I’m cheap. Call me frugal, penny-wise or thrifty, there’s no good way to explain why I don’t opt for more expensive stuff. I love saving money any way I can.

The hardest part of being cheap is when I decide to outfit a new (in my case used) computer and realize software can be expensive. Some of the software I want to use can cost thousands of dollars. To keep my pocketbook happy I use free software that’s comparable to the paid versions.

This week’s article was typed in OpenOffice, a free alternative to Microsoft Office. With a couple clicks I can save the document in Word DOC format or Acrobat PDF. OpenOffice was created by Sun to hurt sales of Microsoft Office. Some features like spell check are not so great, but for free I can use a dictionary.

I’ve just started to get back into voiceover work. Rather than spend hundreds on brand name recording software, I’ve been using Audacity. Although Audacity doesn’t save files natively in MP3, by installing another freebie called LAME MP3 I can convert my files to the industry standard.

Google makes a pretty neat product called SketchUp which allows users to create 3D models. Models can be anything from a house to a mechanical part with multiple components. Though SketchUp isn’t truly engineering software, it can be used to create a representational model. In my case it beats spending $1,000.00 on SolidWorks.

Six months ago I discovered I was terrible at digital animation. I had an easy time making my decision between the free Blender and its $450.00 competitor Poser. After a few weeks of fooling around I finally gave up my dreams and am glad I saved $450.00.

In addition to those I’ve mentioned above, there are titles I use every day and don’t think about. Firefox, for example, is a fantastic alternative to Internet Explorer. One of the free plugins for Firefox is called AdBlock Plus which eliminates most in page advertising.

Virus software, something we should all have on our computers can cost $100.00 per machine. Many, including myself, simply don’t need the features that come with top tier titles. I’ve found AVG Free to be sufficient for my purposes and can live without the extras offered in their paid version.

VLC is another title I use every day and don’t think about. VLC is a free media player which includes some hard to find codec packages and plays about 99% of my media. Rather than rely on media software which came with my operating system, I make sure VLC is the default because it’s simply better than other paid versions.

Everyone talks about backing up their computers, but rarely does anyone. One of the hurdles to backing up is the learning curve of new software. I’ve been using a free utility called Macrium Reflect for a long time and love its simplicity. With a backup drive installed, I can backup my entire hard drive in twenty minutes.

Just because software is free doesn’t necessarily make it bad. There are bad free titles, there are also bad paid for. My personal belief is the free titles mentioned in this article came about from unhappy computer users who decided to create something better. To me it really doesn’t matter as long as the software performs so I can spend my money on something else. And if it turns out to be bad I haven’t lost anything.

(Jeromy Patriquin is the President of Laptop & Computer Repair, Inc. located at 509 Main St. in Gardner. You can call him at (978) 919-8059 or visit www.LocalComputerWiz.com.)