There are many free programs that have been around for 10 or more years, with lots of users and similar functionality to commercial software. For those who use multiple Operating Systems, there are quite a number of programs that run on Windows, Linux and Macintosh. Some of these are described here.
| LibreOffice | An all purpose suite with Word Processing, Spreadsheet, Presentation, Drawing, Database and more. |
| HomeBank | A general purpose accounting software suitable for home or business. Designed to be easy to use and to be able to analyse your personal finance and budget in detail using powerful filtering tools and beautiful charts |
| ZimWiki | A text database based on categories (tags) and/or journal (dates). It can also be used as a task manager, and it has plugins for charts and diagrams. |
| GIMP | A nice variation on Photoshop. Whether you are a graphic designer, photographer, illustrator, or scientist, GIMP provides you with sophisticated tools to get your job done. You can further enhance your productivity with GIMP thanks to many customization options and 3rd party plugins |
| Web Browsers | All the popular browsers run on Windows, MacOS, Linux, Android and iOS. These include: Google Chrome, Mozilla Firefox, Brave, Opera, Vivaldi and more. |
| VLC Media Player | VLC is a free and open source cross-platform multimedia player and framework that plays most multimedia files as well as DVDs, Audio CDs, VCDs, and various streaming protocols. |
| Blender | For artists and animators, Blender is the go to program. It stated mission is to “Get the world’s best 3D CG technology in the hands of artists as free/open source software.” |
| Audacity | For audiophiles and those who need to edit audio files, Audacity is the world’s most popular audio editing and recording app. |
Hopefully, starting with this list will save you time in your search for free and tested software applications.