Best Free Computer Software
Believe it or not, some things are free. Freeware, or software provided without a cost, is surprisingly plentiful. In fact, many of the high cost popular programs like Microsoft Word and Anti-Virus software packages have free alternatives that are worth checking out. Before you shell out your hard-earned money they next time you have a need for a new program, consider some of the following freebies:
AVG Free Anti-Virus – An anti-virus program that you cannot afford not to try if you aren’t already protected from viruses and spyware. AVG is easy to use and comes with all the needed features of a good anti-virus program like free updates, real time protection, web shield, anti-rootkit, and support.
Mozilla Firefox – a great alternative to Microsoft Explorer for browsing the internet. I use Firefox and have been extremely happy with it. Some of the top features are: one-click bookmarking, full zoom, faster web loading, less memory usage, password manager, download manager, and easy to use.
MediaMonkey – a great alternative to ITunes, MediaMonkey allows you to transfer files onto your iPod with ease. In addition, MediaMonkey is also a MP3 player, allows you to record CDS, create playlists, sync non-IPod MP3 players, and organize your music library.
Xobni – Spelled inbox backwards, xobni is a great tool to have to help organize your email. Used with Outlook, this plug-in allows you to save time from searching your mail archives, contacts and attachments. I use this at work and love it. It searches even archived mail and does it faster than the Outlooks traditional search tool. As an added benefit, xobni pulls your contacts profile pictures from social networks like Facebook. Give it at try.
Winamp – Another great program that plays your MP3s, movies, and various other media files. Winamp is one of my favorites because of the easy to use interface. The updated Winamp now has IPod sync support and, iTunes Library import, and remote media access.
WinRAR – This handy program makes compress and unload your files. RAR files can usually compress content by 8 percent to 15 percent more than ZIP files can. WinRAR’s main features include strong general and multimedia compression, the ability to process non-RAR archive formats, ZIP compression and decompression, support for long filenames, programmable self-extracting archives (SFX), repair of damaged archives, authenticity verification, embedded file comments, and encryption.
OpenOffice – is the leading open-source office software suite 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. It can be downloaded and used completely free of charge for any purpose.
Mint – Create a secure Mint account, then add your bank, credit card, home loan and investment accounts and let Mint help you organize your finances. See where you are spending your money, find ways to save, set up alerts, uncover hidden fees, and reduce your debt with this handy free program.
Rudder – Like Mint, Rudder is a free program designed to minimize the effort required in managing your money. Whether you pay all your bills systematically from one checking account or have more credit cards than your wallet/ purse can fit, Rudder helps you stay on top of your finances.
Skype - If you sign up your friends, Skype allows you to call and videoconference them for free—even internationally.
CCleaner – this great program allows for system optimization, privacy and cleaning tool. It removes unused files from your system – allowing Windows to run faster and freeing up valuable hard disk space. It also cleans traces of your online activities such as your Internet history. Additionally it contains a fully featured registry cleaner.
TeamViewer – This program allows you to remote into your other computers as if you were physically on them. It’s easy to set up and allows file transferring, troubleshooting, and basically whatever it is you need to do remotely. $
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Comments
I would like to add Google Docs to that list. Online hosted (with offline access) document, presentation, spreadsheet, and form software. It also opens (almost?) all MS Office applications without downloading hefty, sluggish software to your home computer. docs.google.com
Google has lots of free software for download. I just don’t use a lot of them. (Well, Google Earth is fun, but not entirely useful.)
Google Docs is a great addition to the list. I actually do my budget using Google Docs, this allows me to log into it from anywhere.
Free operating systems like Ubuntu are great for computers that are only run for the very basic tasks of surfing the internet, documents, spreadsheets etc. I used to use FreeBSD, but ran into problems with certain Windows programs, including games, that I decided I couldn’t live without.
@aaron: Good call, I think Malwarebyes should also be included as well as CCleaner. This is going to turn out to be a huge list I think!
If we are going to go on the free as in free ride, why not a whole system that is free? Linux has many flavors, all the software you need is offered for free (some of them much better than a paid product, in addition to better support in the online community). Some are geared to Windows users, such as Linspire, which makes the transition almost seamless. Others are a bit more complicated, but Ubuntu is the king right now for the Linux desktop.
In addition, you do not need a lot of these tools to manage your system. Firewall built in, check! Virus protection, not needed (yes it is possible, but by the actual architecture used in Linux, it is HIGHLY improbable of a virus wrecking your system)..so check! No need for a registry cleaner, or defragmentation of the hard drive.Some of the packages named here (Firefox, open office and skype) are stock in many Linux distro’s.
I have converted my sister (who is computer illiterate to the nth degree) over to Ubuntu Linux several months ago and she loves it.
I have been a Microsoft user since the mid 80’s and converted to Linux almost 3 years ago. It has been one of the best decisions I have made in the technology area of my life.
Be brave, because it’s not that hard! Try it out and have stuff for free ( as in free beer 
)
Google has lots of free software for download. I just don’t use a lot of them. (Well, Google Earth is fun, but not entirely useful.)
Mr. Unbuntu,
I would L-O-V-E to convert to a free system, but being a designer, I don’t believe many design programs (Adobe, mainly) are supported on systems other thank Windows or Mac O/S. I recently had to upgrade to Vista and am quite miserable because of it. 
Any work-arounds you know of to get Adobe CS3 on a Linux machine?
@mrubuntu: Great points! Free BSD’s etc and OS’s like Ubuntu have their place to be sure.
@colormist: This might be the largest breakdown of the argument as to what might be keeping people off free OS’s…Adobe will not run on any architecture other than Windows and Mac. Your best bet would be to dual boot with separate partitions. (There IS something that I might try before that though: WINE is a Linux app that allow Windows apps to run but you might have to pay for the full version (of WINE), and even then its only going to work with Photoshop 7 and older. Creative Suites aren’t stable on it yet.) SOURCE – http://ubuntuforums.org/archive/index.php/t-447287.html
I don’t know about VLC. I’m using ffdshow and media player classic and that’s all… i can play all video formats.
colormist, I did leave out that I do need to run a windows session for certain programs at work (pcanywhere, VBA in excel, etc). I do this by running a virtual machine. Personally, I use VirtualBox (again free), and there are a few you can choose from (VMWare is pretty popular).
Hi Ben & Frank,
How about a software app that saves companies and private users a ton of cash by allowing people to organize their meetings over the Web?
Mikogo is a free desktop sharing tool that allows you to invite up to 10 people to view your screen live over the net. Ideal for remote support, online meetings and Web presentations. And it saves everyone a great deal of money (and time) by eliminating the need to travel all the time.
Btw, we just released the new Mikogo version for Mac users too. Drop by our website to check it out http://www.mikogo.com or if you would like more info, feel free to contact me.
Cheers,
Andrew Donnelly
The Mikogo Team
Awesome list. I agree with everything listed. A couple more I would add are:
Ad aware – Great spyware sweeper
Spybot S&D – another great spyware sweeper
spyblaster – yet another good spy sweeper
VLC – plays all types of audio/video files
Songbird – another good alternative to Itunes
and my personal favorite is Ubuntu. A great free alternative to the Windows operating system. Has everything windows does, plus more. And all software included with Ubuntu is FREE!!!