Free PC Software |
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Last Updated: December 19, 2010
Some of the best software is still free and will compliment any computer.
| Software | I Use Every Week? | I Use Every Month? | Description |
| Applications | |||
| Mint | The best free replacement for Quicken or Microsoft Money. It grabs your credit card and bank transactions and automatically categorizes them for you. Sends email reminders when bills are due. I prefer spreadsheets over Mint to predict future balances. | ||
| PocketSmith | Personal financial management website concentrating on future expenditures. | ||
| Google Docs | Document, spreadsheet, and presentation software. | ||
| Open Office | Document, spreadsheet, and presentation software. | ||
| Go-oo | Bloat free version of Open Office above. | ||
| Internet | |||
| DropBox | Yes | Sync your files online and across computers. Replaces USB drives. | |
| Chrome | Yes | Web browser. I use Chrome for the most. It's fast, uses fewer pixels, and you can search in the address bar. | |
| Firefox | Yes | Web browser. I use Firefox when Chrome can't print something correctly. | |
| Gmail | Yes | Online email. I don't have to worry about if I'm at home, at work, on a PC, or on a Mac. | |
| Opera | Web browser. | ||
| Sumatra PDF | Replaces Foxit Reader as my new favorite PDF viewer. | ||
| Thunderbird | E-mail program. More secure than Outlook or Outlook Express. I prefer Gmail or Yahoo!. | ||
| Yahoo! Mail | Yes | Online email. I don't have to worry about if I'm at home, at work, on a PC, or on a Mac. | |
| Anti-Virus | |||
| Avast! Antivirus | Antivirus is a May 2007 PC World winner. | ||
| AVG Antivirus Free Edition | Yes | Popular, free antivirus software. | |
| Microsoft Security Essentials | Yes | Works well. | |
| ThreatFire | Yes | Supplements other antivirus software against zero day attacks. | |
| Firewall | |||
| GhostWall | Firewall software if you have a cable modem or DSL. Only protects from outside attacks. You can't give each application permission to talk to other parts of your network or the internet. If a trojan is already on your computer, GhostWall won't stop it from accessing the network or internet. File sharing works. | ||
| Zone Alarm | Firewall software if you have a cable modem or DSL. Free for personal and non-business use. File sharing does not work on the free version. | ||
| IM/Web Cam | |||
| QNext | All-in-one instant messaging (Qnext, MSN, Yahoo, AIM, ICQ, Google Talk, iChat and Jabber), music streaming, photo and file sharing, voice over IP, video conferencing, drag and drop file transfers, online games and remote PC access with application sharing. Up to 8 way voice chat and 4 way video chat. | ||
| Skype | Free computer to computer phone calls with video conference capability. | ||
| Windows Live Messenger | Instant messaging software with video conference capability. It comes with Windows. | ||
| Yahoo Messenger! | Instant messaging software with video conference capability. | ||
| Chrome Add-ons | |||
| AdBlock | Yes | Blocks ads. | |
| Auto Copy | Yes | The highlighted text in a web page is automatically copied and ready for pasting into something else. | |
| ForecastFox | Yes | Weather forecasts from AccuWeather.com. | |
| Google Mail Checker Plus | Icon changes if you have a new email in your G-Mail account. | ||
| LastPass Password Manager | Yes | User IDs and passwords stored in Chrome are not secure. LastPass is secure. Synchs user IDs and passwords to all of the computers using the same account. | |
| Firefox Add-ons | |||
| AutoCopy | Yes | Anything highlighted on a web page is automatically copied to the Windows clipboard. It saves a step. | |
| ColorZilla | Displays the color values of the eye dropper. I use it for web page coding. The same can be done by copying and pasting a photo into Photoshop or Photoshop Elements. It saves a step. | ||
| ForecastFox | Yes | Weather forecasts from AccuWeather.com. | |
| Google Redesigned | Yes | Makes Gmail look great. | |
| Tab Mix Plus | Yes | Enhances Firefox's tab browsing capabilities. | |
| LastPass Password Manager | Yes | User IDs and passwords stored in Firefox are not secure. LastPass is secure. Synchs user IDs and passwords to all of the computers using the same account. | |
| LinkChecker | Yes | Checks if the links on a web page are still good. It's a quick way to check my web pages for dead links to other web sites. | |
| Utilities | |||
| AutoRuns for Windows | Yes | See what applications load with Windows. Turn off the ones you don't want. Includes applications launched from a Windows Registry entry. | |
| AxCrypt | Encrypt a single file or folder. Great for USB drives, but the software needs to be installed on each computer. It's an alternative to encrypting an entire drive. | ||
| Belarc Advisor | Take an inventory of your hardware and software. | ||
| CCleaner | Yes | Removes temporary files stored in dozens of places all over the hard drive in seconds. It's a "must have" application. | |
| Cobian Backup | Graphical, similar to EMC Retrospect, backs up across network or internet, copies with/without compression, tons of options. | ||
| Display Fusion | Yes | Stretch a desktop wallpaper across multiple monitors. | |
| DriveImage XML | Backup and restore drive images like Norton Ghost. Copy drive to drive. | ||
| Easeus Partition Manager | Hard drive partition software. Free alternative to Partition Magic. | ||
| FastCopy | Copies my 15MB photos 30% faster than Windows Explorer (118 seconds for 5.08GB v. 155 seconds). Best when transferring multi-gigabyte folders from one drive to another. | ||
| ImgBurn | CD/DVD burning software. | ||
| LogMeIn | Remote Access to Your PC or Mac. | ||
| Windows Malicious Software Removal Tool | Removes virus and trojans. | ||
| Mozy | Yes | Online backup - first 2GB is free. | |
| Notepad ++ | Windows NotePad replacement. | ||
| CutePDF Writer | Print to a PDF file - no ads, no watermarks. | ||
| Partition Wizard | Similar to Easeus Partition Manager. | ||
| PrintFolder | Print a list of file names or save the list as a text file. | ||
| PowerDesk | Yes | Windows Explorer replacement. Version 8 is $40 and works with Windows 7. | |
| Process Explorer | It's the task manager on steroids. See Troubleshoot Like a Pro about how best to use it. | ||
| PowerPoint Viewer | Don't own PowerPoint, but want to see the .ppt file attached to an e-mail? | ||
| Screen Print & Capture 32 | Capture screen shots and send them to the printer or a file. | ||
| Shadow Copy | Clone a hard drive (C: to D:) or copy all files, including open ones. | ||
| SyncToy | Microsoft's free download works well for syncing a USB flash drive folder to a hard drive folder. | ||
| TrueCrypt | Encrypt entire drive. Great for USB drives, but it requires administrator privileges and/or the software to be installed on each computer. | ||
| Xobni | Search Microsoft Outlook faster than you can finish typing. | ||
| VirtualBox | Virtual PC software. Good for testing software. | ||
| VMWare Server | Virtual PC software. Good for testing software. | ||
| Wipe Hard Drive | |||
| Darki's Boot and Nuke | Selling your old computer? Deleted files can be easily unerased. Permanently delete the files with this program, reformat the hard drive, and reinstall Windows. | ||
| Active@ Kill Disk - Hard Drive Eraser | Selling your old computer? Deleted files can be easily unerased. Permanently delete the files with this program, reformat the hard drive, and reinstall Windows. It can also wipe the free space on the hard drive without touching existing data. | ||
| WipeDisk | Selling your old computer? Deleted files can be easily unerased. Permanently delete the files with this program, reformat the hard drive, and reinstall Windows. | ||
| Zip/Unzip Utilities | |||
| 7-Zip | Yes | Unzip files downloaded from the internet. Also zips files to a compressed format. | |
| ExtractNow | Unzip files downloaded from the internet. | ||
| TugZip | Unzip files downloaded from the internet. Also zips files to a compressed format. | ||
| Multimedia | |||
| DoubleTwist | Copies iTunes to non-iPod devices. | ||
| DVD Decrypter | Copies DVD movies. It copies movie DVDs to your hard drive, removes copy protection, and removes DVD region codes. This isn't updated any more and can't copy newer movies. | ||
| DVD Shrink | Copies DVD movies. It allows you to select what to keep and what to discard, removes copy protection, and removes DVD region codes. This isn't updated any more and can't copy newer movies. | ||
| DVD Smith | Copies DVD movies to your hard drive. It's good if you want to make a home media server. | ||
| IrfanView | Yes | Fast and simple image viewer and editor. | |
| FreeRip | Copy music CDs to the hard drive in MP3 format for iPod and non-iPod music players. | ||
| Handbrake | Converts movies to play on the iPod. | ||
| iTunes | Yes | ||
| QuickTime | Yes | View movie files. | |
| VLC | Yes | Plays DVDs. Includes codecs. | |
| Web Site Creation | |||
| JAlbum | Yes | Web photo album generator. ISO code for Nikon cameras (shown in bold text). | |
| Picasa | The photo album software can also create web photo albums with amazing speed and ease. | ||
| Kompozer | Create/edit web pages/websites. Easy to use. WYSIWYG editor. | ||
| Joomla | Create/edit web pages/websites. Easy to use. Keeps track of all files on a website. | ||
| CoffeeCup Free FTP | Transfer files to your web site. The newer version costs money. | ||
| Digital Photos | |||
| GIMP | Photoshop like photo editor. | ||
| Paint.Net | Photoshop like photo editor. | ||
| Picasa | Quality photo album software from Google. | ||
| JAlbum | Yes | Web photo album generator. ISO code for Nikon cameras (shown in bold text). | |
| DOF Master | Calculates depth of field for a specific lens, f-stop and subject distance. The online calculator and table also work well. | ||
| Over Clocking | |||
| CPU-Z | CPU stats. | ||
| GPU-Z | Video card stats. | ||
| Prime95 | Make your CPU work 100% to test stability. | ||
| OCCT | Make your CPU work 100% to test stability. | ||
| SpeedFan | Monitor CPU temperature. | ||
| Remote Access and Support over the Internet | |||
| Team Viewer | Admin user rights not needed. | ||
| Skype | After connecting, click share screen. | ||