Software has become very essential for all businesses, no matter what the size of the business is. This is because of the ability of the software to perform complex operations/tasks, it saves time, effort and increases the productivity of the employees.
Some software are expensive, some are affordable, while some come for free. In this article, we will discuss the six best free software- operating software, anti-virus software, email, productivity software, data copying/burning applications and online storage applications that will be helpful and useful for small and medium sized businesses to perform tasks.
Operating system
Operating system is the software that starts the computer. Most popular operating system that everyone knows is Microsoft Windows. The cost of Windows 7 professional is $179.99 and Windows 7 Home is $128.70. These software are expensive, a free alternative to Windows operating system is Ubuntu. It is for free and provides all the application that Windows operating system does. It works well with all system specifications. It also supports modern applications such as browsers and social media websites. It is more secured and less vulnerable to virus and Trojans.
Anti-virus software
One of the most popular anti-virus software is Norton anti-virus 2013. The cost of it is $12.99 for one user and $34.99 for five users.
The free alternative for Norton anti-virus is Microsoft Security Essentials (MSE). It provides full scan and quick scan options to scan your files. You can configure it, so that it will scan all the downloaded files and external hard drives. It provides all features that Norton anti-virus provides. Other free alternatives are AVG Antivirus Free Edition 2011 and Avira Personal Free Antivirus.
Email
Windows Outlook 2013 is an email software and it costs $94.98 for one user.
Free alternatives are Thunderbird, Opera Mail and Windows Live Mail. Each of these has a good set of features, and supports web based emails like gmail, yahoo, etc.
Productivity software
Microsoft proprietary office suite is very popular, but way too expensive. It costs $399.99 per MS Office Professional.
Free alternatives are OpenOffice.org and LibreOffice Lotus Symphony. These are popular and free productivity tools, and support a wide range of file formats and offers similar interface as that of MS Office.
Data copying/burning software
Most common multimedia suite used for burning CDs and DVDs are products of Nero and Roxio. Nero 12 costs $36.99, while Nero 12 Platinum and Roxio Creator costs $51.95 and $44.03 respectively.
Free alternative for Nero and Roxio is CDBurnerXP, InfraRecorder and ImgBurn. CDBurnerXP is capable of burning CDs, DVDs, Dual-layer DVDs and multiple disks. It is available in multiple languages for personal and business use.
Online data storage software
A physical 2GB storage capacity hard drive of SanoXY is $6.25.
Free alternative is Dropbox. Dropbox is an online storage application where you can store data up to 2GB on cloud and retrieve it whenever you require.
As a small business owner having these software for free will not only help you save money, but it will also help you increase productivity.