Free Software is everywhere. At least, that is what it looks like. GOOD free software is not though, and since nothing is really free, you need to be aware of hidden costs.

We have managed to find some really good ones. We recommend various software titles throughout our instructional materials, and that is not really the purpose of this tutorial. Software changes rapidly, and keeping up to date with what is good can be a full time job, so rather than tell you names of software, we are going to tell you how to find it for yourself.

There are several ways to search for free software. It should be a straightforward thing, but is not always, because search terms can be ambiguous, and the word Free is highly overused.

Free software comes in several types:

1. Free Download. This means nothing. All it means is that they won't charge you to download the software. It does not mean that it will be usable if you don't pay for it. Trial software and Demo software often is promoted with these words.

2. Trial or Demo software. This is software that is limited in some way, either by number of uses, number of days that it will work, or by making vital features unavailable (things like Save, Copy, Print, etc may be disabled in the software). All they want to do is let you know whether or not you want to buy it. They are not really giving away anything for free.

3. Shareware. Shareware is the traditional term for software that is marketed via internet download or by passing on disks of software. It is freely distributable, but the publishers DO want to be paid for it. They may put reminder screens into it to remind you to pay, or they may disable the software partially or completely after a certain time limit, or they may leave certain features unavailable until you pay. This can be similar to Demo or Trial software, but is different in that the software is actually usable at least to some extent. We recommend that if you like something, do pay for it. It keeps the little guys trying, and provides valuable help to those of us who are struggling to start a business on nothing.

4. Freeware. Genuine freeware means software that you never have to pay for. There is a lot of shareware that won't punish you if you don't pay for it, but freeware is different. It does not require payment at all. Some freeware is classed as Linkware - they want a link on your site if you like it (hey, that is fair!), and some is classed as Postcardware - they want a postcard. Read the agreements carefully though, because some is also free only for personal use. If you use it for commercial purposes you have to pay to register it. They figure if you are using it to make money, then they should get paid. That isn't unfair either! Freeware comes in all kinds, from the basest hacks that barely work, to full featured stuff that works well, and everything in between. Sometimes it requires that you register at no cost, and requires that you give your email address so the company can email you with ads if they want.

Drawbacks to Free Software

Ads. These come in all sorts of ways. Some pop up an ad screen when you start the program. Some ask for your email address and they send you email ads. Some will launch your web browser and display an ad file that is on your hard drive, or go find one online. This is the cost of much of the freeware, and generally we put up with it because it beats having to pay for something we cannot afford.

Bugs. Ok, a lot of freeware is Beta software. Pre-public release. They distribute it free to test it. This does not mean it is not good, or that it is not usable. It just means that you become part of the test pool. Reporting bugs or problems can help the developer get it to work better.

Feature Limitations. Much of the freeware out there does not do what commercial programs do. If it did, they would be selling it! What you usually find is that there is a TON of software that does just one thing. Often it does it very well. By mixing and matching free programs you can frequently get the function of a full featured commercial program, but you will have to use many programs to do it instead of one. Freeware is often a free version that serves as an ad for a full featured version.

Time. Not the time to USE it, but the time to download, test, and learn new programs to evaluate what works and what does not. Now finding commercial stuff can be nearly as difficult, so at least with free stuff you are ONLY risking time, not money too.

Tricks to Finding the Good Stuff

There is no guarantee. I can review all kinds of stuff, and say this one works great, I loved that one, hated that one, this one is so full of bugs that it does not work at all, etc. It does not mean a thing! Unless you are using the SAME computer system with the same specs, in exactly the same manner that I do, with exactly the same task to accomplish, and with the same personality and learning style that I have, my reviews are only a suggestion! What works well for one person does not for another, and a program may be rock solid on one computer, and highly unstable on another.

Start with a web search. I recommend three places:

1. Google. Do a search for the kind of software you need, and the word FREE. Now remember, about 80% of the hits you get are going to not really be Free stuff, but Trials or Demos. A few of the links though will go to popular stuff that is everywhere in the freeware world. And once in a while you will strike a real find with a little known gem. Make sure you use official terms for the software - in other words, search for Image Editing software or Photo Editing to get graphics processing software, or WYSIWYG HTML if you want a drag and drop What You See Is What You Get web page builder. You'll find a lot of small free software directories through Google too. Also, search in different ways, changing the words you use to search. This will sometimes pop up different results.

2. Downloads.com. This is possibly the largest download site out there. ZDNet is just a duplicate site for downloads, they share the same database, so either one gets you the same thing. Do a search or browse for what you are looking for. In the listings for the software it tells the price below the name and description. Using the term FREE on this site is pretty much a waste of time, just do the search and then browse through for the ones that say free on them. You can right-click the page links when you find something you are interested in and open the page in a new window so you don't have to keep hitting the back button.

3. NoNags. These guys specialize in software that does not "nag" you to upgrade or make purchases. I find one of the ironic things about NoNags is that they themselves do not miss an opportunity to nag you into upgrading to THEIR premium service! But their listings are good, they have a ton of stuff. Links there often do not work right, especially if you are using a download manager. But a lot of their software links are also non-functional, often due to server limitations of the download site that they have linked to. It works often enough though to be worth the trouble of stopping and seeing what you can find. They generally have good software descriptions and links to both downloads and home pages for the software, so if the download link does not work you can go to the home page for the software vendor and find it that way - this works except when the home page is in Dutch, in which case I, personally, am totally lost! 

Ok, some other tricks.

Open pages in a new window to look at a lot of stuff at the same time. This slows down each page download time, but it allows you to keep reading through software listings without having to keep going back all the time.

Get a download manager. Get one that has the option of Resume Broken Downloads. That way if you are downloading software and the connection is broken or times out, you can resume it without having to start over (most of the time anyway). A download manager can also help you to download more than one file at a time, it can speed up downloads (really, it is a noticeable difference), and they can que up downloads when you need to download five or six programs in a row, so they automatically start one after another.

Download more than one program of each type. Ok, when you go looking for a program to do something specific, you read through the descriptions and out of six, maybe three will sound like what you want. Download ALL of them. Test them all. On rare occasions your first choice will actually work like you need it to, but generally between bugs, personal differences, and operating system differences, combined with what you need the program to do specifically, only one of three actually works like you need it to. Sometimes you may have to download six or eight different programs to get one that works well. That is one of the drawbacks to freeware, but usually three will do to start with, and you will probably find something that works in that collection.

Keep a backup. Keep the original downloaded files in a folder on your hard drive in case you have to reinstall them. Back them up on a Zip disk or a burned CD as well, because that way if your computer crashes you can reinstall them from your backup disks without having to go find them again and waste time downloading them again.

Thank the author. If you like it, thank the software author. Pay them if it is shareware, when you can afford to do so. Follow through with links for linkware, and post cards for postcardware. It makes a difference in how available freeware is in the future.

Since getting my PC laptop I use mostly freeware. I have found quality programs for Word Processing (Open Office), Image Editing (GIMP), Website Creation (NVU and Web Dwarf), and a ton of other smaller tasks (where there are many good programs to choose from). If you are on a tight budget, it is worth looking for free software before you are forced to go out and buy something that is more than you can justify for fewer features than you really need.

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