What Kind of Free Software Do You Use?

If you look around, you'll find an amazing number of free tools that are available just for the few minutes of time that it takes to register for a download. Here are a few of my favorite programs. AVG an antivirus, CrashPlan - a backup solution , Open Office Suite, HootSuite, Skype, and then of course there are all the free email accounts that you can use. I also use Turbo Lister, which is a free listing organizer for eBay. Most of these tools I use on a daily basis.

Not only is there software that you can download to your computer for use, but there are social networking sites that you can sign up for and use for free. I use Facebook and Twitter. Facebook helps me keep in touch with family and friends and I use Twitter to promote my writings.

Interested in blogging? You can create nice blogging sites for free through Google and Wordpress. It's amazing how many quality products that can be used. Hulu is pretty cool. If you've never been to Hulu before, it's a site where you can watch movies and TV programs. If you're somewhat computer literate, you can hook your computer to your TV and stream it right on to the TV. I use my laptop to do this. I guess, if I couldn't afford my cable TV, I could use Hulu and my computer to watch some of the TV shows I now watch on my television. Still, you must be able to afford to subscribe to a high speed internet service provider.

I often wonder how these companies make money and how some of them can continue to offer such valuable free tools for me and everyone else to use. I know that some of these companies make money through advertising and some offer other services that are more advanced that people pay for. Most of the time the free services work adequately for me as I'm always looking for ways to save myself a little money.

Then, of course, there are all the sites that let you write whatever you think, like Associated Content, and pay you for your thoughts. Writing has become a fairly new endeavor for me, but I am enjoying it a lot. It's amazing how far the internet has come in such a short span of time. I'm sure this is just the beginning and who knows what it will be like in another 20 years.