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Freeware Top 30

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Freeware Top 30 Freeware Top 30 The following is a list of 30 freeware programs that I cannot live without. I wanted this to be the one page a reader can turn to get all the essential free programs they need to install on a new computer. This list doesn’t cover the best free program in every conceivable category, but for those categories that are represented the programs showcased here in most cases, I would argue, are best-in-class. This list last updated July 17th 2010: 1- Everything: desktop file search that will transform the way you use your PC 2- Launchy: my favorite launcher 3- LastPass: centralized, cloud-based password manager 4. Dexpot: the world’s most advanced free virtual desktop app 5- Imgburn: simple yet powerful CD/DVD burning software 6- Avast: solid, effective free antivirus 7- ThreatFire: powerful, memory-resident AntiSpyware protection 8- Mikogo: easy screen sharing and remote access application 9- Sizer: right click “minimize” to snap windows to pre-defined sizes 10- PeaZip: powerful archiving tool to manage ZIP, RAR, and more than 120 compression formats 11- VUE: a visual environment for ideas, notes, thoughts, and everything else. 12- SuperCopier: accelerate, pause, and resume file copying and moving operations 13- FastStone Image Viewer: a versatile, practical image viewer 14- uTorrent: powerful, lightweight Torrent client 15- Q-Dir: small yet versatile multiple-pane file management app 16- PDF-XChange Viewer: the best free PDF document viewer 17- The KMPlayer: the only media player you will ever need 18- Partition Wizard: partition manager and hard drive maintenance tool 19- Send to Toys: add any folder to Windows’ send-to context menu 20- OpenOffice.org: excellent free MS Office alternative 21- FileMenu Tools: enhance your right-click context menu with a wide range of tools 22- Handbrake: converts DVD’s to media files for your PC, iPhone, or portable media device 23- Revo Uninstaller: removes all traces of an uninstalled program 24- Mp3Tag: powerful audio tag management tool 25- DVDFlick: convert video files to DVD 26- WinSCP: powerful FTP client 27- CCleaner: reliable hard drive and registry cleaner 28- FeedDemon: excellent RSS reader with Google Reader support 29- PDFCreator: convert any document to PDF or image formats 30- FreeFileSync: powerful folder comparison and synchronization tool Some notes before proceeding: • Download links: for each program are provided at the end of each mini-review. • Installing software: a lot of software tends to bundle other software, typically Yahoo, Bing, and Ask toolbars, in their installers; the good news is that you can always uncheck these options during the installation and disallow this, so pay attention when you install and uncheck anything you don’t want. • The sorting order: don’t put too much meaning into it, as comparing most of these programs to each other is very much an exercise in comparing oranges and apples. • Windows 7 64 bit: all programs listed here are guaranteed to be 64bit Win7 friendly (as well as 32bit XP, Vista, or Win7). In the case that they may exhibits some quirks or incompatibility it is indicated in the text below. 1- Everything: desktop file search that will transform the way you use your PC Sounds hyperbolic, perhaps, but I stand by it 100%. “Everything” is a super fast desktop file- search that integrates in the right click context menu. It is fast for the simple reason that it does not scan the hard drive to build its database, but rather uses the raw Master File Table for NTFS drives, which logs all changes made on the partition. This means that you as the user do not have to worry about whether the database you are searching is up to date, about doing manual re-indexing operations, or about areas on your hard drive that are not included in the database; you just use it and it works. The down side is that “Everything” will not work on non-NTFS formatted drives (take my advice and convert your FAT32 drives to NTFS anyway). It also will not search network drives (although it will search extrenal NTFS formatted drives). Right clicking “search everything” on folders will soon become your method of choice when seeking, well, anything. And I am happy to report that the context menu entry works on both 32 and 64 bit systems. “Everything” is relatively low on resource consumption (11 megs on my PC). It works on Windows XP, Vista, and Windows 7, 32 and 64 bit. > Go here to download. Also see my original Everything review. A close second choice: Locate32; in contrast to “Everything”, Locate32 scans your drive to index, but is super powerful desktop search all the same. 2- Launchy: my favorite launcher If you hear “launcher” and the image that comes to mind is stacks of organized shortcuts, this program will be a revelation. Launchy looks like a floating search box on your desktop (which is exactly what it is, see screenshot). To use, simply invoke Launchy (by default, using the Alt+Space hotkey combination) and type in the name of the app you seek in the search box. For example to run a program you would type in the first few letters and Launchy will interactively display matches for programs found on your computer. You are unlikely to need more than a few keystrokes before it narrows down the list of results to the program you seek. Launchy will index the start menu and quick launch folders for shortcuts (i.e. files with .lnk extensions). You can add places as well as file extensions you want it to further index (e.g. look in “program files” for .exe extensions or a folder where you place portable apps). You could tell it to index any type of extension; for example indexing “my music” for .MP3 files will turn Launchy into an instant local music lookup and launch tool. It can also be used to launch Google searches and do a number of useful tasks. Once I got used to this one I began to wonder how I ever managed without it. > Go here to download. Also see my original Launchy review. 3- LastPass: centralized, cloud-based password manager This program will store all of your passwords in encrypted form in the cloud (i.e. on a remote server supplied by the developers), and then let you retrieve them securely when you need them via its Internet Explorer, Firefox, or Chrome extensions. Which is to say it will lock away all your passwords for all your online accounts in a centralized place, and allow you to access them via a single password that unlocks them all. The reason LastPass is secure is that the data stored remotely is encrypted, which means that it is worthless to anybody who might access it (e.g. the LastPass developers, hackers, etc). The encryption/decryption is done locally on your computer. I am very comfortable recommending this after almost two years of using this and after seeing the kind of critical acclaim it has received (among which is a PC Magazine Editor’s choice award and other accolades). If you need to know more about how secure LastPass is I suggest Googling it, as this discussion has taken place in many a forum and this is not the place for it. LastPass supports multiple profile for a single page (e.g. multiple Gmail accounts), and will interactively detect any passwords manually entered and ask if you would like to store them in LastPass. It can also optionally detect and fill in forms for you. The last word on LastPass is that at this point I cannot live without it and I install it on all my computers. > Go here to download. Supports major browsers, including IE, Firefox, and Chrome; alas no Opera support as of this writing. 4- Dexpot: the world’s most advanced free virtual desktop app How would you like a ’tabbed desktop’ where each ’tab’ displays its own programs, files, and icons or even its own wallpaper and display resolution. That’s pretty much the idea behind virtual desktops, and Dexpot is the best freeware virtual desktop program around. And while most virtual desktop apps will let you relegate specific windows and programs to specific virtual desktops, what I like about Dexpot is that it lets me relegate icons across my different desktops as well, something which no other free virtual desktop app will. This means that I can keep all of my work icons on my first desktop and shift all of my personal icons to the second desktop (as an example). This is managed via hotkeys; e.g. select files and folders and click shift+alt+3, and they will be instantly be teleported out of sight to your third virtual desktop. Dexpot has a breadth of functionality and is expandable via a plugin architecture. A favorite plugin of mine is SevenDex, which places my virtual desktops as thumbnails on the Windows 7 launchbar (and is simply awesome, see screenshot to the right). For more on SevenDex check out my article entitled “Seven Apps that work really well in the Windows 7 taskbar“. > Go here to download [portable version also available]. Also see my original Dexpot review. 5- Imgburn: simple yet powerful CD/DVD burning software Imgburn gets the job done, and offers unmatched simplicity in interface. It may not be the most full-featured so-called “Nero replacement” out there, but it will cover all of your CD and DVD burning needs, including burning to CD, DVD, RW, Dual layer, even HD DVD and Blu Ray disks. Imgburn can create and burn disk images in most formats (BIN, CUE, ISO and several others), can make bootable disks, can burn music CDs from audio files (via CUE images, see here), can burn DVD’s from VIDEO_TS folders, allows overburn, just to name several of its features.
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