Today's free software comes from Microsoft. Process Explorer is a really handy bit of software when you want to find out what's running in the background on your computer or which program has a particular file or directory open.

Give it a look! Microsoft has some very useful utilities and this is one of them. I don't recommend stopping any files or programs if you aren't sure what you are doing, but it can be extremely helpful if you are calling for help with a problem.

Today's free open source software goodie is Franz. It ropes all of your messenger software into one handy package that lives on your desktop.

I downloaded it a couple days ago and once I got it set up (easy!), I started wondering how I lived without it. Currently I'm rocking Telegram, Twitter and Facebook Messenger on Franz, but I'm a moderate user of messenger services. The nice thing about having Franz on my desktop is that I can use more than one account for the same service. I have more than one Telegram account and, of course, I have both business and personal Google accounts to keep up with.

Franz supports a wide range of services including Slack, WhatsApp, WeChat, HipChat, Outlook, Github, Facebook Messenger, Telegram, Google Hangouts, Discord, Twitch, Skype just to name a few.

I've only touched the surface of this app's usability. It's open source, so there are plugins available. The services available for the platform will definitely grow as the number of users increases. Give the app a try!

It's FOSS Friday! Our Free and Open Source Software offering for today is a an invaluable resource if you are trying to draw illustrations, diagrams, line arts, charts or logos.
Inkscape is filled with all the tools you need to create professional looking art.

There are tutorials and help to get you started on the website. Searching "Inkscape" on YouTube brings up tons of tutorial videos. If you are interested in learning more about Inkscape, just ask and I'll point you in the right direction.

You can download Inkscape at the website or at the Microsoft Store.

Give it a go and experiment. See what you can do with this creative program. It's free after all!

It's FOSS (Free and Open Source Software) Friday!

Night sky watching is something that is so much better in rural areas. We are able to see so much more because we have far less light pollution than urban areas. Walking into an open field at night can be an awe inspiring experience.

But, not all of us are astronomers. I can't tell Polaris from Capella. I'm lucky if I can spot the planets. Thankfully, there's an app for that!

Stellarium has been around since 2001 and is available on about as many platforms as possible. It's "a free open source planetarium for your computer. It shows a realistic sky in 3D, just like what you see with the naked eye, binoculars or a telescope."

Stellarium is also available online for people who want to test it out before they download the software.

It's an awesome work of cooperation and one of the best examples of FOSS out there. Anyone who can imagine a use for the the Stellarium software code is free to join the project development or use it to develop it on their own or for others.