Free Software - Recommendations

Tom DWC

Moderator
Moderator
I should probably start by saying that this is in no way meant to be an attempt to advertise any of the following software.

Free programs (freeware) is readily available for you to download at no cost, though it may be limited to non-commercial use in certain circumstances. You should always check the usage rights from the publishers website.

You can also support the developers and give a small donation, which is a nice way of thanking them and helping them to continue with the project; if you've used their product extensively and gained great benefit from it.

Other software is available on a trial basis (shareware) but I won't cover that in this thread because it's not really the same as being 100% free.

And there is of course paid software - freeware can be used alongside paid software. Some paid software (such as Windows 7 and the Microsoft Office Suite) are quality products and far better than any free alternative available (a matter of debate and personal preference/opinion). There are also some real gems out there that do just as good a job as the paid alternative, so be on the lookout!

So let's get started: (many of the following programs have been suggested by fellow forum members and should be credited accordingly. For details, explore this thread.)


CTRL+F

I. OPERATING SYSTEMS
II. ESSENTIALS
III. INTERNET SECURITY SUITES
IV. UTILITIES
V. INTERNET UTILITIES
VI. WEB BROWSERS
VII. E-MAIL & IM CLIENTS
VIII. OFFICE SUITES
IX. CD/DVD AUTHORING
X. AUDIO & VIDEO PLAYBACK
XI. AUDIO AND VIDEO EDITING
XII. GRAPHICS
XIII. GAMING


I. OPERATING SYSTEMS

- Linux

Loads of different Distros! Give them a go inside VirtualBox!

- VirtualBox

Use this virtual machine to emulate free operating systems or any spare copies of Windows you might have.

- Portable Apps

II. ESSENTIALS

- Adobe Flash Player 32-bit + 64-bit

- Java 32-bit + 64-bit

III. INTERNET SECURITY SUITES

- Microsoft Security Essentials (MSE)

This, alongside the Windows firewall, really is all you need. The best security suites are unobtrusive and don't let you know they're there, which is exactly what MSE does. And remember, they are not a replacement for online vigilance - the best protection you have is you! It's there as a last resort, if you let your guard down.

- AVG Free Edition
- Avast! Free Edition
- Avira
- Comodo Free Edition

These are some longstanding alternatives to MSE if you want to try them out or have some longstanding grudge against Microsoft.

- Spybot S&D!*
- Malwarebytes*
- Ad-Aware*

*Excels at anti-malware protection/malware removal.

IV. UTILITIES

- CCleaner*

*Never pay for registry optimisation software - most of it does more harm than good! If you really want a registry cleaner for whatever reason then use this, as it can be considered safe and also contains an uninstaller, startup manager and secure hard drive eraser.

- Defraggler*

*A quick and efficient defragmentation program with some nifty features.

-Auslogics Disk Defrag*

* Another good defragmentation program.

- Recuva*

*If you accidently delete some valuable data then this just might bring it back for you.

- Revo Uninstaller*

*Clears away the items programs leave behind when uninstalled.

- TeamViewer*

*Just been introduced to this one myself. Excellent remote access software. Control someone else's PC or access your own from another location.

- CPU-Z*
- Core Temp*
- Real Temp*
- HWMonitor*
- RivaTuner*
- VTune*
- EVGA Precision (w/ fan unlocked profiles)*

*Great PC monitoring tools for overclockers.

- i.disk*

*Displays folder usage in a useful graph so you can get a clear picture of what disk space is being used where.

- 7-ZIP*

*Very fast archive manager.

V. INTERNET UTILITIES

- FileZilla*

*Superb FTP client.

- uTorrent*

*Not illegal (contrary to popular belief) providing you use it to download non-copyrighted material.

VI. WEB BROWSERS

- Mozilla Firefox*
- Opera*
- Google Chrome*
- Apple Safari*
- Maxthon

*Firefox = customizability (no I'm not sure that's a word either) Chrome = raw speed and Safari = bling. Opera deserves way more credit than it gets as alot of the features found in the more popular browsers were innovated by and found in Opera first!

VII. E-MAIL & IM CLIENTS

- Windows Live Messenger*
- Windows Live Mail*

*Part of the Windows Live Suite and integrate well into Windows. Some performance issues have been raised with the latest release of WLM but I haven't experienced any problems (fingers crossed).

- Mozilla Thunderbird*

*Compliments Firefox and a great client in its own right.

- aMSN*
- Pidgin*
- Miranda*
- Trillian*

* Alternatives to Windows Live Messenger and significantly more lightweight in terms of resource usage.

- Skype*

*Save mega-money on international calls.

VIII. OFFICE SUITES

- OpenOffice*
- LibreOffice*
- SoftMaker Office*
- AbiWord*

* Nice alternatives to MS Office for those with basic requirements.

- Adobe Reader*
- Foxit Reader*

*For viewing .PDF files. Adobe have dropped the ball with security a few too many times over the past few years so consider the alternatives, such as Foxit.

IX. CD/DVD AUTHORING

- DVD Shrink*

*Again, only becomes illegal if you use it to backup copyrighted DVD material.

- ImgBurn*

*Disc burning application.

X. AUDIO AND VIDEO PLAYBACK

- Media Player Classic*
- VLC Media Player*
- Winamp*
- KMPlayer*
- FinalMediaPlayer*

*Good lightweight apps capable of a wide variety of file format playback.

- iTunes*

*Digital music store and management facilities for Apple branded products (iPhone, iPad/Pod etc).

XI. AUDIO AND VIDEO EDITING

-Audacity*

-Wax*

*Audio editors.

- CamStudio*

*A very nice screen capture program.

XII. GRAPHICS

- Paint.NET*
- IrfanView*
- GIMP*

*Nice image manipulation programs.

-Blender*

*3D graphics suite & game engine (python).

- Inkscape*

*Vector graphics.

XIII. GAMING

- Steam*
- EA Origin*

*Digital distribution clients with content store and management.

- XFire
- Ventrilo
- Mumble
- TeamSpeak
- LogMeIn Hamachi

TOTAL: 73


This list can never be complete so if anyone has more to add, please feel free to do so below! Mods may as well just edit the thread and insert them directly. :)
 
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MickyG

Enthusiast
I look forward to seeing how this thread progresses, some very good options so far :) (plus who doesn't like freebies :D)

G
 

MJL

Bronze Level Poster
Great idea here mate. You could also throw in Winrar, itunes (although its not as good as some but a lot of people have apple ipods), Winamp, Windows Live (Mail and Messenger), dB poweramp music converter, Spybot, MBAM (if this is not in there then I will write an angry letter :p)
Please go ahead and add whatever you like as this is a great thread. +repzorz
 

Sleinous

Author Level
two more must have's when installing Windows afresh: Adobe flash player, java, either 32bit or 64bit (usually only downloadable when using ie8 x64) and even then it sometimes redirects u to the x86 one... x64 version useful for massive minecraft projects as I found when we were digging out a 256x256 block area for a pyramid.
 
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Wash

Bronze Level Poster
Very nice thread Tom, using Defraggler as I type this, didn't know about it until I read this!

Something worth noting is that most of the OpenOffice development team recently left to form LibreOffice, and I believe OpenOffice now has some annoying Oracle advertising.
 

Tom DWC

Moderator
Moderator
Thanks for the info Wash, I didn't know that (haven't used OpenOffice for ages - only run it on Linux systems). This is another great alternative - putting it in now.
 

Kaitel

Bronze Level Poster
Personally for a media player I'd recommend KM Player, so far has played all formats I've thrown at it, seems to have all the tweaking tools and looks way better than VLC Player which I dumped as it seemed to have no zoom feature, KM Player does it all.
Unless you guys know something bad about it I'm missing? Has been flawless so far for me with files, although I haven't tried it for DVD's yet, that could be it's achilles heel.

http://kmplayer.en.softonic.com/
 
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Tom DWC

Moderator
Moderator
Looks like a great bit of kit Kaitel, thanks for pointing it out. Another one for the list!
 

MJL

Bronze Level Poster
Personally for a media player I'd recommend KM Player, so far has played all formats I've thrown at it, seems to have all the tweaking tools and looks way better than VLC Player which I dumped as it seemed to have no zoom feature, KM Player does it all.
Unless you guys know something bad about it I'm missing? Has been flawless so far for me with files, although I haven't tried it for DVD's yet, that could be it's achilles heel.

http://kmplayer.en.softonic.com/

Does it play .mp4's and other HD video formats?
 
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