TRENDY GADGET

Penny-pinching tech junkies looking to save a buck in today’s ailing economy can scour the Web for a bounty of free software -- for word processing, online storage, and more.

Dozens of downloadable or online-only applications are available at no charge. Although many are scaled-down versions of paid programs, you’d be surprised how feature-rich these freebies can be. The catch? Some of these apps may be ad-supported and won’t offer extensive tech support, if any.

Here are a few worth considering:

Word processing and spreadsheets
The online-only “Google Docs and Spreadsheets” and downloadable “Open Office 2” are both free options for word processing and spreadsheet creation. These programs support multiple document files (.doc and .odt) and spreadsheets (.xls and .ods) or create or import presentations (think PowerPoint) and allow you to collaborate with others online in real-time. While you need to be online to use “Google Docs and Spreadsheets,” “Google Gears” users can save documents (but not spreadsheets) to a hard drive to work offline or sync files with a compatible mobile phone (such as a BlackBerry).

Transferring files
Even if your Internet service provider allows you to email a file of up to 10MB in size (enough for a few photos), it’s not proper “netiquette” to do so, in case the recipient has an inbox storage limit. Instead, consider free file-transfer services such as “YouSendIt” or “Sendspace,” which allow you to send files of up to 100MB or 300MB in size, respectively. If you need even more space, Windows users can take advantage of Microsoft’s new “Windows Live SkyDrive,” which offers up to 5GB of free online storage.