Free alternatives to main stream software products

Microsoft office alternatives:

Google Docs: Compatible and comparable to most MS Office products. User friendly & productive. Advatages of being FREE, stores documents on & off line making it accessible anywhere & allows for collaborative to those you invite. Requires a google account. http://docs.google.com/
Create basic documents from scratch or start from a template. Upload your existing files. Familiar desktop feel makes editing a breeze. Operating system : Any

OpenOffice: A full installable installable office suite that in some ways exceeds MS paid suite. It's free, open source and has a huge community of supporters & users. Compatible with most MS documents & has a large collection of plugins/extensions to enhance production & features. http://www.openoffice.org/
OpenOffice.org 3 is the leading open-sourceoffice software suite for word processing,spreadsheets, presentations, graphics, databases and more. It is available in many languages and works on allcommon computers. Operating system : Any

Outlook alternatives:

ThunderBird : Email alternative from Mozilla. Just enter your email address and password & thunderbird will search their database & find your account settings for you. It lacks a built in calendar support however they have the Sunbird & Lighting calendar projects you can install to have your calendar.. http://www.mozillamessaging.com/en-US/thunderbird/ Our new Migration Assistant will help you set up Thunderbird the way you want it. And our import tools help you bring your emails, address books, and settings from your older email program to Thunderbird Operating system : Any

Adobe Reader Alternative:

Foxit Reader: Pdf altrenative viewer for PDF files. Offers a quicker launch and a less bulky install. Be wary of when installing as it will change your search & home page as well as install a toolbar if you don't pay attention to the install process. http://www.foxitsoftware.com/pdf/reader/
Foxit Reader A better PDF Reader for Windows: Now with more PDF viewing, PDF mark-up and PDF collaboration features – MORE features than ANY other PDF Reader Operating system : Windows (Apple & Linux have readers preinstalled)

Photoshop Alternative:

GIMP : Another open source alternative to a main stream product. Gimp has a large open source fan base. http://www.gimp.org/ (From CNet: One of the most powerful general-purpose image editors around, the upgrades make the GNU Image Manipulation Program eminently comparable to Photoshop. Operating system : Any

HTML Editor:

KompoZer : Offfers an easy to use WYSIWYG (What You See Is What You Get) html editor. Very simply it offers a word processor like style so that you design simple pages without knowing html coding, though it helps to know a bit. It's also portable requiring no install. http://kompozer.net/ KompoZer is designed to be extremely easy to use, making it ideal for non-technical computer users who want to create an attractive, professional-looking web site without needing to know HTML or web coding. Operating system : Any

Disc Burning:

CDBurnerXP : Don't be fooled by the name it works with all version of windows from 2000 & up. It offers a simple interface to burn data, audio, ISO and more. http://cdburnerxp.se/ CDBurnerXP is a free application to burn CDs and DVDs, including Blu-Ray and HD-DVDs.  Operating system : Windows 2000 & up

Remote Access:

Team Viewer : Remote view & control of any pc. Offers presentation mode, remote access, file transfer & remote control. Also has a no install mode. Once downloaded you have access in about a minute. http://www.teamviewer.com/index.aspx TeamViewer connects to any PC or server around the world within a few seconds. You can remote control your partner's PC as if you were sitting right in front of it. Operating system : Any including iPhone

Logmein Free : Remote access to files & applications on your machine from computer with an internet connection.
https://secure.logmein.com/US/products/free/ Simply install LogMeIn on the computer you want to access (it takes about 2 minutes), log into your account from another computer and click the computer you want to control.  Operating system : Windows & Mac

Security & OS Utilities:

Secunia PSI : An excellent app that will scan the programs on your system and alert you of possible security threats and updates available for your system. One stop patches and security updates. http://secunia.com/vulnerability_scanning/personal/ Attacks exploiting vulnerable programs and plug-ins are rarely blocked by traditional anti-virus and are therefore increasingly "popular" among criminals. Operating system : Windows

ZoneAlarm : Personal firewall blocks incoming & outgoing access. Program controls & alerts. http://www.zonealarm.com/security/en-us/zonealarm-pc-security-free-firewall.htm Antivirus misses 1 in 3 new viruses and does not protect from hacking attacks. That's why you also need a strong firewall. ZoneAlarm Free Firewall is the most powerful and easy-to-use free firewall available today. Operating system : Windows

Adblock : Ad's can not only be annoying but they use up resources and can often be misleading allowing drive-by downloads (read here). Adblock for Chrome & Safari http://code.google.com/p/adblockforchrome/ Adblock for
Firefox https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/1865/ You can also choose from over forty filter subscriptions to automatically configure the add-on for purposes ranging from removing online advertising to blocking all known malware domains.

More to come