Top 101 Freeware Apps
"I really think it is amazing that people actually buy software." – Bill Budge
Tired of all those overpriced, commercial applications that don’t work? Here we present to you the top 101 freeware apps that work, and are actually useful:
Audio and Video
1. Audacity – Audacity is a free, easy-to-use audio editor and recorder for Windows
2. VirtualDub – VirtualDub is a video capture and video processing application for Windows
3. Avidemux – Avidemux is a free video editor designed for simple cutting, filtering, and encoding tasks.
4. K-Lite Mega Codec Pack – K-Lite Codec Pack is a collection of codes, needed for encoding and decoding (playing) audio and video formats. With the K-Lite Codec Pack you should be able to play most of the popular audio and video formats, even the rare ones.
5. SUPER – If you need a simple, efficient, and ugly tool to convert any of your multimedia files into any other format, then SUPER is all you need
6. FormatFactory – If you need a simple, efficient, easy-to-use, and a not-so-hideously-ugly tool to convert any of your multimedia files into any other format, then FormatFactory is all you need
7. iTunes – iTunes Is an audio player for playing and organizing digital music files, and purchasing them from the Apple Store.
8. VLC Media Player – VLC Media Player is a multimedia player that can play most of the audio and video formats out there, including DVDs and CDs, without the need of a codec.
9. WinAmp – WinAmp is a fast and flexible music and video player for Windows
10. Media Player Classic – Media Player Classic looks like Windows Media Player 6, but with additional features, such as AVI subtitle support, QuickTime and RealVideo support, and a few built-in codec. And it doesn’t have the bloat the Windows Media Player 11 has.
Automation
11. KeePas – KeePas is an opensource password manager which helps you manage your passwords in a secure way
12. MemoKeys – MemoKeys allows you to create shortcut key combinations (hotkeys) and associate them with any text information of your choice.
13. AutoIt – AutoIt is a freeware BASIC-like scripting language designed for automating the Windows GUI
14. AutoHotKey – AutoHotKey is a free keyboard macro program. It supports hotkeys for the keyboard, mouse, and joystick.
Compression, Backup, and File Recovery
15. PeaZip – PeaZip is an open-source file and archive manager
16. 7Zip – 7zip is an open-source file archiver predominantly for Microsoft Windows OS
17. GMail Drive – GMail Drive is a Shell Namespace Extension that creates a virtual filesystem around your Google Mail account, allowing you to use GMail as a storage medium
18. Mozy – Mozy is the industry-leading solution for online backup. Its offers 2GB storage for free.
19. Recuva – Recuva is a freeware Windows utility to restore files that have been accidentaly deleted from your computer
Blogging
20. Windows Live Writer – Windows Live Writer is a desktop blog-publishing application that has many features.
21. BlogDesk – An easy-to-use desktop blogging client
Browsers
22. Mozilla Firefox – The award-winning web browser is better than ever. It’s unlimited extensibility, thanks to the hundreds of useful add-ons available, makes it an absolute must have.
23. Opera – A full featured Internet browser, Opera includes pop-up blocking, tabbed browsing, integrated searches, and advanced functions like an email program, RSS newsfeeds, and IRC chat.
24. Google Chrome – Google Chrome combines a minimalistic design with sophisticated technology to make the web faster, safer, and easier. As with all things Google, Chrome is in beta.
CD and DVD Tools
25. CDBurnerXP – Free CD Burning software
26. Ashampoo Burning Studio Free – If you’re looking for a fast, responsive, and high-quality burning software that does not cost a dime, then Ashampoo Burning Studio Free is for you.
27. DeepBurner – DeepBurner is a free CD and DVD burning tool
28. DAEMON Tools Lite – DAEMON Tools is a virtual CD/DVD-ROM emulator
Cleanup, Tuning, Tweaking, and Updating
29. Defraggler – Defraggler lets you defrag individual files, without having to process the whole drive, and it allows you to schedule runs
30. CCleaner – CCleaner is a system optimization and privacy tool. It removes unused temporary files from your system, allowing it to run faster, more efficiently, and giving you more hard disk space.
31. Startup Delayer – Startup Delayer allows you to setup how many seconds after Windows has started, to load each program.
32. RevoUninstaller – RevoUninstaller can be used to uninstall programs, and scan for leftover registry keys, files, and folders.
33. Eraser – Eraser is a secure data removal tool for Windows
34. SUMo – With SUMo, you’ll be able to keep your PC up-to-date by detecting required updates for your software.
35. RadarSync – Stop searching for drivers and app updates, update your PC for free with RadarSync
36. FileHippo Update Checker – The Update Checker will scan your computer for installed software, check the versions, and then send this info to FileHippo.com to see if there are any newer releases. These are then neatly displayed in your browser for you to download.
Desktop, System & UI Enhancements
37. Samurize – Samurize is a popular advanced desktop enhancement engine for Windows
38. Yahoo! Widgets – The Yahoo! Windget Engine lets you run small utilities called ‘widgets’ on your desktop.
39. TaskSwitchXP – TaskSwitchXP is an advanced task management utility that picks up where the standard Windows Alt+Tab switcher leaves off. Aside from providing the functionality of Alt+Tab, it adds visual styles to the dialog, and enhances it by displaying a thumbnail preview of the application you want to switch to.
40. Launchy – Launchy allows you to launch programs with just a few keystrokes
41. ObjectDock – ObjectDock is a program that enables users to add a mac-like dock to their Windows desktop
42. RocketDock – RocketDock is a smoothly animated, application launching dock similar to ObjectDock
43. Google Desktop – Google Desktop makes searching your computer as easy as searching the web with Google
44. Visual Task Tips – Visual Task Tips is a lighweight shell enhancement utility that provides a thumbnail preview image for each program in the Windows Taskbar.
45. Microsoft TweakUI – This Microsoft PowerToy gives you access to system settings that are not exposed in the Windows XP default user interface , including mouse settings, explorer settings, taskbar settings, and more.
Developer Tools
46. FileZilla – FileZilla is a powerful FTP client that is easy-to-use, has many features, and is fast and relaible.
47. SmartFTP – Aside from the usual features any FTP client has, the unique thing about SmartFTP is that multiple FTP connections can be opened at the same time in different tabs. You can also copy files from one remote host to another.
48. Kompozer – WYSIWYG HTML and CSS editor derived from Nvu
49. HTML-Kit – HTML-Kit is a full-featured and customizable HTML text editor that can be used to create and edit web pages.
50. Ades Clr Picker – AdesClrPicker is a very easy-to-use, yet powerful color picker application for web designers.
51. PuTTY – PuTTY is a free telnet and SSH client for Windows and Unix platforms
52. Notepad++ – Notepad++ is a free source code editor and Notepad replacement that supports several languages.
Download Managers
53. Internet Download Manager – Internet Download Manager is a tool that can increase download speeds, resume, schedule, and manage downloads.
54. FlashGet – FlashGet is a free download manager that allows you to spit the files you’re downloading into different sections.
55. Free Download Manager – Free Download Manager supports resumable downloads and multiple simultaneous downloads.
Imaging
56. Picasa – Picasa is a software that helps you find, edit, and share all the pictures on your PC
57. GIMP – The GIMP is a multiplatform photo manipulation tool. It’s suitable for a variety of image manipulation tasks, including photo retouching, image composition, and image construction.
58. IrfanView – IrfanView is a very fast, compact, and innovative graphic viewer for Windows
59. Paint.NET – Paint.NET is an image and photo manipulation software. It’s meant to be a free replacement for the MS Paint software that comes with all Windows operating systems.
60. Photo Story 3 – Photo Story 3 allows you to create video slideshows of your digital photos with music and tites
61. Google SketchUp – Google Sketchup is an easy-to-learn 3D modeling program
Messaging and Chat
62. Mozilla Thunderbird – Thunderbird is a great email client from the same people who brought you the Firefox browser
63. Digsby – IM, email, and social networking in one easy-to-use application
64. Pidgin – Pidgin is a multi-protocol instant messaging client for Linux, Mac OS X, and Windows
65. Skype – Using Skype, you can make telephone calls over the Internet, and calls to other people using Skype.
66. SAM – SAM is a simple voice answering machine for Skype users
67. XChat – XChat is an IRC program for Windows and Unix operating systems
Office and News
68. OpenOffice – OpenOffice is an open-source, multi-platform, and multi-lingual suite comparable with MS Office.
69. AbiWord – AbiWord is a free word processing program similar to Microsoft Word and is rapidly becoming a state-of-the-art word processor.
70. PowerPoint Viewer – PowerPoint Viewer lets you view full-featured presentations created in PowerPoint 97 and later versions.
71. CutePDF – CutePDF installs itself as a printer subsystem and enables any Windows application that can print to create professional quality PDF documents.
72. PDFCreator – PDFCreator can create PDF files from almost any Windows app
73. BullZip PDF Printer – BullZip PDF Printer allows you to create PDF documents from Windows applications.
74. Adobe Reader – Adobe Reader, the original PDF software from Adobe, let’s you open, view, search, and print PDF files.
75. Foxit Reader – Foxit Reader is a free PDF document viewer and printer. It’s incredibly small (just a few MBs), with a breezing fast launch speed and a rich feature set.
76. FeedDemon – Looking for a great way to view and manage your RSS feeds from your desktop? Look no further than FeedDemon, the most popular Windows RSS reader.
77. RSS Bandit – RSS Bandit is a free desktop news aggregator for Windows built on the .NET framework.
78. ReadAir – ReadAir is an OSX themed desktop RSS client for Mac or Windows
Screen Recording/Screenshot Taking
79. CamStudio – CamStudio records screen into standard AVI files. It’s an ideal tool for creating software demonstations.
80. Gadwin PrintScreen – Gadwin PrintScreen is an easy-to-use utility that allows you to capture any portion of the screen, and save it to a file, copy to Windows clipboard, print it, or email it to a friend.
81. Screenshot Captor – Screenshot Captor is a program for taking screenshots on your PC, with many features.
82. FRAPS – FRAPS is a benchmarking, screenshot capturing, and video capturing software for games.
Security
83. AntiVir Personal Edition – The AntiVir Personal Edition offers effective protection against computer viruses.
84. Avast Home Edition – Avast Home Edition is a full-featured anti-virus package designed exclusively for home users
85. AVG Anti-Virus – AVG AntiVirus is a well known anti-virus tool that is easy-to-use and doesn’t slow the system down
86. BitDefender Free – BitDefender Free Edition uses the same scanning engine found in other BitDefender products, allowing you to enjoy basic virus protection for no cost at all
87. Comodo Internet Security –
88. ZoneAlarm Free – ZoneAlarm Free is one of the best and well know free firewall software in the market.
89. Ad-Aware Free – Ad-Aware provides protection from spyware
90. Spybot Search & Destroy – Spybot Search & Destroy can detect and remove most spyware from your PC.
91. HijackThis – Hijack This is a tool for in-depth scanning of your computer for spyware
92. Windows Defender – Windows Defender is an anti-spyware program from Microsoft
Torrents
93. uTorrent – uTorrent is an efficient and feature-rich BitTorrent client sporting a very small footprint.
94. Vuze – Vuze is a java BitTorrent client offering queing/priority systems, start/stop seeding options, and more.
95. BitTorrent – BitTorrent is a BitTorrent client and a good alternative to uTorrent
96. PeerGuardian – PeerGuardian is the premier IP blocker that protects your privacy on P2P. You can’t go without this one, if, um, you’re downloading stuff you’re not supposed to download.
Others
97. Mozilla Sunbird – Sunbird is an open-source, cross-platform calendar application.
98. BitMeter – BitMeter is an Internet Bandwidth monitoring app.
99. Google Earth – Google Earth combines satellite imagery, maps, and the power of Google Search to put the world’s geopraphic information at your fingertips.
100. nLite/vLite – nLite is a tool for pre-installation Windows configuration and component removal at your choice.
101. FreeMind – FreeMind is a premier free mind-mapping software written in Java
Which free apps do you use?
(Image Source: ocean.flynn)
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Comments
29 Responses to “Top 101 Freeware Apps”
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YES!!! to : VLC, Avira, RadarSync, CCleaner, and IrfanView….
Great list…
…and if you’re looking for completely FREE and powerful CD/DVD and Blu-Ray/HD-DVD burning application you’re welcomed to give a try to the StarBurn from Rocket Division Software. Just in case here’s an URL:
http://www.rocketdivision.com/starburn.html
Arigato!
-ichiro
I’ve got 17 of the ones you listed… :]
I also use Auslogistic Defrag, Opera, and Songbird.
Very nice list i use some programs of the list.
Awesome list dude… I have a similar kind of list but not this huge
Here are the free apps I use an recommend to my readers:
http://blogorama.eisbrecher.net/2008/10/16/freeware-saugen-bis-der-arzt-kommt
And not to forget: Zoundry Raven is a lot better than Windows Live Writer! And where is the Orbit Download Manager? Very fine an very strong Downloader!
It is a great list and the same will be liked by my readers who visit my site for Indian Stock Tips and will definitely appreciate your effort. Regards
http://www.indian-share-tips.com
Thank you for a great free software list. Many of the software listed above are best and must have for your computer.
http://www.codefear.com
[...] om inte de räcker till – ja då rekommenderar jag hela listan här. Vill ni använda kommersiell mjukvara utan att köpa kan jag rekommendera mina tävlingar – [...]
Nice list to bookmark @ http://southspice.co.cc and http://desidigg.slinkset.com
[...] resources (all free) appears in the post titled Link Tips: 07 December 2008 and it includes the Top 101 Freeware Applications (from Tech Vivo) as well as 10 Firefox Extensions to help you analyze your web traffic. (Trendrr [...]
Of the apps that I use:
FRAPS – Should this be on a list of free apps? Last I checked, unless you register then you can only cap 30 sec at a time, and your video is left with a watermark.
RainMeter – I’m surprised this wildly popular desktop UI enhancement app was not listed.
good lists. Part of them I use it
[...] Se hele listen her på denne linken.. [...]
I link Google Map;
and you?
Extremely important and helpful list indeed.
Thank you!
This is a great list! I use several of the programs listed here and have gotten some great ideas from the list. I might suggest a great replacement for notepad which is a freebie and it is called “Jarte” I have used it for sometime now and I really, really like it.
woot woot, vlc is the bestt
[...] Top 101 Freeware Apps [...]
[...] Tech Vivo [...]
I need to update you on “26. Ashampoo Burning Studio Free”.
Ashampoo products are only free (able to register for free key) if you have any other email-service exept Hotmail.
Ashampoo do NOT accept an Hotmail-address, not for register and not for comunication via their web-form on their homepage.
Just so you know. I think it is bad policy by Ashampoo!
And thank you for a great list of freeware-apps!
Best regards
Rune L
waduu.. membingungkan site nya..
[...] sprang på en samling med 101 gratis program. Det är en diger lista, där jag hittar några av programmen jag jobbar med, till exempel [...]
[...] Top 101 Freeware Apps | Tech Vivo [...]
[...] te lo crees? Echa un vistazo a la lista de 101 programas gratis recopilados en TechVivo y que nos ha traído Cecilia. Hay un poco de todo: audio y [...]
[...] en Chica Geek publicaron un link a los 100 mejores programas gratis. La verdad es una compilacion muy buena y estan bien organizados en categorias. No dejen de [...]
VERY COOL LIST!! that’s awesome dude!! btw, can we link exchange?
thanks!
FileZilla is great.