The best free software out there.
Most of these programs are actually links to other websites where you should be able to find the software. If you have any problems such as broken links or missing software then please let me know.
Also if you have any software you would like to suggest then please email me a link and the reason you think it is so great.
| MediaPortal (link) | This is an advanced opensoure (free) Media Center tool, with many features including watching, recording, pausing live TV on your PC. Supports many TV cards. |
| Audacity (link) | This is a great free tool for sampling and basic editing of sound and saving as a wav or mp3. Useful if you need to record a radio play off the Radio 4 website, for example. |
| GIMP (Link) | A free paint package. GIMP is an acronym for GNU Image Manipulation Program. It is a freely distributed program for such tasks as photo retouching, image composition and image authoring. This is the Windows version. |
| Star Office (link) | Free alternative to Microsoft Office. Rapidly growing in popularity. |
| Firefox (link) | Fantastic free replacement for Microsoft Internet Explorer. Try it, it is far better. |
| Thunderbird (link) | This is a free replacement for Outlook Express from the people who bring you Firefox. |
| Yahoo! (Link) | Get a free mail account . |
| ZONEALARM (LINK) | Free firewall. Better than the XP built in firewall, because you are alerted (and can block it) when a new program tries to access the net, giving you better control and an early warning when you have caught a 'nastie'. |
| Adaware (link) | Made by Lavasoft, this is a must-have piece of software to keep your PC running smoothly. Removes the 'nasties' that get onto your PC while you are surfing the net. |
| SpyBot (LINK) | Free Spyware remover, often updated (software has an update option). Spybot is often used alongside Adaware to help clean up a bad infestation. |
| Microsoft Antispyware (LINK) | Microsoft are busy making their own spyware removal tool, go here to try it out. |
| AVG(LINK) | Brilliant and free Anti-Virus Software. Remove the lumbering beast that is Nortons and free your PC, this is all you need. |
| If you already have antivirus software then go to the links below to get updates.... | |
| Norton's Update(LINK) | Go here to find an updated virus-definition file for Norton's Anti-Virus. |
| McAfee Update (LINK) | Go here to find an updated virus-definition file for McAfee Anti-Virus |
| Trend PC-Cillin(LINK) | When I needed to buy Anti-Virus software from the net I did much research, and this was the software that came out on top. |
| Nero (LINK) | Best CD writing software. Download the demo or try to get a version bundled with a CD-Writer, but you don't really want to use the cut-down version unless you want something idiot-proof. There is a new version (version 6) but I still use version 5 because it works so well (you may be able to pick up version 5 cheaply). Whichever version you use, always update with the latest patch. |
| CloneCD | For burning CCD files, just install trial version when you need it. During the installation it gives you some options, it is best to unselect VIRTUAL CLONEDRIVE |
| CD copying tips |
| Daemon Tools (LINK) | Instead of burning a CD, why not just mount it as a virtural drive using this free software. Copy the files to your harddrive and mount the folder, or even just mount the ISO file. You can install and use software from the virtual cd as though you had the real cd in your drive. It is like adding 1 to 100 cd-drives to your system. |
| WinZIP(LINK) | Uncompress ZIP files. Not needed in XP. Can be used for free if you don't mind being reminded. |
| WinRAR (LINK) | Uncompress RAR files (amongst others). Can be used for free if you don't mind being reminded. |
| ACDSee Classic (LINK) | Easy and fast photo viewer. View pictures, run slideshows, convert files, reduce JPG quality on many files at once. Can be used for free if you don't mind being reminded. No longer available. |
| FastStone Image Viewer (LINK) | Untried but I have heard good things about it. Free. |
| Digiguide (LINK) | Amazing TV guide (30 day free-trial but really worth paying for). They put the price up, now I am looking for a free version. (FreeGuide (link) is looking good but it needs a bit more development). |
| Overnet (LINK) | File sharing. One of the better ones. Install with a firewall running to stop the spyware accessing the net, if it gives you the choice untick the spyware, then afterwards check to see if it put any spyware on, The latest version is called eDonkey. The trial version seems to work fine. |
| eMule (LINK) | This is an opensource version of overnet. Free to use , and free from spyware. |
| BitTorrent (LINK) | If you need to download a BitTorrent file then you will need to install this. |
FTP Software (suggestions please)
| Bonusprint (LINK) | Send digital photos off and get photos in the post, really good value. Software lets you select the area that will be printed, how many copies etc. TIP : After getting terrible photos at a photo booth, we used it to get passport photos for the baby. It costs just 15p or so for the 4-passport-photos-on-one. Far better results. |
| RegClean | Old but effective registry cleaner from microsoft. Download from here because Microsoft no longer support it. Works in all versions of windows, including 2000 and XP. |
| AceUtils (LINK) | Not free but you can use the trial version and then uninstall it. Cleans up temp files, cleans the registry, and very useful it will scan the PC for broken shortcuts. Also useful is the function that shows how much space is being used by each folder, so you can track down why the hard disk is full. |
| CleanUp (LINK) | Scans the PC and removes temp files. Be careful, this does not give you any warning and it can be over the top, for example it will empty the temp folder in Overnet therefore deleting all your half-finished downloads. So a good tip here is, never have a working folder and call it temp.
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A movie consists of a video stream for the picture and an audio stream for the sound. The word codec is short for compressor/decompressor. When you install a video codec on your computer, what you really are doing is giving windows media player instructions on how to compress/decompress movies in that file format. If the needed codec is missing you will receive an error message that windows media player is unable to download an appropriate decompressor.The video codec is what makes it possible to decode the video stream, but it has nothing to do with decoding the audio stream. If the sound in a movie isn't working you have to find out which audio codec is missing and install it.
| AVI CODEC ANALYSER | When you download a film you may find that the video or sound does not play. This is because you are missing a codec. Downloading and installing the correct codecs was always a hit-and-miss affair until this beaut of a program came along. Shows you which codecs you have installed and tells you the codecs that your films need. To use simply install this program, then right-click on your movie in Windows Explorer and choose "AVI-CODEC : detailed Information" |
| DivX Codec (link) | DIVX is a common video codec -Think of it as ' MP3 for movies' - The DivX codec makes it possible to compress/encode a full-length movie at near DVD-quality that's small enough to fit on a single CD (700MB) |
| XVid Codec (link) | XVid is a new open source mpeg 4 codec similar to divx. |
| AC3 Codec | Common Audio Codec that will get sound working for many movies. |
| Knoppix (link) | Linux on a CD, no need to install. So you can use linux on your PC at work, or to fix a problem on your friends Windows machine. Or just to test linux on your hardware before you make the desicion to format your hard drive. |
| Fedora (link) | Fedora Core, the central Fedora project, is an operating system and platform based on Linux which is always free for anyone to use, modify, and distribute, now and forever.Fedora is a set of projects sponsored by Red Hat and guided by the contributors. These projects are developed by a large community of people who strive to provide and maintain the very best in free, open source software and standards. |
Some fantastic software where I am still looking for a free alternative ....
Voice Recognition (Still looking for a free alternative)
| Dragon Naturally Speaking (LINK) | When I needed to buy some voice recognition software I researched it and the software that came out on top was Dragon Naturally Speaking v7 - Preferred Edtion if you can stretch to that else get the Standard Edition. It comes with a micophone but it is recommended you purchase a USB microphone which alone can cost £50. |
Web Design (Still looking for a free alternative)
| Macromedia (LINK) | Dreamweaver is my recommended web-authoring tool. |
Movie Making (Still looking for a free alternative)
| Premiere (link) | Get movies from your digital camera and edit them. Takes a long time to learn but it is a very impressive piece of software. |
| DR-Divx (link) | Encode raw Digital Video (DV) from your camcorder into DIVX. (fit a 20Gb DV film onto a CD). Easy to use software. |
Some additional downloads that you may find useful, but probably won't.
Download Players
 Windows Media Player |
 Quicktime |
 Real Player |
 Shockwave |
| VB6 Runtime files | Install this and you will then be able to run VB6 executables. |
| VC Runtime files | Install this and you will then be able to run VC++ executables. |
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See what's going on in the background. Each file that is opened is added to the list. This is fantastic for tracking down intermittent problems and to work out what your PC is up to. |
TweakUI (For Windows before XP) (see below for TweakUI for XP)
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This is a windows tweaking tool written by Microsoft. It allows you to tweak your PC, including menu timings and automatic logon.To install the tool, extract the files then right click the .INF file and click Install (it will add an icon to your control panel). |
| Microsoft PowerToys for Windows XP (Includes the XP version of TweakUI) (LINK) | TweakUI is available here for XP. Also available are other XP tools that you might find useful, such as slideshow maker for a CD, timer-snapshot for webcams, image resizer, and the ability to have virtual desktops |
Palm 3 Software (link) and software for other palm pilots. (link) |
Get the latest desktop software for your palm pilot, and even update the OS. (I know this is old stuff but I have recently found our old broken Palm-III and it seems to have magically fixed itself). |
more Essential Software
This is a list that I have not checked yet (list thanks to http://www.boards.ie/)
Anti Spyware
Ad-Aware - Anti-spyware
Hijackthis - lists all installed browser add-ons, other features
SpyBot Search and Destroy - Anti Spyware
XP Anti Spy - lets you disable some built-in update and authentication features in WindowsXP
MS Windows Defender
Anti Virus
Avast! Antivirus - Antivirus software
AVG antivirus - Free antivirus prog
AVG Email scanner plugin for use with Mozilla Thunderbird.
BitDefender - Antivirus software
ClamWin - AV software to use in conjunction with AVG
Stinger - Small app to scan for most common viruses
Archivers (Compression tools)
7-Zip - compression software (very high compression ratio)
FilZip - compression software
Power Archiver - Compression utility
Audio
EphPhod - manage your iPod
Foobar2000 - Audio media player
CDex - For Ripping CD's (also converts to compressed formats (e.g. MP3))
EAC - For those who demand the highest quality ripping their own music collection
iTunes - Apple's itunes music player / purchasing tool
Godfather - MP3, Ogg, etc. tagging
FLAC - Lossless (i.e. perfect cd quality) music compression
ID3-TagIT - manage your mp3 id3 tags
AudioGrabber - CD ripper / mp3 creator
WinAmp - Excellent music player
Realplayer alternative
Quicktime alternative
Backup
G4u - Hard Disk cloning
MaxLister - allows you to create virtual images of hard drives, floppy disks, CD-ROMs or other removable media
Browsers / RSS Readers
Firefox - web browser
FreeReader - RSS and XML reader
GoogleBar - Google toolbar for Mozilla / Firefox
Opera - Web Browser
Flash Flash plugin for browser
shockwave players - Shockwave Plugin for browser
winhttrack - View websites offline
Burners (CD/DVD)
CDBurner XP Pro - great replacement for Nero
isorecorder - Tool for burning iso files in XP
Chat
mIrc - IRC (chat) client
GAIM - Multi IM Chat Client
XChat - IRC Client for linux and windows
Trillian - multi IM chat client
Skype - VOIP application
Teamspeak - Talk program. Useful for talking to mates, or gaming.
Chatzilla - IRC Plugin for Firefox
Codecs
Xvid Codec - Free video compressor codec
Ogg Vorbis Codec - The new mp3 but free & apparently better (winamp plays ogg files)
K-Lite codec pack - every video and audio codec you could need (and media player classic)
Document Viewers / Creators
Acrobat Reader - For reading PDF files
Damn NFO Viewer - .nfo file viewer
Lavalys Everest - Gives you lots of system information (like sisoft sandra, but completely free)
OpenOffice.org - Microsoft office replacement
PDF Creator
Volo View Express - views autocad drawings
Email
Foxmail - Mail reader
Outlook Express - Email tool. Nice for managing multiple hotmail accounts.
Plaxo - program for keeping your Outlook (and Outlook express) address book up to date
Incredimail - Email prog add-on (emoticons, etc.)
Thunderbird - email client
File Recovery
iso buster - Rescue lost files from a bad or trashed CD or DVD
Firewalls
Kerio Personal Firewall
ZoneAlarm - Security suite
Comodo
Sygate Personal Firewall - V5.6, no longer supported
Graphics
IrFanView - more graphics software
Gimpshop - gimp with photoshop look and feel.
Fraps - handy for taking screenshots of games and monitoring their performance
The Gimp - graphics software
Music
Powertab Editor - Best prog out there for tab editing/playback
AP Guitar Tuner
Networking
Apache - Worlds most popular http web server.
Ethereal - Packet sniffer
Filezilla - FTP client and server software
DU Meter - Upload/Download speed for Internet
nmap - Network security tool
PuTTY - SSH client
Real VNC - An implementation of VNC. VNC allows you to control a computers desktop remotely.
Smart FTP - Free for non-commercial use
NeoTrace Express - visual traceroute
NetStumbler - WiFi diagnostic software
WinSCP - GUI based SCP client
TightVNC - VNC client
Windump - network sniffer
Sam Spade - network query tool
UltraVNC - VNC
Privacy
CCleaner - Cleans computer of temp files and browser history.
TOR - Tor can help you anonymize web browsing and publishing, instant messaging, IRC.
Privoxy - a web proxy with advanced filtering capabilities for protecting privacy, modifying web page content, managing cookies, controlling access, and removing ads
Privacy Mantra -Cleans your computer from online and offline tracks;
Programming
Bloodshed Dev-C++ - Free programming editor
JCreator LE - Free Java editor
Eclipse - Free Java IDE, but also useful for other languages
Netbeans - Free Java IDE
Security
DBan - securely wipe hard drives
Eraser - securely wipe files or free space
GPGShell - Front endd to GPG
Password Safe - a password safe
TrueCrypt - encryption software
System
Diskeeper - Shareware defrag utility
CPUZ - provides some information on your CPU
cygwin - a Linux-like environment for Windows
Daemon Tools - For mounting ISO (and other) images
Autoruns - See what programs are configured to startup automatically when your system boots
Belarc advisor - a snapshot of your system details
O&O Defrag - Disk defrag tool
Desktop Sidebar - provides lots of useful system / application information.
Sysinternals apps - Various freeware apps available here
Motherboard Monitor - Shows you lots of information from your motherboard...temperatures, voltage rails, etc.
proexp - Process Explorer - Alternative to task manager
RBTray - allows you to minimise any program to the tray area.
Prime95 - Stress Tester to check stablility (also a distributed attempt at finding mersenne prime numbers)
Total Commander - Windows Explorer replacement
Treesize - For working out whats taking up space on your system
TweakUI - Allows you to change your windows UI in lots of ways. Link is for XP version. Google for others, or search microsoft.com
Various windows cusomisations
SiSoft Sandra - Information Tool for Checking your CPU,BIOS etc.
SpaceMonger - to see what's wasting space
Microsoft regclean - Cleans your registry. Couldn't find a microsoft.com link. This one is for download.com.
RegSeeker - Registry Cleaner
Winbar
Object Dock - Customizable Taskbar like in AppleOS
Speedfan - monitors voltages, fan speeds and temperatures in computers with hardware monitor chips
Time (NTP)
NetTime - NTP client
SmartClock - Clock tool
Video
DIKO - Free AVI to DVD converter
DVD Shrink - DVD Ripping program. Can also burn if you have nero installed.
Gordion Knot - DVD backup software
AnyDVD - Helps with DVD ripping (21 day trial period)
Auto GK (Gordion Knot) - foolproof dvd to avi software
VirtualDub - Free video editing tool
virtualdubmod - Virtual Dub alternative. Video editing software.
VLC - Video Player with lots of codec support
DScaler - best video picture quality from TV card
Miscellaneous
WorkRave - RSI recovery software (break reminder with exercise suggestions)
3dMark - Benchmarking tools
Mame32 - Arcade machine emulator
DeviantArt - Free wallpapers
Java JRE - For running applets, or anything else java based.
The Open CD - A cd full of open source software for windows.
NLite - Allows you to customise the install CD for Windows, slipstream patches, drivers etc.
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