A penny saved is a penny earned. At the same time, it's very easy to be penny wise and pound foolish. When looking to stretch your budget, whether at home or in business, it's always important to be cautious when cutting corners. You can end up spending much more money resolving a problem that could have been avoided by spending a little more in the first place.

There is plenty of free and open source software available on the internet - the only trick is knowing which applications will save you time and expense, and which ones are useless, trial-based, "freemiums" or worst of all, infected with spyware. Let us make cost-free risk-free, with our "Top Five Free Software."

5. Google Chrome

This free web browser is just one of the products of the brains behind search-giant Google. It's light-weight, easy to use, and difficult to break. Unlike Internet Explorer, which after a few months use can become bogged down by add-ons, toolbars and other spyware, Chrome is very simple and ideal for people concerned with safety and speed. Coming from the same labs, Chrome is designed hand-in-hand with Google's cloud-based services such as Google Mail and Google Apps, giving the best performance possible from these sites.

Its minimal interface frees up plenty of screen real-estate, and using Google's expertise in the field of search technology, you can quickly find pages you've recently visited by typing not only part of the address, but part of the title or even just part of the text on the page!

4. FileZilla

Not everybody needs an FTP (File Transfer Protocol) system at their command, but if you do then it's nice to get what you need for free. Both client and server software is available for free, and it's open source with updates and improvements being made all the time.

Unlike a lot of free software, there is no shortage of features in the client or the server versions of FileZilla. If you're not experienced with using FTP there's a wiki on the website full of instructions and FAQs.

3. Stellarium

Not so useful, but an amazing piece of software. This free planetarium shows you a realistic 3D night sky, just as you would if you could get away from the bright lights of the city. It's used in professional planetarium projectors, and the basic package contains over 600,000 stars - with millions more available for download.

It contains illustrations of constellations, sunrise and sunset, and eclipse simulation among many more features. And to repeat one more time, in case you can't believe it - it's FREE.

2. OpenOffice.org

At some point, virtually everybody needs to use part of an office suite. Whether you're planning a budget, writing a letter, or jazzing up a resume, having good software can make it quick, easy and professional. OpenOffice.org is completely free of charge for any use, for home or businesses.

Not only does it adhere to Open Standards for its file formats, ensuring wide support for other applications, it is also able to open other commonly used formats like Microsoft Office Word and Excel spreadsheets. It can handle word processing, spreadsheets, presentations, databases and more.

1. Greenshot

You may remember I celebrated the fantastic Snipping Tool built into Windows Vista and 7 a couple of months ago. Well, it's great and easy to use, but it can take a little while if you need to take several screenshots in a row. Enter Greenshot.

Greenshot is a free screenshot tool with a wide array of options. You can choose to open the images straight away in an image editing program, or to save directly into a file so you can go straight back to what you were doing. You can choose to snap the whole screen, a single window, or even just a selection.

For more information on the software available to help you and your business, contact Country Consulting.

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