Free Software for Windows 7
I'm just getting started with Windows 7, and I'm interested in downloading some good freeware that's designed for Windows 7. Can you point me to some of the best free Windows 7 software and apps? |
Download Free Windows 7 Software
There is plenty of free Windows 7 software available. Some of the best free Windows 7 programs can be downloaded directly from Microsoft. Others are gifts from the open-source software community. Still others are freeware versions of commercial programs with some advanced features restricted or omitted. Here are some of the most useful and popular free software programs for Windows 7.
World-class antivirus and anti-malware software is available for Windows 7 free of charge. Some free Windows 7 security programs that match or outperform costly commercial packages include Avast! Free Antivirus, AVG Anti-Virus Free Edition, and Malware Bytes Anti-Malware (MBAM).
Free Windows 7 apps for social networking are hot. For Twitter, the Seesmic Look app is optimized for Windows 7. Tweetdeck is another popular Twitter client that runs best on Windows 7.
Mobile media management is a big issue with owners of desktops, laptops, media players, and smartphones. Apple's iTunes app for Windows 7 is tops for shopping at the iTunes Media Store or managing files between Apple devices. There is a version for Windows 7, too. DoubleTwist does for the Amazon MP3 Store what iTunes does for the iTunes Store, but it supports Windows 7 and earlier versions, Mac OS, and Linux.
If you need to do almost anything with audio files (MP3, WAV, WMA, and other formats), then Audacity is a free open-source tool that's gotten raves for many years. Audacity is great for recording and converting audio files, and has a wide range of editing features. Support for Windows 7 has been a while in coming, but there is now an Audacity v1.3 beta that works well with Win7.
Defraggler is a time-tested hard drive defragmenting tool than can be used to defrag your entire hard drive, or individual files. Defragmenting on a regular basis can speed up access to files on your hard drive. Some other related tools are Macrium Reflect, which can be used to create backup images, Partition Wizard, and Recuva for recovering deleted files.
Printing to paper or digital files is easy with several free Windows 7 programs. GreenPrint World works with the Windows printing utility to eliminate "ghost pages" - those wasteful blank pages that often appear in printouts of Web pages and other raw documents that were not laid out for printing. There are ads in the free version, or you can pay $29 for the ad-free edition. PrinterShare simplifies sharing a printer on a home network. Or go paperless, and use the BullZip PDF Printer Driver to convert any printable document into a PDF file.
Videos and images can be viewed and converted to other formats with free Windows 7 apps such as IrfanView. The VLC Media Player is a very capable file viewer and media player, much simpler to use and lighter on system resources than Windows Media Player.
Microsoft offers a free Windows 7 USB/DVD Download Tool. Using this tool, you can download a single ISO file containing Windows 7 installation files. The USB/DVD tool lets you create a bootable DVD or USB storage device and copy the Windows 7 installation ISO file to it. Then you have an exact duplicate of your Windows 7 installation disc in case something happens to the original. Of course, you must be a licensed and registered user of Windows 7 before you can download this tool.
Do you have a favorite Windows 7 software application? Post your comment or question below...
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This article was posted by Bob Rankin on 9 Feb 2011
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Article information: AskBobRankin -- Free Software for Windows 7 (Posted: 9 Feb 2011)
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Most recent comments on "Free Software for Windows 7"
Posted by:
Beth
09 Feb 2011
You know what I wish? I wish MS would program Windows so that you could launch into safe mode without having to F8 before the splashscreen comes up.
Posted by:
Paul
09 Feb 2011
Just to add a bit to the list...
MS Security Essentials is another great free Anti-Virus
Revo Unistaller for completely uninstalling software
CCleaner for removing obsolete files and cleaning up the registry
Posted by:
chesscanoe
09 Feb 2011
After trying many anti-virus solutions in the past, including AVG and avast!, I've settled on Microsoft Security Essentials. It's free for individuals and small businesses, and seems to work at least as well as any other anti-virus offering. Actually MSE is more than an anti-virus solution per
http://www.microsoft.com/security/pc-security/mse.aspx .
Posted by:
Jack Cesana
10 Feb 2011
Unable to find the ISO file containing Windows 7 installation files in order to make a bootable USB device.
Thanks
Jack Cesana
Posted by:
Jason
10 Feb 2011
Have to second the votes for Avast, MBAM, Defraggler, Irfanview, and VLC Player. VLC is awesome for playing most every video format out there and it's light on resources. Also have liked Bullzip PDF Printer as the only PDF converter I had known about that *didn't* put a watermark on the output. Only thing is that it seems to be a bit cranky with Word 2010 (haven't tried the other Office apps with it yet).
Posted by:
Brad
10 Feb 2011
Good article. I go to Gizmo's for hundred's of freeware with reviews: http://www.techsupportalert.com/
Posted by:
bobt
10 Feb 2011
defraggler is too slow. I prefer a fully automatic defragger that goes to work as soon as fragmentation takes place.
Posted by:
Mister K
11 Feb 2011
Windows 7 actually has a really strong defrag built in and you can schedule it to scan on a reguler basis. I have tried some other defrag programs against it but found no reason to use them anymore
Posted by:
Mike
16 Feb 2011
One free application I've been using for a while now with great results is, "Glary Utilities."
It can be downloaded from " Glarysoft". This cool little pc cleanup tool works well on Windows 7, Vista, and Xp. It cleans up registry errors, checks for spyware,startup manager,shortcut fixer etc. It fixed a registry error on Xp that was driving me crazy, and can speed up your pc. Highly Recommend it.
Posted by:
hkbs
16 Feb 2011
I agree with MSE and Revo Uninstaller. Would definitely add LastPass, and Evernote for Windows which synchs with other devices to keep anything from photos, recipes, lecture notes - in fact absolutely ANY info you are ever likely to want to save!
Posted by:
Dwight H Simmons
16 Feb 2011
Link tor Greenprinter.com dosn't work. Thanks
Seems like a good idea
Posted by:
Keith
01 Mar 2011
I agree with Brad - Gizmos site is my first port of call www.techsupportalert.com SourceForge is another at http://sourceforge.net/ and I'm also finding MakeUseOf is a good source of info and links.
I'm also very happy with Microsoft Security Essentials.
Posted by:
LindaSView
05 Oct 2013
Hey Bob: Clicked on Fishbowl and McAfee site Advisor popped up with it's big YELLOW SCREEN with the words-"WHOA! Are you sure you want to go there?"So, I didn't, bu I thought I'd let you know.
EDITOR'S NOTE: Looks like that site and the MS client for Facebook are both defunct. I've removed the links, thanks.