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Do you have a small computer? Do you get tired of slow response times because of too much stuff on your computer? Open source may be the answer.

I recently got tired of the response times on my Windows system and started looking for ways to reduce clutter. I removed the Microsoft Office suite(Word,Excel,and Power Point-4,092mb) I replaced it with Open Office 2.1(word, excel, power point, access, draw, and a mathematical function in only 254mb!) I have been very impressed with Open Office. It does more than I actually need it to do. This office suite also comes with online support. What more can you ask for free?

I have no cons on Open Office. To me it contains more functions than Windows, much less hassle, and you can't beat the price.

Another small word processor that I enjoyed was Jarte Word. This is a small, comfortable system that fulfills all the needs of a basic word processor. The only complaint I had was the omission of an envelope printing section.

After doing away with Outlook, I began using E-Prompter. Free, down-loadable and very easy to use. It is very small and can handle most, if not all, of your e-mail needs.

I use Avira PE anti-virus. It is free and down-loadable. I have not had a virus attack since using it. It's simple to set up and use. The updates are also free. No complaints.

CCleaner is an excellent, free tool for cleaning up cookies and repairs the registry. Absolutely no complaints on this one.

Internet Download Manager is easy to use, and schedules downloads for when you want. It also accelerates and I have only had one program not work, out of thousands.

Complaints about freeware? Nothing is perfect and no matter what, someone will always have something to gripe about. I have personally used, and am still using, all of the above programs. They are easy to use, easy to set up, and free.

I have tried many other open source programs, some good, some not so good. I enjoy experimenting on my machine. I am constantly trying new software on my PC. If you don't mind experimenting, try open source, if not stick with my recommendations above. You won't be disappointed.

Learn more about this author, Ross Valigura.
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