Thursday Thirteen – Fabulous and Free software!

I learned recently that there is a lot of fabulous and free software available. ? I asked people what free programs they like and came up with a great list of programs.

Thursday Thirteen #39 – Free and fabulous software

Here’s my list of the best free software out there:

1. Virus protection: Avast is by far the most popular free virus software.? It has been around for a long time and has both a pay version and a free version (home use).? Avg is gaining popularity because it has more features in it’s free version. Both are stable and have been in use over a decade.? I will tell you that Avast caught a virus on my laptop that McAfee missed.

2. Image manipulation: Now, I own Photoshop from my years in the Open Grove.? However, I hate photoshop – just hate it.? Gimp is a very popular, and free, alternative to photoshop.? I’m planning on becoming very friendly with Gimp this fall!

3. Drawing software: My photoshop hatred is only a microfiber less than my hatred for Illustrator.? Inkscape is a free, and user friendly, Illustrator.? My new friend….

4.? Text editor: I became interested in text editors due to my deep hatred for GoLive. (Yes, I have a problem with Adobe products.? Don’t tell me how superior you are because you like Adobe products – I’m over it.)?? Anyway, I fell in love with Edit Pad lite.? I learned recently of Google Notebook which works great for websites or other information.

5.? Clean up computer: Ever think that your computer is slow and sucky?? Often that’s because it’s storing a bunch of crap that you don’t want it to store.? I’ve started using Crap Cleaner (now called CCleaner).? It’s easy, controllable interface make clearing your computer junk easy.

6.? Application launcher: I don’t use a lot of different programs, so this is not such a huge category for me.? But I like both Launchy and Rocket dock.? The idea is that you can open a new program with a click or a key stroke thus saving time.

7.? View graphics: Ever struggle to simply look at your photos?? Try IrfanView. This program is super cool.

8.? Sound recording : Since my least favorite software company bought my most favorite audio program, I’ve been a little stuck.? Audacity is awesome.

9.? File transfer programs: Yes, I know that Windows Explorer will do Internet file transfer, but you will probably retire before it happens.? (In other words, it’s very, very slow.)? I have used Leech for a very long time.? Firefox has a new FTP plug in that’s worth checking out. And a lot of people love Filezilla.

10.? Web browser: Firefox is fast, free and truly superior to Internet Explorer. For those of you who don’t use it because your favorite sites are IE only – there is a firefox plug-in to over come that. Just try it. You’ll be very happy.

11.? Spam/Ad detection and removal: I started using? Ad Aware by Lavasoft right after my machine was hijacked by spamware.? No program could find or remove the spamware.? Adverts popped up on my machine even when I wasn’t on the internet. Ad Aware found and removed the spamware from my computer and registry.? It continues to have the highest rating of any spamware remover and is soooooo much better than Windows Defender (and less resource intensive).

12.? Bubble map: For the true visual geeks, here’s a free bubble map program.? I hate these things but would feel remiss if I didn’t share it with you. ? CMap

13.? What are your favorite fabulous free software? Leave them in the comments and I’ll add them to the post!

First, Colleen at Loose Leaf Notes reminds us: “I?m nervous of free software. My computer geek repair man told me to be wary of it because it can come with viruses (even though I use protection).”? I think that’s why it’s crucial that we share what we know works.

• Ad Aware by Lavasoft is used by Adelle Laudan, Tink
• Audacity is used by Tink
• AVG is used by Sandy Carlson, Tink, She, Tricia
• CCleaner is used by Hootin’ Anni, Tink, Tempest Knight
• Gimp is used by Soren J
• Filezilla is used by Tink
• Firefox is used by Nicholas, Michelle, Colleen, Tink, Brian
• “I love Piknik on Flickr?it?s simple, fast and easy to use!” (Janet at Fond of Snape)
• “I use MacZip on a regular basis.” (Sarah at Puss Reboots)
• “Flickr has a free membership. It is limited as to what you can do?but it is fun.? So is Big Huge Labs?.that is where I make my mosaics. (Tommie at Tuesday Update)
• “For Mac users Yummy FTP is fantastic!” (Slender Octopus)
• I like Open Office and will switch to it completely on my next computer. I?m tempted to switch to a Linux OS with it too because I don?t think Microsoft needs any more of my money.? Switch is a great little freeware audio converter that can transform any audio file format into any other format.? PCPitstop has a complete suite of free tests to optimize your computer?s performance as well as identifying potential problems and solutions.? Finally,? Zamzar offers free online file conversion, so you can get rid of those pesky Vista office files that nothing else can open. (There is now a free version of Linux called Ubuntu.)
• “For images and pictures I have Picasa.” (Tink)
• “Eusing is phenomenal in scrubbing the registry of the computer.” (Mark at the Walking Man)
• “I use Zone Alarm” (She)
• “There?s a great text editor for the mac (not free) called BBEdit for the PC, I?d recommend UltraEdit (also not free).? There is a Mac version of Filezilla too (to the commenter that mentioned Yummy)” (FuriousBall)
• “The only free software I have used is Picassa and Photobucket.” (Jo)
• “have also Adobe Reader and MS Reader for my ebooks. uTorrent is also great. Hehehe! Then I?ve got a few others from Spacejock software: yWriter and Sonar. *wg*” (Tempest Knight)
• “One of my favorites is Vim which is a vi simulator for windows (i.e. a very powerful text editor).” (Soren J)
• “We have Paint Shop Pro here at home as well as a few odd freebies and find we enjoy them and even my 5 year old could learn to use them.” (Tricia)