Foxit PDF Reader is a great alternative to the Adobe Reader. Foxit Software's PDF Reader has a much faster load-time over Adobe's PDF Reader which makes the Foxit Reader a top choice among older and slower computers.

The software supports many of the same functions of the Adobe Reader software with the biggest advantage of speed. Download either the full setup executable or the entire program as a zip archive for easily setting it up on a USB Flash Drive.

OpenOffice.org is a free office productivity suite, similar to Microsoft Office, for hundreds of dollars less. (literally!). Open Office includes word processing, spreadsheets, databases, presentations, vector art graphics editing & mathematical formulas.

Even though the look and feel is quite similar to Microsoft Office, the software itself takes some time to get used to. If you are a basic "Office" user, OpenOffice.org is the productivity suite for you!

PDF Creator is a free software that allows you to 'print to pdf'. This is a great alternative to the costly Adobe Acrobat if you are only interested in generating a PDF file without needing to change it.

Once a PDF is created, it can be sent via email to a respective recipient, or used as a means of archiving files. PDF Creator will print anything that can be printed and provides a wide variety of customizable features.