We all want to save money at the moment, and computers can certainly get expensive. Hardware is always going to cost money (although netbooks are surprisingly cheap) but there’s a huge amount of software that costs nothing to use.

Don’t spend a dime takes a look at all how you can save money by using free software rather than expensive alternatives. There is a helpful guide to choosing a computer but the prices are all in dollars so specific advice is a little limited here.

Currency doesn’t matter when the software is free. The first software to come under attention is the office suite with separate chapters for word processing, spreadsheets and presentations. It’s no surprise to see Open Office and Google Docs. Personally I prefer Zoho but Google Docs is still a good choice. Google is also recommended for email and calendars.

I was pleased to see that the advice doesn’t stop there and other important, but maybe less exciting, topics are also covered including anti virus protection and backup. There’s even an alternative to the ever popular (and expensive) World of Warcraft.

This is a very useful introduction to the world of free software, and includes enough help to get you started with all of the recommendations. A longer list of alternatives would be good, especially for the blogging section, although there’s nothing wrong with the suggestions on offer. This book is a good investment when compared to the cost of the software that you could otherwise pay for.

Title: Don’t Spend a Dime – The path to Low-Cost Computing
Author: James Floyd Kelly
Publisher: Apress
Price: £20
ISBN: 978-1-4302-1863-0