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Here are links to some of my favorite free software programs. I have used and installed ALL of these programs on my own, friends', relatives' computers.

	You really MUST have good anti-malware software on your computer. But If you don't want to spend money for it, I recommend this free software: Avast Free Antivirus.
	For opening and reading, and commenting PDF files, I highly recommend free Foxit PDF Reader. It's fast, very "lightweight," and much more user-friendly than Adobe's Acrobat, which is highly invasive.
	PDFsam Basic is a great free program that allows you to split (burst) PDF files into sections or pages, extract pages, or merge multiple documents or pages into one. It also will rotate pages. When you install it, be sure to UNCHECK the box so you don't also install the free trial of the enhanced version.
	Why buy Microsoft Office if you don't have to? For creating, editing, opening all Office Suite files, such as Word documents, Excel files, PowerPoint files, etc., You can use Apache OpenOffice, a free application. If you want an email program that, like Outlook, also has a calendar and tasks, the free Thunderbird program (by Mozilla, the same folks who built the Firefox browser) is very good.
	For interactive screensharing, I recommend AnyDesk. They have a free version for non-commercial use which works well and has a relatively simple interface.
	To keep track of your passwords, Bitwarden offers a free version of its password vault that you can use for your browsers. It synchronizes across browsers and to your mobile devices.
	FileZilla is a free, open-source FTP solution. I especially like the synchronized browsing feature.  If you don't know what FTP is, you don't need this program - fuggedaboudit!