The Best Free Software

Category: Software

"I see lots of freeware and shareware available on the Web, but I'm never sure if it's safe to download them. Are there good alternatives to the expensive shrink-wrapped software packages for sale in stores?"

Software Wants to Be Free...

...but users want it to be safe. Free software is everywhere, which makes it incredibly difficult these days to find the best of any particular kind. And then there's the fact that "freeware" is not always free. Some freeware is just poorly written and may cause your computer to crash. Some are a conduit for spam and other system invasion techniques. Others are illegal copies of commercial software that can land you in legal trouble.

Nevertheless, there are several excellent software packages that are truly free, high quality, and useful. For free Internet software, check out this link. For general computer tasks and other fun stuff, here are some of my favorite sources:

  • OpenOffice: If you are not addicted to every whistle and bell associated with the Microsoft's Office products, you might find this multi-platform, multilingual office suite exciting. The OpenOffice word processor, spreadsheet, database and presentation modules produce files that are compatible with their popular commercial counterparts, and are built on Open Source ideas, making it part of a larger community of quality software that grows better through collective use and development. You can find it at OpenOffice.org.

  • Free Anti-Virus Protection: Get inoculations without the pain of paying -- it's becoming more commonplace for ISP's such as AOL to provide free anti-virus protection. But for those willing to look, you can find some stand-alone options. Grisoft.com offers its AVG Free Edition without charge to private, non-commercial, single-home users. You can also get a free one-year trial of the eTrust EZ Anti-Virus package (my personal favorite) from Computer Associates and Microsoft.

  • Universal IM: If you're into instant messaging (IM) but your friends all use different IM tools, then GAIM is for you. It is compatible with AIM, ICQ, MSN Messenger, Yahoo!, and numerous other systems, allowing you to have conversations with many different folks without running multiple IM programs. GAIM is cross-platform, with versions for Windows and Linux.

  • Graphics: IrfanView is a great freeware graphics program. It's a fast, small graphic viewer and editor for Windows that tries to be simple for beginners and powerful for professionals. In addition to supporting many file formats and languagesm there's a thumbnail option, slideshow creation, batch conversion, a multimedia player, screen capturing and a host of graphic editing features.

  • Entertainment: Free, legal music and film is still available, news stories and lawsuits not withstanding. Betterpropaganda.com is one such San Francisco-based site for music news and freebies for independent tunes and upcoming talent. But there are actually many others worth checking out such as Garageband and AtomFilms. You can also find games at Happy Puppy and FilePlanet, which often have other free downloads too.

    Practice Safe Computing

    Here's some advice to keep in mind when looking for good freeware downloads:

  • Research before you download
  • Ask your neighbor (or an expert)
  • Stay out of bad neighborhoods

    Elaborating on that last point, there are some rogue sites in cyberspace that appear to offer free software, but the downloads contain spyware, adware, trojan horses and viruses. Here are some dependable freeware sites you can trust:

    www.download.com

    www.pcworld.com/downloads

    www.nonags.com

    www.majorgeeks.com

    One final tip: Add to caution a dose of prevention. Make sure your system is up to date and keep it free of malware. See my articles How can I avoid computer viruses? and Spy, Counter-Spy for details on how to protect yourself from spyware, viruses and other nasties.

    Oh, and don't forget to check out my favorite Free Internet Software too!

    Do you have any favorite, high-quality freeware programs? Post your comments and questions here!

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    Posted by Bob Rankin on December 23, 2005 03:58 PM

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    Most recent comments on "The Best Free Software"

    (See all 12 comments for this article.)

    Posted by:
    David
    23 Dec 2005

    There is a lot of great free software out there. Some of my favorites:

    + XNView.com - graphics viewer, etc like IrfanView.
    + WindowsSizer - to see your work in a specific size window
    + Pixie - for selecting a screen colour.
    + 2x Explorer and Servant Salamander - great file browsers.
    + ATNotes - for little screen postit note reminders.
    + CapsUnlock - if you hit your Capslock too much.
    + Properties Plus can change file properties
    + Startup Inspector, PWGen - for really tough passwords.
    + Crazy Browser - adds tabbed browsing to IE.
    + Karens power tools
    + Evernote - a great tool for compiling bits of text from documents, web sites, etc and compiling for research. The paid version will OCR from scans too.

    Don't forget to browse Microsofts Downloads section. Lots of good freeware there like the powertoys and Anti-Spyware. Also, SourceForge.net is a great resource for Open Source freeware. Its a bit geeky and you have to look for the Windows version but some great tools there.

    Posted by:
    David L.
    23 Dec 2005

    Here are a couple of other sites I like:

    http://www.shellcity.net/
    http://win.softpedia.com/

    Posted by:
    Andreas
    24 Dec 2005

    I find http://www.portablefreeware.com very useful since software that is free _and_ portable is often high quality stuff. Cheerio.

    Posted by:
    tony
    24 Dec 2005

    www.donationcoder.com has a nice range of quality freeware / donationware software ... well worth a look

    Posted by:
    Rahul
    24 Dec 2005

    Great software that is free and tiny ... literally ... 99% of their software fits on a floppy be it viewers, editors browsers ... all less than 1.44 mb in size. Must see... www.tinyapps.org

    Posted by:
    Sally
    25 Dec 2005

    Another good source is Freeware Home:

    http://www.freewarehome.com/

    Also

    http://www.techsupportalert.com/best_46_free_utilities.htm

    Posted by:
    Michael Rusch
    28 Dec 2005

    I'd also suggest the GIMP (Gnu Image Manipulation Program, http://www.gimp.org/) as an intermediate-level alternative to Photoshop. I would guess that it would leave something to be desired for advanced PS users, but it's fairly powerful in and of itself and the Windows version has gotten much more user friendly since Gimp 2 in my opinion.

    Posted by:
    Tom Bullock
    31 Dec 2006

    The best and most full-featured free email program I know about is Pegasus Mail, found at http://www.pmail.com/ I have used it for the last 4 or 5 years and followed its progression and development. It has an active and very knowledgeable user community that provides prompt and accurate responses to most requests for help (assuming adequate problem descriptions!). Right now it is free and even has a PDF user manual written in clear and simple explanations of features available. It even has integrated a Spamhalter Bayesian Spam Filter into PMail. It certainly merits a careful look-see by those considering a new email program.

    Posted by:
    poppy fogarty
    08 May 2007

    I have been using Invircible Virus Defence System for over 5 years now, and it is the best anti virus protection system ever. It is a generic system and I have never had a problem with any spyware,malware,etc. At only $A 77.00 for two years, it is the best investment I have made for my computer, and thought I would let everyone know. It is fantastic and I don't own any shares in the company.

    Posted by:
    ericutin
    31 May 2007

    i have windows98se dell pent11 pc i had photo builder for a while but it did not do what i need i need too take photos from a walgreens cd of my artwork and get the pixels too 1000by1000 too download into my art gallery on www.myartprofile.com this is a nightmare! i cannot find any software for free online that will help me change pixels or size of photos/help?

    EDITOR'S NOTE: Try IrfanView?

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