Open Office has all the document formats covered but if you just need to work with Microsoft Office formats, and you don’t mind what some would consider a dated interface, Open Office has all the comprehensive formatting and functionality you need. If you need to collaborate with others on those files, though, you might be out of luck as the dated program only just made it into the 21st century. Open Office has been free for as long as we could breath air. With the takeover by Apache, perhaps there are some improvements coming for everyone. In the meantime, for a free office suite that resembles Office 2000 but has the grunt of a V8, download this powerhouse today.

Audacity is one of the most popular audio recording and editing applications on the market and is beloved by users who do voice recording for podcasts and similar endeavors but it doesn't stop there. There are many people out there that have used Audacity to edit particular parts from a song to have as their ringtone so if you are surfing the net to find that perfect ringtone for your phone, just think how they got it. Audacity has been around a long time and the free software has actually been used on sound sets for big budget movies. If you are into music or sound editing, with the price tag of FREE, you can't let Audacity slip through your fingers.

eM Client is much more than just a way to keep your emails in order. As well as managing your messages, it can track your schedule, organize your to-do lists, and help you keep in touch with support for three major messaging services (Google, Facebook and Jabber). There's even a facility for making quick file transfers so you don't have to mess about with sharing links to third-party filesharing sites. If you’re moving from another email client, there's a quick migration tool that makes it easy to transfer your messages from Microsoft Outlook, Outlook Express, Windows Mail, Windows Live Mail or Thunderbird. The only drawback is that you can only have 2 email addresses setup for the free version. The paid version allows unlimited email accounts,

Mozilla has been taking real strides in making its browser a truly modern way to surf from site to site, thanks to efforts like Firefox Quantum and the VR-focused alternative, Firefox Reality. With faster load up times the changes that have been made to Firefox goes deeper. Looking into the future for faster CPU's that keep coming out, Firefox is leaps and bounds ahead of the rest as they have prepared for the future. Even though the stats say Chrome is more popular, that is due to the fact that all Android phones have Google Chrome already installed but it doesn't mean it is the best.

For many years, GIMP (which stands for “GNU Image Manipulation Program”) has been the favorite image-editing software for proponents of free, open-source programs. These users appreciated the program’s ability to manipulate GIMP's scripts and code — and the fact that it is free — so much that they were willing to put up with what was once a slow, limited, often buggy and confusing program. But GIMP has matured, and now has a cleaner, more standard interface; improved performance; and a richer set of competitive features and tools. As such, it is now a contender among the major photo editing programs. Just be warned that to use Gimp will take time as it is very confusing for the amateur or novice. Once mastered, you will never look at Photoshop again.

Chrome is ubiquitous — and for good reason. With a robust feature set, full Google Account integration, a thriving extension ecosystem, and a reliable suite of mobile apps, it’s easy to see why Chrome is the gold standard for web browsers. Chrome even blocks some ads that don’t conform to accepted industry standards. With it's major platform being Android, it intergrates itself perfectly into the mobile phone as one password for all apps counts. Fast, free and light duty, it has come a long way in the past 10+ years.

Open source enthusiasts and anyone who wants Office compatibility without actually having to purchase Microsoft Office will find much to love in LibreOffice. Its cross-platform availability and frequent update schedule make it a reliable choice for individuals and businesses alike. With the latest upgrade to the suite, Libreoffice is now more compatible with all forms of Microsoft Office, including 365. With many changes happening, they have introduced the "Ribbon" interface which is still experimental which can be found in the Notebook Bar in the program. They are still working on this feature as they want it to be better than Microsofts Office.

Opera browser has been around a lot longer that Chrome and with the same core technologies as that of Chrome, the power behind the under-rated browser leaves Chrome in it's wake. In saying that, Opera has the ability to install any of the Google Chrome extensions and has full access to the Chrome Web Store. If Opera was before Chrome, why do thay have the same engine technology? Chome actually used Opera's engine first and in return, shared theirs with Opera. Little known, Opera has the power and a few extra benefits than Chrome such as "Turbo" which compresses webpages. We won't be mentioning Microsoft Edge as that is still a working progress but still lacks in many areas as of today.

Paint.NET is a powerful, easy-to-use image editor that offers features similar to those that you’ll find in Adobe Photoshop and GIMP. Paint.NET features layers, enabling you to edit specific areas of your image, or build up an image from a number of different sections. You can also use Paint.NET to adjust an image's brightness, hue, contrast, curves, saturation and levels, not to mention an array of special effects that can blur, sharpen, distort, emboss and remove that pesky red-eye effect from your photos with a few clicks. There’s a Gradient tool too, a simple text editor, a powerful zoom function, and even a Clone Stamp tool to help you clean up grainy photos. Best of all, Paint.NET records every change you make in a list that's only limited by the space on your hard drive, and lets you undo and redo as many changes as you want at any time.

If you use more than one email account, as most of us do, the right free email client will really take the hassle out of managing your messages. This is particularly true if those accounts are with different providers, which would otherwise require you to have several browser tabs open at once. That's not all – as well as aggregating all your messages in one convenient place, a good email client can add features like encryption and integration with calendars, RSS feeds and video chat services. With it's first major overhaul in over six years, we are now seeing Beta versions of Thunderbird. For a rock solid email client, Thunderbird is your calling.

If you're still using Windows Media Player, you're missing out. A true stalwart of the media playing software world, VLC Media Player's reputation is unrivaled. Forgetting about it's looks on first opening, the team at VLC have concentrated on more recent software updates which makes this program focus on getting the job done, and doing it well. The looks, though, may be plain but by downloading the 'Skins' pack, you can have it looking truly awesome. Using VLC can be as simple as loading up a music or video files, or you can use it to play discs, streams and more while taking advantage of options such as subtitles, audio and video syncing, and picture and sound filters. VLC Media Player was also the first free media player to support 360-degree video. With the ability to play 99% of music and video formats, it is the worlds best media player and it's free.

PhotoScape is an all-in-one graphics editing solution engineered by a Korean-based company called MOOII Tech. The program is expertly crafted to enable users to easily edit their photos taken from smartphones and digital cameras. It provides a wide array of features for fixing and enhancing photos. Some of the key tools include: editor, viewer, page, batch editor, animated GIF, print, combine, print, screen capture, spliter and more. Don't be fooled by it's basic UI, as it has the power do to what you want. As with a lot of people out there, they like to have their favourite program to open images but also like to have Photoscape ready to do editing but not as the default program. If you are running Windows 7, then you will find it in the "Open with..." option when you right click the image but in Windows 10, it doesn't allow that as you also have to click on "Choose another app". This is actually solved by downloading "Photoscape X" from the app store. Still free to use and from the same company which makes it even more enticing to use. They have a pro version for the price of AU$59.95 but we aren't too sure if this is a yearly license or a one off payment so it might be wise to email them

Being mainly an online photo editor, you can still download the Windows version for "Off Line Editing". No where near as powerful as Photoshop, it is far more enticing for the amateur or home user for it's ease of use interface. For the free version, it does have limitations such as several of the filters tools are disabled but the basics are there and everything can be saved with no watermark making it perfect for everybody. If you love the program so much, Denlyn Computers recommends paying for the pro version and unlocking all the features and at the same time, giving you professional support.

If you are into web editing and designing, Dreamweaver would have to be the best in the world but if you are just starting out, MS Expression4 might be your calling card into the world of HTML5 and CSS3. From the time you open it, the resemblance to MS Word is remarkable and straight away, you can start designing to your hearts content. Easy to use for basic HTML editing, code understanding will be required if you want to work with PHP or Bootstrap. Although it came to it's end of life in 2012, it still had Microsoft support until 2015 and has extended support until 2020 for those that refuse to give up old habits. But for a free program, MS Expression is perhaps the best HTML editor still out there. It does have bad habits of putting the CSS structure in the header but you can actually tell it to use the CSS file you created. With the advancements of HTML5 and CSS3, you can still edit successfully but it's days are numbered. But not yet.......not yet.

With a lot of free antivirus programs out there, they have now crossed the line to being portrayed as actual malware. The free program you want protecting you, is in most cases doing more damage. The best out there is Kaspersky free which gives you the main core protection from phishing, malware and malicious websites and it's free. The only 2 drawbacks we could find was, it came with no support so if you have a friend or are willing to browse their forums, help wouldn't be too far away and no email protection. Malware bytes ranks extremely high but it doesn't have real time protection unless you purchase their Pro version so this is why Kaspersky just get's in front. For any form of virus protection, Denlyn Computers recommends the paid versions.

Linux is a whole world of free operating systems and free software. Threatening Windows stance of popularity, many sites like Statcounter don't truly show the world usage and popularity of Linux. This is true as Linux is free and you don't have to register the OS unlike Windows. Registering Windows tells the world how popular it is, but is it more popular than Linux? We would like to say no on that question. But if you have never heard of Linux before, then look at Android, the apps on your smart TV or even your car radio. There are millions more examples to go with those few but they are all Linux. Go to our Linux Mint webpage to see what it looks like.