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101 of the Top Free Software Utilities to use
pcworld.com — Here is a list of the 101 top free utilities to use sorted by category-u can also sort them alphabetically if u wish-obviously 7-Zip is the best archive app
heathuff- 2020 diggs
- digg it
- burningpee, on 10/12/2007, -19/+14good list! I like the MS Desktop search better than google's
- ComputerWiz, on 10/12/2007, -5/+12I really like Google Desktop Search. It is much faster than Microsoft's search on my computer, but that may just be here. I like their sidebar idea, but I think they could have done better.
I would love to see a great widget program that would allow you to use Yahoo Widgets, Google Widgets, Dashboard Widgets, and widgets from other programs like Samurize all in one "Widget Adapter" that would work in Windows without the large memory usage that some have. It would be great to not have to choose between widget programs. - soopafly, on 10/12/2007, -15/+7Of course we're suppose to know what platform these are for by the headline?
- skyshock21, on 10/12/2007, -9/+30It's an OK list, but..............
NO MENTION OF OPERA?!?!?!?!?!? - hackwrench, on 10/12/2007, -0/+3Neither one allows me to create datasets so I'll keep looking.
- kherrick, on 10/12/2007, -1/+2I like beagle on opensuse 10.1 and it's free too! :-)
- primetime485, on 10/12/2007, -1/+1i disagree...its the worst list ever. How many of them are email servers? There's yahoo, gmail, and aim mail among others. And myspace? that's a freebie? if that counts why isn't DIGG on there?
- szembek, on 10/12/2007, -3/+4opera sucks
- tytanium0503, on 10/12/2007, -2/+4szembek speaks the truth
- ComputerWiz, on 10/12/2007, -5/+12I really like Google Desktop Search. It is much faster than Microsoft's search on my computer, but that may just be here. I like their sidebar idea, but I think they could have done better.
- xboxhacker, on 10/12/2007, -3/+157-zip and winrar are the best i agree
- adamlazz, on 10/12/2007, -16/+3Hands- down.
- avenger, on 10/12/2007, -4/+1WinRAR is my personal favorite though I still don't compress my files using the .RAR format.
- pegas, on 10/12/2007, -0/+7Not only is WinRAR not free, the format itself is proprietary. I agree, sometimes rar compression can be quite nice, but I prefer to use open-source tools to saving a few kilobytes.
- andreo, on 10/12/2007, -0/+2No love for IZArc on the list? I use both IZArc and 7-Zip. There are some compressed executables that IZArc can't extract and that's when 7-Zip saves the day. But I like the IZArc GUI better for working with regular RAR's and compressing files.
- xbasilx, on 10/12/2007, -0/+07zip compresses much better than not only RAR but ZIP & ACE too. Also RAR has the "invalid header" warning that seems to come up way too often, and there's still no way to suppress these annoying popups. But RAR is pretty good overall.
The one that really sucks is UHA.... who cares if the compression is best if it takes an hour, literally, to decompress a CD sized archive.
- cfleshman, on 10/12/2007, -0/+20foxit is a dream come true for people who need to copy/paste from pdf
- bradleyland, on 10/12/2007, -2/+21FoxIt is a dream for anyone who has to deal with PDFs, period.
Acrobat load time: 40s
FoxIt load time: 4s - Yenly, on 10/12/2007, -0/+2Just tried out foxit... how the heck have I ever lived without it?
What is wrong with adobe acrobat and why can't it load like this? - m00nmaster, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1What kind of machine takes 40 seconds to load Adobe Acrobat Reader? (except version 6, because that was horrible)
Version 7 and 5 both load fairly quick. It's the memory usage that makes all the difference. Foxit loads quicker, is not integrated into IE like Adobe, and uses less memory.
Foxit FTW!
- bradleyland, on 10/12/2007, -2/+21FoxIt is a dream for anyone who has to deal with PDFs, period.
- shitkicker, on 10/12/2007, -31/+11Linux is the best free OS!
- cfleshman, on 10/12/2007, -34/+7"Linux is the best free OS!"
wtf does that have to do with anything?- chicken101, on 10/12/2007, -3/+19You know there is a reply button, right? Just checking mate.
- darthmdh, on 10/12/2007, -3/+10the reply button doesn't appear if you sort by most diggs. I assume most of these comments that appear like a typical Outlook email thread (ie, completely disjointed) are due to diggers using that sort method.
- thelastknowngod, on 10/12/2007, -5/+24where is Opera? thats free and honestly i like it more than firefox.
- Metabolife, on 10/12/2007, -1/+6I don't like how they list some websites as applications, but the list is pretty good.
- z0iid, on 10/12/2007, -2/+18"BitTorrent is useful for downloading legitimate content quickly or for sharing your own files."
yeah, i know that is what it was created for - but it is far more useful for downloading illegitimate content.- skyshock21, on 10/12/2007, -9/+9No mention of any free Bit Torrent clients either? uTorrent? Bit Comet? Azureus?
This list is useless.
- skyshock21, on 10/12/2007, -9/+9No mention of any free Bit Torrent clients either? uTorrent? Bit Comet? Azureus?
- bennyboy371, on 10/12/2007, -4/+7Err... well, I wouldn't call it top free software utilities, considering LiveJournal, MySpace, and PLENTY other websites are on it. Its actually a list of things that are free. Hell, I saw AIM Mail, Gmail, and Yahoo! Mail on there too.
- szembek, on 10/12/2007, -0/+2And gmail is not a utility? Have you ever heard of web based applications? Just because a program is run through a web browser does not mean it isn't a "utility".
- nethenm, on 04/01/2008, -19/+1Spybot Search & Destroy is on the list? Last time I checked that wasn't free.
That software is so poorly designed.
It doesn't help stop the spread of spyware, it only helps promote it, with it's affiliate programs, etc..- battybattybatt, on 10/12/2007, -0/+8You dont know what you are talking about. The AutoUpdate feature is the ONLY part of SS&D that costs anything (15$ per year), and "helps promote" with its (non-existant) "affilate" (?) programs. (?)
Name one affiliate program. - bennyboy371, on 10/12/2007, -0/+6I've no idea what you're talking about, its free and it works pretty well for a free service. Until spyware scanning gets about as good as virus scanning is these days, you usually need more than one.
- ibart, on 10/12/2007, -0/+7apparently you've been looking at the wrong software - it's always been free, easy to use and rock solid.
http://www.spybot.info/en/download/index.html
Or do you work at a competing software firm... - venom8599, on 10/12/2007, -0/+8What are you talking about? Spybot has always been free, and is recognized as one of the best anti-spyware apps around. Maybe you're thinking about a lookalike product that's trying to capitalize on the Spybot name?
- m00nmaster, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1"Until spyware scanning gets about as good as virus scanning is these days, you usually need more than one."
More than one ounce of common sense! You know, if people spent the same amount of time learning how Windows or Linux or Mac OSes worked as they did on downloading/running anti-spyware tools, they wouldn't need those anti-spyware tools as often. They might also *GASP* learn something! - PlancksCnst, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1Autoruns or HijackThis is better anyway.
- battybattybatt, on 10/12/2007, -0/+8You dont know what you are talking about. The AutoUpdate feature is the ONLY part of SS&D that costs anything (15$ per year), and "helps promote" with its (non-existant) "affilate" (?) programs. (?)
- maxkelley, on 10/12/2007, -2/+15Of course, it would always be nice to have a readable english story description......
- battybattybatt, on 10/12/2007, -27/+4This isn't the G4TV forums, *****. We can use as many nemonics as we want to, *****.
- scheper, on 10/12/2007, -0/+15Only if you know how to spell mnemonics and know what it actually means.
- pixelmixer, on 10/12/2007, -6/+4AIM Email made it on the list? 2 GB of storage is nothing now-days for email clients... I dont think it should be on there simply because it conforms with newer upcoming standards. There are others that are MUCH MUCH better than AIM email, but didnt make the list.
- martynda, on 10/12/2007, -3/+5Are you implying that such complex websites are not software?
They use object oriented programming concepts, have variables, loops, interact with the user, etc. Just a different medium of display/output.
Whoops, wrong parent. This is in reply to bennyboy371 a few posts above.
- martynda, on 10/12/2007, -3/+5Are you implying that such complex websites are not software?
- jiminikiz, on 10/12/2007, -2/+4no way, TUGzip is the best archiver IMO
didn't even make the list! =( - PixelCloud, on 10/12/2007, -2/+5myspace is an amazing free software utility
/sarcasm- haxx4, on 10/12/2007, -0/+6"MySpace lets you store an unlimited number of small images, and makes uploading music and images easy."
wtf? That description doesn't *begin* to cover what that crappy site is *really* used for.
- haxx4, on 10/12/2007, -0/+6"MySpace lets you store an unlimited number of small images, and makes uploading music and images easy."
- norris, on 10/12/2007, -3/+16wtf? no gaim?
- battybattybatt, on 10/12/2007, -31/+4***** blow me.
- webcrumb, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1[puffs cheeks out and blows]
[wafts feather about]
Better?
- dhasenan, on 10/12/2007, -2/+3tar with bzip2 and gzip is the best free archiver. If you want to give it a try, why not download MinGW today?
- scheper, on 10/12/2007, -0/+5Because it's not easy and convenient on Windows as it is on Linux.
- wtfunkymonkey, on 10/12/2007, -0/+16This makes me wonder; Is heathuff ignorant or just lazy?
I realize that people today are busy, and don't have a lot of time to do all the things they want to do. But is it really so hard to type 'you' instead of 'u'? It's another two keystrokes, that couldn't take more than a half second to type.
It's not as if digg is an IRC channel or a message board, this place is a very well known news resource. Digg has gotten a lot of media attention over the last few months, everything from other websites, to print media, to television.
Now ask yourself, what does a front page submission with such a low quality summary say about this place?- m00nmaster, on 10/12/2007, -1/+2Is it really necessary for you to place in commas where they are clearly not needed? You also might need a semicolon in there too. Don't dog other people's grammar without checking your own.
Example: "I realize that people today are busy, and don't have a lot of time to do all the things they want to do." - WillyMF1, on 10/12/2007, -1/+0Cmon. While digg is kinda fun and quite quick with new news, if you expect anything better than 6th grade level submissions and comments on digg, your going spend a lot of time disappointed.
- PlancksCnst, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1m00nboy:
"place in commas"? Are we speaking out English here?
- m00nmaster, on 10/12/2007, -1/+2Is it really necessary for you to place in commas where they are clearly not needed? You also might need a semicolon in there too. Don't dog other people's grammar without checking your own.
- DaBlade, on 10/12/2007, -0/+4That's freeware, not free software (most of it at least).
- doctabu, on 10/12/2007, -3/+8u can use full english sentences, 2. I meen, y not? u will look a bit smarter and people will think gr8er of u. r periods just not tite enuff 4 u?
- micro506, on 10/12/2007, -4/+2sigh...Beer, not speech...
- KDPRoss, on 10/12/2007, -0/+2well, except that free beer doesn't require that you drink from over-priced, proprietary glasses ... and some of these need windows or os x.
- m00nmaster, on 10/12/2007, -1/+2At least the glasses are compatible with most dishwashers and don't require a recompiling.
- thegsa, on 10/12/2007, -1/+4Myspace??????????
WTF???? - TheOtherGuy, on 10/12/2007, -2/+8MSN Hotmail?
You've got to be kidding me...- will-rom, on 10/12/2007, -1/+6Tell me you've never had a Hotmail account. OK then.
- DaBlade, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1will-rom: I never had a Hotmail account, and I agree with TheOtherGuy.
- PlancksCnst, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1The new beta's not horrible. I've been using it for about 6 months now. I've had a Hotmail account since before they were Microsoft. And I love it (it's my spam-is-okay address).
- ChuckRoastHere, on 10/12/2007, -1/+1You totally forgot absORB
http://briandailey.googlepages.com/absorb
Killer app - lidiving, on 10/12/2007, -9/+0Not impressed....nothing new...
http://members.tripod.com/lidiving - modpancake, on 10/12/2007, -1/+3Humorously unprofessional story description.
++Digg.- joelito, on 10/12/2007, -3/+2So you dugg it before reading..?
- duodave, on 10/12/2007, -1/+3No digg. This list should be called "40 of the top free software utilities, 40 so-so ones, and 21 that plain suck."
- Hurricane, on 10/12/2007, -0/+2Half of this stuff is bloatware from websites, not really a good list, LOTS of very good UNBLOATED apps are missing.
- peregrine, on 10/12/2007, -2/+1No digg. This misses out on the good stuff.
Blender? Not their. this is simply software that mostly sucks. Full of bloat and spy ware. Lame.- haxx4, on 10/12/2007, -0/+2GAIM and VLC aren't in there either. But they included 2 Firefox extensions: FlashGot and Hyperwords. If they're gonna have any then they should have Tab Mix Plus or Adblock Plus, but FF extensions really deserve their own list...there are so many essentials.
- shortkid422, on 10/12/2007, -3/+2MySpace....Lame.
Competing Services....Lame (Yahoo Mail Beta & Yahoo Mail & Windows Live Mail & Gmail & AIM Mail)
Terrible list...Lame- m00nmaster, on 10/12/2007, -0/+31300+ Diggs say otherwise.
- tavisjohn, on 10/12/2007, -2/+2Alot of those descriptions are not accurate. MySpace does not let you upload UNLIMITED images.
No Digg! - aragami, on 10/12/2007, -0/+4right half that list were websites not software and they missed out a couple brilliant bits of freeware
gaim, paint.NET, opera, any of the torrent clients, avg the list goes on :P
no digg!- kloud213, on 10/12/2007, -1/+3AVG is in my opinion the best anti-virus ever.
- kloud213, on 10/12/2007, -1/+3AVG is in my opinion the best anti-virus ever.
- JTMON, on 10/12/2007, -0/+3Myspace was originally a site for photos before it was the social networking site. Should give you an idea how old that list is :)
- otaking, on 10/12/2007, -2/+2"Free_Software_Utilities"
lol yeah...cuz websites are software :p - zmigliozzi, on 10/12/2007, -0/+5ya.... wheres the hamachi? its amazing
www.hamachi.cc - rincebrain, on 10/12/2007, -1/+4Reported as lame because the poster couldn't even be arsed to write proper English.
Also, some of the things on there are just stupid advertisements for blog sites - I'd really like to think that LiveJournal, MySpace, and Xanga aren't some of the best free things on the web. - BeserkerNJ, on 10/12/2007, -0/+3Shareware isnt FREE, 30 day trials dont count grrrrrrrrrrrrrr.....no digg
- GotoDengo, on 10/12/2007, -0/+7HUGE glaring omission - Daemon Tools. Instead of carrying 5 CD's, burn 5 CD images to one DVD and mount them with Daemon Tools. With HD/BlueRay discs you'll be able to have 30/50 CD's on one disc!!
Should be on the top10 of any freeware list.
http://www.daemon-tools.cc/dtcc/announcements.php- ocram, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1Sure, if you don't mind the bundled adware.
- airjrdn, on 10/12/2007, -0/+3I run a freeware site ( http://www.missingbytes.net ) Dugg here - http://www.digg.com/software/Direct_Downloads_of_Freeware_with_No_Ads,_No_Spyware_ with many of these utilities. It's a one-top-shop for good open source software & freeware with no download lines or registering required.
- proidiot, on 10/12/2007, -3/+4this is a very dumb list......
it's not all software.....
it's not all free.....
it's not all the best at whatever....
so what is it??????
no digg- Archon810, on 10/12/2007, -1/+1that's exactly what I thought. most are online sites that everyone knows about anyway. how's this different than a list from users of del.icio.us, for example? this is only a collection of links. lame.
- twisterX, on 10/12/2007, -2/+2They unclude bloated itunes but no winamp? List Sucks
- Dudemullet, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1Here, here to that !. I know using the programs are everyone choice, but come on winamp is way better music player than iTunes hands down, all I gotta say is global hotkeys. Give winamp a try and activate the global hotkeys feature, you will find it better than iTunes. And for those with ipods be sure to download the mlipod[sic] plugin yuo whont need iTunes ever again
- Archon810, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1all the iTunes fans are voting winamp down. Lame, considering winamp owns iTunes any day of the week.
- ejsocom, on 10/12/2007, -1/+0Got some tips from that list...
Uhhh, writely??? DIGG?!??!?!?! - keymastr, on 10/12/2007, -0/+2No VMWare Server? Most of the list does suck... it reminds me of a list I would have seen about 5 years ago, with a few exceptions.
- selphishnerd, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1they forgot to list Linux itself...
(edit) uh...yea on 2nd thought i suppose linux probably isn't concidered a "utility"... - LowFuel, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1u should take a writing class.
- pauldonnelly, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1The headline is pretty misleading. Free software refers to free-as-in-freedom software, not to free-as-in-beer software. That's more appropriately called freeware.
- addw, on 10/12/2007, -0/+0Emacs -- where was it ?
- lunarship, on 10/12/2007, -0/+2Good list, but I think almost everyone could compile their own list like this. For example, I agree about FoxitReader and OOo, but I don't about NVU - I don't like the way it rewrites all your code every time you go out of HTML view, and it doesn't know about ASP or even attempt to ignore it, just stomps all over it with big boots.
If you want to pick further holes, well it's not limited to open source (otherwise why Google Earth?) so why no Opera? No Hamachi? Even Eudora - still a popular email client, even if Thunderbird is getting the glory these days... Also, why no archive.org for the free movies?
It has given me a few interesting ideas to check out though, and I shall be looking for them there. - trollenlord, on 10/12/2007, -1/+0These lists are lame. Go to sf.net and freshmeat.net to get a proper always upto date lists. They are more comprehensive too and in case of sf.net drawn from the registered projects automatically. Reported as lame.
- sniper668, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1The heading is a little inaccrate. The actual title on pcworld.com is "101 Fabulous Freebies". That is, it doesn't limit itself to software.
I think just because program x,y,z isn't on the list doesn't mean said program isn't "Fabulous". Besides, if you already know it's fabulous, why is it so important to see it there anyway? I'd rather learn about something new. - webhead74, on 10/12/2007, -1/+2I quit reading here...
"GRC Shields Up This browser-based tool checks your PC for common vulnerabilities, such as open ports."
It's amazing how many people visit Steve Gibson's site & think they're totally safe when in reality they aren't. If anything the Shields Up site is a dis-service, IMO.
No digg -
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