61 Free Desktop Applications, Webapps, and Tools We're Most Thankful For

61 Free Desktop Applications, Webapps, and Tools We're Most Thankful For

from http://lifehacker.com/5412886/61-free-apps-were-most-thankful-for

1. Firefox (see also: Power User's Guide to Firefox 3, Top 10 Firefox 3.5 Features)
2. VLC (see also: Master Your Digital Media with VLC, VLC Hits 1.0 with Better Playback and File Support)
3. CCleaner (see also: Five Best Windows Maintenance Tools)
4. Dropbox (see also: Use Dropbox for More Than Just File Syncing, Sync Files and Folders Outside Your My Dropbox Folder)
5. 7-Zip (see also: Five Best File Compression Tools)
6. OpenOffice.org (see also: OpenOffice.org 3.1's Usability Tweaks, OpenOffice.org Screenshots Preview a Ribbon-Like Toolbar)
7. Google Chrome (see also: The Power User's Guide to Google Chrome, 2009 Edition)
8. µTorrent (see also: Tweak uTorrent's Settings for Faster Downloads, Five Best BitTorrent Applications)
9. Notepad++ (see also: Five Best Text Editors, AutoSave Adds Reassurance to Notepad++ Editing)
10. Gmail (see also: Our full Gmail coverage)
11. GIMP (see also: Gimp 2.7 Beta Improves Text Editing, Streamlines Saving)
12. Paint.NET (see also: Paint.NET Releases Big Update, Still a Killer Photoshop Alternative, Paint.NET Plugin Lets You Open Photoshop Files)
13. Microsoft Security Essentials (see also: Microsoft Security Essentials Free Antivirus App Leaves Beta, Stop Paying for Windows Security; Microsoft's Security Tools Are Good Enough)
14. Revo Uninstaller (see also: Lifehacker Pack 2009: Our List of Essential Free Windows Downloads)
15. Evernote (see also: Evernote 3.5 Beta Brings Tons of Tiny Fixes to Windows, Expand Your Brain with Evernote)
16. Thunderbird (see also: Thunderbird 3 Release Candidate Available for Download)
17. Audacity (see also: Geek to Live: Make a ringtone from any MP3)
18. ImgBurn (see also: Turn Your PC into a DVD Ripping Monster, Five Best CD and DVD Burning Tools)
19. Picasa (see also: Picasa 3.5 Organizes Your Photos with Facial Recognition)
20. Skype (see also: Our full Skype coverage)
21. Pidgin (see also: Ten Must-Have Plug-ins to Power Up Pidgin, Five Best Instant Messengers)
22. Ubuntu (see also: First Look at Ubuntu 9.10 Karmic Koala, Dual-Boot Windows 7 and Ubuntu in Perfect Harmony)
23. iTunes (see also: iTunes 9 Improves Syncing, Network Sharing, More)
24. foobar2000 (see also: Screenshot Tour: The beautiful and varied world of foobar2000, Hack Attack: Roll your own killer audio player with foobar2000)
25. Foxit Reader (see also: Five Best PDF Readers, Lifehacker Pack 2009: Our List of Essential Free Windows Downloads)
26. FileZilla (see also: Five Best FTP Clients, Build a Home FTP Server with FileZilla)
27. VirtualBox (see also: The Beginner's Guide to Creating Virtual Machines with VirtualBox)
28. TrueCrypt (see also: Geek to Live: Encrypt your data, Five Best Portable Applications)
29. Avast! (see also: Five Best Antivirus Applications)
30. Defraggler (see also: Five Best Disk Defragmenters)
31. KeePass (see also: Eight Best KeePass Plug-Ins to Master Your Passwords, How to Use Dropbox as the Ultimate Password Syncer)
32. Opera (see also: Opera 10.10 with Unite Media Server Released)
33. AVG (see also: AVG 9 Free Now Available for Download)
34. Digsby (see also: Five Best Instant Messengers, Digsby Sees the Light, Removes (Some) Bundled Crapware)
35. Google Reader (see also: Our full Google Reader coverage)
36. Winamp (see also: Win7shell Adds Windows 7 Jump List Support to Winamp)
37. Google Earth (see also: Google Earth 5.1 Speeds Up Your World Browsing)
38. TeraCopy (see also: Five Best Alternative File Copiers)
39. Launchy (see also: Our full Launchy coverage)
40. Transmission (see also: Lifehacker Pack 2009: Our List of Essential Free Mac Downloads)
41. Eclipse IDE
42. SpyBot Search & Destroy (see also: Five Best Malware Removal Tools)
43. Adium (see also: Adium Updates with Security Fixes, Better Facebook Integration)
44. PuTTY (see also: Add Tabs to PuTTY with PuTTY Connection Manager)
45. Songbird (see also: Songbird 1.0 Release Official, Fixes Bugs, Plays iTunes Purchases, Killer Add-ons Make Songbird So Much Better)
46. Sumatra PDF (see also: Sumatra 1.0 is a Blazing Fast Replacement for Adobe Reader)
47. XBMC (see also: Build a Silent, Standalone XBMC Media Center On the Cheap, Customize XBMC with These Five Awesome Skins, Turbo Charge Your New XBMC Installation)
48. Blender (see also: Learn Blender with free e-book)
49. CDBurnerXP (see also: Five Best CD and DVD Burning Tools)
50. Everything (see also: Everything Finds Windows Files As You Type, Top 10 Tiny & Awesome Windows Utilities)
51. HandBrake (see also: HandBrake Updates to 0.9.4 with Over 1,000 Changes, 64-Bit Support)
52. Rainmeter (see also: Rainmeter 1.0 Brings the Enigma Desktop to Everyone)
53. AutoHotkey (see also: Turn Any Action into a Keyboard Shortcut, Hack Attack: Knock down repetitive email with AutoHotKey)
54. Google Calendar (see also: Our full Google Calendar coverage)
55. MediaMonkey (see also: MediaMonkey 3.2 Syncs with More Devices, Adds Auto Folder Watching)
56. Quicksilver (see also: A beginner's guide to Quicksilver)
57. WinSCP
58. Google Voice (see also: Make Unlimited Free Calls on Your Cellphone with Google Voice, How to Ease Your Transition to Google Voice)
59. Boxee (see also: Build a Cheap But Powerful Boxee Media Center, Boxee to Launch Beta with Loads of New Features)
60. AdBlock Plus (see also: Top 10 Must-Have Firefox Extensions, 2009 Edition)
61. Media Player Classic (see also: Five Best Video Players)

The Top Ten Freeware Products of 2009: Users choice from Gizmo blog

1. Mozilla Firefox 3.5
Users Choice: Freeware Product of 2009  (25% of total vote)
Other browsers may be faster and sexier but Firefox with its huge range of add-ons remains the most capable browser for everyday use. Used by more of our site visitors than any other browser.
2.  Avira Antivir Free  (12%)
Antivir provides an extraordinary level of anti-malware protection for your PC at zero cost. There have been signature file update problems for the free version in recent months but these now seem to have been resolved
3.  Google Chrome browser  (10%)
Fast, safe and the shape of things to come. The most recent version now accommodates extensions.
4.  Microsoft Security Essentials  (9%)
A much better anti-malware scanner from Microsoft than anyone thought possible and low on resource usage as well. A great solution for low risk users.
5.   Comodo Firewall  (8%)
Extraordinary protection for those sufficiently technically competent to use it.
6.  Avast! Antimalware  (5%)
The most complete free anti-malware program available. It's a bit heavier on resources than Avira but the detection rates are superb.
7.  Picassa 3  (5%)
The ideal way to store, manage  and edit your online photos. The user interface is a gem.
8.  Everything Search  (5%)
Find any file on your hard drive in an instant without bogging down your PC in background indexing. Only finds files by name not content.
9.  Opera 10  (5%)
Opera's devoted fans will tell you it's the fastest, safest and most complete browser available. They are probably correct but somehow Opera has never got the traction it deserves.
10.  VLC Media Player (5%)
A multi-platform media player that runs mostly without the need for external codecs. It's the player of choice for many experienced users though a little daunting for beginners.

See GIZMO editors' selections for the best freeware of 2009

SUPERAntiSpyware Online Safe Scan FREE

SUPERAntiSpyware.com has released SUPERAntiSpyware Online Safe Scan, a powerful new tool in the fight against the latest and particularly difficult malware infections.

This new online scanner is a critically important tool for computer users and technicians. The new breed of infections simply block most, if not all, anti-spyware and anti-virus products from running. This leaves users and technicians in a desperate situation. This new stand alone online “Safe Scan” will run when other products are blocked.

There is an interesting twist to this new product. Instead of downloading and installing the free edition of SUPERAntiSpyware, you simply download an executable which, when launched, effectively turns SUPERAntiSpyware into a cloud application. Pretty cool move.

If you’re asking if you can run an online virus scanner while your principal onboard AV application is running, the answer is – yes.

SUPERAntiSpyware Online Safe Scan is absolutely free at www.superantispyware.com/onlinescan.html.

Follow the instructions below to initiate the SUPERAntiSpyware Online Scan. The scanner will detect AND remove over 1,000,000 spyware/malware infections. The scanner does NOT install anything on your Start Menu or Program Files and does NOT need to be uninstalled.

The SUPERAntiSpyware Online Safe Scan is free for personal use. If you are a computer technician, IT person or would like to run the SUPERAntiSpyware Online Safe scan in your corporate environment, please contact us here for a license.

1. Start the Scan Click the button to the right to start the scanner download process.
2. Download the Scanner Click the RUN button when prompted. If you are using a browser other than Internet Explorer then prompt may be different.
3. Wait for the Scanner to Download The scanner will download in just a few seconds.
4. Run the Scanner Click the RUN button when prompted. This will start the scanner. Click the "Click here to Start" button and then the "Scan your Computer" button to start the scanning process.

SUPERAntiSpyware.com provides users of our SUPERAntiSpyware Professional FREE, unlimited 24/7 technical support via e-mail. Do not hesitate to contact us if you have any questions or suggestions.http://www.superantispyware.com/onlinescan.html

 

This new online scanner is a critically important tool for computer users and technicians. The new breed of infections simply block most, if not all, anti-spyware and anti-virus products from running. This leaves users and technicians in a desperate situation. The stand alone online “Safe Scan” will run when other security products are blocked.

Free Mail Collector - All Email Accounts in One Place

Fri, 12/18/2009   from Techsupportalert website:  Mail Collector lets you read and send emails from your multiple email accounts in one place. Easy to set up, no more going through various complicated settings for incoming and outgoing servers.

Mail Collector resides in GMX Mail which you need to sign up if you do not have one. It's free.
Once you have a GMX Mail account, log in and click Mail Collector. It shows you four simple steps to go—just select a provider (Yahoo, Gmail, Hotmail or others) from a pull-down menu, enter an email address and password, click "Continue" with the default setup and "Confirm". That's it. And all mails will start flowing in from that account. 

Continue reading here http://www.techsupportalert.com/content/free-mail-collector-all-email-accounts-one-place.htm

One Comment  I'll stick with PopPeeper. Works with Yahoo, Hotmail, Gmail, etc. You name it, it works with it. Plus it's portable!

SoftMaker Office 2008 for Free Office suite

SoftMaker Office 2008 for Free

From techsupportalert website..Posted: 17 Dec 2009 This is a pretty impressive office suite comprising a word processor, spreadsheet, presentation program and scripting utility. To the eye it looks very like Office XP and it works very well indeed. In fact Infoworld rated it as superior to Open Office 3.1.

Overall this is a pretty decent freebie. No it's not got the extraordinary feature set of Office 2007 but it has just about everything normal users need.  The only major component missing is a replacement for Outlook but there are plenty of other free alternatives you can use instead. See here: Best Free PIM  Best Free Email Client
How does it compare to Open Office? Well Infoworld consider it to be better the Open Office V3.1.

A pretty impressive freebie.  http://www.techsupportalert.com/content/softmaker-office-2008-free.htm?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+gizmosbest+%28Gizmo%27s+Best-ever+Freeware%29&utm_content=Yahoo!+Mail

Also see other alternatives to MS Office at an earlier posting I did in this blog  http://softwareblessings.blogspot.com/2009/10/alternatives-to-ms-word-and-office.html

Test Drive And Learn Windows 7 Features From Your Web-Browser

Microsoft Windows 7 and if you  planning to get switched on the new operating-system now you can test and learn the new features online right from your web-browsers - thanks to newly introduced Windows 7 Test Drive service from Microsoft which allows users and developers to experience Windows 7 running live on Microsoft servers in an safe virtual test-drive environment accompanied with supporting step-by-step walkthrough videos of it's features.

The free test-drive resource requires no special software installation and runs inside your web-browser (Internet Explorer) and needs a single Active-X installation to get started.

The test-drives are divided into various categories like productivity, security & control, streamlined PC management etc. which can be accessed from the official Windows 7 Test Drive website here. http://www.microsoft.com/click/WindowsTestDrive/itpro/

 

Check out my Basic Computer help blog http://computerhelpbasics.blogspot.com/

My Favorite Free software http://www.blogger.com/post-create.g?blogID=8424380123589191570

 

 

Best Free Firewall

From TechSupportalert website:  No other freeware product causes as much angst to users, whether in installation or day-to-day use, as a firewall. To find a stable and high quality firewall for windows often involves a process of trial and error. Firewalls should protect while not being too intrusive or too complicated to handle. This article gives you a selection of the best free software firewalls available.

If you want to learn more about firewalls, visit these excellent sites: How Firewalls Work and Microsoft Security Firewalls FAQ. If you don't decide to use one of the firewall products in the article, at least remember to turn on the Windows firewall. Be sure to use only one software firewall at a time. But feel free to combine a hardware and a software firewall to improve protection. Additionally, most products highly recommend uninstalling other third-party software firewalls before installation (and disabling the Windows firewall if they don't).

Oh, and I always create a drive image or restore point before installing a new firewall since they are known to give your PC serious problems if they conflict with anything. I installed and uninstalled each firewall several times during testing and had no major problems, but I was careful to make sure each one uninstalled cleanly before installing another firewall (often with Revo/Zsoft Uninstaller and additional cleaning as needed with CCleaner/Autoruns, or with a fresh drive image or restore point).

Firewalls are increasingly useful to help you control the activities of Internet facing applications. Many users now leave their Internet on all the time, increasing their risk to malware. It's also becoming difficult to tell when applications connect online because they link so many of their features to Internet resources. Few programs stop to ask your permission. So I predict that firewalls will be ever more important for privacy and control.

The writer organized the article into two sections: (I) software firewalls for broad protection and greater user involvement; (II) software firewalls for basic protection and less user involvement. 

Continue reading his recommendations here http://www.techsupportalert.com/best-free-firewall.htm?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+gizmosbest+%28Gizmo%27s+Best-ever+Freeware%29&utm_content=Yahoo!+Mail#Quick_Selection_Guide

Best Free Software to Cut, Split or Merge Audio Files

12/03/2009 - 20:25  Introduction  from gizmosbest blog
So, you've got some big mp3 or other audio files which you want to trim, splice, split or otherwise cut down to size, maybe for your mp3 player. Perhaps you want to extract one or more songs from a large audio file, or a particular part of a radio program you recorded (cut the commercials!). You want to split a wav file you've transferred from vinyl into its original tracks. Or you want to use a particular portion of an mp3 file to create a personalized ring tone for your smart phone.

You could use an all-round audio editing freeware program like Audacity, but that isn't the most convenient or efficient way. Your best bet is probably to use a smaller, more specific program for the job: a lightweight freeware splitter (or joiner). Perhaps something you can run even on an oldish laptop. And you'll be better off choosing a lossless splitter which — unlike Audacity, for example — will cut (or merge) your files without any loss of sound quality due to decompressing and recoding.

mp3DirectCut is likely to be top choice if your main need is simply to cut / split mp3 files. It's a lightweight, portable, lossless mp3 splitter which is a joy to use even on less powerful computers.
Like other top audio file splitters,  mp3DirectCut  incorporates an audio player with a volume unit (VU) meter which lets you see as well as hear the points where you want to cut. Mp3DirectCut offers a good range of handy features, including pause detection,  CUE sheet support, looping, volume gain, fading trimming, ID tagging, etc.

A particular strong point is the simplicity of its neatly arranged interface. It's a pleasure to get to know this no frills program and there's an excellent manual to help (and here's a tutorial on how to make a ring tone with mp3DirectCut).  Splendid, straightforward portable freeware.   

Read other program recommendations continue reading here http://www.techsupportalert.com/best-free-cut-split-merge-audio-files.htm?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+gizmosbest+%28Gizmo%27s+Best-ever+Freeware%29&utm_content=Yahoo!+Mail

manual http://www.geocities.co.jp/SiliconValley-SanJose/2485/mp3DirectCut/mp3directcut_manual_old.html

how to make a ring tone with mp3DirectCut  http://www.mobile9.com/invboard/lofiversion/index.php/t33191.html

Five Best Antivirus Applications & Best Antivirus Application: AVG

READ INTERESTING HEADLINES BY CLICKING THE LINKS BELOW

 

Best Antivirus Application: AVG

Five Best Antivirus Applications

FREE Daniusoft Video to 3GP Converter for your cell phone video & Free Audio and Video Converter

Daniusoft Video to 3GP Converter can convert your videos in AVI, MP4, MPEG, WMV, XviD, H.264, DAT, MOV, ASF and FLV formats to 3GP (3gp), 3GP2 (3g2), MP4, XviD, H.264, DAT, MOV, ASF, FLV, M4A and MP3 formats.

Apart from basic video conversion you can also perform advanced tasks like splitting video into small files, cut off movie black edge and select aspect ratio to meet you mobile phone's need and preset encoding parameters to get an ideal output quality. Once converted you can enjoy your videos on all popular mobile phones such as Nokia, Motorola, iPhone, Sony Ericsson, Samsung, LG, Smart Phone, PDA and so on, Daniusoft Video to 3GP Converter is compatible with Windows 2000, 2003, XP, Vista OS platforms.

A fully-functional free copy of the free 3GP Video converter software can be downloaded from the links below:

File : daniu-video-3gp_full129.exe Size : 6779 KB

Direct Link

Rapidshare Mirror

Via megaleecher.net 
-------------------------------------

Free Audio and Video Converter

A professional audio/video (AV) converter, iWisoft Free Video Converter, offers to users for free to convert AV files from one format to another suitable for playback on various digital devices.

This free program is ideally designed for ease of use with a clean user interface — just add a file, select an output profile and folder, click the Start button and the conversion begins right away for you.

Most popular AV input and output formats are supported. For output, you can choose common AV formats, or select a format suitable for playback on an MP3 or MP4 player, iPod, iPhone or any other digital devices listed in the menu from the program.
A default output profile does not suit your need? You can adjust it by selecting a suitable AV codec, bit rate, frame rate, video size, aspect ratio, audio channel, sample rate or volume level from a drop-down menu. Your setting can be saved as a user defined profile for subsequent uses.

What's more? Some basic editing functions, such as cropping, trimming, merging, adding watermark, capturing, etc., are included in the program, with a built-in player for a preview too.

Download: http://www.easy-video-converter.com/download.html
File Size: 8.9 MB
System: Windows 2000, XP, Vista, 7.

 

Via  Gizmo's freeware blog

Eset Online scanner - free antivirus scan

 

One of the more trustworthy anti-virus out there is Eset.  I've been to Bitdefender, AVG and Avast and but i always come back to Eset. And now not only is it reliable it is also free the legal way. So scrap those warez anti-virus you have and  head on to get you started but before doing that here's the minimum requirement you need.

http://www.eset.com/onlinescan/index.php

System Requirements  

Operating Systems :

• Microsoft Windows 7
• Microsoft Windows Vista
• Microsoft Windows XP
• Microsoft Windows 2000
• Microsoft Windows NT

Internet Browser:

• Microsoft Internet Explorer 5.0 or later
• Support for alternative web browsers (Firefox, Opera, Netscape, Safari and others)
• ActiveX Controls

Memory

• 32 MB

Disk Space:

• Minimum - 15 MB
• Optimum – 30 MB

Just follow the onscreen instruction, either you're using Firefox or IE or Safari, you'll be needing an administrator privileges to  make this work.  Depending on your IE, you may be prompted to install ActiveX control.

So who says great things in life are not free?

Online programs make personal budgeting easy - and even fun

They're the first words out of every financial planner's mouth: Create a budget and stick to it. That can be much easier said than done.  (From the Buffalo Evening News)  Read the complete review and photos at the Buffalo News site at the end of the article.

But if you want the help, there is more out there now than ever before. Web-based budgeting tools have come a long way from the bare bones spreadsheets of old. Visually stunning and full of digital tricks, today's financial software is no more difficult than and just as entertaining as a game of Bejeweled or Mafia Wars. Yet at the end of it all you'll actually have spent your time on something productive. And maybe you'll find a way to amass genuine riches rather than racking up points that are good only in the virtual world.

Best of all, several online budgeting programs are free.

 

Mint.com  http://www.mint.com/

Quicken Online  Try it at   www.quicken.intuit.com/personalfinance-software/free-online-moneymanagement.jsp

BudgetToolkit.com   http://www.budgettoolkit.com/

Wesabe.com  https://www.wesabe.com/

KEEPING SAFE

Does entering sensitive financial information into online budgeting software give you the willies? Good. It should.

But if you decide the free, online budgeting help is worth the risk, there are a few things you can do to help keep your information safe.. Be sure to change your passwords often, use a different password for every account and choose passwords consisting of difficult-to-guess combinations of letters and numbers.. Be sure your anti-virus and anti-spy-ware software is active and up to date.

. If you don't have protective software, ShopSmart magazine suggests you build your own suite using free programs available online. Try AntiVir Personal ( www.free-av.com ), Microsoft Windows Defender (www.microsoft.com/defender ) and Spamfighter ( www.spamfighter.com/ download_download. asp).

. Watch for security seals, such as VeriSign, to be sure your data is encrypted and cannot be viewed by others.  . Do your homework on budgeting software. Verify the Web site against trusted third-party reviews.

 Read the complete article here  http://www.buffalonews.com/185/story/839730.html

Alternatives to MS Word and Office Suite, Google Docs, OpenOffice, Lotus Symphony

Google Docs & Spreadsheets
OpenOffice
Lotus Symphony
SoftMaker Office 2008 for Free

Google Inc said more than 2 million businesses now use its online office software, and the Web search leader is going global on Monday with an advertising campaign to lure customers away from Microsoft Corp and IBM products.

The campaign, which starts Monday in countries including France, Japan and Britain, represents a rare foray by Google into mass-market advertising and underscores increasing competition to provide businesses with email and other office software.

Google Docs & Spreadsheets beta gracefully merges word processing, spreadsheets and basic presentations within an online service that lets you collaborate with other users.
A overview of Google docs can be found here http://www.google.com/google-d-s/tour1.html

I remember when I used to use internet cafes and trying to find a copy of Word on a internet computer was very difficult to print out a document or to work on.  I can not understand today why internet cafes now don't make it convenient for customers now with OpenOffice or Lotus Symphony on every computer FREE and save money. A comment I saw on a blog recently MS stops you if your old computer has malfunctioned and you had to go out and purchase a new one in a hurry. That happened to my daughter. She had to have a computer, couldn't wait for an online purchase, so purchased a Vista machine on which the pre-installed MSOffice is a trial version. The trial version is about to run out, and, to get a full license with the functionality that she needs will run her nearly $500. I think it is highway robbery.

OpenOffice
Most people need to use office packages in order to work or to write and organize something. The most popular office package is currently Microsoft Office of course, and according to their standards, the de facto format for word processing is .doc, spreadsheets is .xls and presentations as .ppt files. Of course, any competitor to OpenOffice would need the ability to open, edit and save in these file formats in order to blend in with the world, but it would also newed some other advantages if it wanted some of the market share.

OpenOffice has now become a major competitor of MS Office, having about 8% of the market share, and MS looping up 90% of the rest of the users. This figure is steadily rising, and the main reason is that it’s FREE and OPEN SOURCE! This means that improvements to the suite is always in progress, almost inevitably from it’s users who are free to modify the source code of the suite.

-
-You can open, edit and save as the defacto Ms Office formats. OpenOffice.org 3 is the leading open-source office software suite for word processing, spreadsheets, presentations, graphics, databases and more. It is available in many languages and works on all common computers. It stores all your data in an international open standard format and can also read and write files from other common office software packages. It can be downloaded and used completely free of charge for any purpose.
So if you are short of cash or just plain stingy, you can have this document software absolutely free.
Download: http://download.openoffice.org/other.html

An alternative to OpenOffice and Microsoft Office

Many times, when organizations do not have the budget to invest in Microsoft Office, they would go for an open source alternative such as OpenOffice.

However, some users said they still preferred Microsoft Office after trying out OpenOffice for a couple of days.

Since cost was an issue, they asked if there are any other office productivity software besides OpenOffice which is free to use.

Well, if you ask me, I’ll say YES! It’s called Lotus Symphony by IBM. Image by cote.
A free office productivity software by IBM? Really? Are you sure? Yes it’s true.
Lotus Symphony by IBM is a business productivity software that is intuitive and easy to use. Best of all, you can download and use it at no cost.

With Lotus Symphony, you have a:
Document Editor
Spreadsheet Editor
Presentation Editor
Application Integrator
And it can be installed on the following OSes:
Windows XP
Windows Vista
Linux SLED 10
RHEL5
Ubuntu 8.04
Mac OS X

A strong feature of Lotus Symphony is its support for industry standard OpenDocument Format (ODF). This ensures that documents created via Lotus Symphony can be supported now and in the future as well. Besides that, it  also supports interoperability with Microsoft Office file formats as well as most Lotus Suite applications. It even allows you to export to PDF directly without having to install any 3rd party components.

From the Lotus Symphony’s website, you can view the gallery link to download new cliparts, plugins, templates, etc. Whenever you need any help, the community will be there for you to ask questions, share and collaborate with other users.  The original complete article is here http://www.wareprise.com/2009/05/28/an-alternative-to-openoffice-and-microsoft-office/

Get the software here free http://symphony.lotus.com/software/lotus/symphony/home.nsf/home

-

And check out my how to use instructions blog under development with valuable articles for computer users to understand how to use the computer programs like Openoffice, Word, Yahoo mail basics, (Excel, Power Point, XP, Windows, Realplayer, Paint Shop Pro, Photoshop are coming) giving you links to easily learn the programs on your computer.   http://computerhelpbasics.blogspot.com/

SoftMaker Office 2008 for Free

From techsupportalert website..Posted: 17 Dec 2009 This is a pretty impressive office suite comprising a word processor, spreadsheet, presentation program and scripting utility. To the eye it looks very like Office XP and it works very well indeed. In fact Infoworld rated it as superior to Open Office 3.1.

 

Overall this is a pretty decent freebie. No it's not got the extraordinary feature set of Office 2007 but it has just about everything normal users need.  The only major component missing is a replacement for Outlook but there are plenty of other free alternatives you can use instead. See here: Best Free PIM  Best Free Email Client

How does it compare to Open Office? Well Infoworld consider it to be better the Open Office V3.1. 

A pretty impressive freebie.  http://www.techsupportalert.com/content/softmaker-office-2008-free.htm?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+gizmosbest+%28Gizmo%27s+Best-ever+Freeware%29&utm_content=Yahoo!+Mail

 

Five Best Software Update Tools

Rather than wait around for your software to notify you of updates (let's face it, a lot of applications never will), these five handy tools keep an eye on your apps, alert you when an update's available, and streamline the updating process.
Photo by Wesley Fryer.
Earlier this week we asked you to share your favorite software update tools, and now we're back with the five most popular nominees. Read on for an overview of each, then cast your vote for the one you like best in the poll below.
Note: Clicking on the screenshots below will enlarge the screenshots to their original size.

FileHippo Update Checker (Windows, Free)

FileHippo.com is a software download site that hosts tons of both freeware and shareware, so the FileHippo Update Checker is a natural extension of their web site—only better. The lightweight application (the download is 155kb) scans your computer for installed apps in seconds, compares your installed version with the FileHippo.com database to check for new releases, then lists all detected updates in a list in your browser along with links to download your updates. FileHippo Update Checker is a free download for Windows only. (Original post)

Synaptic/APT (Linux, Free)

The Advanced Packaging Tool, a.k.a. APT, is a free tool built into most Linux distributions and many variants that handles the installation, removal, and updating of software packages. APT is a tool that went a long way toward making Linux a bit friendlier to the masses who aren't comfortable installing or compiling software packages on Linux, but it runs from the command line, so it's still not all that friendly to folks joining Linux from the Windows or Mac worlds. That's where Synaptic comes in. Synaptic is a graphical front end to APT that makes the tool wildly more user-friendly, and—yes—it handles checking for and updating software with aplomb. (Folks using Ubunutu, the most popular Linux distribution among Lifehacker readers, take note: Synaptic will be replaced by the Ubuntu Software Center—another APT-powered update tool—in April of 2010.)

AppFresh (Mac OS X, Free)

AppFresh is an automated update checker for Mac OS X. The tool scans your computer for installed software and checks for new versions against the database at web site i use this. Aside from also encompassing the functionality of Apple's built-in Software Update utility (if you install this, you won't need to run that), the app filters your updates and installed applications in a number of useful ways, and provides descriptions of each tool in a handy info panel along with release notes. Perhaps most impressive, AppFresh can automate the update process for many of the apps so you don't have to go through the tedious process of downloading and installing every single update by hand. AppFresh is free (though currently in a "Development Preview", which could mean it will eventually cost money), Mac OS X only.

Update Notifier (Windows, Free)

Update Notifier is a small, portable software update utility that quickly scans your installed applications and lists your available updates in a small window, complete with links to sites where you can download updates. The application includes options to filter all your installed applications, updates only, major updates (2.0 to 3.0), minor updates (2.0 to 2.1), and build updates (2.0.0 to 2.0.1). If you register for an account at the CleanSofts.org web site (the companion site to the application), you can also set up a watch list and let the site email you whenever updates to apps on your watch list are available. Update Notifier is freeware, Windows only. It's also portable, which could come in handy next time you're heading to your after-hours job moonlighting as your family's IT person. (Original post)

Secunia PSI (Windows, Free)

Secunia Personal Software Inspector takes a bit more of a doomsday—i.e., security-focused—approach with software update. When you run your first scan after installing Secunia, you'll be presented with a list of insecure apps that have available updates, "end-of-life" apps that are no longer being supported by the developer, and patched apps that have the latest security updates. It's not the most user-friendly of the bunch, but the interface is packed with information and tools for making sure your installed software is running the latest and greatest security updates. Secunia PSI is freeware, works with Windows.   Read the original posting here http://lifehacker.com/5384140/five-best-software-update-tools

Everyone needs a VIRUS CHECKER and this one is free and just updated

Anyone using a computer these days at home will get a virus as so many emails and sites add viruses so easy and then so hard to get rid of.  This free virus checker is now updated and you should get it downloaded and installed free immediately to assist you in the fight to keep your computer virus free.

AVG 9 Free Now Available for Download

Windows only: AVG 9 Free—one of the most popular free antivirus apps on the market—is now available for download.

Check out here the instructions in photo slide show  http://www.cnet.com/2300-1_1-10001726-1.html?s=0&o=10001726&tag=mncol;page

A couple weeks back, the popular antivirus maker AVG released AVG 9 with performance improvements and other updates, but on launch only the commercial version of AVG 9 was available. The fact of the matter is that most AVG users are probably using AVG Free, the freeware version of the app, so if that's the case for you, good news: AVG 9 Free is now ready for download.

AVG 9 Free [via gHacks]

http://lifehacker.com/5383383/avg-9-free-now-available-for-download

Probably the Best Free Security List in the World

The products are almost exclusively free with some exceptions:
(a) Products where there is no free alternative
(b) Good products that offer a lifetime license
(c) Exceptional products

 

Index

Realtime protection (on-access)	Privacy
Scanners (on-demand)	System monitoring
Tools for virus removal	Network traffic monitoring
Online-scanners	System cleaning
Firewalls	Data rescue
HIPS	Encrypting
System hardening-HIPS	Backup
System hardening	System rescue
Sandboxing/virtualization	Miscellaneous
Vulnerability scanning	Tests
Browser security	Vista security
IP-blocking/hardening	Windows 7-security
If there are  too many options below,  try Gizmo's Security Advice Wizard. Disclaimer: Some of these programs may harm your PC (especially when misused). Use at your own risk.  Read the complete original article here http://www.techsupportalert.com/content/probably-best-free-security-list-world.htm

Most popular downloads For the week ending October 11

click the link to download

1. 1. AVG Anti-Virus Free Edition 1,330,509 downloads
2. 2. Avira AntiVir Personal - Free Antivirus 871,956 downloads
3. 3. LimeWire 685,031 downloads
4. 4. Avast Home Edition - Free Antivirus 622,080 downloads
5. 5. Malwarebytes Anti-Malware 592,360 downloads
6. 6. WinRAR (32-bit) 365,800 downloads
7. 7. YouTube Downloader 328,811 downloads
8. 8. Ad-Aware Free 309,557 downloads
9. 9. FrostWire 269,424 downloads
10. 10. Free YouTube to MP3 Converter 267,610 downloads

11. 11. FreeZ Online TV 252,185 downloads
12. 12. Advanced SystemCare Free 247,108 downloads
13. 13. Camfrog Video Chat 243,501 downloads
14. 14. Vuze 225,653 downloads
15. 15. Orbit Downloader 219,117 downloads
16. 16. TeamViewer 208,272 downloads
17. 17. Foxit Reader 193,783 downloads
18. 18. DivX 7 for Windows 191,926 downloads
19. 19. Virtual DJ 178,330 downloads
20. 20. mIRC 166,944 downloads 

Myna Is an Awesome FREE Multi-Track Audio Editor for Anyone

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Myna, a free online audio tool from the makers of reader favorite image editor Phoenix, lets pretty much anyone jump into recording, arranging, and mixing audio tracks for quickie soundtracks, or just for the fun of it.

Myna's horizontal track-over-track layout should be familiar to users of audio tools like CoolEdit or FruityLoops, but it's pretty easy to pick up on, too. Hit the Snap to Grid button, set your beats per minute, and arranging audio clips from your own files, from a microphone, or Myna's sample libraries is just a matter of putting the pieces in place. Poke around some more, and you'll find tools for volume adjustment, gain control, reverb and flanger effects, and a few other neat effects. It's not quite a multi-track Audacity, but for something you open free in your browser, you'll probably be seriously impressed at how much Myna has to offer.

Here's a video walkthrough and track construction sample from the Myna team:

And here's what I was able to whip up after about 30 minutes of messing around with Myna. The nasal-voiced rant about Chrome's tab closing is from my headset, while the background tunes are from Myna's sample track and loop libraries:

Lifehacker test mix.egg on Aviary.

Myna is a free service, requires a user account to save a "mixdown" of a track, which you can then download and embed freely. Share your own Myna creations, and recommend other free audio tools, in the comments.

Myna [Aviary.com]

from a posting at Lifehacker http://lifehacker.com/5360912/myna-is-an-awesome-multi+track-audio-editor-for-anyone

Winamp FREE music and video player & cd burner

Winamp is a skinnable, multi-format media player.

Winamp supports a wide variety of contemporary and specialized music file formats, including MIDI, MOD, MPEG-1 audio layers 1 and 2, AAC, M4A, FLAC, WAV, OGG Vorbis, and Windows Media Audio. It supports gapless playback for MP3 and AAC, and Replay Gain for volume leveling across tracks. In addition, Winamp can play and import music from audio CDs, optionally with CD-Text, and can also burn music to CDs. Winamp supports playback of Windows Media Video and Nullsoft Streaming Video, as well as most of the video formats supported by Windows Media Player. 5.1 Surround sound is supported where formats and decoders allow.

Winamp supports many types of streaming media: Internet radio, Internet telelvision, XM Satellite Radio, AOL video, Singingfish content, podcasts, and RSS media feeds. It also has extendable support for portable media players, and users can access their media libraries anywhere via internet connections.

You can extend Winamp's functionality through the use of plug-ins, which are available on the Winamp site.

download here

http://www.filehippo.com/download_winamp/download/e8bf4db7cf588c3a71f2862037f3878d/

Yahoo Mesenger chat program FREE very popular

Yahoo! Messenger is an advertisement-supported instant messaging client and associated protocol provided by Yahoo!. Yahoo! Messenger is provided free of charge and can be downloaded and used with a generic "Yahoo! ID" which also allows access to other Yahoo! services, such as Yahoo! Mail, where users can be automatically notified when they receive new email. Yahoo! also offers PC-PC, PC-Phone and Phone-to-PC service, file transfers, webcam hosting, text messaging service, and chat rooms in various categories.


Yahoo! Voice
Chat
Webcam

Download here http://messenger.yahoo.com/download/win/

Whenever you log in to Yahoo Messenger, whether at home or from a cafe, it will display your contact list, so you always stay in touch with friends and colleagues. Unfortunately, Yahoo Messenger accounts won't work within other IM clients, but you can use software such as Trillian to mix messengers. You can format Yahoo Messenger text messages with a wide range of font styles and emoticons, as well as audible cues to personalize your specific message; a selection of themed backgrounds, called IMVironments, lets you further customize your messages.

When you receive a message, Yahoo Messenger displays a system tray notification with the name of the sender, so a quick look will help you decide whether to respond immediately (by clicking the tray notification) or wait till later. Free conference chat lets you converse with multiple users within the same message window. Yahoo Messenger also lets you select a photo or an avatar to represent you in messages. Plus, if text isn't your thing, Yahoo Messenger supports voice chat (through the PC's microphone and speaker) and one-on-one Web video (if your PC has a Webcam). Yahoo also offers chat rooms for public and private conversations.

Summary: Its a no-brainer choice choice really,if you want to use an easy to use tool for text comunication,since the other major alternatives like MSN Messenger posseses some potentially hazardous security risks,and ICQ is a bit more laborious to install,and Aol Messenger can be extremely frustrating to use.However,I have faced problems with logging on to Yahoo Messenger,esp.if you if you have lost or deleted the original cookie which you used while registering,and you are trying log on during peak hours when the Yahoo server is busy.Also,I have had to change the setings in the connection preferences from the default setting of "No proxies" to trying out all the other choices of "use proxy","no network detection" or "Firewall with no Proxies",with a different selection working on different occasions,and as mentioned in the CNET editor's review,the support is non-existent practically.
The feature of including a bell to alert the person you are trying to contact is nice,and exclusive to Yahoo Messenger,vs. the other choices available,as far as I am aware.
All in all,a pretty good choice for a text messenger.

All you need to start using Yahoo! Messenger is a free Yahoo! account. Once you register and download the client, you can start interacting with other Yahoo! members at no cost. But though it offers the best possible price and a variety of impressive features, Yahoo! Messenger is best suited to personal use because of its firewall limitations and poor video quality when operating in standard mode.

The main interface is the buddy list, from which you can contact your friends and colleagues or check your stocks, calendar, and address book, plus news and weather, all via the tabs at the bottom. Although the service is free, no banner ads appear in the buddy list; other tabs display small banner ads.

To add a name to your buddy list, you can enter a Yahoo! ID or Yahoo! e-mail address. Alternatively, you can perform searches, using keywords, name, and so on. But finding the correct user this way can be difficult, since Yahoo! has so many users, and the personal info listed for individual users is spotty at best.

You can initiate a voice or videoconference connection directly from your buddy list or while you are already in a standard chat session (two-person text messaging) or conference (multiperson text messaging). Unfortunately, Yahoo! Messenger doesn't offer a convenient button for launching a video and audio connection; you must start the two streams separately. When initiating a video connection, you can invite the other party to view your Webcam stream, or the one you're calling can request to see it.

Yahoo! Messenger supports two methods for voice conversation: via the Talk button (as on a walkie-talkie) or using the Hands Free mode, which allows continuous two-way conversation.

Video is handled in one of two ways, depending on your Internet connection. Super Webcam mode creates a peer-to-peer connection between two computers. This method offers good video quality, though it is not on a par with premium services like SightSpeed.

Because Super Webcam requires multiple ports to be open—some of which are typically blocked by corporate firewalls—most business users will be forced to use the standard Webcam mode, which sends data through Yahoo!'s servers. This method is very choppy, and we don't recommend it for videoconferencing unless there is no other option.

Another point to keep in mind is that Yahoo! Messenger is meant to be a social tool for the Yahoo! community. You have to be careful when setting preferences; otherwise you may accidentally create a videoconference that is open to the public, so any stranger can find and view your meeting.

Free download here http://messenger.yahoo.com/download/win/

Flash Player free

Adobe Flash Player is the high performance, lightweight, highly expressive client runtime that delivers powerful and consistent user experiences across major operating systems, browsers, mobile phones and devices.

Adobe Flash Player is the standard for delivering high-impact, rich Web content. Designs, animation, and application user interfaces are deployed immediately across all browsers and platforms, attracting and engaging users with a rich Web experience.

Download here

http://www.filehippo.com/download_flashplayer_ie/download/c5ff2a2ce4196d98f815c0866fa34f74/

Installed on over 750 million Internet-connected desktops and mobile devices, Flash Player enables organizations and individuals to build and deliver great digital experiences to their end users.

• Immersive experiences with Flash video, content and applications with full-screen mode.
• Low-bandwidth, high-quality video with advanced compression technology.
• High-fidelity text using the advanced text rendering engine.
• Real-time dynamic effects with filters for Blur, DropShadow, Glow, Bevel, Gradient Glow, Gradient Bevel, Displacement Map, Convolution, and Color Matrix.
• Innovative media compositions with 8-bit video alpha channels.
• Blend modes, radial gradient, and stroke enhancements.
• Additional image formats: GIF, Progressive JPEG, and PNG.

This download is the standalone ActiveX installer for Internet Explorer.

Old versions of the Flash player can be downloaded from Adobe at http://www.adobe.com/go/tn_14266

Sumatra PDF FREE PDF READER small size

Sumatra PDF, also known simply as Sumatra, is a free, open source, light-weight PDF reader for Microsoft Windows, Everyone needs a PDF reader if you do any surfing on the net as many books and articles and manuals are i pdf format. AND ITS FREE

Sumatra has a minimalistic design, with its simplicity attained at the expense of extensive features. It uses the MuPDF PDF rendering library.

Sumatra was designed for portable use, as it consists of one single file with no external dependencies, making it usable from an external USB driveThis classifies it as a portable application As is characteristic of many portable applications, Sumatra takes up little disk space

It has a 1.4 MB setup file, compared to Adobe Reader's 25.5 MB, for Windows XP and Vista.[3] Installed size is also 1.4MB, whereas Adobe Reader 9.1.3's installed size is approximately 199 MB.

Sumatra does not lock the PDF file. Without closing the PDF file, a user can recompile the text document and generate a new PDF file and then press the R key to refresh the PDF document.

Printing is achieved in Sumatra by transforming each pdf page into a bitmap image. This results in very large spool files and potentially slow printing on printers with little memory. Sumatra 0.5 and earlier versions can print PDFs that have disallowed printing. This feature has been removed from the newer versions.

Download it here http://blog.kowalczyk.info/software/sumatrapdf/download.html

SKYPE FREE software and FREE calling all around the world

Hello. We’re Skype...

Skype is software that enables the world’s conversations. Millions of individuals and businesses use Skype to make free video and voice calls, send instant messages and share files with other Skype users. Everyday, people everywhere also use Skype to make low-cost calls to landlines and mobiles.

Free calls all around the world on skype to skype or to landlines at low cost. You can use skype on your computer, or get a low cost usb regular phone or even a LAN adapter to use it even when the computer is off.

Download skype free today and ask your friends to get it too and start calling free computer to computer (or wifi phone)

http://www.skype.com/intl/en/download/skype/windows/

Need a free word processor? Open office will serve you needs FREE

OpenOffice

It works with Microsoft word and its free

OpenOffice.org 3 is the leading open-source office software suite for word processing, spreadsheets, presentations, graphics, databases and more. It is available in many languages and works on all common computers.

Great software

OpenOffice.org 3 is the result of over twenty years' software engineering. Designed from the start as a single piece of software, it has a consistency other products cannot match. A completely open development process means that anyone can report bugs, request new features, or enhance the software.

Easy to use

OpenOffice.org 3 is easy to learn, and if you're already using another office software package, you'll take to OpenOffice.org 3 straight away. Our world-wide native-language community means that OpenOffice.org 3 is probably available and supported in your own language.

... And it's free

Best of all, OpenOffice.org 3 can be downloaded and used entirely free of any licence fees. OpenOffice.org 3 is released under the LGPL licence. This means you may use it for any purpose - domestic, commercial, educational, public administration.

Download here

http://www.filehippo.com/download_openoffice/download/970c90f8173fe11eed998837c335fc2e/

Compatible with other major office suites, OpenOffice.org is free to download, use, and distribute. Download it now, and get:

	Writer – a word processor you can use for anything from writing a quick letter to producing an entire book.
	Calc – a powerful spreadsheet with all the tools you need to calculate, analyse, and present your data in numerical reports or sizzling graphics.
	Impress – the fastest, most powerful way to create effective multimedia presentations.
	Draw – lets you produce everything from simple diagrams to dynamic 3D illustrations.
	Base – lets you manipulate databases seamlessly. Create and modify tables, forms, queries, and reports, all from within OpenOffice.org
	Math – lets you create mathematical equations with a graphic user interface or by directly typing your formulas into the equation editor.