Freeware is a beautiful thing. If you’re currently using a freeware application that you can’t live without, please thank the developer by either sending them an e-mail or a donation. Trust me, they’ll appreciate it. The life of a freeware developer obviously isn’t filled with caviar and champagne. They mostly rely on donations (if at all), and when the money isn’t flowing in, it can be an extremely costly thing to do. Why do they do it? The answer: pure, unbridled motivation. They slave over their code simply because they feel that their program has something better to offer over the pricey competition. Their reward is hearing from hundreds and even thousands of satisfied users. To find some great freeware, refer to this list of The 46 Best-ever Freeware Utilities.

This resource offers something for most every software category that you can think of. Explanations are given for why the software was picked as the winner, and most of the time you’ll receive multiple program suggestions to check out. Yes, great software sometimes really is free.