Favorite Free Apps

[Da1andonly]

etc*

I've always wondered why you put the * after every etc. This annoys me every time because I automatically start searching for a * at the end of the text.


*like this. Catch my drift?


EDIT: and with all the hidden fs at one point I also now keep highlighting the text!

[Denon]

To name but a few...

CD Burner XP Pro 3
RocketDock
Unlocker
Font Xplorer
Daemon Tools
MediaMonkey
Komodo Edit 4.0
OpenOffice

[ZeUs!!]

Desktop Tower Defense

[Sufficient]

foxit, rocketdock

[Ewan]

I had it on several computers and then i got a message saying it wasn't going to be free anymore so I switched. They may have made it free again because of all the people they lost.

When that happened, it was because they had upgraded the versions, all you needed was to go to the site to get the newer free version, AVG was never pay-only.

[GuruMeditation]

That might have been version 6. Version 6 was free only. After that they started offering two versions.

Edit : Actually, I think Version 6 was technically free only to those in a non-corporate environment. You just had to say it was for personal use and it worked free. If you were using at work you should have paid for it. After that they decided to just offer a free version and a paid version with extra features.

[D1st0rt]

Why do people keep saying this?

I had it on several computers and then i got a message saying it wasn't going to be free anymore so I switched. They may have made it free again because of all the people they lost.

[Jason]

foobar2000 FOR THE WIN!

[Ewan]

AVG is no longer free, use Avast

Why do people keep saying this? It is still free...

http://free.grisoft.com/doc/5390/lng/us/tpl/v5#avg-anti-virus-free

[D1st0rt]

best instant messaging: Pidgin, formerly Gaim

AVG is no longer free, use Avast

for C# theres also SharpDevelop

one of the greatest music players of all time: foobar2000

inkscape is a free alternative to illustrator

[Dameon Angell]

Word Processing - Abiword - It's simple and free for those who don't have one.

Instant Messaging - Trillian - It combines MSN, AIM, Yahoo!, and ICQ into one messanger without all the crappy ads.

Windows Accessory - ObjectDock - It's a copy of the 'dock menu' from MAC for the PC. Pretty cool, especially if you use "WindowBlinds" and turn your PC's theme to look like a MAC anyways.

Windows Accessory - Yahoo! Widget Engine - Another cool accessory based program. You download a bunch of "widgets" that perform different functions, like Weather, notepad, computer processing power, etc*

[GuruMeditation]

Everyone likes free stuff. No one likes spyware and/or bloatware. I'm guessing most people who come here know of most of these already, but plenty of people need to learn to google.

Everyone knows Firefox, so let's just skip that.

Two links to get occasional non-free games and apps for free.

Free Game a Day : Game Giveaway of the day - Strings attached free game a day. The string is you have to install it the day it's offered and be connected to the internet. But occasionally an absolute corker is available (Jets'N'Guns for example)
Free App a Day : Giveaway of the day - Same strings, just with applications.

2D Drawing - Paint.NET - No layers, and no advanced selection manipulation. Very trimmed down Photoshop copycat but a good one. Will do 90% of what most people would need. Some people swear by The GiMP. Some of us swear at it.
3D Creation - Blender 3D - Best if Python is installed as well. Good learning resource is the Noob to Pro wikibook.
3D Modeling - Wings 3D
Realplayer - Real Alternative - Play Realplayer files in Media Player Classic.
Realplayer Downloader - Net Transport 1.87 - Download ra and rm files to your comp. Especially handy for downloading BBC streams.
Quicktime - Quicktime Alternative - Same for Qiucktime. Also provides an interface to download streaming files to your HDD.
CD Burning / Ripping - Deepburner Free and Deepripper.
Office Applications - Open Office. Word Processing, spreadsheets, database, flowcharts, powerpoints .... not as good as Office 2k7, but better than XP or 2k3.
Media Player - VLC - Reads most files out of the box, including most DVD discs.
Anti Virus - AVG Free
Anti Spy - AdAware SE
Virtual Server - VMWare Server - Have a LAMP machine running while you have Windows running. I also have another copy of XP Pro running on it with IIS, my mail clients and SQL Server 2005. Putting your applications on a virtual server can confine some of the more tedious apps to a confined memory space and free up the rest for more important tasks.
C# / C++ - Visual Studio Express. Also makes for a decent JS/HTML/CSS dev environment. If you want PHP, then Editplus is your friend (non-expiring shareway but technically not free).
PDF Reader - Fox It Reader. PDF Reader that isn't the bloatware Acrobat Reader has become.
PDF Writer - Cute PDF. A little fickle to install, but the best free PDF writer out there.
SQL Server - SQL Server Express. Remember to get the management tool too.
Instant Messaging - Meebo.Com. It's like Trillian, except it works in your browser, anywhere (even behind proxies). Only thing you lose is file transfers but who needs those with all the quick fix file storage solutions out there?
FTP - FireFTP - FTP in your Firefox.
DVD to AVI - DVD Decrypter and Gordian Knot. If you're confused, RTFM.

Other Resources
Programming Fonts - Proggy Fonts
Webdev Resource - Web Developers Handbook

Not really free but, Microsoft Silverlight is M$'s alternative to Flash. And it's free to develop for right now. Visit the Silverlight Get Started page for more information.

Of course if you want to download pirated versions of software that's your choice As far as I know none of these come with bloatware, but AdAware is your friend.