You just bought a new PC. Good for you. But don't get too excited, the job's not done! You need software to get full functionality and good security on your PC. You want to create and edit Microsoft Word and Excel documents, right? Don't forget the antivirus and antispyware programs. And while programs like Internet Explorer and Outlook Express come free with Windows PCs, they're rarely the best choice. If you like paying bills, I won't convince you to do otherwise. But if you want to get free, legal, quality software, you can save lots of money.

Back to your new PC: You slapped down $900 for a top-of-the-line multimedia monster. You'll use it for email, Word and Excel document editing, music playing and movie watching, digital photo editing, and home movie and TV recording.

I've gone undercover for this column. I went online to an extremely popular computer manufacturer, and I customized a PC as if I was about to purchase it. To the standard multimedia hardware package, I added McAfee Security Center ($80), multimedia editing tools ($100), Microsoft Word, Excel, and Outlook ($150). I also added the popular file compressing utility WinZip ($30).

Save lots of money with free software. It usually works as well or better than the stuff for which we pay money. Let me make this very simple:

Get the "OpenOffice" software package to replace Microsoft Word and Excel. Use "Thunderbird" for email instead of Outlook. Get "Avast!" for antivirus, and use "Microsoft Defender" for spyware, adware and pop-up protection. Edit pictures with "GIMP". Edit music with "Audacity". Use "ZS4" for editing and adding effects to movies. Use "7-Zip" as a WinZip replacement.

In one short paragraph, I just saved $360. Chew on that for a minute. In fact, chew as long as you like: Three hundred clams buys a lot of bubble gum.

All the free software packages mentioned here are available online now. The only thing you'll be spending is your time.

Beyond this standard example, there are more savings. If you want freeware replacements for expensive specialized software like Adobe Photoshop, Acrobat Writer, Microsoft Frontpage or others, you can get them.

For a big list of free software and their commercial equivalents, including links to software mentioned here:
http://www.andybrain.com/extras/commercial-software-free-equivalents.htm

Great savings, right? Such a good deal, Donald Trump is salivating. So why aren't more people saving? Why are we burning money when we don't have to? Part of it is the convenience. Order a new PC, get everything handed to you, no extra work. And adding commercial software is good for computer makers, as they make money by doing so. It's bad business to offer free solutions. And finally, the free software revolution has just started – Only a few years old, the secret isn't completely out.

But now you know the secret, too. Instead of doing the stereotypical "and now I'll have to kill you" routine, let's try something different: Pass it on.