The Smiling Pirate has compiled a list of FREE software applications that you can use to build a PC using freeware or open-source applications. What you need to get started is a Windows operating system of your choice. These applications will work on Windows 2000 and Windows XP. They may work on Vista as well but as you know here at The Smiling Pirate we like KISS (Keep It Simple Software). Vista is far from that. So grab yourself a Windows 2000 or XP machine and remove all of the bloated applications and configure it your way with no money out-of-pocket using the software we’ve listed below. Enjoy!
OpenOffice (Office Apps)
MoonSecure (Anti Virus)
PDFforge (PDF Creator)
CDBurnerXP (CD Burner)
Comodo Firewall Pro (Firewall)
Foxit PDF Viewer (PDF Viewer)
7Zip Archiver (Zip Archiver)
KeePass (Password Manager)
Firefox (Web Browser)
Media Player Classic (Multi-Format Video Player)
Paint.net (Photo Editor)
Thunderbird (Email Client)
NVu (Web Authoring)
Spybot (Spyware Remover)
Comodo BackUp (Backup Utility)
How to quit Explorer, the executable, without shutting down or logging off:
