This week is the final installment in my four-week series on open source software alternatives. My goal has been to provide you with a list of software applications that duplicate what is commercially available and just maybe save you a few bucks. I encourage you to always seek out open source alternatives before you plunk down your hard-earned dollars. You can find them by simply googling your software needs and add the words "open source" in front, like "open source audio editing". Be sure to fully read reviews by users of the software to see if they point out problems with installing or using the software before you download, and try to always download from the developer directly, which is generally safer. And remember, Open Source is free, so if you don't like it, you can just uninstall and try another one, all you're out is a few minutes of your time.

I'll wrap up with a list of some tools that will help make your computer experience more pleasant.

•Video converter: If you are doing much work with audio and video, you'll probably need a few tools to convert between different formats. One of the best I've used for video is Any Video Converter from www.any-video-converter.com. The free version allows you to do anything you'll need. You can even download videos from YouTube to incorporate into your own projects.

•Desktop video player: VLC, from www.videolan.org, is an awesome video player. Plays just about any format and is available for all platforms. I don't use anything else to play video.

•If you're looking for a cool collection of open source software you can simply download to your USB keychain device, check out www.PortableApps.com. A complete collection of portable applications including a web browser, email client, office suite, calendar/scheduler, instant messaging client, antivirus, audio player, sudoku game, password manager, PDF reader, minesweeper clone, backup utility and integrated menu, all preconfigured to work portably. Just drop it on your portable device and you're ready to go.

•Filezilla, from filezilla.sourceforge.net/, is a great free FTP client.

•Need to record your desktop to create a tutorial to show your mom how to configure her email? Check out CamStudio from camstudio.org. Easily record your desktop and save as an AVI, or even as a SWF so you can stream it on your website.

•How about a tool to open compressed files from the internet? Peazip, from peazip.sourceforge.net, allows you to open and create zip, rar, ace, tar, and even more formats.

•Need a tool to backup your drives? Try DriveImage XML from www.runtime.org, It allows you to create images of a currently running disk and restore them if your drive fails. They also offer a tool called Shadow Copy that copies individual files, including those that are open.

•Are you involved in a lot of complex projects? If so, then Open Workbench might be a tool you'd be interested in. Downloadable from www.openworkbench.org, it offers complete desktop management of complex projects.

There are literally thousands of open source applications available for download. I've listed only a few of the more common ones available, but I'm sure that you could easily find dozens of alternatives to each one. For every bored user, there is usually a bored programmer looking to hone her skills who happens to have written a program you might like.

Just for fun, check out www.sourceforge.net. It's the number one internet resource for open source software. Be careful to look at the status of any project before downloading it. Unless you are comfortable doing some trouble shooting, you'll generally want to stick with software marked as "production", which means mostly stable. Enjoy, and if you run across some great open source software you'd like to share, simply comment on one of these blog posts so others can see.