I tend to use a lot of “Open Source” software and “freeware”, as alternatives to the stuff bundled with Windows and the expensive packages designed for professional companies.

It’s sometimes easier to find free stuff than it is to find cracks for the corporate stuff.  And besides, legally free means the cops won’t bust your door down and take your PC away.

So, what do I use? What do I recommend?

Internet Software

Internet Browsers

Firefox – This is an open source browser that beats Microsoft’s Internet Explorer with it’s eyes closed.  It’s customizable, expandable through plugins and is pretty tough on pop ups and spyware.

Opera – Another free browser that quick and simple to use, like Firefox it is expandable through the use of plugins.

Mail Clients

Thunderbird – If you download your mail through Outlook Express (yeah, I know it’s old school), you may want to switch to a safer alternative.  I recommend Thunderbird, made by the same community that created Firefox.  It’s got a pretty sturdy junk mail filter, which adapts to the choices you make, so if junk mail does get through it’ll learn what it is and block it in the future.

Firewall

ZoneAlarm – If you’re online, you are prone to hack attempts.  My personal view is that it doesn’t matter if you’re on a 56k connection, or a broadband one, if you’re online eventually someone will try to hack you.  You need a firewall, plain and simple.  Zone Labs have created ZoneAlarm.  It comes in a number of different flavours, however they do provide a nice FREE version.

Comodo – I’ve had a few minor problems using ZoneAlarm on my laptop. If you find the same, I suggest you try Comodo. It’s free, and as easy to use as ZoneAlarm.

Chat Software

Trillian – Do you have WLM, AIM, Yahoo, and ICQ? Do you use them all at the same time? Well stop! Use Trillian instead, it combines all 4 chat programs in one easy interface.  Oh, and it also has an IRC client in there too.

Pidgin – Pidgin (formerly Gaim) is a lovely piece of software that is similar to Trillian, but improves on the idea greatly.  It’s faster, and can handle more IM services.  It can be used for MSN, AIM, Yahoo, ICQ, Google Talk, Jabber, and a few other things too.

Twirl – If you use Twitter a lot, then a solid standalone client is essential.  Twirl works using Adobe Air and is small, fast, and supports most of the common Twitter functions.

TweetDeck – A solid, and fully functional Twitter client that improves on Twirl in a number of ways.  It offers clear and seperate columns for your main feed, replies and direct messages, as well as the ability to add further columns to follow trends and keywords.  TweetDeck also features connectivity to MySpace and Facebook.

Download Software

GetRight – I found back in my 56k days that I tended to get disconnected a lot.  It ruined being able to download files, and it ruled out being able to download anything “big”.  I ended up stumbling across GetRight, it enables you to resume downloads after being disconnected.  On broadband? Still worth downloading, just in case you have to turn your PC off.

Free Download Manager – A fantastic alternative to Getright, Free Download Manager (FDM) does everything that Getright can do.  It has a slick interface, and is highly customisable.  It is compatible with Internet Explorer, Opera and FireFox.

Vuze – (Previously Azureus) I tend to download a lot of “torrents”.  The standard BitTorent software is a nightmare, and usually means that if you are downloading more than one torrent, you’ll have a few windows open.  Vuze is a BitTorrent client that can handle more than one download, meaning no more windows and a nice way of keeping track of everything.  If you use BitTorrent, then this is essential.

uTorrent – A fantastic alternative to Vuze.  Its small file size means that it’s lightweight and fast, even on PCs with low specifications.  I can’t recommend this program enough.

LimeWire – I tend not to use P2P network software, but if there is something I can’t find through torrent sites it can usually be found over a P2P network.  LimeWire is free, and I haven’t had any problems with it yet.

Anti Virus Software

AVG – Can’t afford the latest anti-virus software?  Don’t despair! Grisoft created AVG.  As with ZoneAlarm, it comes in a number of different flavours.  But the most basic version is free, and it works

Avast! – Avast! is a virus scanner from Alwil Software.  It comes in a variety of forms, however their home version is completely free, is fully featured, and is actually pretty impressive (especially for a free virus scanner).

Spyware Removal Software

Ad-Aware – Chances are, even if you have Firefox, some spyware will eventually end up on your system.  Lavasoft created Ad-Aware, a program designed to identify and remove the nasty stuff that ends up on your system.  The “personal” version is free.

Spybot S&D – It’s always good to have more than one form of spyware protection.  I’ve found Spybot to be the perfect accompaniment to Ad-aware.  This software is completely free.

SUPERAntiSpyware – Spyware removal software that promises to “remove ALL the spyware, NOT just the easy ones!”

Office Software

OpenOffice – A completely free alternative to MS Office.  It looks similar, and does everything that the Microsoft version does.  If you haven’t got MS Office, and need a good Office package, then the OpenOffice website should be your port of call.

NoteTab Light – A completely free alternative to Notepad, that features tabs and auto identation.

Notepad++ – A free source code editor and Notepad replacement that supports several languages. It offers syntax highlighting and folding, as well as auto completion and a spell checker.  I use it for editing HTML/CSS/PHP.

Scribus – Scribus is a fully functional Desktop Publishing package that helps you create great looking documents of all kinds. It also comes with a lot of support options to help you achieve the best results, in whichever types of documents you are creating.

Media Players

Winamp – I’ve been using Winamp as my PC MP3 player of choice since the late 90s.  It has a lot of functions, is skinable, and isn’t a resource hog like Windows Media Player.

VLC Media Player – After I discovered that the latest version of BS Player was loaded with spyware, I went on a quest to find something that was “free, reliable, powerful, and of course spyware free.”  I found VLC.  A cross platform media player with a whole host of features.  I highly recommend this piece of software.

Programming Software

Eclipse – I use Eclipse for Java programming.  It apparently can be configured to run pretty much any programming language, but so far I’ve only used it for Java (J2SE and J2ME).  It’s good, very good.

FTP Software

FileZilla – Need FTP Software? FileZilla is for you.  It’s FTP software, not much I can really say.  However, FileZilla does it’s job perfectly, and I recommend it to anyone who needs FTP software.

Image Manipulation Software

GIMP – Need a free alternative to Photoshop and Paint Shop Pro? GIMP may just be the package for you.

UnFREEz – Want to make animated icons? UnFREEz is a simple and fast program.  And, it’s FREE.

Paint.NET – Paint.NET is an image manipulation software package that has been designed for use on computers with Windows 2000, XP, and Vista.  It supports layers, unlimited undo, special effects, and a wide variety of useful and powerful tools.

MP3 Software

Audiograbber – Want to make your own mp3s?  Audiograbber is what I use, it’s quick and simple and can do an entire CD in around 15 minutes.  It was made freeware a while back, so it won’t cost you a penny.

Compression Software

UltimateZip – Opens every type of archive (zip, rar, ace, etc).  Essential if you don’t want to have a million different types of software to open archives.

7-Zip – An open source file manager that can open a host of different archive types (zip, rar, etc), it can also compress in various different methods as well as its own 7z format.

Audio Editing Software

Audacity – An open source easy to use audio editor and recorder.  It is used by a lot of sites in the creation of their podcasts.

Microsoft Visual Studio Express

Microsoft have released a whole series of “Express” products that are designed for students, hobbyists, and novices.  These are all free, full products.

Microsoft SQL Server 2008 Express Edition – Used for creating databases as well as certain website features.

Microsoft Visual Basic 2008 Express Edition – Fully functional IDE used for programming in Visual Basic.

Microsoft Visual C++ Express Edition – Fully functional IDE used for programming in C++.

Microsoft Visual C# Express Edition – Fully functional IDE used for programming in C# (C sharp).

Microsoft Visual J# Express Edition – Fully functional IDE used for programming in J# (J sharp).

Microsoft Visual Web Developer Express Edition – Fully functional IDE used for designing web pages.  In a similar vein to the likes of Dreamweaver, though used to create pages using ASP.Net.

—–

If anyone has any free software that they would recommend to someone, please feel free to comment (or contact me via this form) so that I can check it out and add it to the list (even if I don’t have a section for it).

List updated: 17 February 2009.