My favorite freeware.
1. Firefox
I put this one in #1 because it is my most favorite and most used peice of free software. Mozilla firefox. It's been highly recommended all over the web and in reviews. It covers the basics of all browsing and goes beyond that. With a download manager, a theme manager, and the ability to add extensions, it goes far beyond the basics of browsing. The extensions are what really make this browser come alive, one can custimize his browser to do almost anything. Well almost. The online support for firefox and all mozilla products are good with forums. Popups are a thing of the past with this browser due to the fact of the built in pop up blocker. It has been stated that this browser is by far more secure than internet explorer. But probably the greatest reason to use this browser is the ability to have tabbed browsing. Tabbed browsing is something you will not see in internet explorer. Tabbed browsing is the ability to have multiple pages open. But instead of having multiple windows, the different pages are displayed as tabs along a toolbar. You click on one tab and you veiw that one and you click on another and you veiw that. There are far more features, go to the mozilla firefox site see what all i missed.
2. Thunderbird.
Another mozilla product, thunderbird, is its mail client and has just as much guts as any good mail client. The ability to create filters to sort through mail helps with dealing large amounts of email. As firefox has built in popup blocking, this mail client has junk mail control. It has the ability to learn what is and is not junk mail. Great. I'll say. Again it has as in firefox, extensions. So you can add different features to suit your needs. It has spellchecker for ur emails, profiles for different user accounts, address book, and all sorts of other neat things. Check it out at the thunderbird site.
3. Mozilla.
This is basically includes all of the same things i just mentioned. But as an all in one bundle. There are some differences but not to noticeable. Check it out at the mozilla site
4. Adblock
Annoying ads on a page can really be just that annoying, but with adblock you can stop all those ads from bugging you. It being an extension for mozilla and firefox, means that you only get this feature with these browsers. All you have to do is to setup some filters and it will stop almost any banner, ad, popup, bad page. By far this is the most useful extension i have ever come across. I have a great filter too, so that makes a whole world of difference. With mozilla and firefox, popups and ads are a thing of the past. You can get adblock here.
5. Quicknote
Do you ever find yourself fireing up a new text editor everytime you want to copy some text from a web page. Well quick note is the extension you should get if you are running firefox or mozilla. It basically a notepad, that's built into your browser. You can have multiple tabs as well. This is a must have for research and related work. Get it here.
6. Offline Support.
Want offline support for thunderbird? Well here's where you get it.
7. Stumble Upon Bar
Ever just want to browse the internet without any intention of going any place specific. Well this toolbar is for you. As it name implies you stumble around through sites that are rated by other stumblers. You, yourself can rate too and even add comments to these reviews. It's a really good way to find stuff on specific topics due to the different interest sections. So you wont see anything about geography when stumbling with that preference turned off. Best part it's compatible with almost everything out there, no peice of software have i found can be used on as many different platforms as this one.
8. Quintessential Player
Want a great music player that doenst make you yawn. This one is for you. The Quintessential player with loads of functionality and ways to customize it. The ability to encode music into mp3's from a cd is great. (Too bad i didn't have a big enough hard drive to store it on) With plugins for different encoders, visuals, mixer settings, there are a lot of things you can do with it. It supports a great variety of formats and the ability to get the codecs from the site. I know there are a lot of different players out there but this one has to be my most favorite.
9. Gaim
If one is tired of the instant messengers for yahoo, msn, aim, and is looking for something different. Gaim is a good choice. Instant messaging goes to a whole new level of convience with this multifunction client that supports all the major networks. A great feature that is hard to find in other multifunction clients is the ability to have tabbed conversations. Meaning that you can have two different conversations going and each have their own tab. The folks that develop gaim also try to keep a rigorous schedule of updates with a new version coming out every two weeks. Hats off to those guys.
10. IrfanView
If one is bored by paint and internet explorer opening up their bitmaps and jpegs, why not try using IrfanView with the ability to veiw as many formats as there are holes in swiss cheese. You will not stump this thing with whatever format you throw at it. A slideshow feature and thumbnail veiw are some of the many great features of this application. Also browsing through a directory of pictures has never been as easy as with this program with two arrow buttons, you simply click and it jumps to the next picture in the directory. Its site says that it is the most used viewer around the world, and for good reason. This a great application for viewing pictures, period.
11. Freshdownload
If you're still using internet explorer to do your download you are way behind the times. Get a download manager. Pausing downloads and restoring disconnect downloads are good reasons to get one. Freshdownload does just that. Highly reccomended by me. lol.
12. AVG Free Edition.
With todays wild world of the internet, there is no reason to not run an antivirus program. How about a free one that does the job without bogging system resources like norton antivirus? AVG antivirus does just that. It's free, and doesnt hurt your computer's system resources and making an entire scan of your hard drive at the time you specify. What more could you ask for? I know the answer "that virus makers to quit", well that's just not going to happen.
13. Traysaver.
If you have as many things as i have in my system tray, then you probably wish you could hide them, in windows xp that's realitivly easy but in other windows versions its harder. With Traysaver it will give you the same capability as windows xp users--to be able to hide tray icons. Way cool. Saves some taskbar space with this one.
14. MCL
Uh, the beloved keyboard shortcuts, dont you love them. Well if keyboard shortcuts turn your crank then mcl is just your thing. It will allow you to give a word to your different applications. For instance i use it with firefox, i set up a macro that tells it when i type fire run firefox and my dialup prompt. Cool. A great little application for keyboard users like myself and you maybe. Check it out.
15. Clipomatic
Liking copying and pasting? Well this application will get you copy and pasting like you've never done before. Instead of the single item you copy and paste, this program allows you to cache each entry so you can paste them later after you've copied a completely different thing. You can make clipsets too, for things you enter in often. For business users this could be like your email address or your phone number, this program has a lot of uses. Unfortunately it is somewhat hard to understand, so read the help file first and get a full understanding of this useful bit of freeware.
16. Startup Control Panel
I hate it when programs that i install automatically startup every time log on to my user. That really annoys me, and especially when i have to bring up the registry editor to get rid of it. Startup control panel terminates the need for firing up regedit. But instead offers a graphical version of what's going on in the registry. By turning the stuff you dont want to start you can actually speed up your startup. Right on. Due not that most people can use msconfig, but this is must better and nicer way to do it.
17. Spybot Search & Destroy
Who likes spyware? No one. The german Patrick M. Colla should get a medal for his great and most recommended spyware remover. It's a must have for all people that surf the internet, especially if you use the security flawed internet explorer. It will do much more than just remove tracking cookies. Scanning for adaware, malware, trojans, and of course spyware. It also has a whole arsenal of other useful tools. So go download it and keep your computer safe from the nastier side of the internet.
18. Ad-aware.
Another good scanner for ad-aware and the like. This one has great, regular updates. This a great go along for spybot, if one misses something the other one will pick it up. So go out and download this to rid yourself of the pestilence on your hard drive.
19. Spyware Blaster.
Taking a proactive approach to spyware is a good reason to use spyware blaster. Spyware blaster blocks bad stuff from down the pipe and onto your hard drive. Capable for stopping stuff on the most major browsers, so you wont be without protection. I dont really use it do to the fact that it doesnt work on my windows 95 system, but this will be a great download. So for security download another great bit of freeware.
20. Swat it
Get rid of trojan horses with this trojan remover. It is great for just peace of mind.
21. Fastcache
Want dialup to go faster try this on for size, it says it helps to speed up your browsing. Check it out and see if you notice any difference.
22. Maxcrypt
Like keeping your stuff private. Well encrypting is the way to go. Try maxcrypt to keep your private stuff just that private. It also doubles as a good joke on your siblings when you encrypt their games and so they cant play them. What you dont think i did it. The computer must be messed up or something. And then you get on and try to fix it and thus your goal is acheived. Your goal of getting onto the computer.
23. Cain
You want to try your hand at a bit of hacking? Use cain a great program for discovering passwords. Will crack numeric passwords with ease and dictionary words as well. It really worked well on my dad's four digit password. Didnt take long at all. You can test the strength of your password as well. If your password shows up in a couple of minutes, its time to get a new one. But if you run it all night and still nothing, better keep at that.
24. JustZipIt.
The most easiest zip application out there. Opens the zip file and puts a folder of the zip file in the same directory. Want to make a zip file, no problem. Just right click the file and right click justzipit. Quick and easy and no messing around with clunky interefaces or trial offers. This one will handle those zip files with ease and for free.
25. Solitude
Like solitaire? This download has more versions of solitaire then you will able to ever find in a life time. Has a help file to help you understand the different games. So you wont be clueless on how to play. Perfect on that labtop on those long trips. Just great.
26. Rambooster.
Seem like your computer slows down the more you use it. Well this will help clear your ram and get it that just rebooted feeling without the reboot.
27. Gimp
Want to do some cool stuff with you pictures and things, but dont want to spend 700 bucks to buy photoshop or 100 for photoshop elements. This is a choice for any such people. An open source version of photoshop is the gimp. Here again i havent tried it, because of this low perfomance machine, i call a computer. But from what i have heard this is a free way to get do things like you do in photoshop. It isnt a photoshop clone though, it still lacks some of its features. If money is no object go buy photoshop, if not give gimp a whirl.
28. Notetab Light
Dont like notepad, try notetab light, with all sorts of functionality. A #1 choice for html editors and such.
29. Wallpaper Master
Like your wallpapers, for your desktop, but have too many and want to have different ones every so often. Wallpaper Master is the tool for you, with a rating system, resizer, auto changer and the ability to make lists. A great application for the desktop wallpaper enthusiast.
30. Ultimate Paint
If mspaint has somehow wronged you, then a great substitute for it would be Ultimate paint. Same functions as paint, but hey maybe not everyone likes using microsoft made stuff. So get this one if you dont like mspaint.
This list is dedicated to my friend and pet, Benji who died during the making of this list. His memory will forever live in my heart.
This entry was posted
on Saturday, July 24, 2004 at 8:04 AM.
