Software on the cheap

Tech Guide: Software on the cheap Fed up with paying through the nose for programs? Need to repopulate a system with applications following a disaster? You need our guide to free and low-cost software. There are many reasons why you might want to populate a system with free or low-cost software. You may be handing on a computer to a friend or relative, but need to retain the licensed software from that machine for your own use. Or you may be starting a business and want to keep costs down. Or you may suffer some computing disaster on the road and have to put together a working system in a hurry. In such a case you're unlikely to have the installation CDs and key codes for the expensive products you already own; and since you don't want to have to buy all your applications again, what you want is to assemble a system on a replacement notebook that works well enough to get you through to your return to the office. For this exercise, we're going to make the wild assumption that you have a Windows machine. Yes, you can assemble a no-cost or very low-cost system using Linux. But you can do it in Windows, too -- and the scenarios outlined above are much more likely to happen with a Windows system. What follows is meant to cover the basics that every computer needs, plus one or two luxuries.