OCR Software

     I was using a program called Free OCR to Word but when I recently had to go online and re-install Windows on my laptop, the program, along with some others, got wiped out. When I went to the site to download and re-install Free OCR to Word I got malware messages. This was not a problem when the program was initially installed, but I understand there have been recent complaints about malware in the program, so as good as it was, I do not recommend using this program.
     As a replacement I found a program called SimpleOCR that is easy to use and works with Windows 8, Windows 7 32-bit and 64-bit, Windows XP and Vista. SimpleOCR converts scanned files of text that is stored in images to full editable doc or txt files. There is a 14-day demo for a paid feature that allows the conversion of hand written text. The program includes a spell checker that will suggest words to replace those that do not look correct. You can save in either Word or txt format. If your documents have multi-column layouts, non-standard fonts, poor quality or color images, you will need one of their commercial OCR applications.  I did a couple of quick test scans on a printed document and it scanned very nicely. Recommended.