- Firefox - Most loved browser.
- Google Earth - Navigate and search through satellite images around the world.
- Daemon Tools - Virtual CD/DVD drive which supports all popular copy protections.
- OpenOffice - Office Suite
- FoxIt Reader- Fast, free PDF viewer.
- Thunderbird - Mozilla foundation’s open source e-mail client.
- uTorrent - The lightweight and efficient BitTorrent client
- VLC - Mediaplayer that plays everything except realmedia files.
- AVG Antivirus - An Anti-virus Utility
- IrfanView - IrfanView is a very fast, small, compact graphics viewer
- Skype - The most popular Voice over IP (VoIP) client.
- ccleaner - CCleaner is a freeware system optimization and privacy tool.
- picasa - Find and enjoy the pictures on your computer in seconds.
- Spybot Search and Destroy - Anti-spyware program
- DVD Shrink - Free DVD backup utility
- Ad-Aware - Ad-Aware Personal provides advanced protection from known data-mining, aggressive advertising, Trojans, dialers, malware, browser hijackers, and tracking components.
- Audacity - The best and simplest open source audio editor out there.
- Filezilla - Fast FTP client for Windows with SFTP/SSH and SSL/TLS.
- Opera - An equal alternative to Firefox
- VirtualDub - VirtualDub is a video capture/processing utility for 32-bit Windows platforms
- Media Player Classic - This multimedia DirectShow player looks like the old Windows Media Player 6.4, but has a lot more features like switching audio streams in an MP4 file.
- Unlocker - Unlocker helps delete locked files with error messages like:
- Filemon - This monitoring tool lets you see all file system activity in real-time.
- Apache - Open-source HTTP server
- TweakUI - XP user interface tweaker.
- Real Alternative - Real player alternative
- Pidgin - Pidgin is a multi-protocol instant messaging (IM) client for Linux, BSD, MacOS X, and Windows.
- 7-Zip - 7-Zip is a file archiver with high compression ratio.
- Google Talk - Talk and IM with your friends for free
- VMware Player - VMware Player lets you evaluate new or pre-release software contained in virtual machines.
- Zonelabs Firewall - Free firewall
- Eraser - Eraser is a secure data removal tool, which allows you to remove sensitive data from your hard drive overwriting it with carefully selected patterns.
- Notepad++ - Notepad++ is a free source code editor which supports several programming languages running under the MS Windows environment.
- Inkscape - Scalable vector graphics sofware
- Autoruns - See what programs are configured to startup automatically when your system boots and you login.
- nLite - Have you ever wanted to remove some Windows components like Media Player, Internet Explorer, Outlook Express, MSN Explorer, Messenger…
- wink - Wink allows you to record desktop action or application windows and create smooth, animated Flash demonstrations.
- SpywareBlaster - SpywareBlaster prevents you computer from becoming infested with spyware by blacklisting known bad ActiveX components.
- Tor - An anonymous Internet communication system
- PDFCreator - “PDFCreator easily creates PDFs from any Windows program. Use it like a printer in Word, StarCalc or any other Windows application.”
- PageDefrag - Defrags the windows page file
- WinDirStat - View the files in any folder or drive in your computer as a grid of filesize-proportional boxes.
- TugZip - Great windows integration with lots of support.. Supports ZIP, 7-ZIP, A, ACE, ARC, ARJ, BH, BZ2, CAB, CPIO, DEB, GCA, GZ, IMP, JAR, LHA (LZH), LIB, RAR, RPM, SQX, TAR, TGZ, TBZ, TAZ, YZ1 and ZOO archives.
- XnView - XnView is a utility for viewing and converting graphic files
- FreeCommander - freeCommander is an easy-to-use alternative to the standard windows file manager. * Dual-panel technology * Optional tree view for each panel * Built in file viewer * Built in archive handling * Easy access to system folders, control panel, desktop and start menu * Create and verify MD5 checksums * File splitting * File properties and context menu * Calculation of folder size * Folder comparison / synchronization * Modification of file date and attributes * Folder / program favorites * File searching * File filters for display * DOS command line * Multiple language support
- HijackThis - A general homepage hijackers detector and remover.
- K-Lite Codec Pack - The K-Lite Codec Pack is a collection of codecs and related tools. Codec is short for Compressor-decompressor. Codecs are needed for encoding and decoding (playing) audio and video.
- xp-AntiSpy - Prevents XP from auto calling MS
- TCP Optimizer - The TCP Optimizer is a free, easy Windows program that provides an intuitive interface for tuning and optimizing your Internet connection. There is no installation required, just download and run.
- MWSnap - Capture selected parts of the screen.
- ZipGenius - File compression suite
- Dependency Walker - Dependency Walker is a free utility that scans any 32-bit or 64-bit Windows module (exe, dll, ocx, sys, etc.) and builds a hierarchical tree diagram of all dependent modules. For each module found, it lists all the functions that are exported by that module, and which of those functions are actually being called by other modules. Another view displays the minimum set of required files, along with detailed information about each file including a full path to the file, base address, version numbers, machine type, debug information, and more.
- Avast AV - Excellent free AV. Protects internet mail, instant messaging, network shield, Outlook/Exchange, P2P shield, standard shield and web shield.
- Yahoo Widgets - Bring life to your desktop with fun, stylish,and useful
- FastStone - Image viewers and screen capture utilities
- TMPGEnc - MPEG tool for Windows
- Httrack - Download entire websites
- AbiWord - AbiWord is a free word processing program similar to Microsoft® Word. It is suitable for a wide variety of word processing tasks.
- KlipFolio - RSS Dashboards & Desktop Alerts
- Darik’s Boot and Nuke - DBAN will automatically and completely delete the contents of any hard disk that it can detect, which makes it an appropriate utility for bulk or emergency data destruction.
- Regmon - This monitoring tool lets you see all Registry activity in real-time
- World Wind - World Wind lets you zoom from satellite altitude into any place on Earth.
- Outpost Firewall - Basic Firewall Protection Standard packet and application filtering safeguard your computer from unwanted communications.
- SlickRun - SlickRun is a floating command line that lets you define short aliases for any program or website.
- FLV Player - FLV Player is a standalone application to play Flash .flv files with.
- TiddlyWiki - A completely standalone wiki implementation written entirely in a single html page. Uses JavaScript for dynamic page capabilities and allows saving with backups as well as RSS feeds.
- trillian - Trillian is a multiprotocol instant messaging application for Windows
- Azureus - Java BitTorrent Client
- Celestia - The free space simulation that lets you explore our universe in three dimensions
- Photofiltre - A powerful and easy to use image editor.
- Copernic Desktop Search - Standard desktop search, does files, emails, history/favorites, will index on the fly. Nice features include the able to index network drives, can set schedule on how often files/emails/favorites/history are to be re-indexed, as well as a index clear/re-index feature and the ability to change where the index is stored on the hard drive.
- SyncToy for Windows XP - The smart way to copy files
- Pandora Desktop Player - Pandora Desktop Player allows you to listen to the Pandora jukebox in your system tray ad free
- Aqua Dock - Aqua Dock is a task bar and a Windows program launcher that looks just like an Apple.
- ClamWin - Free Antivirus
- PC INSPECTOR File Recovery - Recovers deleted files from your hard drive.
- PDFCreator - PDFCreator is a free tool to create PDFs easily from nearly any application.
- FlyakiteOSX - FlyakiteOSX is a transformation pack. It will transform the look of an ordinary Windows XP+ system to resemble the look of Mac OS X. The installer simply automates the process of replacing critical system files, setting registry tweaks, and installing extras such as cursors, sounds, visual styles, etc.
- Brico Pack Vista Inspirat - BricoPack Vista Inspirat is a free pack which modifies Windows XP system files in order to change its appearance and make it look
like Windows Vista. - MediaMonkey - Get Your Music Collection in Order!
- Microsoft Reader - E-book software
- LinkSync - Sync bookmarks with multiple browsers
- Advanced Disk Cleaner - Search for temporary and garbage files and delete them to free up space. Very thorough.
- Driver Cleaner - Removes parts of drivers that are left after uninstalling the old drivers.
- SimpleOCR - SimpleOCR is a fully-featured, free OCR application.
- Helix Cameo - Video compression software for REAL MEDIA format.
- NTREGOPT - Registry Optimization for Windows NT/2000/2003/XP
- UNDOReg - Use with regshot
- RegShot - A small registry snapshot and compare utility
- Dia - Dia is a program to draw diagrams.
- etuner - Internet Television Client
- VideoInspector - VideoInspector is a tools designed to provide you with as much information as possible about your video files. With VideoInspector you’ll know why your video files has no sound or refuses to play correctly. VideoInspector will help you installing the required CoDecs (coder/decoder software) for an optimal performance. VideoInspector can also inspect your system to find which codecs are available, and it can also process multiple video files and export its result in HTML or plain text files.
- psp video - Convert regular PC video files (avi, mpeg, etc) into PSP video files
- Autostreamer - With this you can create new Windows installtions CD’s with the proper service already installed.
- Spyware Terminator - Protect your computer with Free Real-Time detection from spyware, adware, and keyloggers.
- SilentNight Micro CD/DVD/ISO/Audio Burner - No installation is needed, just one single file, and it has its own ASPI layer build in.
- Satscape - It produces real-time displays of where any Satellite is, and predicts passes for your locale. There are about 8000+ satellites in orbit, a lot of these are just junk and debris such as discarded rocket bodies, but quite a few are working Satellites.
- QuickReg - QuickReg allows to register or unregister many DLLs in one mouse click. Select all the DLLs to register, drag and drop in QuickReg, save the DLL
list and register/unregister them as many times as you want - Resource Hacker - Resource HackerTM is a freeware utility to view, modify, rename, add, delete and extract resources in 32bit Windows executables and resource files (*.res). It incorporates an internal resource script compiler and decompiler and works on Win95, Win98, WinME, WinNT, Win2000 and WinXP operating systems.
- IBM - Hitachi Drive Fitness Test - Has your computer ever crashed or failed to boot up, causing you to suspect that your hard drive might be broken?
- Roadkil’s Undelete - Allows you to undelete files that you have accidentally deleted from your drives.
- Unstoppable Copier - Recovers files from disks with physical damage. Allows you to copy files from disks with problems such as bad sectors, scratches or that just give errors when reading data. The program will attempt to recover every readable piece of a file and put the pieces together. Using this method most types of files can be made usable even if some parts were not recoverable in the end.
- LeakTest - Test your firewall
- WinMorph - WinMorph is a high performance morphing and warping software.
- SWF2AVI - swf2avi is a freeware tool to convert or batch-convert Flash movies (swf) to bitmaps, bitmap-sequences (bmp, jpg) or videos (avi).
- GSplit - GSplit is a powerful file splitter
- IceSword - English version of the famous rootkit finding software made by the Chinese programmer pjf.
- Paint.net - Awesome free photoshop-like program.
- FlashGet - A download manager with the highest amount of users on the internet
- GIMP - the GNU Image Manipulation Program like photoshop
- Vista Codec Pack - Use any media player, limited only by the players’ capabilities, to play DVD’s, movies and video clips of almost any filetype.
Any suggestions, ideas? Feel free to comment on this article!
May 15, 2007
Paint.NET is an awesome free photoshop-like program.
May 15, 2007
These are free and I have used extensively
Regcleaner
http://www.macecraft.com/pt2006/registry_cleaner/
Taskinfo
http://www.iarsn.com/taskinfo.html
Download Express
http://www.metaproducts.com/mp/mpProducts_Detail.asp?id=18
May 15, 2007
hmmm… yes I remember using registry cleaners and 7 different antivirus/antispyware/firewall/…. and then I got a mac… and I run Windows on it every once in a while.
May 16, 2007
WOW!! I wish I was as cool as you Taylor. Maybe one day I too can own a Mac.
May 16, 2007
A few progz I didn’t know but a great list! Thx
May 16, 2007
Yes Taylor, but don’t forgoet….there is ONE thing PC users can do that the Mac folks can’t….. http://www.thebestpageintheuniverse.net/c.cgi?u=macs_cant
May 16, 2007
Gaim is now known as Pidgin. (http://www.pidgin.im/)
May 16, 2007
Thank you for your input on our Freeware for Windows Post. We post new content everyday so make sure to check back soon.
May 16, 2007
All three of your suggestions are great! Thank you for the tip!
May 17, 2007
In response to taylor…Low and behold Mac’s had 43 security holes found in it last month…
May 17, 2007
If by chance you come across a dead link could you be so kind as to drop us a comment and let us know? Thank you very much!!
May 17, 2007
I for one would never brag if I used a Mac. LMMFAO!
May 18, 2007
Hi,
the link to TuneXP seems broken.
Cheers
May 18, 2007
Thank you very much it has been removed.
May 18, 2007
Well, Taylor, I used to love Macs and always wanted one. I even taught myself to use one with the Command crap. Then I came across Linux, and all was right with the world…… Well, no, but Linux is a whole lot better, more customizable (ever tried actually completely changing the theme on a Mac?) and so on. Strangely, I have all the characteristics of a Mac from the website Roland pointed to, but with one difference. I’m not stupid.
May 18, 2007
like a previous poster said, Gaim is now known as Pidgin for legal reasons: http://www.pidgin.im/.
Also, SysInternals was “accquired” by Microsoft, so the link to Process Explorer is broken. The correct link is http://www.microsoft.com/technet/sysinternals/ProcessesAndThreads/ProcessExplorer.mspx There are actually lots of cool tools from them on the parent pages, http://www.microsoft.com/technet/sysinternals/default.mspx
May 19, 2007
nitwit - “Strangely, I have all the characteristics of a Mac from the website Roland pointed to, but with one difference. I’m not stupid.”
So, you are gay? lol, jfwy. Peace.
May 21, 2007
The GIMP is closer to Photoshop than Paint.NET in terms of functionality.
May 24, 2007
Great materials. I will use the ideas.
Paul
Children Make Every Shop Important
http://www.cmesi.com
Cause Related Shopping Site Dedicated to Children’s Charities
May 25, 2007
nice setup really helps this newbie
May 25, 2007
nice setup helps this newbie alot
May 29, 2007
what about Jet Audio. Media player that plays everything…install real alternative codec and it will play real media files as well and it looks great.
May 31, 2007
Tidy Start Menu is a handy little tool for cleaning and organizing your start menu. I have been using it for quite awhile and am pleased. Here’s the link: http://www.tidystartmenu.com/index.shtml
Great list, btw!
Thanks
June 1, 2007
Imo the best and free firewall: Comodo, to be found at http://personalfirewall.comodo.com
June 3, 2007
Why Flashget has been left out?
June 3, 2007
I always love these lists to see the newest web2.0….thanks:)
http://www.spilltojill.com
June 3, 2007
You didn’t include gimp yet? =O
June 4, 2007
Have you considered listing The Filter - http://www.thefilter.com
June 6, 2007
“Scribus is an open-source program that brings award-winning professional page layout to Linux/Unix, MacOS X, OS/2 and Windows desktops with a combination of “press-ready” output and new approaches to page layout.”
http://www.scribus.net/
June 6, 2007
Thanks for the list!
A tool I use often is SAMenu, a tiny Windows Explorer extension that lets you batch rename files, change file dates and copy file names to the clipboard.
Some nice gadgets are included in the Microsoft PowerToys for Windows.
June 6, 2007
Miranda IM is a fantastic open-source multi-protocol IM client (it supports Yahoo, AOL, MSN, IRC, ICQ, Google Talk, Gadu-Gadu, …). I am not associated with the project, just a very satisfied long-term user. I prefer it to Gaim/Pidgin, Trillian, etc — the only shortcoming is that it is runs only on Windows.
June 8, 2007
Advanced Diary is no longer freeware.
June 9, 2007
DVD Flick
DVD Flick aims to be a simple but at the same time powerful DVD Authoring tool. It can take a number of video files stored on your computer and turn them into a DVD that will play back on your DVD player, Media Center or Home Cinema Set. You can add additional custom audio tracks as well as subtitles of your choice.
http://www.dvdflick.net/download.php
June 10, 2007
wow,
that’s huge list of freewares, thanks i got what i was looking for
best regards,
eliena
June 10, 2007
Great list of freeware… I can really use some of these utilities.
I have one of my own to add. It’s called “Red Dot Forever” and it’s aimed at musicians who like to record MIDI from their keyboards / digital pianos:
http://reddot.sf.net
June 11, 2007
Another hack of The Gimp which is almost identical to Photoshop is Gimpshop. Thanks for the list there are a few items I have never run across.
http://plasticbugs.com/index.php?p=241
June 12, 2007
Link to process explorer seems to be broken
June 13, 2007
The inclusion of PhotoFiltre warms my heart. With the plug-ins you can does most anything. I use it to batch process, edit, swap heads, etc. No need for IrfanView (unless you wanna “extract all frames” from an mpeg) or Gimp (unless you want layers and transparencies which Paint.Net does also).
Speaking of gifs
MS GIF Animator (doesn’t work with Vista! lol http://www.versiontracker.com/dyn/moreinfo/win/13212 )
Ulead GIF Animator LITE (does work with Vista http://mtm2.com/~mtmg/downloads/misc/paint/gale10.exe }
(these below work with all versions of windows including Vista)
RoughDraft http://www.salsbury.f2s.com/rd_overview.htm For tabbed RTF work on teh nets I use this one. You can grab text off sites, put it in different tabs; splice ‘em, dice ‘em, rewrite ‘em and spit ‘em back out. Spell-check, auto back-up, and tabs equals a killa research ap in my book…
WinPatrol http://www.winpatrol.com/ I always use this.
Wings 3d http://www.wings3d.com/ a nice little subdivision modeler (cad)
Cheers,
Dan
June 14, 2007
LiteStep http://www.litestep.net is a bad ass shell replacement for windows 98-XP.
June 14, 2007
Don’t forget Google’s 3-D drawing program Sketchup.
http://sketchup.google.com/
Intuitive, powerful, cool tutorials included; real fun to use.
June 14, 2007
Fantastic stuff some really handy stuff.
June 14, 2007
I was surprised by the high quality of the products…
June 14, 2007
I was surprised by the high quality of the products… astonishing
June 15, 2007
http://frozendelight.com/FunnyPics/photos/view_19.html
June 16, 2007
Another excellent tool to add to your collection: GParted. It’s a replacement for Partition Magic.
June 16, 2007
good collection
June 28, 2007
Try a free multimeda player that plays everything without the need to install any codec “The KMPlayer” http://www.kmplayer.com/forums it is really fantastic
July 19, 2007
Great collection.. thanks a lot.
July 19, 2007
I tried to download K-codes pack but it’s not free… :((
July 24, 2007
I didn’t see C(rap) Cleaner but a pretty good list.
Good job.
August 8, 2007
Another great open-source space simulator is Stellarium (http://www.stellarium.org). Celestia is a lot of fun since you can change your reference point, but Stellarium is great for viewing constellations and the like from any location on the planet. You can even control the speed/direction of time.
August 17, 2007
Hey! So http://www.gregle.com is a great search engine! start using it.!! it is in the process of many upgrades so stay tuned for something bigger and better!!
September 16, 2007
great list
i bookmarked it 
September 20, 2007
Don’t forget IsoBuster:
http://www.isobuster.com
September 27, 2007
I have visited your site 397-times
September 30, 2007
Wow! This is quite a comprehensive list. I was directed here by Tal Siach at Walyou. I think I’ll bookmark you and check back often!
I already use several of these programs but will take some time to peruse the list and see what else I may need!
Thanks so much for compiling it!
September 30, 2007
I have 2 different ‘undelete’ programs on my computer and I guess they are good ones only problem I have is I need something that will undelete a whole program(s) that I accidently deleted from my computer. I can see some of the “file” associated with them on the undelete programs I have but they only undelete files and not whole programs. And I am not knowledgeable enough to actually know how or what “files” I need to undelete to get my programs back, up and running like they were before I “removed” them from my computer. Is there such a beast out there that will do more than just undelete ‘files’? but undelete whole programs???
April 24, 2008
good work, it’a a cool list
July 23, 2008
Thank you for visiting so much. Would you like to exchange links for our clogrools?
Thanks
Nycgraphix