Best Free Downloads, Sites, and Services: The Full List
All-Time Greats
- Ad-Aware Free: Stops spyware
- Audacity: Records and edits sound
- BitTorrent: Easy online file sharing
- Dropbox: Online file syncing
- Evite: Fast party planning
- FreeConference.com: Unlimited conference calls
- IMDb: Movie facts and trivia
- OpenOffice.org: Microsoft Office alternative
- The GIMP: Tool-rich image editor
- Trillian Basic: Chat with friends on many instant messaging services
Antivirus Utilities (Tested By PCWorld)
- Alwil Avast Home Edition: Capable and thorought malware detection
- AVG Anti-Virus Free Edition 8.5: Excellent detection and disinfection
- Avira AntiVir Personal: Good PC disinfection
- Microsoft Security Essentials (beta): Nearly perfect in disabling infections
Audio Apps and Services
- AudioTag: Easily ID songs you can't name
- Buddha Machine Wall: Calming music source
- Grooveshark: Great place to listen to music
- Mp3Tag: Universal tag editor for audio
- Myna: Advanced audio editing
- Speakershare: Share your best PC speakers with your other computers
- TunesBag: Access songs from any browser
Backup Utilities
- Backupify: 1GB of storage, weekly backups; download backups to your PC
- Comodo Time Machine: Backup utility protects files, folders, and programs
- Macrium Reflect Free Edition: Images your hard drive for PC restoration
- SDExplorer: Access 25GB of online storage from Windows Explorer
- SpiderOak: Gives you 2GB of online backup; saves selected files when changes detected
- SyncToy: Easy home-network syncing
- Todo Backup: Images your drive or a partition
Browser Add-Ons, Apps, and Utilities
- CeeVee: Online résumés with custom sharing
- Lazarus: Recover info typed into Firefox
- MailBrowser: Manage Gmail contacts, attachments, and more
- MyBrainshark: Add narration to a presentation by speaking over the phone
- PDF to Word: Turns PDFs into edit-ready docs
Collaboration Services
- LogMeIn Express: Secure screen sharing (great for troubleshooting your dad's PC)
- MiNeeds: Connect with and receive bids online from local contractors
- Tinychat: Disposable chatrooms
- Yammer: Facebook-like communications features for businesses
- Zoho Discussions: Add a feature-rich discussion forum to any online destination
Desktop Customization
- BumpTop: 3D desktop that allows you to pin up notes and photos
- DeskHedron: Create up to nine 3D desktops that you can flip through
- Fences: Organize desktop icons and make them disappear when you want them to
- InterfaceLift: PC wallpaper library
- Krento: Rotating 3D circle for app launching
- Rainmeter: Attractive, seamlessly embedded desktop overhaul
- StandaloneStack 2: Animated shortcuts for easy access to folder contents
- T3Desk: Minimizes programs to the PC desktop
Mobile Apps and Services
- BlueRetriever: Helps recover lost gadgets
- Connectify: Turn your laptop into a Wi-Fi hotspot
- Instapaper: Bookmark Web pages; strip them to text-only for easy mobile reading
- OverMyMinutes: Helps you stay within your cell-phone plan allotment
- Xpenser: Track expenses via the Web
Photo Utilities
- Easy Poster Printer: Print small to giant posters from your digital images
- The Golden Hour Calculator: Find the best light to shoot photos
- Paint.Net: Lightweight Photoshop alternative
- Phoenix: Web-based image editor
- Shrink Pic: Autoresizing of digital images
Productivity Tools
- DoPDF Free PDF Converter: Fast and simple PDF conversion
- Drop.io for Outlook: Share large files in Outlook
- Ecofont: Special design allows this font to consume less ink
- Everything: Thorough indexing and fast search of your desktop
- FlockDraw: A Web-based "cocktail napkin" for shared ideas
- Fonolo: Gives you access to phone menus for customer service numbers
- iCurrent: Free news site with personalization
- Liaise: Outlook add-in keeps tabs on all of your important action items
- MakeSomeTime: Keeps tabs on invoices, projects, and billable hours
- ScreenToaster: Create and e-mail or upload a video of a screen that explains something
- Tom's Planner: Easy Gantt charts
Security Utilities
- KeePass: Organizes and protects all of your important passwords with just one password
- OpenDNS: Protects kids from online violence, pornography, and other unsavory Web material
- SuperAntiSpyware: A robust malware fighter
- Web of Trust: Vets the links you click in your browers for security issues
Self-Improvement Assistants
- BudgetSketch: Track where your money will go before you spend it
- DailyBurn: Presents charts and graphs to track your fitness program
- Habitforge: Train yourself in new habits with the help of daily reminders
- Learn10: Ten new foreign-language words daily
- RunKeeper Free: Use your iPhone to keep track of your jogging sessions
- YouTube EDU: Videos of Ivy League lecturers
Social Networking Tools
- Brizzly: Performs a makeover of the Facebook and Twitter interfaces
- FacePAD: Download photo albums from Facebook, via Firefox
- FriendShopper: Shop online with friends
- Microsoft Silverlight 4 Beta Client for Facebook: Better photo-upload tool for Facebook
- OutSync: Copy friends' Facebook photos into your Outlook contacts records
- PhotoGrabber: Download photos of you found in other users' albums
- Splitweet: Tweet to single or multiple accounts at the same time
- TwInbox: Outlook add-on brings Twitter tweets to your inbox, and more
System Utilities
- Better Paste: Autostrip formatting from text with a keyboard command
- FixWin: Easy repairs for common PC annoyances
- Ketarin: Keeps your third-party apps up-to-date
- Portable Ubuntu Remix: Runs Linux applications on your Windows machine
- Teracopy: Fast file copying on the PC
- Ultimate Windows Tweaker: Optimizes all areas of Windows 7 or Vista
- Win7 Library Tool: Add the contents of networked folders to libraries, and more
- Wizmouse: Makes your mouse's scrollwheel work with any window it hovers over
Timesavers
- Belvedere: Automated file manager works with the rules you set
- Cache My Work: Autoreloads the apps running when you restart your PC
- Ninite: Installs your all favorite free apps in the background, after a Windows reinstall or anytime
- PhraseExpress: Monitors your typing for shorthand text and expands it to larger snippets
- Read It Later: Mark material for later enjoyment in Firefox or on your smartphone
- Rescue Time: Monitors your apps and sites and provides graphs on how you spent your day
Video Tools and Services
- Boxee Beta: Plays back PC and Web-based media on your HDTV
- Classic Cinema Online: Watch classic films
- Clicker: Aggregates Internet videos
- DoubleTwist: A great iTunes alternative for media
- Hulu Desktop: Desktop app for Hulu's video
- Jinni: Select movies and videos to watch based on keywords such as plot or mood
- Libox: Private network to share large media files
- ShowMeWhatsWrong: Lets people record and share screencasts of what's ailing their PC
Windows 7-Style Features for Older PCs
- AeroSnap: Let Windows XP and Vista utilize the Aero Snap features of Win 7
- Seven Remix XP: Gives XP's icons, box, buttons the look of Win 7 graphics
- Taskbar Shuffle: Reorder XP and Vista taskbar items with a simple drag and drop
- Windows 7 Shortcuts: Add Win 7 time-saving keyboard shortcuts to XP and Vista
- WinShake: Brings Win 7's Aero Peek and Aero Shake features to earlier versions of Windows
COMMENTS