- Free Software for Artists -
Background
This page will be updated as we review or test new software programs. Please check back soon for the latest recommendations for artists.
Helpful Software for Artists
Properly selected software can save you significant time and money. We can help you choose software, both free and commercial.
Most of the recommendations on this page are for free software in the MS Windows environment. We also include a few Linux recommendations and a very few commercial programs that we feel are worth the money.
These are our personal choices; we are not paid for these recommendation and you are free to look them up and download them.
Or, for a small fee to offset our compliation and copying costs, we can deliver a CD/DVD containing a small selection free software programs targeted to the artist's business needs.
If you want the convenience of these (free) products on a USB plug-in, please let us know and we can load and ship one to you for a nominal fee + the cost of the USB flash drive.
Free Windows Software
- OpenOffice (free MS Office substitute)
- FireFox Browser (IE Explorer substitute)
- Thunderbird email (free Outlook email substitute)
- Evolution for Windows (Outlook substitute)
- GIMPshop (free Photoshop clone)
- PSPad (free editor)
- XnView (Digital Image Viewer)
- Bullzip PDF Writer (free Adobe Acrobat substitute)
- CDBurnerXP (free Nero substitute)
- ImgBurn (free converts ISO files & writes to CD/DVD)
- 7-zip (free WinZip substitute)
- BS1 Accounting (free - small business accounting)
Free Linux Software
NOTE: most Linux distributions are preloaded with OpenOffice and other useful applications.
- Linux Mint (Ubuntu distribution easy to use, lots of on-line support)
- PCLos (Linux distribution - very good)
- MEPIS (Linux distribution - our favorite)
- OpenOffice
- FireFox Browser
- Thunderbird email
- Evolution (Outlook substitute)
- GIMPshop (free Photoshop clone)
Commercial Windows Software
- Acronis True Image (absolutely necessary for creating a back-up image of your hard-drive). We will be writing an article about how to use this software or recommend a free substitute if available.
- MailWasher Pro (review email BEFORE you download & delete the "bad guys" before they get to your computer) We will be writing an article about how to use this software or recommend a free substitute if available.