Essential freeware everyone needs...

[Jason]

I was just thinking to myself how there's tons of great freeware / shareware out there that I love to use.

What FREE software are you running that you think everyone should use (or at least know about)?

For me, it would be:

Zonealarm firewall

Grisoft AVG

Easy Thumbnails (by Fookes) if you need to resize lots images easily

KeePass (I was just referred to this earlier this week and am LOVING it)

MediaMonkey and Winzip for audio

Winrar for archiving/extracting zip/tarred files

Azureus for torrents

What am I missing? 

[Knu]

A couple of obvious ones:

Ad-aware: http://www.lavasoft.com/products/ad_aware_free.php

Spybot - Search & Destroy: http://www.spybot.info/en/download/index.html

This trojan scanner (A-Squared) is probably worth having too: http://www.emsisoft.com/en/software/free/

I use Avast Virus scanner. It has been infinately more reliable than McAfee, and I found it easier to use than other free virus scanners. I've been using it for a few years, and it has never let me down: http://www.avast.com/eng/download-avast-home.html

[Mishenka]

Well, don't know if this applies or not.

I use photoshop alot on my laptop, but my desktop is too slow.
I started using "The Gimp" It's not as demanding, but has most features. and best part, it's free!

http://www.gimp.org/

***Windows installer found here:
http://gimp-win.sourceforge.net/

[Knu]

Thanks for that. I was about to search for freeware for manipulating images for my members. I vaguely recall Gimp, now that you posted the link.

[Jason]

http://www.gimp.org/

Thanks!  I have Gimp installed on another computer and forgot to list it here.  Excellent open source software!

[mcooper06]

For Windows admins.. NsHookup.  It's a graphical version of nslookup and I use it all day long.

http://www.netstrap.com/residns/nshookup.htm

[Jason]

For Windows admins.. NsHookup.  It's a graphical version of nslookup and I use it all day long.

Bookmarked -- thanks!

[Mishenka]

'nother graphics one that is simpler, yet works great.

GetPaint.NET

[Mark]

A good free 3d program is Blender. It's actually very good for being free, but the UI can be intimidating.

www.blender.org

[CountryLady]

Full Featured "OFFICE" software from OpenOffice.org

A multiplatform and multilingual office suite and an open-source project.
Compatible with all other major office suites, free to download, use, ...
http://www.openoffice.org/

[Jason]

Full Featured "OFFICE" software from OpenOffice.org

Nice.  I have O.O installed on my linux box at home and have been meaning to install the "Windows" version on my other pc for testing.

I just read about how IBM is going to be adding developers to this project.  There's concern that since Sun oversees O.O that there may be a problem down the road...

http://www.computerworld.com/action/article.do?command=printArticleBasic&articleId=9037499

[Mark]

I use OpenOffice on my computers that don't have MS Office, which is 2 out of the 3 and it's seems to be right up there with MS Office. The only thing I don't like is that the built in PDF converter makes files 8-10 times the size that Adobe Acrobat will do. I understand that the converter in OO is not made by Adobe, but they could at least try to get the file size smaller.

[itsjustme]

You know, IRFANVIEW is really a cool little program.  There are so many things you can do with it, mass name change, mass file type change...in addition to the regular photo stuff. 

It amazes me that this program is around, for free.

Dave

[akheir]

I use OpenOffice on my computers that don't have MS Office, which is 2 out of the 3 and it's seems to be right up there with MS Office. The only thing I don't like is that the built in PDF converter makes files 8-10 times the size that Adobe Acrobat will do. I understand that the converter in OO is not made by Adobe, but they could at least try to get the file size smaller.

Have you tried Cutepdf Writer?  It is free - I use it for PDF creation in print.

http://www.cutepdf.com/Products/CutePDF/writer.asp

[akheir]

PageDefrag
Here is one that I like to use - just does what it says it does - defrag the pagefile (from Sysinternals/MS - for those of us who like to organize the locked file)

http://download.sysinternals.com/Files/PageDefrag.zip

Snadboy's Revelation
This one shows the letters under the asterisks (hidden passwords) - Great for those of us who have users who can't remember the passwords, but you need to do a reinstall. (or when you forget your own - blushing):

http://www.snadboy.com/RevelationV2.zip

NotePad ++
This one is a descent editor for HTML/PHP/Java etc.  If anyone knows of one better, I'm always up to try another!

http://notepad-plus.sourceforge.net/uk/site.htm