10 freeware programs essential for my computing life
November 23, 2011 72
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Although many of us may experiment with new programs regularly, all of us have a core set of programs that we need to have installed on our computers at all times; …otherwise armageddon proceeds. In this article I am going to share with you 10 freeware programs – out of my bucket of “core” programs – that are essential to my digital life; without them I would – simply put – be lost.
(Note: This list is in no particular order.)
CleanMem is quite possibly the best memory cleaning/optimization program I have even encountered. Not only does it (usually) clear up a good chunk of memory, but it works in such a way that users have no idea CleanMem is running. It does its job – with leaving little to no footprint on your computer - and gets out. Brilliant program.
Some may disagree with me when I say it, but Firefox is the cream of the crop when it comes to Internet browsers. Needing no introduction thanks to its hard earned fame, Firefox is a package which brings everything to the table: speed, efficiency, addons, security, and aesthetics. Sure Firefox is not the “best” in all categories but it is the best jack-of-all-trades out on the market right now.
Digsby is an instant messaging platform that allows users to integrate different instant messaging services, e-mail checking, and social network usage all in one program. Think of it as the desktop version of Meebo.
When it comes to screenshotting programs, there are tons of (free and commercial) choices people have. Ever since I started using FastStone Capture a couple of years back, I have fallen in love with the program. It is easy to use, feature filled, and has this lovely floating toolbar most other screenshot programs lack. In fact, everyday dotTechies enjoy the fruits of FastStone Capture’s labor – all screenshots on dotTech were taken using the program.
WinSplit Revolution is a program that allows users to easy resize/tile program windows. Although the concept of the program may not sound too flashy, in practical uses this is man’s best friend when doing any sort of work (that involves more than one program window) on the computer. Oh how many times I have counted my blessings for being able to use WinSplit to ease my pain when doing projects such as transferring data from source to spreadsheet.
Windows’ clipboard is possibly one of the worst designed aspects of Windows. Sure the idea of having a clipboard which can be used to copy/cut/paste stuff is nice, but there was a huge lack of hindsight into how there may be a conflict caused by the inability to copy/cut/paste multiple things at once. To help resolve this conflict, many programs have popped up. TenClips is one such program; TenClips gives users the ability to have 10 different clipboards. However, I find myself using TenClips’ ability to post purified text more than making use of all clipboards. In fact, I hardly ever post unpurified text anymore thanks to TenClips.
Most programs, when uninstalled, leave traces – such as registry entries or files – behind on your computer. RevoUninstaller is a program who’s goal is to help you perform “clean” uninstalls by removing leftover traces from uninstalled program; and RevoUninstaller has passed the test of time proving it truly is one of the best – if not the best – clean uninstaller out there. I don’t know what I would do without Revo.
WinPatrol is a nice little “supplement” to your computer’s line of defense. More or less, it is a computer “change” monitor; it monitors your computer for changes to things like file associations, startup programs, etc. and notifies you of the changes, asking you to either allow or disallow the change. It is extremely handy especially for people who install new programs on a regular basis. I can’t count how many times WinPatrol has saved me from programs that try to hijack my homepage.
Anyone that has ever worked with code knows how hard it can be to keep track of everything. Notepad++ is a program that aims to help deal with code in an easier fashion; it color codes code syntax for users. So while it may not be an idle platform to write a program, it makes editing code – such as for a website – very easy. I use it almost on a daily basis.
Once upon a time I used to use WinZip for my archive needs. Then I discovered 7-zip and never looked back. 7-zip is an open source answer to the likes of WinZip and WinRar. 7-zip allows users to work with archives, including .ZIP and .RAR formats, opening them, creating archives, etc. It even has its own .7z archive which far surpassed the likes of .ZIP and .RAR in areas like compression and security.
So you have just read a list of 10 programs I could not live without. I am sure you have some of your own. Feel free to share in the comments below.
About the author: Ashraf View all posts by Ashraf
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Revo uninstaller
KMPlayer
Firefox
7-Zip
Glary utilities
Malwarebytes
Avast
SpywareBlaster
GIMP
OpenOffice.org
Skype
yahoo messenger
google earth
realplayer
fast image resizer
zone alarm
mcafee site advisor
regeraser
unlocker
I tweeted this to @BilP from @WinPatrol and now he has RT’d it.
I use some of the stuff you all have listed but my fav is Transmute(it syncs your bookmarks between browsers). Even tho I think I have used IE only ONCE this year so far.
it seems digsby is problematic now. A lot of sites have reported that. e.g.:
http://www.howtogeek.com/howto/2310/be-careful-not-to-install-junk-software-with-digsby/
http://lifehacker.com/5336382/digsby-joins-the-dark-side-uses-your-pc-to-make-money
Would you still recommend it?
Suppose I can bypass the traps and do a “clean install”, do you think its still safe?
@jumbi: Digsby does have a few annoying aspects yes (those aspects where not there when I wrote up my article on Digsby or else I would have talked about it). However if one is vigilant, can easily get past the initial installation annoyances (you have the option to opt-out of such things), Digsby is great. Of course, there is Trillian Astra for those that don’t like Digsby; it does similar things as Digsby (I don’t know if it has the same installation problems at Digsby though).
@Ashraf: Question. Do you have any clue why Digsby would do such an “evil” thing? I mean they have a nice reputation; rated “awesome” on many magazines and websites… and they just had to do that “shady thing” and install tons of cr@p on your computer.
Well… a similar thing happened to my computer once… when I was installing a trustworthy program, it asked me if I wanted to install “Dealio” toolbar. I thought “ok… sure, why not”. When a was doing computer cleaning during the next 2 weeks, I found Dealio on “REVO uninstaller” and i was… “what is that?” So I’m like “ohh… it’s a toolbar I installed from befor, but how?” Well, anyways I think I installed it when it was packaged with another program installer. So… I did some research on “Dealio” and found out it’s VERY untrustworthy and some peeps say it’s a “virus”. Well… I uninstalled it and now it’s gone. :)
Now my computer is happy and I have one less thing to worry about. :D
~Joji~
Oh, and Ashraf, thanks for sharing all your favorite apps and programs! I recently installed “CleanMem”, WinSplit Revolution” and “Fast Stone Capture” onto my computer! Great programs! LOVE THEM!
~Joji~
Winpatrol
Quotepad (for very quick notes)
Everything (to find ANYTHING on your computer quickly)
Microsoft security essentials
Wordweb (great thesaurus in your taskbar)
Firefox and all the wonderful productive addons
Fontpicker (to quickly compare some fonts/texts)
Microsoft ICE (great panorama stitcher for free)
BurnAware Home
Picasa
Didn’t we say ” Essential “…
Avast (although right know I’m testing the new AVG
with Zemana)
WinPatrol
CCleaner
Cleanmem
Firefox
FormatFactory
Nero Ultra
7-zip
Everest
Thunderbird
Windows 7
Firefox
Ccleaner
Tuneup Utilities 2010
Revo Uninstaller
Anvir Task Manager
Key Scrambler
Avira
Malwarebytes
Internet Lock (For those pesky kids)
Acronis
Ok, that was 11
#Ashraf
Thanks Ashraf for your input. I know that when you had the review, it wasn’t like that.
What annoyed me most, is not the installation traps which can easily bypassed, but the hidden option of “Help Digsby conduct research” which has to be disabled from the help-Support Digsby menu!
This is dangerous practice and one can imagine worse similar features…
Perhaps, for general use maybe acceptable but for anyone who cares about his data, its very disappointing.
(I will give trillian a try)
@jumbi: Didn’t they change it so at the end of installation you can opt-out of the research module?
I just installed WinSplit Revolution. Lovin’ it!
I cannot live without Irfanview. Geosetter (www.geosetter.de, EXIF file manipulation) is also quite nice if you make a lot of pictures and you want to add metadata to them, in order to have a possibility to retrieve them.
@ Ashraf:
They did change it as I read somewhere else (I havent installed it after being afraid reading all those articles), but the fear of possibility for other hidden objects remains…
BTW, great article once again!
I see some nice programs outthere ^^
Here My list of “must have” add n’ tools n’ such
1: Maxthon Browser 2.5 (Free)
2: Bit Che (Free)
3: Vuze (Free)
4: MyDefrag 4.2.9 (Free)
5: Cleanmem (Free)
6: PeerBlock 1.0(Free)
7: WinUtilities Pro (Free)
8: Zemana Antilogger 1.9 (Free)
9: Trend Micro Internet Security (Free)
10: Everest Ultimate Edition 4.6 (Free)
11: Universal Extractor 1.6 (Free)
And some of the other “gold” I cant live without:
GSpot Codec Information Appliance 2.7 (Free)
InstalledCodec (Free)
FileTypesMan (Free)
WinX HD Video Converter Deluxe (Free)
WinX Blu-ray Decrypter (Free)
Anvir Task Manager 6.2 (Free)
Q-Dir (Free)
Everything (Free)
All programs is free or from this lovely site :) – Thnx Ashraf
Cheers \o/
Numsekrummen.dk
These I value hugely:
EVERYTHING (I have to thank Ashraf for turning me on to this. It’s brilliantly useful and I can’t be without it. I use it many times a day. It makes file finding on an extensive Hard Drive a mere breeze)
FileBox Xtender (another great time-saver)
Q-Dir file manager (speeds up all my ‘explorer’ work. I work in 5 panes simultaneously. No lag. It leaves Windows Explorer in the dust 50 ks back down the road)
Firefox (Love it tho’ we did have a very rocky relationship for a few years)
Eraser
UltraDefrag (has a fantastic help manual; a fine thesis from the developer)
ImgBurn (has never let me down)
Axcrypt
Truecrypt
Revo
VLC
KillCopy
Gadwin Printscreen
Izarc
And thanks to all of you for your offerings, many of which I hope to try in the coming months. A great selection of goodies.
Kudos to the open source community and other freeware developers who are maintaining the openhanded spirit and generosity of the original world wide web. They are an oasis in a landscape that’s become polluted by commercial interests.
10 essential for YOU, you mean…
@Hermono: Huh? It’s a good topic, and as you can see from the comments, it’s letting people explore new options.
Her’s my Top Ten most valued free programs
Returnil 2008
Folder Menu
Pop Peeper
Paragon Drive Backup
Karen’s Replicator
Winamp
Notepad ++
Everything
mp3Tag
Firefox
@Hermono: Did you read the title? It clearly states “10 freeware programs essential for my computing life.”
I would like to add:
Roboform
Sandboxie
Sumatra PDF
@Jyo:
Although rarely used for this purpose, 7-Zip can also open(view inside) and extract files from the .ISO format. I’ve only found this out not too long ago.
Can 7-zip reinsert changed, extracted files into an .ISO?
@Stevie: No, 7-zip can’t modify (atleast directly) .iso. What you can do is extract the files, change/add files then build another .iso
I agree with Shenley, I believe “Returnil” is the best program to use to investigate all of the other new programs, so as not to jeopardize my computer. Question is why it was not in your top ten?
Hi,
Thanks . Useful article .
Best regards !