Antivirus and malware protection
Most PC users realize that they need protection
on their computer or may have an installed antivirus program from their
computer manufacturer. What most don't realize is that there are free
programs that are just as good and in some cases better than the
commercial products. Below are our recommendations
Malware and Spyware protection: Malwarebytes
Backup solutions
There are dozens of free and commercially
available backup programs for computers. Unfortunately, many of those
backups are stored locally, meaning if your house were to catch fire,
get robbed, or if you lost your backup discs all your data would be
lost. This is why when dealing with important data we suggest users use
online backup services.
Browsers
Although Microsoft Internet Explorer comes
pre-installed on Windows computers. There are several excellent free
alternatives that everyone should try. These free alternatives can often
be faster, have more options, and in many cases be more secure than
Internet Explorer.
Internet Browser: Mozilla Firefox or Google Chrome
Compression utility
When downloading files on the Internet you'll
eventually encounter a .zip, .rar, or other compressed file. Dealing
with these files can be easy with our below free file compression
utility.
File compression utility: 7-Zip
Disc ripper and creation utility
Creating an audio or data CD/DVD, ripping the
data from an audio CD, or creating a CD from a .ISO file can also be
done freely using our below free recommendation.
CD burner utility: CDBurnerXP
E-mail is yet another service that can be done
freely. Most users today use online e-mail solutions like the one listed
below. However, for those still using an e-mail client such as
Microsoft Outlook we strongly suggest one or both of the below
suggestions.
E-mail client: Mozilla Thunderbird
Online e-mail: Gmail
FTP, SFTP, and SSH Utility
Users who maintain their own web page or need to
upload or download files to or from a server have to use an FTP utility
or an SSH client. There are many commercial programs capable of doing
this but our below free recommendations beats them all.
FTP client: Filezilla
Image editor, paint program, and picture organizer
There are many great free solutions for editing,
creating, and organizing your images on your computer. Many of the
programs capable of doing these tasks can be several hundred dollars,
but all of the below programs are completely free.
Image editor: GIMP
Paint program: Paint.net
Picture organizer: Google Picasa
Multimedia
There are dozens of different multimedia programs
with different capabilities and limitations. Below are our top free
multimedia programs for watching video files and recording audio.
Audio editing and creating tool: Audacity
Office Suite
An Office suite such as Microsoft Office is often
one of the most expensive programs that a user can install on their
computer. Why install these expensive programs when there are free
solutions that are just as good.
Office suite: OpenOffice
Notepad and Source code editor: Notepad++
Additional information
- See our program definition for further information and related links on this term.
Post a Comment