Below is a
list of free software that I have found to be very useful. While there
are a multitude of excellent software titles that can be purchased,
there are a few great programs that are available to the home user
for free! If you find a
piece of software on this list that you enjoy using, then please
visit the publisher's website and consider purchasing their extended
or professional editions. If the software is produced by an
independent programmer, consider sending
them a donation. Please read the 'terms of use' below. Enjoy!
| Hard Disk Sentinel |
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*Highly
recommended* There would be much more recovered data and much happier
people if this wonderful utility was used more often. "Hard Disk
Sentinel is a hard disk
monitoring application to find possible hard disk problems, performance
degradations and failures. It can alert if a problem detected or if
temperature is too high and it has other reporting options. Hard Disk
Sentinel can monitor hard disk status, including temperature and
S.M.A.R.T. (Self-Monitoring, Analysis and Reporting Technology, built
in most hard disks today) values for each hard disks...Hard Disk Sentinel can be used to prevent serious damage or data loss.
It warns the user before a problem may occur and this gives opportunity
to backup important and valuable data."
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| 7-Zip |
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"A very good program for
packing and unpacking: 7z, ZIP, GZIP, BZIP2 and TAR Unpacking only:
RAR, CAB, ISO, ARJ, LZH, CHM, Z, CPIO, RPM, DEB and NSIS files. 7-Zip
is open source software. You can use 7-Zip on any computer, including a
computer in a commercial
organization. You don't need to register or pay for 7-Zip. But you can
make a donation to support further development of 7-Zip." |
| CCleaner |
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"CCleaner is a freeware system
optimization and privacy tool. It removes unused files from your system
- allowing Windows to run faster and freeing up valuable hard disk
space. It also cleans traces of your online activities such as your
Internet history. But the best part is that it's fast!" |
| Spacemonger |
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Even
wonder where all of your hard drive space has gone? This wonderful
little program will take the data on your hard drive and map it out in
graphical blocks so that you can actually 'see' what is taking up all
of your storage space. Data housecleaning is actually almost fun with
this program, so be careful not to delete important data! |
| CDBurnerXP Pro |
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"CD BurnerXP Pro writes all kind of
mediums apart from double-layer DVD (follows in next version). Burning
'video' DVDs is limited. Burn audio-CDs with and without gaps
between tracks. 'Burn-proof' buffering supported. Supports most IDE,
USB, Firewire and SCSI drives. Rip Audio-CDs to harddrive, obtain
track-information (ID3-tags) from Internet Burn and create ISO-files.
Customizeable with many settings Data verification after burn, create
bootable discs and is 100% freeware - no adware or restrictions.
Features a bin/nrg->ISO converter, simple cover printing and much
more! Operating systems: Windows 98/ME/2000/XP/2003 Server." |
| AVG Anti-Virus Free Edition |
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"AVG Anti-Virus Free Edition
provides very good protection against most viruses and includes a tool
for scanning your hard drive and e-mail. This package also has a
real-time shield to prevent infections. I have been using this product
for years and have been quite happy with it." |
| AVG Anti-Spyware Free
Edition |
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"AVG Anti-Spyware is an excellent product that can perform a
complete system scan, a fast system scan, and can also perform registry scans,
memory scans and custom scans. Coupled with AVG Anti-Virus you should have a very high degree of protection."
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| AVG Anti-Rootkit Free |
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"The 'rootkit' is a class of malicious
software that conceals its running processes, files or system data from
the operating system and can cause many problems in your operating
system. AVG Anti-Rootkit Free is a powerful tool with the latest
technology for the detection and removal of rootkits." |
| Avast Anti-Virus |
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"Avast offers very good protection with
the
on-demand scanner and the resident scanner. The email protection is
adequate for POP3, SMTP and IMAP accounts. This virus scanner has many
advanced features not included in many anti-virus packages." |
| Opera |
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"The Opera internet browser is one of
the fastest, smallest, and most full-featured browser available. Opera
includes tabbed browsing with mouse-over
preview, a search bar, advanced bookmarking tools, and simple
integration with your favorite e-mail and chat clients." There are also
'Widgets', small extra programs that are available for this browser at
http://widgets.opera.com/ |
| Firefox |
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"Mozilla Firefox is a fast,
full-featured Web browser. Firefox includes pop-up blocking; a
tab-browsing; integrated Google searching; simplified privacy controls
that let you cover your tracks more effectively." There are also
'Plug-ins', small extra programs for this browser at:
https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox
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| Sunbelt Kerio Personal Firewall |
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"Sunbelt Personal Firewall offers the top of the line security and can block unauthorized internet traffic. Sunbelt
Personal Firewall can run in a free mode vs. a full (paid) mode.
Install it now, and for the first 30 days it will run in 'full' mode.
After that, it shuts down selected features, but will continue to run
in 'free' mode."
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| Comodo Firewall Pro |
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"Comodo Firewall is unique in that it
passes all known leak tests to ensure the integrity of data entering
and exiting your system. Comodo has put firewall through all kinds of
sophisticated tests to ensure its firewall powerful enough to ward off
these attacks with default settings. After you authorize 'good'
programs to have access to the internet, then this software offers excellent protection on the internet."
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| Skype |
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"Skype allows you to use your computer
and internet connection to communicate with anyone, anywhere in the
world. Calls from other people on Skype are free. If you get a personal
number from Skype, you can receive calls from anyone using an ordinary
phone. Skype also has a text chat client that is included as well." |
| Trillian |
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"Trillian is an excellent chat client
that supports AIM, ICQ, MSN, Yahoo Messenger, and IRC. It provides
capabilities not possible with original network clients and supports
standard features such as audio chat, file transfers, group chats, chat
rooms, buddy icons, multiple simultaneous connections to the same
network, server-side contact importing, typing notification, direct
connection (AIM), proxy support, encrypted messaging (AIM/ICQ), SMS
support, and privacy settings." |
| Pidgin |
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"Pidgin is a great instant messaging
program for Windows, Linux, BSD, and other Unixes. You can talk to your
friends using AIM, ICQ, Jabber/XMPP, MSN Messenger, Yahoo!, Bonjour,
Gadu-Gadu, IRC, Novell GroupWise Messenger, QQ, Lotus Sametime, SILC,
SIMPLE, and Zephyr.Pidgin can log in to multiple accounts on multiple IM networks simultaneously." |
| SmartFTP |
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"SmartFTP is an FTP (File Transfer
Protocol) client which allows you to transfer files between your local
computer and a server on the Internet. With its many basic and advanced
features SmartFTP also offers secure, reliable and efficient transfers
that make it a powerful tool."
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| Filezilla FTP |
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"Filezilla is an FTP (File Transfer Protocol) client which allows you to
transfer files between your local computer and a server on the
Internet. This program also
offers a safe and secure connection."
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| Nvu |
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"A complete Web Authoring System for
Linux desktop users as well as Microsoft Windows and Macintosh users to
rival programs like FrontPage and Dreamweaver. Nvu (which stands for
"new view") makes managing a web site a snap. Now anyone can create web
pages and manage a website with no technical expertise or knowledge of
HTML."
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| Open Office |
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"OpenOffice.org is a multiplatform and
multilingual office suite and an open-source project. Compatible with
all other major office suites, the product is free to download, use,
and distribute. To help build the community, join us." |
| Foxit PDF Reader |
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A very nice, fast and free PDF reader. "Foxit Software specializes in core
PDF technologies and provides a true and complete PDF solution. These
affordable high quality solutions range from generic PDF desktop
products to customized PDF applications and software development kits
for various platforms." |
| Tiny Spell |
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"Occasionally you need to check the
spelling of words in an application that does not include a spelling
checker and you don't want to launch your word processor just for that.
This is when tinySpell becomes handy. It is a small utility that allows
you to easily and quickly check the spelling of words in any Windows
application. tinySpell can watch your typing on the fly and alert you whenever it
detects a misspelled word. It can also check the spelling of text that
you copy to the clipboard." |
| X1 Yahoo Search |
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"Find anything on your computer
View results instantaneously - as fast as you can type Protect your privacy with easy search controls
Find information related to your desktop content
Take action immediately on search results
Support for Microsoft Vista." |
| Google Desktop |
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"Search your computer as easily as you search the web with Google View news, photos and more anywhere on your desktop Add Google Gadgets to customize your desktop and sidebar." |
| Picassa |
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Have trouble locating all of
your photos on your computer? This is the perfect program to organize
and touch up digital photos. "Locate and organize all the photos on
your computer. Edit and add effects to your photos with a few simple
clicks.Share your photos with others through email, prints, and on the web: it’s fast, easy and free." |
| Paint.NET |
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"Paint.NET is free image editing and
photo manipulation software for computers that run Windows. It features
an intuitive and innovative user interface with support for layers,
unlimited undo, special effects, and a wide variety of useful and
powerful tools. An active and growing online community provides
friendly help, tutorials, and plugins." You may need to download the Microsoft .NET package Microsoft .NET Framework Version 2.0 |
| GIMPshop |
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"GIMPshop was designed to specifically
ease the transition for Photoshop users. Initially, while the
functionalities of GIMP and Photoshop largely overlap, window layout,
options, tools, and menus have evolved independently and are quite
different. This causes frustration for people who want to switch from
Photoshop to GIMP or vice versa. But the latest version of GIMPshop
looks and feels much more like Photoshop. Its menus, windows, tools and
options are modified match the structure and conventions of Photoshop." |
| ScreenPrint32 |
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"ScreenPrint32 allows you to print
and/or capture to disk or clipboard, the full desktop, active window,
predefined area, or user selected area of the screen. Add user defined
headers and footers with date and time stamps etc, resize the printed
image, convert to greyscale or negative image, fade or resize the image
to reduce toner/ink usage, print by default to any available printer. " |
| XnView |
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"XnView is an efficient multimedia viewer, browser and converter." |
| Winamp |
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"Winamp is a multimedia player made
by Nullsoft. It is skinnable, multi-format freeware. It also now plays
streamed video content, both live and recorded, authored worldwide.
Winamp 5 includes a vastly more powerful media
library; CD-ripping support (AAC@2x in the Free version, MP3 at
unlimited speeds in the Pro version); CD-burning support (limited to 6x
in the free version)..." |
| VLC Media Player |
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"VLC media player is a highly
portable multimedia player for various audio and video formats (MPEG-1,
MPEG-2, MPEG-4, DivX, mp3, ogg, ...) as well as DVDs, VCDs, and various
streaming protocols. It can also be used as a server to stream in
unicast or multicast in IPv4 or IPv6 on a high-bandwidth network." |
| Yahoo widgets |
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"Your favorite info, delivered live to your desktop
Convenient at-a-glance view of your Widgets
Weather. Games. Cams. Time Savers. Choose from over 4,000 Widgets!" |
| Google Earth |
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"Google Earth combines the
power of
Google Search with satellite imagery, maps, terrain and 3D buildings to
put the world's geographic information at your fingertips. Just
type in an address, press Search, and you’ll zoom right in.
Search for schools, parks, restaurants, and hotels. Get driving
directions. Tilt and rotate the view to see 3D terrain and buildings. Save and share your searches and favorites." |