Frugal can shop Internet for software freebies

[Woodmonkey]

Tech junkies looking to pinch pennies in today's economy can scour the Web for a bounty of free software - for word-processing and photo-editing, online storage and more.

Dozens of downloadable or online-only applications are available at no charge. While many are scaled-down versions of paid programs, you'd be surprised at how feature-rich these freebies can be.
TELL US: Do you use free online software? What do you recommend?

The catch? Some of these applications may be ad-supported and won't offer extensive tech support, if any.

Companies that offer free software are motivated by a range of factors - from building brand recognition to up-selling users to a paid version, says Michael Gartenberg, research director at JupiterResearch. Some tech companies use free products to experiment with different revenue models, Gartenberg says. Google, (GOOG) for instance, embeds advertising in its Gmail e-mail offering.

"Google, in fact, is a good example of a company that can afford to develop a product today and figure out how to monetize it tomorrow," he says.

Here are a few of our favorite free apps.

Photo-editing software

Chances are you already know about Google's Picasa (picasa.google.com), a free downloadable program ideal for novice users that lets you manage, edit and share your digital photo collection, but there are other free photo programs worth noting.

Adobe (ADBE) has launched Photoshop Express (Facebook. The Web is a great opportunity for Adobe to bring its digital imaging expertise "to very large, new audiences," says Geoff Baum, director of Photoshop Express at Adobe. The free tool is not intended to replace Adobe's beefier photo-editing packages sold at retail, such as Photoshop Elements or Photoshop CS3, Baum says.

Advanced users seeking free software might consider GIMP (gimp.org), available for Windows, (MSFT) Mac, (AAPL) Linux and other systems. With its customizable interface and powerful editing options, GIMP is ideal for both simple editing tasks, such as retouching, cropping, resizing and conversion, or more sophisticated tasks, including heavy image manipulation and effects.

Word processing, spreadsheets

The online-only Google Docs & Spreadsheets (OpenOffice.org 2 (openoffice.org) are both free options for word processing and spreadsheet creation.

With Google's offering, users begin a new file or import an existing one. It supports popular Microsoft and Open Office file formats for documents (.doc and .odt) and spreadsheets (.xls and .ods). You can even create or import presentations (think PowerPoint) and collaborate with others online in real time. While generally you need to be online to use Google Docs & Spreadsheets, users of Google Gears (gears.google.com) can save documents (but not spreadsheets) to a hard drive to work offline, or sync files with a compatible cellphone (such as a BlackBerry).

Sun Microsystems' OpenOffice.org 2, which also runs on multiple operating systems, is an "open software" download that offers some of the functionality found in Microsoft Office, including word processing, spreadsheets, presentations, databases, graphics and much more.

File transfer, online storage

Even if your Internet service provider lets you e-mail a file up to 10 megabytes in size (enough for a few photos), doing so might strain your recipient's inbox. Instead, consider free file-transfer services such as YouSendIt (yousendit.com) or Sendspace.com (sendspace.com), which allow you to send files up to 100MB or 300MB in size, respectively. To use either, visit the website, type in someone's e-mail address and attach files from your computer; the recipient then receives an e-mail with a link to download the large files.

Need more space? Windows users can take advantage of Microsoft's Windows Live SkyDrive (skydrive.live.com), which offers up to 5 GB of free online storage (ideal to protect photos or documents from theft, fire or other disaster by storing it offsite). This password-protected service is easy to use, and you can access files from any Net-linked computer. Other free file-sending or online storage services include FileSend (filesend.net), LargeFilesASAP.com (largefilesasap.com) and MozyHome (mozy.com).

Anti-virus, anti-spyware

Just as you wouldn't leave your home unlocked, your PC shouldn't be running without both anti-virus and anti-spyware tools to protect against malicious software.

Good choices include AVG Technologies' AVG Anti-Virus Free Edition (free.grisoft.com) for Windows XP and Windows Vista owners. More than 70 million people currently use the product, says Rick Carlson, AVG Technologies' managing director for North America, who says the free software helped to secure a foothold in the competitive anti-virus market dominated by Symantec and McAfee.

Already have an antivirus program you like? You can pick up free spyware detection tools including Microsoft's Windows Defender (windowsdefender.com) or Lavasoft's Ad-Aware 2008 Free (lavasoft.com). On the flip side, if you love your existing anti-spyware solution but need a free anti-virus program, consider Avira's AntiVir Personal (avira.com) and Alwil Software's Avast anti-virus Home Edition (avast.com).

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