I have finally composed a list of free tools for people to use. I was originally creating a list of SEO and Webmaster tools, then we decided to compose a list of tools anyone will find useful. I have now decided to do both but separate the SEO/Webmaster Tools from the Normal Tools!
The list does not compose of all the free alternatives but the programs we have used personally ourselves.
Audio
- Itunes – For playing audio
- Audiograbber – For ripping CDs
- MediaMonkey – For organising music
CD/DVD
- Express Burn – For CD/DVD burning
- Daemon tools – Virtual CD/DVD (mounting ISOs etc)
- DVD Decrypter – Rip DVDs
- ImgBurn – Burn ISOs (DVDs etc)
Codecs
- K-Lite Codec Pack – Generally has all the codecs you could need to play media.
Developers
- Notepad2 – Excellent Alternative to Notepad
- Block Note – HTML Editor (note we don’t actually use this but we couldn’t have a developers section without an HTML editor)
Image
- Gimp – Image Editor, an excellent open source alternative to photo shop etc
Internet
- Firefox – I highly recommend the use of this over Internet Explorer
- Opera – Another web browser that is better than IE
- Thunderbird – Developed by the same people as Firefox this is an excellent alternative to Outlook
- Smart FTP – Good FTP that is free to use for personal use
- FileZilla – Another good free FTP solution
- Pidgin – If you use more than one Instant Messaging program this makes a good alternative to the single programs.
- Skype – A good VOIP program that is free to use for Skype – Skype calls.
Office/Productivity
- OpenOffice – Our personal opinion is that this is without a doubt the best alternative to Office, it includes alternatives for Word, PowerPoint, Excel, and Acess.
- Google Docs – Another excellent alternative to Office that is sed online. Google Docs has allows you to create and manage word documents, spreadsheets and presentations.
Security
- AVG Free – An excellent Anti Virus
- Avast Home Free – Another good Antivirus
- Comodo Antivirus – And another antivirus
- Comodo Firewall – An excellent Firewall
- Zone Alarm – Another free firewall.
- Search and Destroy Spybot – Free Anti Spyware
I recommend that all users have an Antivirus, Firewall and Antispyware installed
Video
- VLC media player – Our favourite Video/Media Player, will play absolutely anything.
- Media Player Classic (MPC) – Good alternative to VLC though you will need codecs installed (K-Lite Codec Pack) this apparently has some advantages over VLC as some of the Codecs are less resource intensive and can handle HD Video better.
Miscellaneous – This was going to be added to Security but then I thought of more and more random programs/tools to add
- Angry IP-Scanner – Very fast IP/Port Scanner, useful for finding out what devices are connected to the network and their IP.
- NetMeter – Network Bandwidth Monitoring.
- Netstumbler – Tracks down Wi-Fi Access points, usefull if you have switched off SSID on your router.
- OpenVPN – Free Virtual Private Network sotware.
- UltraVNC – Remote PC Control, excellent for remotely logging into a server etc.
- DD-WRT – Not technically free software for your computer but it is a free firmware upgrade for certain routers. It is basically linux for your router and can be used to add a great deal of advanced features to a router.
- Synergy – Share a single mouse and keyboard between multiple computers. Similar to a KVM but without the Video bit. My favourite random piece of software ever. Though it shouldn’t be used over a wireless network unless you have set up SSH
- FolderShare – An excellent tool that is used to synch folders over the internet or a LAN
- 7-Zip – 7-Zip is one of the best file compressors available
- PuTTy – SSH Client, this can be used for SSH with Synergy, and also SSH with Bittorrent.