10 Essential Free Software Programs

I recently received a fresh new laptop. Upon receiving it, the very first thing I did was to install Windows from scratch on to it to remove the garbage that came pre-installed on it. (something sony asks money for) I’m a fan of free software, and although I have nothing against commercial software programs, sometimes the free alternatives are as good (or maybe better)

Below you can find my top 10 of essential programs I always install.

1. Firefox (http://www.getfirefox.com)For me the absolute number 1 webbrowser on any system. The upcoming release of Firefox 3 is promising, but for now I recommend the stable 2 branch as default browser.
2. OpenOffice (http://www.openoffice.org)
   
    http://audacity.sourceforge.net/) Audacity is free, open source software for recording and editing sounds. It is available for Mac OS X, Microsoft Windows, GNU/Linux, and other operating systems. I use it to create podcasts and to make my own favorite ringtones (more on this in later blog post)
3. Frostwire (http://www.frostwire.com/) Frostwire is a Peer to Peer (P2P) information sharing client for the Gnutella network. The project was started in September 2005 by members of the LimeWire open-source community. As with LimeWire, FrostWire is written in Java, and so is capable of supporting multiple platforms. LimeWire is available in both free and paid versions, while FrostWire is released only as a free version. The FrostWire program includes all of the free LimeWire version’s functionality, plus a few features of LimeWire Pro’s fee based upgrades.
4. FileZilla (http://filezilla-project.org/index.php)FileZilla Client is a fast and reliable cross-platform FTP, FTPS and SFTP client with lots of useful features and an intuitive interface.
5. PDF Creator (http://sourceforge.net/projects/pdfcreator/)PDFCreator easily creates PDFs from any Windows program. Use it like a printer in Word, StarCalc or any other Windows application.
6. Freemind (http://freemind.sourceforge.net/wiki/index.php/Main_Page)FreeMind is a premier free mind-mapping software written in Java. The recent development has hopefully turned it into high productivity tool. A mind map is a diagram used to represent words, ideas, tasks or other items linked to and arranged radially around a central key word or idea.
7. GNUCash (http://www.gnucash.org) GnuCash is personal and small-business financial-accounting software, freely licensed under the GNU GPL and available for GNU/Linux, BSD, Solaris, Mac OS X and Microsoft Windows.

   Designed to be easy to use, yet powerful and flexible, GnuCash allows you to track bank accounts, stocks, income and expenses. As quick and intuitive to use as a checkbook register, it is based on professional accounting principles to ensure balanced books and accurate repo

8. GanttPV (http://www.pureviolet.net/ganttpv/index.html)GanttPV is named for a report that has become almost synonymous with project management, the gantt chart. Most people have used or at least seen them. GanttPV can be used to create gantt charts and export them as web pages. But GanttPV doesn’t stop there. Management of a particular project may require the tracking of many different kinds of information.
   GanttPV runs on Microsoft Windows and Macintosh OS X platforms. This is possible because it was developed using wxPython, one of the most popular choices for cross platform development. The Mac version is a Universal application (runs on both Intel and PowerPC Macs). It also will run on Linux.
9. Notepad2 (http://www.flos-freeware.ch/notepad2.html)Notepad2, a fast and light-weight Notepad-like text editor with syntax highlighting. This program can be run out of the box without installation, and does not touch your system’s registry.

   Articles on Replacing the Windows Notepad

   • How to replace notepad.exe with notepad2.exe
   • WinXP SP2 – How to Replace Notepad.exe
   • Replacing Notepad in Windows Vista

There are many, many other free software programs that are good. This is also an item that was covered a lot (also on lockergnome)

This list isn’t meant to be the only list, and a lot of great freeware isn’t included. It’s a personal list of software I install on my computers.

In a future blogposting I will cover free programs for archiving and security.

Did I miss something great, or do you have an own opinion about a program? Please leave comments.