101 Fantastic Freebies

Once upon a time you actually had to pay for great software and services – hard to believe, but true.

Luckily, we no longer live in that world. The internet is stuffed with great downloads and websites offering free software and services of every kind. Want to tune up your PC, keep it safe, create graphics, or back up your system with gobs of free storage space? You can find free software and sites to do all that, and plenty more.

We revved up our modem and searched for the most intriguing free offerings out there. After we took each download or service for a test-drive, we picked the very best, and came up with the following list of 101 great freebies.

Desktop Search
WINNER Google Desktop (desktop.google.com) Google has done more than just conquer the internet – with Google Desktop, it has conquered your PC as well. The program brings the same kind of fast, accurate searching to your desktop that Google does to the web. It searches as you type, and displays the results in your browser. One nice touch: when the program is installed and you search via the Google website, the results will also include those from your computer. PC World reader panellist Vaughan Hunt says Google Desktop is his hands-down favourite free productivity application. “It’s totally changed how I process email,” he says. “No wonder Google is now the best brand on earth.”
Copernic Desktop Search (www.copernic.com) With an interface designed for your PC rather than for the web, this search tool may be the easiest to use.
Windows Desktop Search (www.microsoft.com/windows/desktopsearch) One big benefit of Microsoft’s desktop search program is its integration with both Microsoft Outlook and Outlook Express email.
Yahoo Desktop Search (desktop.yahoo.com) Among the better features of this offering: file viewers that let you preview files with all formatting intact.


Windows XP Tweaks
WINNER Fresh UI (www.freshdevices.com) Fresh UI is a tweaker’s heaven. With it you can change scores of settings in XP, many of which you probably never knew existed. Want to alter most any aspect of the Windows interface? Go ahead. Customise the Start menu? No problem. Change global menu settings and dozens of network and internet settings? You can do them all, and a whole lot more.
Microsoft PowerToys for Windows XP (www.microsoft.com/windowsxp/ downloads/powertoys/xppowertoys.mspx) Who says Microsoft can’t write great software? These easy-to-use tweaking tools allow you to customise XP in countless ways.
Tweak and Tune (www.acelogix.com/freeware.html) This freebie doesn’t have as many options and tools as Fresh UI does, but it’s simple to use and well laid-out.

Windows Vista Tweaks
WINNER TweakVI Basic (www.totalidea.com) If you want to do some serious Windows Vista tweaking, you need this utility. Microsoft seems to have gone out of its way to make Vista unfriendly to power users. But this great freebie gives you hundreds of ways to adjust the operating system, tasks that otherwise would be extremely difficult to do. Whether you want to, say, hack the Start menu, put an image on Internet Explorer’s toolbar, or optimise your CPU’s cache, this program has something for you.
VistaBootPRO (www.vistabootpro.org) Want to change how Windows Vista boots? Ordinarily you’d have to learn the ins and outs of the incomprehensible BCDEdit command-line tool. But this simple, graphical program lets you master Vista’s boot-up and start-up without ever touching the dreaded BCDEdit.
Easy BCD (neosmart.net/dl.php?id=1) Another BCD editor, this one is great for setting up a machine with Vista and other operating systems, such as Linux or XP.

Instant Messaging, Voice and Video
WINNER Meebo (www.meebo.com) How can you be in two or more places at once – that is, use multiple instant messaging services simultaneously? Use Meebo. It lets you log in simultaneously to seven instant messaging services, namely AIM, Google Talk, ICQ, Jabber, MSN Live Messenger, Yahoo Instant Messenger and Meebo’s own network. You see all your contacts in a single list, and you can correspond with them all from a single interface. It’s perfect for instant messaging on the road, since you don’t need to download a client; everything is available on Meebo’s website.
Jajah (www.jajah.com) Use this website to make local, long-distance and international calls using your existing landline phone, for free. The catch: both your phone number and the one you’re calling must be registered with Jajah, and Jajah users are limited to 30 minutes of talk time a day. Just type in your phone number plus the number you’re calling, and your phone will ring. Pick it up, and you make a connection to the other party.
Skype (www.skype.com) Phone other Skype members free, enjoy video calls and make cheap international calls.
Gizmo (www.gizmoproject.com) With this service you can make free calls to Google Talk, Windows Live or Yahoo Messenger users, as well as to other Gizmo users, of course.
Yahoo Messenger (messenger.yahoo.com) This IM tool is almost as popular as Windows Live Messenger, particularly for its group videoconferencing, emoticons and sounds.
Trillian (www.ceruleanstudios.com) Like Meebo, Trillian lets you log in to multiple instant messaging systems simultaneously. The difference is that it’s a download, not a website.
Pidgin (www.pidgin.im) This open-source instant messaging program for Windows and Linux lets you log in to and communicate on multiple IM networks, including AIM, ICQ, IRC, Jabber, MSN Messenger, Yahoo and more.
Google Talk (www.google.com/talk) Though Google Talk doesn’t have the big installed base of other instant messaging systems, its clean, simple interface and voice features make it a good choice.

Security Software
WINNER Avast (www.avast.com) In a world filled with high-priced subscription-based antivirus programs that bog down your PC while protecting it, Avast stands out. This program is one of the few free antivirus applications that do as good a job as any of the big boys. Avast includes more than seven different varieties of shields, safe-surfing tools and real-time virus protection for your OS, as well as for Outlook. Reader panelist John Van Dam says: “It’s uncomplicated and quite happy to run in the background without nagging me to allow it to update and install files.” The program downloads and installs updates automatically, and Avast works with both Windows Vista and XP. Why pay?
ZoneAlarm (www.zonealarm.com) This free firewall still beats anything Microsoft puts into Windows, including the features in Windows Vista. It offers outbound as well as inbound protection.
AVG Anti-Virus Free (free.grisoft.com) Protecting against viruses and hackers, this app works with both Windows Vista and earlier versions. “It’s easy to use, gets the job done efficiently and quickly and offers regular free updates, says PC World reader panellist Nisha Jeyaseelan.
SMAC (www.klcconsulting.net/smac) This utility lets you change the MAC address – the unique ID – of a wireless adapter. Use it to perform vulnerability testing, or to keep your identity private.
Microsoft Windows Defender (www.microsoft.com/athome/security/spy
ware/software/default.mspx) Though not everyone is a fan of Microsoft’s antispyware program, we love some of its tools. We’re particularly fond of the Software Explorer feature, which lets you disable programs that launch on Windows startup.
Spybot Search & Destroy (www.safer-networking.org) We still adore this perennial favourite. But remember – since no single antispyware program can detect and kill all spyware, Spybot should be just one piece of your security arsenal.

Entertainment Software
WINNER VLC Media Player (www.videolan.org/vlc) If you play a lot of video and use Windows Media Player, you’ve probably come across a number of files that you can’t play – you’re told you need to have a codec to handle them. Good luck finding that codec. Instead, try the VLC media player. This software plays pretty much every media type you can think of – and likely a few you haven’t imagined. Not only will it play audio and video formats, but it will also play DVDs, VCDs and many streaming protocols.
iTunes (www.itunes.com) Perennially popular as an audio organiser for iPod users, iTunes became even more attractive following the launch of its New Zealand iTunes Store in December last year. Apple and EMI’s April announcement that we’ll soon be able to buy DRM-free music from the store was yet more happy news.
Foobar2000 (www.foobar2000.org) This straight forward audio player won’t take up much RAM or system resources, and plays a wide variety of audio formats.

Image Editing
WINNER Google Picasa (picasa.google.com) Why spend several hundred dollars for graphics software when you can use the top-notch free app Google Picasa? This photo editing and sharing program from Google is a big hit. Its intuitive interface and organisational capabilities make it a breeze to find and edit pictures. It’s also handy for creating slide shows, screen savers and wallpaper.
Snapfire (www.snapfire.com) SnapFire juggles all your image editing, management, and sharing tasks with ease.
Irfanview (www.irfanview.com) This one has been around a while, but it’s still one of the best free image viewers for just about any file type, showing detailed information about images, helping you create slide shows, and performing tasks like eliminating red-eye.
StudioLine Photo Basic (www.studioline.biz/EN/products/overview-photo-basic) Here’s a great program for archiving photos and for organising your collection. We were sold on the app when we found its handy “web galleries”, which are HTML-coded web pages, complete with navigation links to your photos.
Microsoft Photo Info (www.microsoft.com/windowsxp/using/digitalphoto
graphy/prophoto/photoinfo.mspx) This useful freebie, which integrates directly into Windows Explorer, lets you preview an image and embed metadata into it by right-clicking it.
FastStone MaxView (www.faststone.org) This petite (1.3MB) image editor is small enough to store on an old floppy disk. Don’t let its size fool you, though: FastStone MaxView sports lots of photo manipulation tools, such as those for rotating, flipping, resizing and blurring.
Media Purveyor (www.mediapurveyor.com) If you have gigabytes of stored media – including music, images, and videos – in need of some taming, this free program is for you. Not only does Media Purveyor edit images, but it also organises and sorts your multimedia library. Plus, the app indexes your library for searching and plays back video and audio, to boot.
GIMP (www.gimp.org) GNU Image Manipulation is a favourite of open-source software fans everywhere. No, it isn’t the easiest to use, but it is nearly as powerful as Photoshop.
Paint.Net (www.getpaint.net) This surprisingly powerful image editing and manipulation program includes unlimited undos and special effects, and even provides the ability to work in layers.

Email for Free
WINNER Gmail (www.gmail.com) The heavyweight champ of free email is clearly Gmail, and not just because it gives you as much storage space as you’ll ever need. Though Gmail may not have the prettiest interface of the bunch, it’s speedy, it does away with frills, and it has all kinds of features if you’re willing to do a bit of digging. For example, Gmail doesn’t handle just web-based email; unlike other free services, it can work with your existing email software. You can also use it to forward mail to other accounts. (Click Settings•Forwarding and POP to configure both of these options.) Gmail allows you to create rules to handle incoming mail automatically, and you can easily search through your messages via Google.
Yahoo Mail (mail.yahoo.com) Be sure to keep this service on your radar. During the writing of this story, Yahoo was beta-testing a new version of its mail service. We love the interface, which works more like desktop email software than traditional webmail does.
Microsoft Windows Live Mail (get.live.com/betas/home) The email service formerly known as Hotmail has received a significant makeover, becoming appealingly slick and Outlook-like.
Spamato (www.spamato.net) Tired of wading through the spam clogging your inbox? This add-on for Outlook, Thunderbird and Mozilla Mail does everything it can to eradicate the junk.
Thunderbird (www.mozilla.com/en-US/thunderbird) This downloadable email client has a nice, simple interface, spam filtering, antiphishing features, RSS news-feed functions, quick search, and a spelling checker. It’s also from the folks who brought you the Firefox web browser.
Eudora (www.eudora.com) This freebie email favourite has been around for a long time, and with good reason: Eudora includes features like Mood Watch (which rates messages on a mood meter) that no other tool has. People who suffer from email overload (and that’s everyone, isn’t it?) will treasure the program’s unique folders-based approach to message organisation. An open-source version of Eudora is being developed by Mozilla for release later this year.
IncrediMail (www.incredimail.com) If you’re partial to animations, 3D effects, sounds and other kinds of froufrou in your email program, this downloadable software is the choice for you.

File Sharing
WINNER AllPeers (www.allpeers.com) Need to share files? Forget email, BitTorrent and instant messaging apps – you won’t find a better program than this. AllPeers works from within Firefox (an Internet Explorer version is planned, but not yet available), and lets you set up folders for file sharing. You can specify who has access to those files, and you can send messages to those people to alert them when files are ready. In addition, you can share web pages or images from web pages, and you can view any media files you receive from other people right inside Firefox. It’s the easiest way to share files of any kind with anyone.
Pando (www.pando.com) This peer-to-peer software lets you easily send and receive large files through email or instant messaging clients. The utility is particularly helpful because most ISPs have size limitations for sending or receiving email file attachments.
uTorrent (www.utorrent.com) Though the BitTorrent standard is the best protocol for sharing files, uTorrent is better than the BitTorrent client. This program has an array of extras, such as a tool for limiting the upstream and downstream bandwidth.

Back up and File Synchronisation
WINNER Mozy (www.mozy.com) Free backup programs and websites tend to give you only the basics, hoping that you’ll then pay extra for additional features. That’s not the case with Mozy, a full-featured online backup service.
You can, for example, back up only the portions of files that have changed, saving considerable backup time and space. You can also browse through 30 days’ worth of backups to locate previous versions of files.
Techies will appreciate features such as bandwidth throttling for backups, and halting backups if the CPU usage exceeds a certain percentage. You get 2GB for free; beyond that, you’ll have to pay.
MediaMax (www.mediamax.com) You want free storage space – how about 25GB of it? That’s what you get from MediaMax. We love the feature that allows you to stream your audio and video to your desktop, skipping hefty downloads from your digital storage locker.
XDrive (www.xdrive.com) With this service, you receive 5GB of backup for free, as well as a nice, free backup client and a way to share your folders with others.
GoPC (www.gopc.com.au) The GoPC ‘virtual computer’ allows you to replicate your personal desktop on any PC with an internet connection. All your programs and files are stored online, and can be accessed by simply plugging in a USB flash-drive, iPod or other device that you’ve loaded with the connection program. “Wherever you go, you take your bookmarks, web history, emails and documents. You don’t need to carry around a laptop, just your pen drive,” says PC World reader panelist Scott Cousins. “It’s a great product that I use everyday at school, at work and even at home.”
Microsoft SyncToy (www.microsoft.com/windowsxp/using/digitalphoto
graphy/prophoto/synctoy.mspx) This great Microsoft freebie permits you to keep folders on different machines automatically synchronised – it’s perfect for synchronising folders on a laptop and a desktop.
Everyday Auto Backup (www.backupsoft.net/everydayautobackup.htm) If you’re looking for a simple, no-frills download that will back up your data, this is the tool to try.
Microsoft Folder-share (www.folder
share.com) Use this tool to synchronise files with multiple desktops – including Apple machines – over the internet.