5 Must Have Free Windows 7 Programs

If you just bought a computer or you just don't want to spend money on quality programs to get you started then this is the list for you. Let's go!

Open Office (Productivity Suite)

If you don't want to drop $130 for Microsoft Office, Open Office is a great substitute. It comes with its own variations of PowerPoint, Word, Excel, Access and more. It's everything you need for school or work without spending a dime! How is this possible? Well, Open Office is...um...open. It is open source which means anyone can input their ideas into the software to make improvements. It's all managed by Apache Software so it is very professional.

Cost: $0

Gimp (Photos)

Photoshop can cost you hundreds of dollars. If you are just a recreational photographer or a professional, Gimp is the best free image manipulation program out there. It is laid out very similarly to Photoshop but is completely free.

Cost: $0

VideoPad (Video Editor)

I just recently discovered this one and so far it is the best I can find for free. It has many powerful features but my favorite is that you can save your video in a variety of formats without downloading extra stuff. It's relatively slow, but it's free! Look at spending at least $60 for something similar or hundreds of dollars for professional quality video production software. I prefer free.

Cost: $0

Audacity (Audio Editor)

Being a huge sound guy myself, I love using ProTools for recording and editing any type of audio. The problem is that ProTools costs at least $300 to get started. This is where Audacity comes in. Audacity allows you to record and edit multiple audio tracks in many different types of formats. It's easy to use interface and powerful features make this a no brainer for editing the audio from your home movies or recording voice-overs and adding that extra flare to your videos.

Cost: $0

avast! (Anti-Virus)

I didn't forget to capitalize the title of the software, that's just how it's spelled. Anyway, I mentioned in a previous post that I personally use avast! for my anti-virus needs. Why? Because it the best, free anti-virus you can find. 

Cost: $0