">CCleaner</a>. And in <a href="http://news.cnet.com/8301-13880_3-20002430-68.html">April 2010</a>, I compared CCleaner with the free version of IObit's <a href="http://download.cnet.com/Advanced-SystemCare-Free/3000-2086_4-10407614.html">Advanced SystemCare</a>.</p><p> <b>Other free alternatives to popular commercial apps</b><br/> You can't expect a free program to provide the range of features and functionality offered by such programs as Adobe Photoshop and QuickBooks Pro. But if you can get by with less, you may find freeware that meets your needs--with the two noteworthy exceptions I mentioned above (VHS TO DVD Deluxe and Dragon Naturally Speaking).</p><p> For example, No. 4 on Amazon's software-sales list is Adobe's<a href="http://download.cnet.com/Adobe-Photoshop-Elements/3000-2192_4-10057110.html">Photoshop Elements</a> image-processing application. Yet the free, open-source <a
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