Roni's List to the best freeware programs

I had a bit of dilemma on my hands before deciding to post this thread, for 1 i wasn't sure if freeware threads were allowed or not. So i have decided to take the chance and post this, if it goes against T&C and has to be removed then that's fair enough. This is a list that i compiled for my blog and decided to post it here on ATS aswell (if mods want confirmation that i compiled this list i will quite happily supply my url) - This is what i consider - from personal experience - To be some of the best freeware apps/software for the PC, i hope it will come in handy for ATS users

Avast! Free Antivirus -

This is an awesome antivirus software, and very easy to use. The detection rates for this app have improved a hell of a lot and quite frankly could go with the best of them. Avast offers what i think to be the features out of all the available free antivirus out there with full real-time capabilities including web, e-mail, IM, P2P and network shields, boot-time scanning, and a behavioural blocker. The new version 6 brings even more features including an internet site ratings plugin, script malware protection. A an added bonus it is very light on resources.

Malwarebytes Anti-Malware Free

Another must have software for pc protection, Malwarebytes can detect and remove all traces of Malware including worms, trojans, rootkits, rogues, dialers, spyware and more. It is a fairly lightweight app and easy to use. The interface is very simple, the scans are very fast and detection is first class.

SUPERAntiSpyware

This is actually one of my favorites and have got me out of a jam many times in the past. The general interface is simple and easy to use, the scan rates are very fast, it also offers realtime protection. This also has added features like Repair broken Internet Connections, Desktops, Registry Editing & much more, Definatly worth checking out.

Spybot S&D

Admittedly not as good as it used to be but its still a very nice little app to have, downside is if you get a nasty little trojan/worm it can block this software from running. From the site - Spyware silently tracks your surfing behaviour to create a marketing profile for you that is transmitted without your knowledge to the compilers and sold to advertising companies. If you see new toolbars in your Internet Explorer that you haven’t intentionally installed, if your browser crashes inexplicably, or if your home page has been “hijacked” (or changed without your knowledge), your computer is most probably infected with spyware. Even if you don’t see the symptoms, your computer may be infected, because more and more spyware is emerging. Spybot-S&D is free, so there’s no harm giving it a try to see if something has invaded your computer. It also immunises your browser and protects your system.

Ccleaner

My top rated one and one i would never be without. CCleaner is the number-one tool for cleaning your Windows PC. It protects your privacy online and makes your computer faster and more secure. Easy to use and a small, fast download. It has a great little registry cleaner included as well as start up menu options.

Glary Utilities free v2.40

This is a good option with its 1-Click Maintenance Tab for six standard cleaning tasks (Registry errors, junk data, shortcuts, history and Spyware). A number of more advanced tools require user interaction via the Modules Tab and menus. Although functional, I did not find it exceptional in any one category.

Secure DNS — OpenDNS

After only a quick registration and configuration change, it improves your proactive protection against drive by malware. It’s an excellent first line of defense. Block addresses – to avoid specific Internet addresses (URLs or IP addresses), Manage usage – to limit Internet access by setting time limits and time quotas, amongst other things.

Cyber Ghost

A VPN (Virtual Private Network) based in Germany, providing a basic, attractive, and user-friendly design. It uses 128-bit AES encryption on all connections to ensure a high level of anonymity, and uses data compression to make connections faster.

The free service allows 1 GB a month, which is enough for normal surfing. You must register in order to use this service.

Auslogics Disk Defrag

What’s it for? - Defragmenting your hard drive on a regular basis is a sound housekeeping habit. It can greatly increase system performance and relieve stress on your hard drive.

WinPatrol

The advantage of WinPatrol is that it runs in the tray to proactively stop programs from becoming startup apps without your permission (and as a bonus it can manage delayed startups).

It doesn’t detect stealthily scheduled tasks, but along with Starter or CCleaner it’s a good startup manager for average users to safely disable unwanted programs.

7-Zip

i love this little tool, The main features of 7-Zip, High compression ratio in 7z format with LZMA and LZMA2 compression

Supported formats:

Packing / unpacking: 7z, XZ, BZIP2, GZIP, TAR, ZIP and WIM

Unpacking only: ARJ, CAB, CHM, CPIO, CramFS, DEB, DMG, FAT, HFS, ISO, LZH, LZMA, MBR, MSI, NSIS, NTFS, RAR, RPM, SquashFS, UDF, VHD, WIM, XAR and Z. For ZIP and GZIP formats, 7-Zip provides a compression ratio that is 2-10 % better than the ratio provided by PKZip and WinZip, Strong AES-256 encryption in 7z and ZIP formats, Self-extracting capability for 7z format, Integration with Windows Shell, Powerful File Manager, Powerful command line version, Plugin for FAR Manager, Localizations for 79 languages

ImgBurn

This is one of the best free cd/dvd burning software in my opinion. ImgBurn supports a wide range of image file formats - including BIN, CCD, CDI, CUE, DI, DVD, GI, IMG, ISO, MDS, NRG and PDI. It can burn Audio CD’s from any file type supported via DirectShow / ACM - including AAC, APE, FLAC, M4A, MP3, MP4, MPC, OGG, PCM, WAV, WMA and WV. You can use it to build DVD Video discs (from a VIDEO_TS folder), HD DVD Video discs (from a HVDVD_TS folder) and Blu-ray Video discs (from a BDAV / BDMV folder) with ease.It supports Unicode folder/file names, so you shouldn’t run in to any problems if you’re using an international character set. It has several advanced settings for the more confident users, you can also make boot disks amongst other things.

CCCP - Combined Community Codec Pack

Ever had music or movies that refuse to play on the pc or had other issues like freezing,lagging etc?? then get this, its a deffo must have. This comes with every codec you will ever need.

VLC Media player

VLC is a free and open source cross-platform multimedia player and framework that plays most multimedia files as well as DVD, Audio CD, VCD, and various streaming protocols.

Audacity

Excellent free products like Audacity give a professional touch to your recordings. For example, podcasting enthusiasts use them to record, edit, mix, and save sound on their PCs. They may even make entire downloadable shows that sound almost as good as a professional production.

Open Office

This is for word processing, spreadsheets, presentations, graphics, databases and more. It is available in many languages and works on all common computers. It stores all your data in an international open standard format and can also read and write files from other common office software packages. And a very nifty little tool to have

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Photoscape

This is quite a classy little image suite for being freeware, it comprises of a photo editor, GIF animator, image converter, splitter, photo layout, screen capture, color picker and other tools. The GIF editor included in the suite impressed me with its clear interface, ease of use, intuition and good features.

Gimp

Another free software graphics editor good for image editing and retouching. Using this as an animator requires you to go through a steep learning curve; think of every layer as an animation frame.

Ulead GIF Animator -Free edition

I still use this one and love it! From their site - This tool creates Web-optimized animations more effectively than a general image editor does. Ulead GIF Animator's clean interface keeps you oriented among the multitude of tools, frames, and objects. You can edit images within GIF Animator or invoke an external editor. Adding banner text with neon, scroll, or zoom takes mere seconds. The 130 transition and filter effects make creating animations easier. The program optimizes the GIFs in a variety of ways for faster download, and preview helps you to judge whether the quality remains high enough. You can also view animations directly in the browser. Besides GIF, you can output your work as Flash, video, or even standalone EXE files. The start-up wizard ensures that designers of any level, from beginner to expert, will find GIF Animator worth its price.

Virtual DJ

Mix, scratch and remix MP3s or music videos live.

TeamViewer

Remote Control and File Transfer over the Internet, even behind Firewalls.

Virtual CloneDrive

Virtual CloneDrive works and behaves just like a physical CD/DVD drive, however it exists only virtually. Image files generated with CloneDVD or CloneCD can be mounted onto a virtual drive from your hard-disk or from a network drive and used in the same manner as inserting them into a normal CD/DVD drive.

StuffIt Expander

Expand over 30 formats: StuffIt, Zip, RAR, 7z, tar, open encrypted segmented or split files easily.

Hotspot Shield

Secure your privacy while accessing free Wi-Fi hotspots.

Google Earth

View satellite imagery, maps, terrain, 3D buildings, geographical content. There is also a part of this now were you can view images in space - the moon & mars including solar systems etc, its a pretty awesome app.

Picasa

Organize, edit, and share pictures locally or online.

FileZilla Client

Open-source FTP client.The straightforward interface offers translations in most of the world's major languages. Caching directories speeds up browsing FTP sites, and multiple secure connection options ensure that you can move files around without concern. Bookmarking comes in two flavors: the Site Manager for all your major FTP locations, and QuickConnect for fast switching on the fly. It also only uses a palty 50mbs of memory.

DVD SHRINK

Backup DVD disks, produce ISO images of ripped DVD's, create VIDEO TS folders for further processing and more. Without a doubt the best program available for backing up your dvd's

Well as you can see there is a lot included here, but there are also hundreds more that i haven't listed that are just as good. Hope that you found this useful & if anyone has more to add please feel free to do so.

S&F I could always use something new, or at least know that its available.

Peace, NRE.

reply to post by NoRegretsEver


Very true, its surprising what awesome freeware there actually is out there, and i know alot of people have no idea that they exist, i often see both on ats and other places quite frequently people asking for help for pc stuff or problems like lag, slow connections,viruses etc etc and they have no clue about what to do or what to use. I hope this thread can at least point people in the right direction.

Cool. This should be a good thread to keep an eye on.

S&F

I have a few to add

Irfanview. Image viewer/editor.

CDEX MP3 converter/extractor.

K-lite codec pack

mIRC. Chat

U-torrent

Phrase Express. keyboard macro's, etc...

Google Chrome

wsFTPle. FTP client

Arachnophilia. Html editor

Micrografix Picture Publisher 8.....Simple photo editor with Photoshop like power.

Music proggies.

Audacity

Nice list. I've used most of them at one time or another. I'm a big fan of freeware. Everything I have on my computer is freeware.

One that I've found really useful that wasn't mentioned is Revo Uninstaller. Not only will it uninstall a program, it will also search for and remove leftover files and registry entries.

It might be geared a bit more towards intermediate users, but it does an outstanding job IMO.

Everything I have on my computer is totally free. Fedora Linux, 86_64 KDE. Comes with lots of games, and is a lot faster than any Windows I have ever seen. Never a virus, or a fatal blue screen of death.

Originally posted by autowrench
Everything I have on my computer is totally free. Fedora Linux, 86_64 KDE. Comes with lots of games, and is a lot faster than any Windows I have ever seen. Never a virus, or a fatal blue screen of death.

Do you have to troll Windows topics all the time? It's annoying.

You know something is s*** when people have to keep spam posting about their Linux cult to gain converts.

It is not "trolling." Microsoft is one the PTB's biggest corporations, who give you that same old source code dressed up slightly different at a very big price, and look at all of the programs you need to keep it safe. Even with that, a good hacker can crack a Windows PC is just a few minutes. Why pay for an OS when you can run free? Why support a billion dollar corporation?

reply to post by autowrench


do you mind not trolling my thread please thank you.

Throw a couple more at ya.. no specific order..

Inkscape (Powerful and easy-to-use open source vector editor)
Notepad++ (Anyone who plays with code should have this)
BIMP Lite (Mass image editor)
Stardock's CursorFX (Cursor themer)
XMPlay (Generic media player, bonus is you can record HQ internet music streams while you listen)
MultiSkype Launcher (Run multiple instances of Skype)
MozBackup (Backup/Restore your entire Mozilla profiles) Must have for any Firefox, Thunderbird user..
MagicDisc (Basically acts as a virtual disc drive) Must have..

Originally posted by PharohGnosis

Originally posted by autowrench
Everything I have on my computer is totally free. Fedora Linux, 86_64 KDE. Comes with lots of games, and is a lot faster than any Windows I have ever seen. Never a virus, or a fatal blue screen of death.

Do you have to troll Windows topics all the time? It's annoying.

You know something is s*** when people have to keep spam posting about their Linux cult to gain converts.

yawn
:01

Great list! I already use Audacity, GE, and CCleaner, but didn't know about Open Office. Thank you OP and everyone else too.

Originally posted by autowrench
It is not "trolling." Microsoft is one the PTB's biggest corporations, who give you that same old source code dressed up slightly different at a very big price, and look at all of the programs you need to keep it safe. Even with that, a good hacker can crack a Windows PC is just a few minutes. Why pay for an OS when you can run free? Why support a billion dollar corporation?

Can you play Skyrim on Linux?

Great thread OP!
Thank you!

Great thread, Couldn't have come up with a better list myself.
You've listed most of the programs i've been using for a few years now, , They're all really good. And free to use, so there is no price!

having the choice, i choose Avast over McAfee any day of the week, no sense buying something that is garbage, when you can download something better for free..

I'll add AntiVir to the list
PowerISO is also good
Winamp is good for media

As a reply to a post further up, everything on my computer is free too (Aside from some games),
And i still use Windows.

reply to post by ronishia


You have made a fabulous list! I don't want to be picky but, could you throw in some links? Obviously you have spent a lot of time putting together this list already and it is great. I searched for Avast and downloaded the offered product but now it scanned and said I need to upgrade to get full coverage. Did I get the wrong one?

On a side note, it fixed 100 issues and left the rest until I upgrade. My computer is going a SO MUCH faster now though! It seems like a great product, I am just wondering what the free part was.

on the list!

reply to post by nineix

Can you play Skyrim on Linux?

I am not certain of that, a quick search showed many things, but o games. By installing Wine you can run most Microsoft programs, even Internet Explorer, if so desired. My wife runs PC Linux, and has two or three Windows Games she purchased at Walmart installed on her PC via Wine. Wine creates a virtual Windows Fat 32 Partition to run programs.

let us not forget the best:

www.ubuntu.com...

reply to post by ronishia


Youtube users that run linux (or windows/mac if you want to contribute)... i would recommend this program be added to the list.

Minitube

It doesn't require flash to run, integrates sharing, downloading, drag & drop from browser, etc... seems to be well maintained at this point (earlier versions were plagued with bugs. installing from an older distro's repository? might want to insert a reliable software source and reload before installing. with the source inserted, the updates do come!).

BEST PART... NO VEVO COMMERCIALS!!!