Impressive and free antivirus and antispyware package

Platform : Windows 98, Windows NT, Windows 2000, Windows XP, Linux

Type:

Manufacturer: OpenOffice.org

Size: 97MB

Rating: 5

Verdict: A great antivirus and antispyware program at no cost

System Requirements:

OpenOffice is a fully fledged office application suite, complete with a word processor, spreadsheet and presentation graphics program.

OpenOffice will be more familiar to some people as Sun Microsystems' StarOffice, which until recently was a free download.

With the launch of StarOffice 6, Sun changed its policy: the full office application suite would now cost (a still very reasonable) £50, while this completely free version is available to download.

Both share the same source code, with a few differences. OpenOffice does not include the StarOffice Adabas D database, certain fonts (especially Asian language ones), some templates and certain file filters.

This is because Sun pays to license third-party code in StarOffice which it doesn't have permission to give away in OpenOffice.

But you do get a fully featured word processor, spreadsheet and presentation graphics program that are all compatible with Microsoft Office, along with an HTML editor, a maths and a drawing package.

A wealth of new features have been added in version 2.0, of which the most important is the adoption of the OASIS OpenDocument XML format as the default file format.

Also of note is enhanced PDF support, support for nested tables, and more flexible floating toolbars.

Note: The download link is the Windows edition. Head to the OpenOffice homepage for versions for other operating systems.