The Best Free Software (2007)
Security
avast! 4 Home Edition
www.avast.com
This slick, skinnable antivirus app looks like a high-tech media player, but it's really a virus fighter. It scans files on demand and on access, including e-mail attachments. No scheduling—you have to pay for that—but it can send a warning on detecting malware. A boot-time scan option removes tenacious malware. And it's 64-bit compatible.—Neil J. Rubenking
AVG Anti-Virus Free Edition
free.grisoft.com
This program splits its user interface between Control Center and Test Center, which can be a bit confusing. But it does what an antivirus app should: It scans files on access, on demand, and on schedule. It also scans e-mail, both incoming and outgoing. According to Grisoft, it's totally Vista-ready.—NJR
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Comodo Firewall
www.comodogroup.com
The new kick-ass choice for free firewall protection, Comodo Firewall keeps hackers out and keeps unauthorized programs from accessing the Internet, even tricky ones that sneak around normal program control. And it resists being forcibly terminated. It works as well as all but the very best for-pay firewalls.—NJR
McAfee SiteAdvisor
us.mcafee.com
McAfee's back-end servers crawl the Web to evaluate sites. Does the site host malicious software? Will it spam you? Are there exploits in the code? If SiteAdvisor red-flags a site you're visiting, get outta there! It evaluates all the links from Google and popular search engines so that you need never find yourself on a red-flagged site.—NJR
SpyCatcher Express
www.tenebril.com
When we last tested it, Tenebril's SpyCatcher did very well both at cleaning out spyware and at preventing further infestation. The free SpyCatcher Express edition has almost all the features found in the paid version. It lacks antiphishing and a few high-end tools, and you have to check for updates manually, but it does the job.—NJR
StartupMonitor
www.snpsoftware.com
StartupMonitor alerts you to programs that try to install themselves whenever you boot up Windows. Unlike most similar utilities, this one is unobtrusive and won't interfere with program installations that reboot automatically.—Ed Mendelson
SuperStorm Freeware
www.thegreatpuzzle.com/superstorm.php
SuperStorm Freeware protects a sensitive file (up to 200KB) by encrypting it and hiding it inside a JPEG image, and then securely deleting the original. A for-pay Pro edition has no size limit and can encrypt with a user-defined password. SuperStorm can extract anything hidden by the Pro edition, and it uses a simple drag-and-drop interface.—NJR
Windows Defender
www.microsoft.com
Microsoft bought Windows Defender's technology about two years ago, but the software colossus doesn't seem to have done much with it. The product's ability to remove entrenched spyware is mediocre, and it's not a lot better at keeping spyware out of a clean system. But it's free and built into OneCare and Vista, so use its on-demand scanner for a "second opinion."—NJR
ZoneAlarm
www.zonelabs.com
The venerable ZoneAlarm doesn't have all the features of ZoneAlarm Pro's firewall. Its program control asks you whether to allow programs rather than consulting the SmartDefense Advisor database. It doesn't have the component control or OSFirewall features, so it won't block "leak test" techniques. But it's tough as nails; malware can't disable it.—NJR
EditPad Lite
www.editpadpro.com
Windows Notepad works—that's about the only good thing we can say about Microsoft's built-in text editor. EditPad Lite, on the other hand, has lots going for it, including a tabbed interface for editing multiple files, line numbering, auto-indenting, and printing blocks of text. EditPad Pro ($49.95) does add a lot of goodies, of course, including spell-checking and syntax coloring.—Ben Z. Gottesman, freelance writer
Notepad++
notepad-plus.sourceforge.net
With Notepad++, you get many of EditPad Pro's advanced features for free. The interface is more cluttered, but this text editor, billed as a source-code editor, includes macros, collapsible sections, and syntax coloring for over 40 programming languages, from HTML and JavaScript to Fortran and Smalltalk.—BZG
OpenOffice.org
www.openoffice.org
If you're looking for an alternative to Microsoft Office, try OpenOffice.org. Though not as full-featured as the offering out of Redmond, the suite includes a very capable word processor and spreadsheet that are compatible with MS Office files. There's also a presentation app, a diagramming tool, and a database. OpenOffice.org may be all the suite you need.—BZG
SQL Manager Lite
www.sqlmanager.net
EMS creates powerful database tools and applications for data management. Of particular note is the free SQL Manager Lite edition of its software for databases including MySQL, PostgreSQL, SQL Server, and Interbase/Firebird.—Jennifer DeLeo
WordPress
www.wordpress.org
Ready to start blogging? WordPress is among the most powerful of the many free personal blogging tools around. You can host WordPress on your own server or get a free blog at wordpress.com. Unlike most other free hosted blogs, you can have multiple contributors, customize the looks, and get the word out via RSS.—BZG
AllChars AnalogX MaxMem AutoHotkey Clipomatic eCleaner FileZilla Foxit Reader
allchars.zwolnet.com
AllChars lets you type foreign characters such as ñ or ü in any application. Just tap the program's hot key (Right Ctrl or any other shift-style key) followed by two characters such as n and the tilde or u and a double quotation mark, and the combined character you want appears in your document. It can also type boilerplate text such as your name or address.—EM
www.maxmem.com
AnalogX MaxMem is the cure for when your older, slower system has the hiccups and needs a reboot. It saves you this annoyance by freeing up memory with just a click, giving your computer its second wind.—Whitney A. Reynolds
www.autohotkey.com
The open-source AutoHotkey lets you automate all of your repetitive tasks. Scripts can be compiled so you can share them with people who don't have the app. Not ready to create your own? You'll find dozens of user-contributed scripts on the Web site.—BZG
www.mlin.net
Clipomatic is the most compact and usable of dozens of clipboard extenders. It stores text that you copy to the Windows clipboard for pasting into any application. You can also store boilerplate text such as names and phone numbers. But avoid it if you use version 7 of Acrobat or Adobe Reader, because it blocks them from saving to the clipboard.—EM
ecleaner.tripod.com
Ever need to extract text from an e-mail message or Web discussion, but the message is full of angle brackets (>) or other symbols? Or maybe it's got little bits of HTML strewn about. eCleaner quickly goes through these files and strips out the detritus. It's not fancy, but it works.—BZG
filezilla.sourceforge.net
FileZilla is a full-featured FTP client that supports Secure FTP, SSL, and other protocols in a slick interface, complete with a tree-structured site manager that lets you store settings for multiple sites. An option to set speed limits can prevent download quotas from being triggered on networks that monitor bandwidth usage.—EM
www.foxitsoftware.com/pdf/rd_intro.php
Adobe Acrobat, the ubiquitous software for PDF viewing, can slow older systems to a crawl—or even crash them. Foxit Reader lets you get your PDF goodness without the Adobe bloat. It runs small and swift, either as a standalone app or from within your browser.—WAR
Gaim
gaim.sourceforge.net
Gaim hooks into most any chat service you could possibly want. It's a multiprotocol instant-messaging client that works with Google Talk, AIM and ICQ (Oscar protocol), MSN Messenger, Yahoo!, IRC, Jabber, Gadu-Gadu, SILC, Novell GroupWise Messenger, Lotus Sametime, and Zephyr networks. With Gaim, you can talk with your boyfriend on AIM while chatting with a "friend" on Yahoo! Messenger.—JD
Google Desktop
desktop.google.com
Google Desktop includes a huge collection of widgets for displaying weather, news, file searches, Gmail, translation services, and more. Google's hard drive index searches only standard file formats.—EM
Mozy
www.mozy.com
Mozy is a Web-based backup system that gives you 2GB of free storage, or 30 GB for $4.95 a month. Sign up with an e-mail address at which you won't mind getting a Mozy newsletter, download the client, and let it automatically back up My Documents and any other folder you choose.—EM
MWSnap
www.mirekw.com/winfreeware/mwsnap.html
MWSnap doesn't let you capture scrolling windows or have all the features of the best capture tool out there—SnagIt—but it gives you a lot more control than Windows' native capture utility, and it throws in some cool tools, such as a screen ruler and color picker.—BZG
PopTray
www.poptray.org
PopTray is the premier pop-up mail checker for standard POP3 and IMAP mail accounts, including Gmail, and it can be coaxed to work with HTML-only mail such as Hotmail by following the instructions at the PopTray site. PopTray lives in the system tray, pops up reports of new messages, can be controlled entirely from the keyboard, and can be customized.—EM
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RoboForm
www.roboform.com
RoboForm automatically fills in username and password fields in your browser, with an option to password-protect some or all of the passwords it stores. So you get better protection than you do from the storage features in IE and Firefox. Its SafeNotes feature stores credit card numbers or other secret data. The free version stores ten log-ins; a $29.95 Pro version stores an unlimited number.—EM
Tweak UI
www.microsoft.com/windowsxp/downloads/powertoys/xppowertoys.mspx
Microsoft's super-tweaker tool for Windows XP is the program to install immediately after installing XP. Tweak UI fine-tunes Start Menu and Taskbar settings, helps specify which icons appear on your desktop, sets auto log-in so you can skip entering a password, and much more.—EM
Ultimate Boot CD for Windows
www.ubcd4win.com
This program helps you create a CD that boots into its own copy of Windows. The disc contains tons of useful utilities, from antivirus and antispyware to network and disk-repair tools. And if you're stuck, there's PacMan and Asteroids to pass the time. Rumor has it you can use UBCD4Win to create a bootable USB drive, too.—BZG
WinMerge
www.winmerge.org
WinMerge is for programmers who know that as code grows, it gets harder and harder to spot the differences between versions. WinMerge quickly compares two text files or two folders (including subfolders), highlighting all the differences and letting you keep everything in sync.—BZG
WnBrowse
www.ngthomas.co.uk
WnBrowse adds a super-fast, no-frills file viewer to Windows' right-click menus. It displays plain text or hex data—no formatted documents, spreadsheets, or graphics—but that's often all you need, and it opens instantly.—EM
Yahoo! Desktop Search
desktop.yahoo.com
If you want to index everything on your system, get Yahoo! Desktop Search. It does a brilliant job of sorting, characterizing, and helping you to find all your files and e-mail.—EM
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