Guide to Free Business Software for Windows

Office Suite

Microsoft's Office suite is the de facto king of productivity software, but at $400 (or more) per user, it can be a formidable purchase.

I recommend: Google Docs, included in Google Apps Standard Edition, features web-based word processing, spreadsheets, and presentations.  OpenOffice.org is a full-featured office suite including a word processor, spreadsheet, presentation manager, and drawing program.  Both are absolutely free of charge (though Google Apps is ad-supported).  OpenOffice.org can also open and save documents in Microsoft's Office formats as well as the new OpenDocument standard and even PDF.  While we're on the subject of PDF, PDFCreator is another free, Open Source alternative to Adobe Acrobat that can make PDFs from most documents.

File Viewers

Many developers of popular software packages supply free "viewers" to allow people to open documents created with their software. A viewer allows you to view (but not modify) documents created by vendors or clients without having to purchase the full version of the software.

I recommend: There are viewers for the Microsoft Office document formats (Word, Excel, PowerPoint, even Visio), and the Adobe PDF format, for example.  Graphics viewers like Google's Picasa allow you to view Adobe Photoshop (.psd) and other graphics formats.  Look for other viewers by querying your favorite search engine.

E-Mail

The Outlook Express e-mail client comes included with Windows for no additional charge. But if OE isn't to your liking, there are several fine alternatives just a download away.

I recommend: ThunderBird from Mozilla (the makers of the FireFox Web browser) easily beats Outlook Express with its wealth of features and customization options.  Another option is Google's free Google Apps (Standard Edition) service which enables you to use Gmail to send and receive e-mail for your own Internet domain (think yourname@yourbusiness.com).

Security

While some excellent free anti-virus applications do exist, most have non-commercial provisions in their licensing agreements that bar you from using them in a business. However, there are online anti-virus services that will scan your PC for viruses on-demand over the Internet.

I recommend: Check out HouseCall, the online virus scanner from Trend Micro.  Also, while not truly free, you can get a six month trial of Norton Anti-Virus Special Edition with the free Google Pack software suite.  As for spyware and adware, Microsoft is giving away an excellent detection and clean-up tool called Windows Defender, which updates automatically with Microsoft Update.

Accounting Software

Before you plunk down for that copy of QuickBooks, check out a couple free alternatives that might surprise you.

I recommend: Microsoft's new Office Accounting Express is a free, light-weight version of their Accounting Professional offering.  Office Accounting Express provides all the accounting functionality most small businesses will need.  If you're interested in open source software, TurboCASH is a free, multi-company accounting package designed for small and medium businesses.  While not as user-friendly, TurboCASH is highly extensible through downloadable modules.

Other Stuff

This list is by no means exhaustive. With a little investigative work, you'll be amazed by what you can get for nothing these days.

I recommend: Search reputable software download sites like Tucows and Download.com for more Windows freeware.