Recommended FREE Software Downloads

* Be careful about WHAT and WHERE you download files on the Internet !  Many downloads, especially free ones, may carry a payload of Spyware/Adware/Malware (these are NOT good things).  There are also many very good free applications that are free of any harmful software.  The great free downloads I have listed below have all been checked and should be free of any Spyware/Adware/Malware.  Please see my Tech Tip here for more advice and information about safe downloading on the Internet.

Another Note:  Be careful when downloading many free programs.  Even if you are downloading from the correct, legitimate website, you may find aggressively placed ADS, with download buttons in them, which may trick you into downloading the wrong, not free product instead of the software you are really trying to download.  Be careful, take your time, and make sure you click the correct download buttons!

Download Websites        Websites that host tons of downloadable applications, some free, some not, that have checked these applications to be free of harmful Spyware, Adware and Malware.

Download.com

Snapfiles.com

Anti-Spyware Applications    Stop pop-ups, identity theft, sluggish performance...

*(note from Dan) Here are some free products that I have found to be very effective for spyware removal.  I usually would install, update and run at least all 3 of these if you think you have an infection.

Lavasoft Ad-Aware Free Internet Security    Free, on-demand spyware and adware removal for home use.

SpyBot Search & Destroy    Free, detect and remove spyware

SUPERAntiSpyware Free Edition      100% Free and will detect and remove thousands of Spyware, Adware, Malware, Trojans, KeyLoggers, Dialers, Hi-Jackers, and Worms.

ThreatFire      Free, effective blocking of known and unknown malware.  Use this in addition to a good Antivirus application.

a-squared Free     Free Anti-Malware app - remove spyware, adware, trojans, keyloggers, etc.

Antivirus

Panda Cloud AntiVirus Free     fast virus protection done in the "cloud".

avast! Free Antivirus

Avira AntiVir Personal      free antivirus application with very good virus detection rates

AVG Anti-Virus Free Edition    Free basic Virus and Spyware protection for home users

Microsoft Security Essentials      free real-time protection for your home PC.

PCTools AntiVirus Free Edition

Antivirus - On-Demand Scanners (these programs will scan for viruses and remove them, but they do not actively protect your PC)

Norton Security Scan and Clean

BitDefender Free Edition

Kaspersky Virus Removal Tool

VIPRE PC Rescue      command line utility that will scan and clean an infected computer (great for infected PCs that cannot boot to Windows)

Browser Protection

SpywareBlaster   Block the installation of spyware and unwanted software

SpywareGuard     Real-time protection from downloading Spyware

Sandboxie      Sandboxie runs your programs in an isolated space which prevents them from making permanent changes to other programs and data in your computer.

Transaction Guard       Protects sensitive online transactions on suspect PCs

File Sharing Sentinel      Block file sharing P2P software like Kazaa, Morpheus, etc.

WOT     free Internet security addon for your browser.  Warns you about risky websites.

McAfee SiteAdvisor      Browser add-on - They test websites for spyware, spam and scams so you can search, surf and shop more safely.

Browsers

Firefox       The premier web browser alternative to Internet Explorer

Google Chrome     "a browser that combines a minimal design with sophisticated technology to make the web faster, safer, and easier."

Internet Explorer 8

Safari       Apple's web browser - now on Windows too.

OperaTor      A portable software bundle which allows you to browse the web anonymously.  Run from a USB flash drive and no data will be saved on the host machine.

Anti-Spam

MailWasher Free     simple to use spam filter.

Comodo AntiSpam       uses sender authentication to filter out 100% of spam (free).

SpamPal              a mail classification program to help separate spam from your wanted email.

Microsoft Office Alternatives / PDF

OpenOffice    FREE Office Suite. Microsoft Word, Excel, PowerPoint, and Access compatible

Google Docs & Spreadsheets    Free - create documents online.

Microsoft Office Compatibility Pack for Office 2007 File formats

PDFill PDF Tools 5.0    Toolbox to Merge, Split, Reorder, Encrypt, Decrypt, Rotate, Crop, Reformat, Watermark, PDF to Images...and more.  developer site

Microsoft Office Save as PDF Add-In     Save files to the PDF and XPS formats in MS Office 2007.

Foxit PDF Reader        A small and Fast PDF reader.

PrimoPDF     make a PDF from anywhere you can print! - print to PDF.

PowerPoint Viewer    view and print (not edit) PowerPoint presentations with this free viewer from Microsoft.

Image Editing Applications

paint.net       very good FREE image and photo editing software

GIMP    GNU Image Manipulation Program

Backup & File Copy

DriveImage XML    Free imaging and drive backup program

Paragon Backup & Recovery 10 Free Edition    Create a complete, live backup of your system, operating system, data and all with this free, easy to use software.  Create your own recovery DVD.

Amic E-Mail Backup    Backup top nine popular email clients - free

YCopy     Great file copier from one drive to another

Comodo Backup   very versatile data backup application (download version 1 here)

Cobian Backup      A good backup application to schedule backups

Microsoft SyncToy v2.0         synchronize files between folders and computers quickly & easily.

ShadowExplorer       Browse through and retrieve old versions of your files in Windows Vista

Outlook add-in - PST Backup     create backup copies of your Outlook data files on a regular basis

PDF Unlocker    Unlock PDFs with copy or print restrictions

CDBurnerXP     Free CD/DVD Burner application

DeepBurner Free     free CD & DVD burning software

Bulk Rename Utility      Easily rename files and directories based upon extremely flexible criteria

Audio & Video

SoundCapture     Simple recording of what your sound card plays back

Audacity     Open source software for Recording and editing sounds

Mp3 My Mp3 Recorder 2   Record audio from any source, v2 has a Timer

Nexus Radio     Internet Radio player - TiVo style recording

VLC Media Player       Free multimedia player for various audio & video formats including DVDs.

VirtualDub       Video capture and editing for AVI files.

MPlayer      Movie player that plays multiple formats

Youtube Downloader     Download YouTube videos to your PC

GOM Media Player    Player for the FLV video files downloaded from Youtube

VeohTV       A free DVR for web video. Watch and Record Internet Video from lots of sources - NBC, CBS, YouTube, Google, Yahoo...

Free Hi-Q Recorder    Free sound recorder to record streaming audio, Internet radio, music, webcasts, or anything you can hear to MP3s.

K-Lite Codec Pack      Collection of codecs that are required for decoding (playing) many audio & video formats.   *If you have this Pack installed and you download a video file and it claims that you need another codec - delete the file - it is malware!

Liquid Mongoose     Make your own foldable CD/DVD case with a piece of paper.

DVD Flick     Burn DVD videos from most video files.

Simplify Media     Connect your music. Listen to your home library over the Internet. Browse or play your friends' songs on your PC, Mac, iPod Touch, or iPhone.  free.

Utilities

Everything     Search your hard drive for files by name FAST

Smart Defrag     free, fast hard disk defragmentation and optimization

UltimateBootCD      Many great tools on one bootable CD

Windows UltimateBootCD     you can boot to Windows from a CD - has a lot of great tools.

Synergy      Use one keyboard and mouse for 2 PCs

CCleaner       System optimization tool - "Crap Cleaner"  (download here)

Kruptos 2        256bit file encryption to secure your sensitive files

TCP Optimizer    free, easy program to optimize your internet connection

TweakUAC        turn off that annoying User Account Control in Windows Vista

TrueCrypt        free on-the-fly encryption.  create a virtual encrypted disk.

GreenPrint       saves paper and ink by eliminating wasteful pages

Trayconizer       minimize applications to the system tray instead of the taskbar

PortableApps    carry your favorite programs, email, bookmarks, settings, etc with you

Glary Utilities     Free utility with many tools to speed up and maintain your PC.

ActualDoc     Recent documents manager

IZArc     freeware archive utility - open archived/compressed files like ZIP, ARJ, 7-ZIP, RAR, TAZ, ISO, etc.

Advanced SystemCare Free v3     repair, clean and optimize your PC

Launchy      launch your programs, documents, files, folders, and bookmarks with just a few keystrokes!

Security Applications

Sophos Anti-Rootkit      Free tool for rootkit removal

F-Secure BlackLight     Rootkit elimination technology

Comodo Firewall       Free fully functional desktop firewall

Outpost Firewall Free      Free, solid bi-directional firewall protection.

Password Safe       safely and easily create a secured and encrypted user name/password list

MSConfig Alternatives / Startup Item Removal

*Don't remove startup items just because you don't recognize them.  Most antivirus apps have multiple startup item, but startup programs like QuickTime and RealPlayer can safely be removed.

Startup Inspector            Lists startup programs and give you more information about each item from it's 4900+ item database.

AutoRuns                Displays startup programs in many locations along with publisher and description

Spybot Search & Destroy      For more advanced users, in Advanced Mode, SpyBot can list startup items and color codes the entries (Green, Yellow or Red)

PC Decrapifier       automatically remove common trialware and annoyances installed by many big name computer OEMs.

What's Running    Look into your Windows system - explore processes, services, modules, IP connections, drivers and more.

Kids

baby smash!       baby-proof your computer - As your youngster "smashes" the keyboard, colored shapes, letters and numbers appear on the screen.

K9 Web Protection      Free internet filtering and parental controls

Other

PureText       Pastes unformatted text from the clipboard (put this program in your startup group)

JR Directory Printer       Print a list of files within a directory and/or subdirectories

TidyMail         Automatically remove those pesky ">" characters from your emails.

LogMeIn Free      easy, free remote access/control for your PC from anywhere with an internet connection. 

EcoFont      Use 20% less ink or toner by using this font made of small circles.

Ubuntu       Download this free, popular, alternate operating system.  Easy to use, works with most desktops and laptops.  Can be run right from the CD (boot from the CD), without installing on your hard drive.  Has applications such as a web browser, office suite, and media apps.

Linux Mint       Another free, alternate operating system (based on the above, Ubuntu distribution).  One of the most user-friendly Linux distributions available.

Windows Tools

WinKeyFinder     Retrieve and display your MS Windows and Office product keys

RemoveWGA      Use this to remove the Microsoft Windows Genuine Advantage Notification

Windows SteadyState    Return your computer and hard disk to the condition it was before the last user touched it.

Windows 7 Upgrade Advisor    Find out if your PC is ready for Windows 7 by scanning for potential issues.

Microsoft Virtual PC 2007      run multiple operating systems on one PC.

Windows XP Mode      If you have Windows 7 Professional or Ultimate, you can install Windows XP mode to run applications that are only Windows XP compatible right from within Windows 7.

Home - Radio Show - DH Services - Contact Us - Tech Tips - Downloads