Free and Important Programs

I use many open source programs on my home computer and find that the ones that I use, and depend upon, are quite stable and very effective. 

What is Open Source?  Open source programs are free to use, and most don't violate copyright laws (so watch which ones you do use). 

Why use Open Source?  Many people devote time to find solutions to today's computing problems and want to give them out to the masses.  They do this for a number of reasons: to provide quality programs free of charge, because they feel a need to give back, or simply because they like the challenge of it.

Where to use Open Source software?  These programs are to be used at home, on a personal computer.  It is against the acceptable use policy to try and install these programs on school computers.  Enjoy these in your home.

These programs are arranged by type.  From pop up blocker, to spam stopper, to a free and very effective anti-virus program, these programs provide you with the safety and security you need when using the internet.

Pop Up Blocker:

http://toolbar.google.com/ 

   The Google Toolbar is a great IE/Netscape add-on

http://toolbar.yahoo.com/ 

   Same as the Google Toolbar, but with the yahoo search engine

Anti-Virus/Anti-AdAware/Anti-SpyWare Programs:

http://www.grisoft.com/doc/40/lng/ww

   AVG from Grisoft provides an excellent virus stopper for e-mail, web browing and for your personal computer.  A very affordable, it's free, alternative to very expensive virus protection programs on the market.

http://www.lavasoftusa.com/software/adaware/

  Ad-Aware Personal provides advanced protection from known data-mining, aggressive advertising, Trojans, dialers, malware, browser hijackers, and tracking components

http://www.safer-networking.org/en/index.html

   Spybot - Search & Destroy can detect and remove spyware of different kinds from your computer. Spyware is a relatively new kind of threat that common anti-virus applications do not yet cover.

http://merijn.org/downloads.html

   Hijack This is a general homepage hijackers detector and remover.

These programs are all open source.  That means that people actively develop these programs for free to the users of the internet.  From a Microsoft Office like clone, to free Paint programs, these programs provide the user with free alternatives to pricey utlities.

Open Office: ( http://www.openoffice.org/ )

   The alternative to Microsoft Office Suite, but without the cost.