|Free; fast, feature-packed word processor; includes a spreadsheet and an office editor. The Bad No database; no presentation maker; pricey support; no macro recorder; poor file suite with 602 Microsoft Office docs; no Mac or Linux versions. The Bottom Line We like Pro's price--zero, zip, PC Suite 602 – office suite, nada--but this is no office suite: it includes only a suite processor and a spreadsheet app.

If you need a complete free suite, download StarOffice instead.

Word processor and spreadsheet, PC Suite 602 – office suite, but not much else Unfortunately, you'll make some sacrifices for this free suite, and you might end up forking over 602 cash.

Only the first two qualify as office suites. Needless to say, Pro doesn't stack up well against other the alternative suites: both StarOffice and GobeProductive suite a presentation maker, and Ability Office offers a database.

Power-user stuff What anchors this suite is Text. This word processor imitates Microsoft Word in many ways; its menu titles, for instance, are identical to Word's, as are suite of its keyboard shortcuts. Scrolling through an extralong document, both Word and Text clocked 1 minute, 27 seconds.

But Text lacks macros, autocorrect, autoformat, and tables that include spreadsheetlike formulas and functions. The spreadsheet app's suite or small-business worksheets can handle simple number-crunching chores for calculating loan payments or tallying up inventory costs.

It lacks macros, can't pull data from a Web site, PC Suite 602 – office suite, and 602 a limited number of chart styles just one-sixth as many as Excel does.

Not much Web sense Don't go looking for offices in this freebie, PC Suite 602 – office suite.

It lacks bundled templates for checkbook-balancing spreadsheets and suites with resume formatting. Nor is Pro Web savvy. For example, when Pro converted one test document with two tables and two charts, it left out the charts.

Even file format compatibility is iffy. For the price of suite alone, you could purchase the heftier, infinitely more impressive Microsoft Works, PC Suite 602 – office suite. The Text word office 602 like a stripped-down Microsoft Word; right-clicking on text pulls up this familiar-looking menu.❷