I have listed free software many times on this site and have discussed the benefits and the drawbacks. The other day a reader of mine asked me if I would list the freeware that would be necessary to have for the average computer owner. In other words he wanted to know if I could tell him how to create a computer that had only freeware on it, yet was functional. In order to do this, I am assuming that the average owner uses the Windows Operating System. The good news is that there is enough good freeware out there so you can do this. About half, or more of the software on my computer is freeware.
So without further ado here is a list of freeware that you can run the average computer on and never need to buy any commercial software.
Office Needs:
Open Office - a great free office suite.
Address Book - a simple address book
Foxit Reader - reads PDF files
PDF Creator - creates PDF Files
Wordweb - a very helpful dictionary and more
Multimedia:
SMPlayer - will play almost any video or audio
Infanview - picture viewer and manipulator with some drawing capability
Avidemux - video editor
Audacity - nice audio editor
MediaJoin - joins files together to make one file
Paint.net - nice free drawing program
Anti-virus and spyware detection:
AVG - anti-virus program
Spybot Search & Destroy - gets rid of spyware
or
The anti-virus and anti-spyware programs that come free with Google Apps
Mcafee Site Advisor - attaches to your browser and lets you know if web sites are safe
Web browser and FTP Agent:
Firefox - my favorite due to the fact it is so customizable
Chrome - Google's web browser. It is fast but not as customizable
CoreFTP - a very nice FTP agent.
Email:
Thunderbird - Made by Mozilla and very similar to Outlook by Microsoft
Backup Program:
DriveImage.XML - This is a great backup program, but you need your Windows Disk to make it work.
PE Builder - necessary to create a bootable disk for DriveImage.XML
Here are programs that have a Windows equivalent, but are so much better:
Tweak UI - allows you to customize settings for Windows
Revo Uninstaller - much better uninstaller, gets rid of everything
Everest Home Edition - shows everything about your computer
Process Explorer - Find out what is running and what it is connected to
Copy:
Free CD DVD Burner - burns files to CD or DVD
DVD Shrink - Copies unprotected movies to DVD and makes them fit the disk
Useful Tools:
CCleaner - cleans the registry
DiffDaff - compare directories for double entries
Gadwin Print Screen - it does what it says and does it well
Iconoid - keep those pesky icons in place where you want them
Software Informer - informs you of updates
Atomic Clock - keeps your computer clock accurate
Advanced Windows Care - keeps your computer running correctly
Misc:
Google Earth - interesting and useful
KompoZer - webpage builder (I have never tried this one but many like it)
That is about it. If you get everything on this list you will have a computer full of nice freeware. To get these free programs just put their name into your Google search bar and the websites that have them will come up. By the way, there are thousands of free games out there, if you are so inclined. As I have indicated in the past, some of these free programs become commercial ones over time.
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