Free software or “Freeware” are available in abundance and if you do dig around hard enough you can find good free alternatives that can stand up to their paid counterparts admirably. But the problem here is of sifting out the ‘gems’ from the myriad of options available.
If you are an avid ‘freeware’ user, then you would have realized that most of the free programs available are not as polished as the paid ones and some of them may be malware in disguise and may cause harm to your PC if you are not careful.
So, we have compiled a list of the 50 best-ever free software that has been around for a while and is trusted and highly-recommended by thousands of users. All the apps mentioned here are reviewed by our editors and is available in our Downloads section. We have grouped them into six main categories – Security, System Utilities, Multimedia, Productivity, Internet, and Desktop Tools – for easy reference.
Security
“I have a PC, I have an Internet connection, I use an external drive for transferring files, my computer is infested with all kinds of malware.” Does this situation sounds familiar? More often than not, most PCs are vulnerable to attacks of various kinds, so security apps should be among the first apps you install in your PC. But you don’t even need to spend a bundle for a secure system. Here are the best “free” options to keep your computer safe and clean.
Avira AntiVir Personal - This free antivirus app offers great, thorough protection and top-notch scan speed, comparable to other expensive antivirus tools. It offers excellent malware detection, disinfection, and scan speed. It also provides protection against spyware and adware, rootkits (stealth attacks designed to escape detection and burrow their way into the operating system), and other malware. It is also a good antivirus for netbook users looking for a lightweight tool to protect their system.
Ad-Aware Free - Ad-Aware Free has long been one of the most popular spyware killers on the planet, and with good reason. It's simple to use, does an excellent job of detecting and killing spyware, and stays out of your way as much as possible. Tell it to scan your system, and it finds spyware and other malware, and then deletes it or quarantines it for you. Ad-Aware Free now protects against rootkits. It also includes several types of heuristic detection, which protects you by examining complex system behavior, rather than just looking for known malware signatures.
Comodo Firewall - If you want maximum protection from a firewall, you'd do well to install Comodo Firewall. It blocks Trojans, hackers trying to take control of your PC, and other Internet and network threats. More important than interface of a firewall is effectiveness, and here Comodo Firewall Pro shines, according to the Matousec.com set of firewall tests. It rates Comodo Firewall well ahead of other firewalls--over the last year, the firewall rated 95% every time it was tested.
Truecrypt - This encryption program lets you place files and folders in "safes" of any size and works by creating a virtual disk on your hard drive, the contents of which are encrypted on the fly. It even allows you to run a hidden operating system from the encrypted drive, or encrypt an entire system drive. TrueCrypt allows you to protect the sensitive data on your PC in a way that's relatively unobtrusive and yet almost completely bulletproof. Check out our detailed tutorial how to use Trucrypt effectively.
Threatfire - Unlike most of the other pieces of free antivirus software, PC Tools Threatfire is not a stand-alone antivirus program. Instead, Threatfire supplements your existing security app with highly effective behavioral analysis that can stop malware based solely on what the file tries to do on your PC. I n AV-Test.org's behavioral-detection tests, most free antivirus apps have only about a 30 percent to 60 percent detection rate. Not so for Threatfire: It warned about every single one of the 15 malware samples used, and it blocked all but one of them. What's more, this nimble malware nabber didn't put up any false-positive warnings. It's hard not to be impressed with such stellar performance.
WinPatrol - This nifty little tool patrol your Windows system and kills off unwanted background programs like worms, adware, and spyware. It keep tabs on programs running on your PC (including the hidden ones) and alerting you if a program tries to install something unexpected, sets itself to run on startup, change your home page or install something it shouldn't.
Secunia PSI - One of the best ways to protect your PC is to keep all your software up-to-date. Secunia Personal Software Inspector makes it easy to find and fix old programs on your PC, even those that lack automatic update features. It scans your computer to find out what versions of what software you have installed, and it reports on which might contain known security holes. It also provides clickable links to download available patches or program updates, which makes updating most software a snap.
System Utilities
Keep your PC running in tip-top condition with these fantastic free apps that can clean out junks from your PC, tweak it to your heart contents, make system run faster and smoother, and many other important tasks to optimize your PC in various ways.
Advanced System Care Free – This nifty program has all the basic tools you'll need for speeding up your system, and is exceedingly easy to use. It even includes a one-click fix in which the program does an analysis and then fixes any problems it finds. It comes with a startup manager,; a Registry fixer; and a system optimizer, which alters the way Windows runs, in order to improve performance. There are a slew of other tools as well, such as a spyware remover, junk file cleaner, disk defragmentation tool, and privacy sweeper. And there are also some very good tools for showing details about your hardware and software configuration. It even has a feature that let you view log files of what have been optimized in your system.
CCleaner - CCleaner searches through a number of programs and removes useless files and even temp files. It's highly configurable, allowing you to select which problems to look for and which items to ignore. CCleaner goes beyond the basic wash and polish with extra mini-tools. A registry scanner removes old and unused entries, including ActiveX Controls, fonts, installers, shared DLLs, fonts, help files, application paths, icons, unused file extensions, and invalid shortcuts. CCleaner also includes an uninstaller and a list of deletable startup entry keys.
Macrium Reflect - With so many drive imaging programs out there, it's hard to stand out from the crowd--yet Macrium's Reflect Free Edition has managed to do precisely that. It doesn't image hard drive partitions any better than the competition, but its interface is the friendliest we've run across. This free program has gathered the best bits from several of its rivals. It lets you you save an image definition file in XML as well as mount and unmount images as normal Windows drive letters. It even lets you schedule backups and create a recovery disc using Linux or Bart's PE--a nice bit of versatility.
Revo Uninstaller - Revo Uninstaller solves an all-too-common problem: Programs whose uninstallation routines are sloppy. This program promises to find all those bits and pieces and zap them so that when you uninstall software, your computer gets truly clean. Except for 64-bit operating systems, Revo is compatible with all versions of Windows. Revo gives you the details that the Windows uninstaller doesn't: It lists every program's version and location on the drive, tells when the app was installed, and provides links to vendor sites.
TeraCopy Home - This replacement for the Windows copy/move function comes with advanced features that Windows should have and also helps in faster files transfer. It inserts itself in place of the Windows file handling functions, adding to the usual right-click option. TeraCopy's pause function alone is worth the download if you regularly copy large amounts of files. You may also choose up front whether you want to overwrite all files, older ones only, skip files that already exist, or rename the file being copied to avoid overwriting the existing files. TeraCopy provides a lot more information about the files being copied, such as their size and original location.
Smart Defrag - Replace Windows defragment tool with this free yet excellent alternative that offers several levels of defragmentation and auto defrag option. It also offers extras as well, such as several levels of defragmentation, including whether to merely defragment your hard disk, or also move files around for optimum placement. There's also a simple-to-use scheduler, so that you can schedule your defragments at regular intervals. You can also customize the defragmentation in many ways, such as not defragging when your PC is on battery power.
Recuva - If you want a good un-delete program with a small disk footprint (and no financial cost), then Recuva is what you're looking for. It works on both FAT and NTFS file systems so you can undelete files on virtually any Windows PC ever made, and the user interface is the very model of restrained style and efficiency.
Eraser - Deleting files doesn't actually destroy all the data--it just makes it harder to find. To make sure those files are good and gone, you need to overwrite them with a tool like this one. This program's designers have paid special attention to avoiding common potential problems regarding use of write cache, construction of the hard disk, and the use of data encoding. It even comes with a scheduler for setting up data removable jobs to be done on a specified period of time.
Ultimate Boot CD - To be clear on what UBCD isn't--it's not a suite of fancy utilities with a menu structure and lots of help screens. The disk is a collection of bootable disk images, all stored on a bootable CD. Boot the CD, then choose a disk image. The system then boots from the image, and you're running the programs on the disk. Each image has different tools, different interfaces, and different utilities. This is like a binder full of floppies on a single CD:a great time saver, but not a tool for technophobes or general users.
7-Zip - You can compress and decompress .zip format archive files using Windows' own built-in capabilities, but that's limited. Or you can use a commercial program like WinZip that's packed with all sorts of goodies, but you have to pay for it. Or you can use 7-Zip, which gives you a couple of the most important features for free. It's available in 32-bit and 64-bit versions. For instance, 7-Zip can compress and decompress WinZip-compatible AES-encrypted .zip files. 7-Zip also allows you to compress and e-mail files in one easy step.
GFI Backup - This completely free backup utility doesn't have disk imaging capability but it has just about everything else you could wish for in a backup program. The interface is also one of the best we've seen - an intuitive combination of tabbed dialog and set-by-step wizard. You can opt for plain file backup, backup to a zip file, or backup to an executable zip. Options include 256-bit AES encryption, the ability to run other programs before and after the backup, backup program settings for various applications, numerous backup storage options, and username/password entry for backing up to protected network locations. Other features include notification emails (with account settings), syncing of folders, a comprehensive scheduler, backing up an open file.
Partition Wizard Home Edition - This partitioning utility outperforms expectations and is surprisingly capable for a free tool - and it can even recovers lost partitions. The program just created, deleted, moved, resized, and copied partitions with no fuss or bother--or error messages. It also recreated a master boot record, wiped a disk, and even searched for, found, and recovered a deleted partition with nary a failure. Partition Wizard's interface is simple and easy to use. Partition Wizard is a must-download for anyone who deals with partition operations on a regular basis.
Comodo Time Machine - Like Windows' own System Restore, Comodo Time Machine can roll back your PC to an earlier state. However, this download does more than just protect the Registry and your system files: It backs up files, folders, and programs, as well. Windows won't load? Press while booting to access all of CTM's roll-back features.
Productivity
If you use your PC as an assistant for helping you through various productivity tasks, these quality free tools will come in very handy.
OpenOffice.org - Not happy with the idea of a Web-based office application--nor with paying gobs of money for Microsoft's office suite? Then you want the downloadable OpenOffice.org, the free competitor to Microsoft Office. It's a full suite, with a word processor, spreadsheet, presentation program, database, and drawing program--and, for ubergeeks, a "mathematical function calculator" (if you have to ask what it is, you don't need it). You may think that because OpenOffice.org is free, it's an anemic or difficult to use. Nothing could be further from the truth. It does just about everything Microsoft Office does, including opening and saving files in Office file formats, as well as many others.
Foxit Reader - Foxit Reader fit the bill nicely as a lightweight alternative to Adobe Reader. There's almost no PDF file that Foxit Reader doesn't handle perfectly. It takes up far less disk space than Adobe Reader, and--even with much quicker performance of more recent versions of the latter--it's still faster. It's still only a 7 MB download and despite new multimedia handling features, thumbnail and layers view panels, and some other enhancements--it's still fast.
Thunderbird - Not happy with Outlook's steep price? Underwhelmed with Outlook Express? Give Thunderbird a look. This free e-mail client--from the same folks who bring you Firefox--is straightforward and simple to use. It's also packed with the high-end features you'd expect from a top piece of e-mail software, including the ability to encrypt messages, digitally sign messages, create filters so mail can be automatically handled when it's received, and more.
EssentialPIM Free - This nicely integrated suite of organizational helpers lets you manage your schedule, contacts, and create outlines as you brainstorm. EssentialPIM Free is exceptionally easy to use, and offers just about everything you want in a PIM. The program can also import data from Microsoft Outlook or Outlook Express. It lets you configure its look and feel, and offers very good printing options.
Bullzip PDF Printer - This free front end for Ghostscript creates PDFs from your documents--with watermarks and password protection. Like many free PDF apps, Bullzip is actually a front-end for the public domain Ghostscript Postscript/PDF printer driver. Still, for anyone to take the time to implement the more advanced features in a super-clean, advertising-free little app is, well, great.
AbiWord - Tired of paying megabucks for Microsoft Office when all you need is a good, solid word processor? Then you're in luck. If your word processing chores are straightforward, you'll want this freebie. AbiWord features a simple interface; you won't need to spend hours trying to wrangle your way through ribbons or multi-level menus. It won't handle the newest .docx Office file format (the similar Jarte has DOCX support), for example. But if you use AbiWord enough, you'll find that it's not just a money-saver, but a time-saver as well, because of its utter simplicity.
Rainlendar Lite - Compared to many calendar programs, Finlander Kimmo "Rainy" Pekkola's Rainlendar stands out. Typically, and by default when first installed, this wonderfully customizable free desktop calendar takes up only a few square inches of the desktop, with a small, transparent calendar stacked on top of a pair of boxes. One is labeled Events, the other, To Do. Hundreds of skins are available to dramatically change its appearance. There are dozens of languages in which you can run Rainlendar, and it supports iCalendar standards, which means you should find it easy to add events from another calendar. It doesn't strain system resources too.
WordWeb - Toss out that dog-eared dictionary and worn-out thesaurus, and use this amazingly helpful tool instead. Install WordWeb Dictionary-Thesaurus and you can instantly find definitions, synonyms--and even pronunciations--for words in any Windows program. Just highlight the word and click the WordWeb icon in your system tray (or simply hold down Ctrl and right-click a word) to access a wealth of information that includes definition, synonyms, and spoken pronunciation. There's a dizzying array of options, including a choice of different types of English.
Multimedia
Looking for tools to quickly enhance your photos, burn discs, edit videos, convert or rip multimedia files? No need to worry, since there are myriad of excellent free programs to play or work with all kind of multimedia files.
KMPlayer - KMPlayer is a very cool little software audio/video player with an extraordinary array of built-in audio and video decoders. In addition to the array of integrated decoders, KMPlayer will use any DirectShow CODECs you've installed and there are more playback options and A/V filters than you can shake a stick at. It even supports WDM devices like TV tuners and camcorders. The interface is both handsome and efficient. If KMPlayer doesn't quickly become your favorite, we'll be surprised.
Picasa - Picasa is the best free piece of photo managing and editing software you can find. What does it do? The better question to ask is what it doesn't. At its most basic, it's a photo manager and viewer. Fire up Picasa, and you can browse through all of your photos, organized by folder, as well as by the year they were stored on your hard disk. It also includes a face-tagging feature for your photos. But all that is just a start. It also has a full complement of editing tools, and lets you create CDs full of photos, as well as photo collages, screensavers, and posters. It will upload your files to Google's Web albums photo site, publish your photos to your Blogger blog, and plenty more as well.
MediaMonkey - MediaMonkey is a versatile and features-packed media player and manager that does a good job of playing and organizing media files. It is packed with many advanced features that we normally don't see in most free media players and comes with a wide range of format support. One powerful feature of Media Monkey is its advance tagging and file organizing capability. Media Monkey is one of the best media players to let you manage your files without any hassle if you don't mind the lack of video support.
Audacity - If you're interested in creating, editing, and mixing you'll want Audacity. This powerful, free, Open Source tool can record sound and music as well as edit it, so you'll want to start off recording your audio. After that, you edit, and it offers a surprisingly powerful set of tools. In all likelihood, it's got more horsepower than you really need. It lets you add several dozen sound effects, has a powerful mixer, and much more. Audacity is good enough for engineers, and for those who just want to play around with sound as well.
The GIMP - This app is a favorite of open-source software fans everywhere. It isn't the easiest to use, but it's nearly as powerful as Photoshop and includes many of the kinds of photo-editing tools that come with that program, including filters, effects, masks, layers, and more. Of course there are the basics tools you'd expect in a photo editor, such as red eye removal, but there is plenty more here. If you're looking for professional-level photo editing, but don't want to spend a bundle--or even a rupee---this is the program for you. If you are looking for a lightweight app but still offer similar features than check out the equally impressive Paint.NET.
IrfanView - It's this simple: If you ever use graphics for almost any reason, you need this program. It's small, it's fast, it's free, and it does its work better than any competitor. What more can we say? Irfanview's main task is to view graphics files, and it does a superb job of it. You can view just about any file format you can imagine, and display it lightning fast. It can also display thumbnails, show your files as slideshows, and play multimedia files. Given that it's a file viewer, the program also includes a surprising number of graphics editing tools, including adding effects and cropping. And if you need to convert files from one format to another, it can't be beat. It's particularly effective at batch-converting large groups of files.
IMGBurn - What's thin, light, powerful, sometimes clever, and always there to handle your data burning needs? ImgBurn--easily the most impressive free/donationware burning software we've run across. The program handles a host of image types including ISO, NRG, PDI, UDI, BIN/CUE, and CDI--obviating the need to buy several different imaging programs--and will also create data CDs, DVDs, and get this: Blu-ray data discs. ImgBurn a little daunting for less tech-savvy users, it's great for those who understand the process. If you want to try out a much easier-to-use similar tool, check out CDBurnerXP.
HandBrake - Got a DVD that you want to turn into a friendly format so that you can store it on your hard disk, make a backup to disc, or play on a mobile device? Then you'll want HandBrake. It grabs video from a variety of sources, including a DVD, and a DVD image, and grabs audio from sources as well, including MPEG audio tracks. You'll then be able to output a digital file in a variety of formats. There are some very nice extras in here, such as being able to select individual DVD chapters, grabbing subtitles, and more. You get plenty of control over your recording, including selecting the bit rate, maximum file size for video, and bit rate and sample rate for audio.
AviDemux - Avidemux is the best free video editor and encoder we've run across in terms of overall usability, usefulness, and performance. Every video editor we've tried to date absolutely insists on completely re-encoding your video even if all you did was cut or trim. Every single one--until Avidemux. If you're saving to the same type of video, it simply copies all the unedited material to a new file. Not only does Avidemux edit, it also re-encodes in a variety of different formats. It's also straightforward and easy to use, assuming a fair knowledge of the process - for free you simply can't beat it.
Photoscape - This remarkable free piece of software is one that any self-respecting digital photographer needs on his or her PC's hard disk. There's no possible way to begin to describe the wide range of tools and features this one has--there's everything from a file viewer to a photo editor, slide show creator, batch editor, screen capture program, and more. There are some quite original and innovative tools in Photoscape, such as combining multiple photos in a single frame.
Internet
Yoono Desktop- One of many apps that mash together all of your social networking updates into one, Yoono Desktop stands out in a few important ways. It doesn't require any other installation (such as Adobe Air) before it can be downloaded and run--it works on its own. Another big advantage Yoono has is that it's not just the union of Twitter and Facebook, but also includes support for MySpace, LinkedIn, Friendfeed, Flickr, and a whole host of instant messaging clients. Yoono is a nice choice for the pure social network breadth it contains. If you've got a good reason to have an account at a lot of places, and want to look at them all easily, Yoono is the way to go.
uTorrent - If you're looking to get started with torrent downloads, this software is an excellent place to begin, because it's easier to use than other clients, very light in system resources utilization, and is arguably the fastest to run. You get full controls over your download, including pausing, resuming, moving downloads up and down your queue, and so on.
Skype - Here's the simplest way to save money on your phone bill: Use Skype. It lets you make Internet-based VoIP (voice over Internet protocol) phone calls for free to anyone in the world who also uses Skype on their PC, and make inexpensive calls from your PC to landlines and cell phones worldwide. It's exceptionally simple to use. It will automatically recognize your headset, microphone, and speakers, so you don't need to worry about configuration. Skype does more than phone calls. It also lets you video chat in HD quality and text chat as well, and send SMS messages. This newest version of Skype also features nifty integration with Firefox--you can call any phone number you see on a Web site with one click.
Firefox – This is a highly customizable browser with tons of add-ons available and also boasts of features that makes it a perfect choice if you are looking for a powerful browser. It includes private browsing mode, tabs isolation, watching videos in full screen, geolocation support, interface auto-rotation, and comes with Personas which are interface skins you can apply with one click. While it may be loaded with features and customization options, it may not be the fastest, for a light-weight option, try out Google Chrome.
Free Download Manager - This popular, free, open-source download manager speeds up the acquisition of multiple downloads by breaking the files into smaller pieces, then downloading these simultaneously. FDM will automatically resume interrupted downloads, and can download using Bittorrent. It also comes with files uploading support, downloading online videos like YouTube, files preview option, scheduler, and more.
Google Earth - If you've ever wanted to be Superman--soaring above our globe, diving deep in the ocean, or launching into outer space--Google Earth 5 can grant your wish. Whether you want the world or just a tiny corner of it, Google Earth gives it all to you. You can twirl the planet like a globe and turn it every which way. Once you're done tossing the planet like a Hacky Sack, zoom in for a better look at what interests you. The images show every landmark and every urban center in exquisite detail. You even can find your own house. There are some other useful extra tools like Google Mars, Google Sky, Google Ocean, and Google Tours.
Desktop Tools
Make your desktop more lively and productive with these awesome freebies that can add transform it completely, or trawl through files in your PC, or launch programs in a jiffy.
Fences - Tired of icon clutter? Sure, you can organize your desktop shortcuts, programs, folders, and the like by dragging and dropping, but eventually some game or other screen resolution-changing app will undo all your hard work. Enter Fences, a free app from Stardock that's so clever, so simple, and so useful, you'll wonder why it's not built right into Windows. The program simply divides your icons into organized groups, each of which is represented by a translucent window. You can assign a name to each group, arrange groups to your liking, change a group's size (just like resizing any window), and so on. Indeed, if you recall how you used to organize icons back in the Windows 3.1 days, Fences will seem familiar indeed. Of course, this is a much prettier and more effective solution. A quick double-click of the desktop is all it takes to hide or show all your groups.
Find And Run Robot (FARR) - This is a powerful program launching utility and comes host of extremely helpful add-ons and plugins. FARR works with "aliases," short phrases that access other programs and parts of the computer. Want to run a command without opening a prompt? Type "run" and the command name into FARR, and it happens. Looking for the real meaning of the word "mensch"? Type "define mensch," and you get access to fifteen online dictionaries and thesauruses. Wondering what the cast of Buffy the Vampire Slayer is doing these days? Type "imdb buffy," and there you are at an appropriate IMDB page.
Jing - Have you ever wanted a way to quickly share a video or screenshot with someone? Jing lets you do just that. The program is designed for ease of use. Once running, a translucent yellow sun-like shape appears at the top right of your screen. Click it and three “rays” extend from the sun; click on each ray to start capture, view a history of previous capture activity, or access more settings and controls.
Everything Search Engine - Everything allows for quick and easy name and location searches for, well, everything. This tiny download quickly creates an index database of all your files (but not their contents) and displays them in a simple, no-nonsense search window. Everything uses only a small amount of memory. If you want to try a fast, free option for finding your files, give Everything a shot. If you also want to be able to search within a file, such as particular text within a Word doc, you might try Google Desktop.
ObjectDock – ObjectDock lets you add a snazzy program launcher similar to the Mac Dock to your Windows desktop and amps up your control over the Windows interface. It works well as a supplement to the Windows taskbar with shortcuts to your favorite files and programs, and it can also mostly replace the taskbar entirely. The free and fun utility focuses equally on both form and function. It's dead simple to add items to the dock. Just drag a shortcut, file or folder from the desktop or Explorer to a spot on the dock--and drag them off to remove them. If you're at all interested in customizing your desktop, ObjectDock is a fun way to start.
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