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Free Software for Windows and Mac's
Utilities | System Protection | Browsers | Media Players | Other (Audio, Web Tools, Graphics, Podcasting, etc.) | Open Source
Updated: February 12, 2008
We are continually updating software on our boxes. You can be assured that if we are recommending it that it has been installed and is free. Too many times we are led to sites of "free" applications and it is either a trial version or trash software.
Utilities
ZoneAlarm A firewall that stops hackers from getting into your PC.
IMsecure a basic instang messaging protection program.
CCleaner is a freeware system optimization and privacy tool. It removes unused files from your system - allowing Windows to run faster and freeing up valuable hard disk space.
Diskeeper 10 is not free, but it is by far one of the best $30 investments you could make for your computer.
StartupList A simple tool that lists all and every auto starting program on your system. You might be surprised what it finds, this is way better than Msconfig. Commonly used to troubleshoot malfunctioning systems, trojan/viral infections, new spyware/malware breed and the likes.
ExplorerXP is a very fast, small, compact and innovative FREEWARE (for non - commercial use) file manager for Windows 2000/XP. Unlike the regular Windows Explorer, it displays the total size of each folder and allows you to browse multiple folders from a tabbed interface.
UDPixel is a great way to look for dead pixels and it also attempts to cure the problem.
FreeRAM XP Pro includes automatic memory monitoring and optimization; advanced tray support; fast, threaded freeing with a stop option; multiple system-metric monitors; a simple and attractive GUI; memory reporting and diagnostic logging; and real-time memory information.
DriverManager is a tool designed to allow System Administrators, Power Users and Driver Developers an easy means to view, modify or remove drivers and their information on Windows NT, Windows 2000 and Window XP platforms.
CAM unZip is an easy-to-use ZIP file utility that opens, creates and modifies ZIP files quickly and easily. Our program of choice.
The Glarysoft applications below are all freeware. Download the Glary Utilities and you get all of the applications. Just go to the 'Modules' tab to run each.
Glary Utilities is the #1 free, powerful and all-in-one utility in the world market! It offers numerous powerful and easy-to-use system tools and utilities to fix, speed up, maintain and protect your PC. Every application but the spy-scan and ad-scan works well. Glary said my machine was free of spyware and adware. I ran AVG anti-spyware and snagged 96 infected objects. Ad-Aware found 130 infected objects. Both of these applications were run immediately after the Glar Utility.
Quick Startup 100% freeware Quick Startup lets you centrally manage all of startup entries using one single interface. Using Quick Startup you can easily add, remove, edit, disable, and enable any and all of startup entries in order to keep your system's boot-up process as fast and efficient as possible. Excellent application.
Absolute Uninstaller starts up more faster than Add/Remove program with all appropriate icons of the application loaded and marks recently installed program. It offers a more user-friendly way to remove unneeded applications and to improve your computer efficiency.
Registry Repair is one of the safest Registry cleaning tools available in the market today. Its scanning engine is fast,thorough and safe. With a few easy steps, you are able to find problems caused by invalid entries, references and links in the Windows registry and provides a list of the errors found, you can then choose to selectively repair each item or automatically repair them all.
Glary Undelete is a free and easy-to-use yet powerful file undelete solution for FAT and NTFS file systems. It will bring back files emptied from the Recycle Bin, in a DOS window, from Windows Explorer with the SHIFT key held down. It will even recover files that have been deleted by bugs, crashes and viruses!
System Protection
Microsoft Windows Defender Windows Defender is a free program that helps protect your computer against pop-ups, slow performance, and security threats caused by spyware and other unwanted software.
Ad-Aware is no ordinary anti-spyware, it is the original anti-spyware product, offered to consumers worldwide to protect their personal and home computers from malware attacks. And today, with over a quarter of a billion downloads, computer users put their trust in Ad-Aware more than any other anti-spyware software program.
AVG Anti-Spyware 7.5 The efficient solution against the new generation of threats spreading over the internet. Secure your data and protect your privacy against sypware, adware, trojans, dialer, keylogger and worms. We offer you advanced scanning and detection methods and state-of-the-art technology behind an easy to use interface.
ewido anti-spyware Free is a free anti-spyware protection tool developed by GRISOFT for home use.
AVG Free Edition is a free anti-virus protection tool developed by GRISOFT for home use.
SpamPal is a mail classification program that can help separate your spam from the mail you really want to read.
BugOff This little app disables a few exploits that are commonly used by browser hijackers (including CWS), thus protecting you from infection.
HijackThis is a very comprehensive anti-malware application, but you really need to know what you are doing.
Blacklight is a rootkit scanner. It seems to do its job, but after running CCleaner there is not much left to clean.
Google Pack has some great apps.
Picasa is one of the better photo organizers around.
Web Browsing
Mozilla Firefox
The premier free, open-source browser. Tabs, pop-up blocking, themes, and extensions. Considered by many to be the world's best browser. If you decide to download Firefox, then please help us by going here to download...it is an easy way to provide some monetary support for free.
Firefox protects you from viruses, spyware and pop-ups. Enjoy improvements to performance, ease of use and privacy. It's easy to import your favorites and settings and get started. Download Firefox now and get the most out of the Web.
Download Opera
"The most full-featured Internet power tool on the market" or so says Opera. The app includes pop-up blocking, tabbed browsing, integrated searches, and advanced functions like Opera's groundbreaking E-mail program, RSS Newsfeeds and IRC chat. The Vista theme is nice, and the "magic wand" is a nice feature.
Download Safari The more I browse with different browsers, the more I love Safari. It has taken over the Mac's here in the office, and it slowly gaining a place with the PC's. Must try: fast, secure, tabbed browsing, and robust.
Download Netscape Support for Netscape will end March 1, 2008. It is almost dead, driven into extinction by market forces. You may want a copy for as a keeps-sake.
Download Camino
The Camino Project has worked to create a browser that is as functional and elegant as the computers it runs on. The Camino web browser is powerful, secure, and ready to meet the needs of all users while remaining simple and elegant in its design.Download Maxthon
Maxthon is a powerful web browser with a highly customizable interface. It is based on the Internet Explorer engine which means that what works in IE, works the same in Maxthon but with many additional efficient features like Tabbed Browsing Interface; Mouse Gestures; Super Drag&Drop; Privacy Protection; AD Hunter; Google Bar Support; External Utility Bar; and Skinning.Download Microsoft IE
A Microsoft product. IE 7 is worth the wait with its tabbed browsing capabilities.Media Players
Download RealNetworks
RealPlayer offers an easy-to-use product for consumers to access and manage all their digital media from one convenient place.Download Musicmatch Jukebox 10
Jukebox 10 is the most powerful way to find and organize your music, giving you ultimate control of your music experience. With a whole new range of library, playlist, and portable device controls, Musicmatch Jukebox is more powerful and easier to use than ever before.Download Microsoft Windows Media Player
Windows Media Player 11 is designed to work with all versions of Windows XP Service Pack 2 including Windows XP Home Edition N and Windows XP Professional N.Download iTunes
iTunes is the world’s best way to enjoy your music on your Mac or PC. With iTunes you can digitize your favorite CDs, buy your favorite music and video from the iTunes Music Store, and take it all with you on your iPodDownload foobar2000
Foobar2000 is an advanced audio player for the Windows platform. Some of the basic features include full unicode support, ReplayGain support and native support for several popular audio formats.
Download BSPlayer
BS.Player™ is the first player ever to enable its users to focus on watching the movie instead of dealing with poor computer capabilities or running around looking for a proper setting and codec.Download Sonique
Sonique is an audio player capable of handling MP3 files, Microsoft Windows Media files, audio CDs, and various other audio formats.Download Quintessential Player
Stop what you're doing, find shelter and call your mom, because Quintessential Player 4.50 has arrived. This new version brings you closer to your music then ever before. Stop letting your media player push you around, take control with Quintessential's new and improved arsenal of features.Download Songbird
Songbird is a Web player built from Firefox's browser engine. Songbird is open source, will run on Windows, Mac OS X and Linux and supports user contributed, cross-platform extensions.Download MediaMonkey
MediaMonkey hits 1 million downloads on Download.com, making it the site's #2 Music Management app!Download RadLight
RadLight 4 is the first true multimedia player that allows you to fully experience all kind of multimedia content such as pX™ video or AAC/MP4 audio at highest quality possible on the PC. RadLight 4 is the only all-in-one multimedia solution on the market to deliver all of this without being a resource hog or being too complicated.Download GpX Zenith Player
The version of GpX Zenith Player has been released.Download DAMP
DAMP is a free MP3 music player for DOS, which not only allows the playback of MP3 files, but also the visualisation of the audio through responsive image manipulation. Not just "here's a pretty pattern", but images that respond to the audio in order to create a richer, more fulfilling experience.Download aMedia Jukebox
"The bottom line is that for the occasional user or the serious computer audiophile, this is the must-have media player for the Windows OS. No other jukebox player comes close in functionality, reliability or user support."Download CDH Media Wizard
Media Wizard is a powerful, all-in-one multimedia application supporting audio and video conversions (CD to WAV; CD to MP3; CD to WMA; CD to OGG, WAV to MP3; MP3 to WAV; WAV/MP3 to WMA; WMA to WAV/MP3; WAV/MP3 to OGG; OGG to WAV/MP3; WAV/MP3 to CD; AVI to MPG; MPG to AVI; etc.), audio and video editing and recording, audio CD, video CD (VCD / SVCD), and data CD/DVD burning, video creation, extraction, and processing, playback of all popular formats (including full playlist support), and much more!Download Yahoo! Music Unlimited
Yahoo! Music Unlimited lets you download MP3 and other music files from your favorite artists. Featuring rock, R&B, country, and more. Get the free Yahoo! Music Engine and listen, explore, share, and manage your tunes.
Internet TV / Video Podcasting
Democracy Player
Subscribe to internet TV channels (video RSS feeds), download and watch all in one app. Built-in Channel Guide and torrent support. Download Page
DVD Ripping / Video Conversion
Media Coder
Great tool for ripping CDs, DVDs, etc and converting between tons of video formats. Download Page
YouTube Downloader
It's software that allows you to download videos from YouTube and many others and convert them to other video formats. The program is easy to use, just specify the URL for the video you want to download and click the Ok button! It also allows you to convert downloaded videos for Ipod, Iphone, PSP, Cell Phone, Windows Media, XVid and MP3. Download Page
Word Processing / Office Suites
OpenOffice.org
Big, full featured suite of tools for word processing and spreadsheets. Compatible with and a free replacement for Microsoft Word documents. Also supports OpenDocument Format. Download Page
DVD Ripping
Handbrake
DVD to MPEG-4 ripper/converter. Download Page
iPod Ripping (Macs Only)
Senuti
Get music off of your iPod. Download Page
iPodDisk
Copy music off your iPod in the finder, like a regular disk drive. Download Page
Graphics / Photo Editing
GIMPShop
Photo editing application that rivals Photoshop in features. Download Page
Fixpicture It's so simple, select your picture file, choose some process to apply, click on OK, and you'll be able to save the picture on your computer. Support all popular picture file formats and camera RAW formats ... More than 400 formats supported.
3D Graphics and Modeling
Blender
Powerful 3D Modeling software. Download Page
Jahshaka
The worlds first OpenSource Realtime Editing and Effects System. Download Page
FTP / SFTP
Filezilla
Excellent FTP program. Download Page
Video Playback
Media Player Classic
Compact, but powerful media player. Plays anything under the sun. No install necessary. Download Page
VLC
Plays more video files than most players: Quicktime, AVI, pX, OGG, and more. Pretty good interface. Download Page
A more comprehensive list of media players can be found here.
Developer tools
SharpDevelop
Open Source IDE for the .NET Framework. Utilizes the multiple programming languages and Windows forms
Download Page
Notepad ++
Open Source programmers notepad for Windows Download Page
CodeBlocks
Open Source C++ IDE for Windows, can use the Visual Studiops Toolkit 2003 or MingW Download Page
BloodShed Software
Open Source tools for development. Includes Dev-C++ 5 beta, Dev-C++ 4 CD version, Dev-C++ 4.01 update, Dev-C++ for Linux,Dev-Pascal, QuickInstall 2.0, Avi Creator 1.0, Dev-C++ 4 sources, Dev-Pascal 1.9 sources, Multibox 4.0, Fast Cleaner 1.0, LaserWar, LaserWar sources for Delphi, Calc-By-Step 1.0, Dev-C++ Packages. Download Page
Dia for Windows
Dia is a Visio type clone for Windows and UNIX/Linux systems. It has many templates included and very useful for flowcharting etc. Download Page
Amaya Browser for Windows
W3C developed web browser and editor for multiple platforms. Though a browser, this application was developed with the developer in mind. Download Page
Color Picker
Cool Color Picker helps you pick colors anywhere on the screen.
Pick color anywhere on the screen
Zoom in automatically while picking color
Zoom in ratio(from 2 to 20)
Support Pick color form system pallette
Support the color code in RGB, HSL, HTML, Delphi,C++, VB format
Support the user_defined color code format
Save code to clipboard
The CoffeeCup Free HTML Editor is a drag and drop HTML Editor with Built-in FTP uploading. It has wizards for tables, frames, forms and fonts and comes with all HTML 4.0 and XHTML tags. The Free version also includes wizards for images, links and a Quickstart so you can create web pages fast.
Bluefish is a powerful editor for experienced web designers and programmers.
Bluefish supports many programming and markup languages, but it focuses on editing dynamic and interactive websites. See features for an extensive overview, take a look at the screenshots, or download it right away. Bluefish is an open source development project, released under the GPL licence.
While jEdit beats many expensive development tools for features and ease of use, it is released as free software with full source code, provided under the terms of the GNU General Public License.
Combines the best functionality of Unix, Windows and MacOS text editors.
Runs on any operating system with a Java 2 version 1.3 or higher virtual machine - this includes MacOS X, OS/2, Unix, VMS and Windows. DownloadPerl Express Try this integrated development environment (IDE) for Perl with all the necessary tools for writing and debugging your Perl programs. It features multiple CGI scripts for editing, running, and debugging; multiple input files; full server simulation; queries created from an internal Web browser or query editor; test MySQL, MS Access scripts; interective I/O; directory window; code library; and code templates. Perl Express allows you to set environment variables used for running and debugging script. It has a customizable code editor with syntax highlighting, unlimited text size, printing, line numbering, bookmarks, column selection, a search-and-replace engine, multilevel undo/redo operations, and so on. Download
MP3 and Audio Tools
MP3 Gain
Easy to use MP3 manipulation tool for Windows. adjusts sound levels on MP3's so they are all the same Download Page
musikCube
Open Source MP3 Player, ripper and organizer written using the .NET Framework Download Page
A more comprehensive list of mp3 Players can be found here.
Security Tools
NMap
Easy to use port scanner for Windows Download Page
Ethereal
Network Protocol Analyzer Download Page
TrueCrypt
Creates encrypted virtual hard drives for extra security Download Page
ClamWin
Open Source Anti-Virus. Very good at detecting viruses. Can be plugged into hMailServer for e-mail protection LIMITATION: Real Time scanning not implemented yet Download Page
Eraser
Delete files securely off your hard drive utilizing DoD standards Download Page
Open Source Software Downloads
Here are some downloads of Open Source, and Freeware. We have not included all of the applications, but only those that we feel should be shipped on all computers. We have tried to keep it simple, and have also provided links back to where we acquired most, but not all, of these links. Yes, some of the software below can also be found above...this should only emphasize to you that this is some kick-ass software...use it!
NOTE: To run GIMP and a couple of other open source apps on Windows you will need to run this driver: GTK
GTK+ is a multi-platform toolkit for creating graphical user interfaces. Offering a complete set of widgets, GTK+ is suitable for projects ranging from small one-off projects to complete application suites.
GTK+ is free software and part of the GNU Project. However, the licensing terms for GTK+, the GNU LGPL, allow it to be used by all developers, including those developing proprietary software, without any license fees or royalties.
GTK+ is based on three libraries developed by the GTK+ team:
GLib is the low-level core library that forms the basis of GTK+ and GNOME. It provides data structure handling for C, portability wrappers, and interfaces for such runtime functionality as an event loop, threads, dynamic loading, and an object system.
- Pango is a library for layout and rendering of text, with an emphasis on internationalization. It forms the core of text and font handling for GTK+-2.0.
- The ATK library provides a set of interfaces for accessibility. By supporting the ATK interfaces, an application or toolkit can be used with such tools as screen readers, magnifiers, and alternative input devices.
GTK+ has been designed from the ground up to support a range of languages, not only C/C++. Using GTK+ from languages such as Perl and Python (especially in combination with the Glade GUI builder) provides an effective method of rapid application development.
Make sure you record the names of any renamed files in case you decide to uninstall the apps. The program MAY rename some files, but it will not return them to their original name upon uninstalling.
Operating System
Ubuntu is a complete Linux-based operating system, freely available with both community and professional support. It is developed by a large community and we invite you to participate too!
The Ubuntu community is built on the ideas enshrined in the Ubuntu Philosophy: that software should be available free of charge, that software tools should be usable by people in their local language and despite any disabilities, and that people should have the freedom to customize and alter their software in whatever way they see fit.
These freedoms make Ubuntu fundamentally different from traditional proprietary software: not only are the tools you need available free of charge, you have the right to modify your software until it works the way you want it to.
We have chosen Ubuntu for several reasons. It is very easy to use, and install. The philosophy of the folks at Ubuntu is one that we subscribe to ourselves. Ubuntu has taken Linux to a level that should make it easier for Linux to take over the world of the digital domain.
To make a Windows install disk do the following:
Verify the ISO file (highly recommended, but not required).
You can go to the Ubuntu site for more complete instructions. They suggest that you download some software to check the integrity of the download. Ubuntu has an option that allows you to check the CD integrity before the install, so this becomes a moot point. For those who like to go by the book or are using a OS other than Windows go to the Ubuntu BuringISOHowto page.
To burn the ISO image, download and install ImgBurn, a free image burning program. This is a sweet program.
Insert a blank CD in the drive and select Do nothing or Cancel if an autorun dialog pops up.
Right click on the ISO image you downloaded and select Burn with Imgburn.
Click the Write Disc button and wait for the CD to finish burning.
Now insert the disk into the computer that is to get the new face-lift and re-boot the system. You may want to go into your BIOS and have your computer boot off of the CD drive rather than the HD.
Web Browsing
Mozilla Firefox
The premier free, open-source browser. Tabs, pop-up blocking, themes, and extensions. Considered by many to be the world's best browser. Download Page
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