Windows platform has the maximum number of users, and there is a wide variety of freeware (software that is not paid) available for various purposes. Some applications are brilliant, while others are usable(let us not talk about crapware).
As a long-time Windows user, I have tested and settled for good applications for each purpose. Here is a list essential freeware for Windows – all of which I personally use and whole-heartedly recommend. Also see 6 websites to fulfill all your freeware download needs. You can also suggest your favorite applications in comments below!
Most computer users are unaware of the many free software that can be used instead of paid software. Please Digg, Stumble or bookmark this article on Delicious to let more users know of these freeware.
Archiving: 7zip
Alternative for: WinZip/WinRar
7zip is an excellent archival tool for all platforms – Windows, Linux and Mac OS X. It supports all the usual file formats, but it can also unpack some unusual file formats, not to mention the 7z format. 7z format is a new open archive format with high compression, support for encryption and unicode encoding.
Antivirus: Avast
Alternative for: Norton/Kaspersky antivirus
Avast is one of the best antivirus tools that you can get, free or otherwise. It is known for its low footprint, tiny online updates (which bodes well for those on slower connections) and has a good real-time scanner.
PDF: Foxit
Alternative for: Adobe Reader
Foxit is a lightweight PDF reader. It makes an excellent choice for PDFs, as it takes up less resources than Adobe Reader, and is just as capable. Sad thing is, many people are unaware of its existence and slug on with Adobe Reader.
RSS: FeedDemon
FeedDemon was a paid product for a long time, but is now a freeware. It is developed by NewsGator, who also develops the popular Mac OS X software NetNewsWire. FeedDemon sports a clean interface, has a few special features like the Panic button, a custom shared items URL (like Google Reader) and synchronization if you use multiple computers. Read our review of FeedDemon.
Disc burning: Img Burn
Alternative for: Ahead Nero
Img Burn is a free disc buring software, with a good feature set and easy to use UI. It is very reliable (rarely have I had coaster discs). It is also resource-friendly, with the installer being sub-2 MB and memory usage being quite low. Read our review of Img Burn.
Encryption: TrueCrypt
TrueCrypt is a free encryption utility, and can encrypt specific files/folders or even entire partitions. It is very useful to protect your privacy, as even police cannot (legally) ask you to provide password for an encrypted drive (in a recent incident, a court judge ruled so). This should come in handy when you are travelling to/from areas where customs officials check your computer for illegal content.
IM: Pidgin
Pidgin is a popular IM client, and like Firefox, has plugins to extend its capabilities. Pidgin is a multi-protocol client, which means that it supports most networks you would use (GTalk/Jabber, MSN, Yahoo, AIM etc.).
Image editing: GIMP
Alternative for: Photoshop
GIMP is a free image editor, and is a popular alternative to the expensive Photoshop. Although not as polished or powerful as Photoshop, GIMP is sufficiently powerful for most users. GIMP has a wide library of free brushes, plugins and scripts to extend its functionality. Also see our list of free GIMP plugins and GIMP brushes.
BitTorrent: uTorrent
uTorrent is the most popular P2P client on Windows. Packing all the usual features and then some in a tiny package (>400 KB), uTorrent has a low memory footprint too. It can be skinned, and has only the necessary settings available (unlike Azureus).
Audio: WinAmp
WinAmp is easily the most popular audio player for Windows. Apart from excellent music playback, it has a range of plugins, and the pro version (which costs $20) can burn/rip discs and has other extras. For most people, the free version will be sufficiently powerful.
Video: VLC Player
VLC is a video player with a rich feature set – it plays just about any file format. It requires no codecs installed on the system, as it has codecs bundled with it. It plays all the normal formats, and uncommon formats like 3GP, Flash etc.
Browsing: Firefox
Firefox is the most popular browser amongst the technically-oriented, and for good reasons. It has an extensive library of extensions, providing just about every capability you can think of. It is also much safer, thanks to its open-source nature.
Email: Thunderbird
Thunderbird is a free and open-source email client, developed by Mozilla, which also develops Firefox. Thunderbird has support for email, RSS feeds and USENET.
Related reading
- Get Mac OS X applications for free with GivingTree
- Use Rapidshare as a premium user for free
- How to install iPhone applications on iPod Touch
- Windows Live skin for Winamp free download
I use all of them except Img Burn. I use InfraRecorder instead. Will give this one a try!
Great list! This is definitely a carefully handpicked list of feature-rich yet low-on-resources app. Here is what I use :
1.IZArc – 7-Zip is pretty good, but I find the former to be better.
2.AVG – Avast (and almost every other known antivirus except Norton) is blocked by our institute servers; as it is “mandatory” to use the inst. licensed (and incredibly bloated) eTrust Threat Management suite. AVG’s domain is blocked as well, but I can update through the alternate update servers available.
3.Foxit : Who on earth would waste 200MB for a PDF reader?
4.Google Reader: I have used Chrome’s feature to create an application of Google Reader; it’s pretty convenient to use.
5.BurnAware: I’ve heard a lot about ImgBurn, but never gave it a try. Time to try it now…
6.No encryption tool.
7.Pidgin surprisingly doesn’t manage to connect to Yahoo! and Gtalk from the network here. I use Digsby instead, which is much better but damn slow as well.
8.No use using torrents here (download speed is rarely above 25K), though I have uTorrent – just in case.
9.Foobar (and sometimes WMP) : I never got to like WinAmp, just for no reason.
10.VLC : There we match again! I just wish VLC would support Real Media formats.
10.Firefox : There’s no substitute to it! I sometimes use Chrome for some quickfire surfing too.
11.Outlook : NIT-R provides genuine licenses for Microsoft Office Enterprise 2007, and Outlook comes with it.
@Ashutosh: IZArc is quite good – I’d reviewed it on TechZilo earlier. Lucky dude gets NIT-R licenses
A nice collection of useful and free App’s
Thanks
I’d add AIMP for Audio, and KMPlayer for Video
Nice list, Avast is great but it would be safer if you have a free powerful firewall Comodo
Imgburn is the tool of the pirate, brilliant and reliable