Windows 7 Freeware Guide

This is a list of freeware that is available for Windows. It's not by any means a complete list and one in particular only works in 32-bit (x86) Windows XP, Vista and 7. Otherwise, all these programs are ones that I currently use in Windows 7 x64, of have used in the recent past.

A couple of things to note:

My sources for the download of the installer files is the home site of the programs listed here.  In many cases, clicking on the link therein to download the file will send you to download.cnet.com which is a perfectly safe website.

The reason that I listed the file name is that sometimes I'll download several items and sometimes the filenames don't make it obvious what program they are associate with.  I've gotten in the habit of making notes about what I've downloaded that includes the name of the program and the file name so that I'm not wasting time trying to figure out which install file is associated with the program I'm looking for.

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This is a partial list of the best and/or most popular free anti-virus, anti-malware and anti-spyware that is available.

I personally use these on my computers:

avast! - anti-virus

MalwareBytes - anti-malware (on-demand only)

Spybot S&D - anti-spyware (on-demand only)

SuperAntiSpyware - anti-spyware

~

avast! in my opinion is the best of the free antivirus programs. I placed two other options here and will probably be adding a couple more in the future, but I haven't tried them out, so I'm weary to recommend them. It should be noted that Avira hasn't gotten very good reviews lately and AVG still does not provide rootkit protection. However, combined with SuperAntiSpyware, AVG is an acceptable choice (again, my opinion).

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- File Name: setup_av_free.exe

- Source: http://www.avast.com/eng/download-avast-home.html

About avast! Anti-virus:

[CNET editors' review by: Seth Rosenblatt on January 18, 2010]

Avast Free 5, an A-list freeware antivirus app, provides the same steadfast protection of well-known, pricier antivirus programs. Avast is remarkable for both its effectiveness and arguably providing the most complete free antivirus on the market.

Avast Free 5, formerly known as the Home Edition, protects you with multiple guards. The antivirus, antispyware, and heuristics engines form a security core that also includes multiple real-time shields. The adjustable mail and file system shields join the pre-existing behavior, network, instant messaging, peer-to-peer, and Web shields. The behavioral shield is a common-sense feature, as security software publishers leverage their large user bases to detect threats early and warn others. Other new features include a silent-gaming mode and an "intelligent scanner" that only looks at changed files after establishing a baseline.

- From: http://download.cnet.com/Avast-Free-Antivirus/3000-2239_4-10019223.html?tag=mncol

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- File Name: avira_antivir_personal_en.exe

- Source:  http://www.free-av.de/en/trialpay_download/1/avira_antivir_personal__free_antivirus.html

About Avira Personal Free Antivirus:

If you don't have virus protection, your PC will be infected with malware in a matter of minutes. Avira AntiVir Personal offers basic protection against viruses, worms, Trojans, rootkits, adware, and spyware that has been tried and tested over 100 million times worldwide. What's more, it is available free-of-charge. It not only protects against these types of malware, but offers as well, in case of an infection, the possibility of removing viruses very easily and repair the system automatically.

Functions: AntiVir stops all kinds of viruses; AntiAd/Spyware protects against adware and spyware; AntiRootkit detects hidden rootkits; QuickRemoval removes viruses at the push of a button; NetbookSupport support for computers with low resolution; AHeADTechnology detects even unknown viruses by their profiles; AviraSupport there for you in person when questions arise.

- From: http://download.cnet.com/Avira-AntiVir-Personal-Free-Antivirus/3000-2239_4-10322935.html?tag=mncol

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- File Name: avg_free_stb_all_9_114_cnet.exe

- Source:  http://free.avg.com/us-en/download-free-antivirus

About AVG Anti-Virus Free Edition 9.0:

It’s always been our philosophy at AVG that everyone has the right to basic computer security at no charge. And our 110 million users think we’re doing a pretty good job. So if you’re planning to spend time online and you regularly exchange files with friends, check us out.

• Surf, and search with confidence, while LinkScanner® keeps you safe from harmful sites
• Get online and offline protection from viruses, spyware, and other nasties
• Enjoy consistently high-speed PC performance with our new enhanced virus scanner
• Automatic updates keep your protection current
• Compatible with Windows 7, Windows Vista, Windows XP and Windows 2000

- From: [Same as above]

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- File Name: mbam-setup-1.46.exe

- Source: http://www.malwarebytes.org/

About MalwareBytes:

We at MalwareBytes have created an easy-to-use, simple, and effective anti-malware application. Whether you know it or not your computer is always at risk of becoming infected with viruses, worms, trojans, rootkits, dialers, spyware, and malware that are constantly evolving and becoming harder to detect and remove. Only the most sophisticated anti-malware techniques can detect and remove these malicious programs from your computer.

MalwareBytes Anti-Malware is considered to be the next step in the detection and removal of malware. In our product we have compiled a number of new technologies that are designed to quickly detect, destroy, and prevent malware. MalwareBytes Anti-Malware can detect and remove malware that even the most well-known anti-virus and anti-malware applications fail to detect. MalwareBytes Anti-Malware monitors every process and stops malicious processes before they even start. The real-time protection module uses our advanced heuristic scanning technology which monitors your system to keep it safe and secure. In addition, we have implemented a threats center which will allow you to keep up to date with the latest malware threats.

- From: [Same as above]

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- File Name: SUPERAntiSpyware.exe

- Source: http://www.superantispyware.com/index.html

About SuperAntiSpyware:

* Detect and Remove Spyware, Adware and Remove Malware, Trojans, Dialers, Worms, KeyLoggers, HiJackers, Parasites, Rootkits, Rogue Security Products and many other types of threats.

* Light on System Resources and won't slow down your computer like many other anti-spyware products. Won't conflict with your existing anti-spyware or anti- virus solution!

* Repair broken Internet Connections, Desktops, Registry Editing and more with our unique Repair System!

* Real-Time Blocking of threats! Prevent potentially harmful software from installing or re-installing!

* First Chance Prevention examines over 50 critical points of your system each time your system starts up and shuts down to eliminate threats before they have a chance to infect and infiltrate your system.

* Schedule either Quick, Complete or Custom Scans Daily or Weekly to ensure your computer is free from harmful software. Remove spyware automatically.

- From: [Same as above]

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- File Name: spybotsd162.exe

- Source: http://www.safer-networking.org/en/spybotsd/index.html

About Spybot S&D:

Spybot - Search & Destroy detects and removes spyware, a relatively new kind of threat not yet covered by common anti-virus applications. Spyware silently tracks your surfing behavior to create a marketing profile for you that is transmitted without your knowledge to the compilers and sold to advertising companies. If you see new toolbars in your Internet Explorer that you haven't intentionally installed, if your browser crashes inexplicably, or if your home page has been "hijacked" (or changed without your knowledge), your computer is most probably infected with spyware. Even if you don't see the symptoms, your computer may be infected, because more and more spyware is emerging. Spybot-S&D is free, so there's no harm giving it a try to see if something has invaded your computer.

- From: [Same as above]

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Here are a few very useful utilities that I find indispensable.

it should be noted that I do like CCleaner, but I find Glary Utilities so much easier to use and it's default settings are much more forgiving than those of CCleaner. I don't generally have to worry about cookies for things like login information being deleted every time I run with the default settings. I've added CCleaner anyway, but I highly recommend Glary over CCleaner for most users. Glary also has the benefit of many features that make life a lot easier like quick access to system tools like chkdsk and defragmenter.

Recuva is an indespensible tool and I've used it to great effect on a few occasions, most notibly when my mother-in-law was very upset over pressing the wrong button on her camera and deleting a special video file.

EASUS Partition Master is a very useful program to have in your 'toolbox'.  It's basically the same program as Norton Partition Magic, but of course, since it's in this list, is free.  I've used it on numerous occasions to manipulate the partitions on my hard drives (I have three in my desktop computer) and it's indispensible when I want to make changes.

I use Macrium Reflect on a weekly basis to back up my computer.  It has proven to be a life saver on more than one ocasion, most notibly when I fried one of my computers hard drive due to a cabling issue concerning my modular power supply.  The potential for loss would have been devastating had it not been for my backup images.

ImgBurn isn't a program that I've gotten to use very often as I have PowerIso (a paid for program) to work with optical disk images.  It seems to work very well, however and I've included it here since working with .iso files can be very useful.

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- File Name: gusetup.exe

- Source: http://www.glaryutilities.com/

About Glary Utilities:

Glary Utilities is a freeware with registry and disk cleaning, privacy protection, performance accelerator and amazing multifunctional tools. It can fix dogged registry errors, wipe off clutters, optimize internet speed, safeguard confidential files and maintain maximum performance.

It is designed for both novice and professionals. User-friendly interface shows clear & detailed directions. For novice, all work can be done with just 1 or 2 clicks, while for professionals, abundant options are available.

- From: [Same as above]

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- File Name: ccsetup233.exe

- Source:  http://www.piriform.com/ccleaner/download

+click on the 'Download from Piriform.com' link+

About CCleaner:

CCleaner is our system optimization, privacy and cleaning tool. It removes unused files from your system - allowing Windows to run faster and freeing up valuable hard disk space. It also cleans traces of your online activities such as your Internet history. Additionally it contains a fully featured registry cleaner. But the best part is that it's fast (normally taking less than a second to run) and contains NO Spyware or Adware!

- From: [Same as above]

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- File Name: rcsetup137.exe

- Source: http://www.recuva.com

About Recuva:

Accidentally deleted an important file? Lost something important when your computer crashed? No problem! Recuva recovers files deleted from your Windows computer, Recycle Bin, digital camera card, or MP3 player. And it's free!

- From: [Same as above]

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- File Name: EPMSetup.exe

- Source: http://www.partition-tool.com/personal.htm

About EASUS Partition Master:

EASEUS Partition Master Home Edition is a FREE ALL-IN-ONE partition solution and disk management utility. It allows you to extend partition (especially for system drive), manage disk space easily, settle low disk space problem under Windows 2000, XP, Vista, Windows 7 (Only for 32 bit).

The most popular hard disk management functions are brought together with powerful data protection including: Partition Manager, Disk & Partition Copy Wizard & Partition Recovery Wizard.

Top Benefits:

* FREE FOR HOME USERS. No Adware and Toolbar.

* New! Convert dynamic disk to basic disk easily with all data protected.

* Extend system partition to maximize computer performance.

* Partition Manager utility for better hard disk management and computer performance maximization.

* Partition Recovery Wizard to perform PC disaster recovery to save data.

* Copy Wizard to copy partition or migrate entire hard disk to another without Windows system reinstallation.

- From: [Same as above]

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- File Name: reflect_setup_free_x86_x64.exe

- Source: http://download.cnet.com/Macrium-Reflect-Free/3000-2242_4-10845728.html

About Macrium Reflect:

The fastest disk imaging software is now available as a free edition.

Absolutely free! No strings! The only free XP, Vista and Windows 7 compatible disk imaging software with BartPE and Linux based recovery options.

* Create a disk image whilst running Windows using Microsoft Volume Shadow copy Service (VSS).

* Image to Network, USB, FireWire drives and DVD.

* Built in scheduler.

* 32-bit and native 64-bit versions.

* Industry leading compression levels and speed.

* Linux based Rescue CD with Network access and full GUI. Only 6.5MB in size!

* Built in CD/DVD packet writing engine. Supports packet writing to DVD DL media with Windows Vista.

* HTML log files.

- From: 

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- File Name: SetupImgBurn_2.5.1.0.exe

- Source: http://www.imgburn.com/index.php?act=download 

+ Use Mirror 6 - Provided by ImgBurn +

About ImgBurn:

ImgBurn is a lightweight CD / DVD / HD DVD / Blu-ray burning application that everyone should have in their toolkit!

It has several 'Modes', each one for performing a different task:

* Read - Read a disc to an image file

* Build - Create an image file from files on your computer or network - or you can write the files directly to a disc

* Write - Write an image file to a disc

* Verify - Check a disc is 100% readable. Optionally, you can also have ImgBurn compare it against a given image file to ensure the actual data is correct

* Discovery - Put your drive / media to the test! Used in combination with DVDInfoPro, you can check the quality of the burns your drive is producing

ImgBurn supports a wide range of image file formats - including BIN, CUE, DI, DVD, GI, IMG, ISO, MDS, NRG and PDI.

It can burn Audio CD's from any file type supported via DirectShow / ACM - including AAC, APE, FLAC, M4A, MP3, MP4, MPC, OGG, PCM, WAV, WMA and WV.

You can use it to build DVD Video discs (from a VIDEO_TS folder), HD DVD Video discs (from a HVDVD_TS folder) and Blu-ray Video discs (from a BDAV / BDMV folder) with ease.

- From: http://www.imgburn.com/

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Here are some very useful programs that you may never expect to be able to score for less than the lint from your pocket...

Free Mp3 Wma Converter and Free Video Converter are from the same company and have proven themselves to be very useful to me.  On several occasions I've ripped CDs only to later find that after I've stored the CDs that WMP was set to defaults and I have a bunch of .wma files.  Or, I've downloaded a video and it's in a format that I don't like and that's where Free Video Converter comes into play.  These are both very simple to use programs that also have some very useful features added in that make them flexible enough to suit most of your audio and video conversion needs.

Open Office...  Well, it's not MS Office 2010, but it certainly will keep most casual users happier than they would be if they had to drop a bunch of money when all they need is a simple suite of programs to do simple word processing and some spreadsheet work.  It's compatible with MS Office formatted files and while I haven't used it very often, again, it certainly is a very important piece of freeware to mention here.

GIMP is another one of those things that no freeware aficionado should be without.  Along with Inkscape if's the free alternative to the dynamic duo of Photoshop and Illustrator, which is quite an impressive thing.  I don't spen much time working with pictures or graphics, but for my extremely casual needs, these two programs work wonders.

Scribus in really an indespensible tool for any writer.  Desktop publishing is not something that I enjoy doing via anything short of a dedicated software such as InDesign or QuarkXPress.  This free alternative fits the bill very nicely.

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- File Name: Setup_FreeConverter.exe

- Source: http://www.koyotesoft.com/indexEn.html

About Free Mp3 Wma Converter:

Free MP3 WMA Converter enables you to convert your MP3, WMA, OGG, AAC, Mpc, Ape, FLAC, WAVE files:

• Mp3 to Ogg, Mp3 to Wma, Mp3 to Mp3, Mp3 to Wav...

• Wav to Mp3, Wav to Ogg, Wav to Flac, Wav to Wma...

• Wma to Mp3, Wma to Ogg, Wma to Flac, Wma to Wav...

• Ogg to Mp3, Ogg to Wma, Ogg to Flac, Ogg to Wav...

• AAC to Mp3, AAC to Wma, AAC to Ogg, AAC to Wav...

• Ape to Mp3, Ape to Wma, Ape to Ogg, Ape to Wav...

• Flac to Mp3, Flac to Wma, Flac to Ogg, Flac to Wav...

• Mpc to Mp3, Mpc to Wma, Mpc to Ogg, Mpc to Wav...

And even more possible conversions !

Convert your favorite audio files... Tags's editor integrated (V1 and V2). Copy your audio CDs very rapidly thanks to “Free CD Ripper”. Simplicity at the service of efficiency.

- From: [Same as above]

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- File Name: Setup_FreeVideoConverter.exe

- Source: http://www.koyotesoft.com/indexEn.html

About Free Video Converter:

Free Video Converter is a freeware designed to convert all your Video files. Numerous video formats are supported, such as AVI, Mp4, iPod, PSP, 3GP (mobile phones), Zune, iPhone, MKV, WMV, ASF, MOV, QuickTime, MPEG, MPG2, RM, VCD, VOB, AVCHD MTS, M2TS … (conversion to and from these formats).

With Free video converter you can convert your videos to the formats you need for your TV, website, mobile phone, iPod, iPhone, Zune, Archos…

• Supports large range of formats: AVI, MP4, iPod, PSP, 3GP, (mobile phones), Zune, iPhone, MKV, WMV, ASF, MOV, QuickTime, MPEG, MPG2, RM, VCD, VOB, AVCHD MTS, M2TS…
• You can choose only parts from a video. It is a function which allows you to extract sequences from a video easily (configuring the Start Time, end time or duration)
• It allows you to extract the sound track from a video in MP3, WMA, MP2, AAC…
• Extremely Fast conversion with preview.

- From: [Same as above]

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- File Name: OOo_3.2.1_Win_x86_install-wJRE_en-US.exe

- Source: http://www.openoffice.org

About Open Office:

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.

- From: [Same as above]

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- File Name: gimp-2.6.8-i686-setup.exe

- Source: http://www.gimp.org

About GIMP:

GIMP is an acronym for GNU Image Manipulation Program. It is a freely distributed program for such tasks as photo retouching, image composition and image authoring.

It has many capabilities. It can be used as a simple paint program, an expert quality photo retouching program, an online batch processing system, a mass production image renderer, an image format converter, etc.

GIMP is expandable and extensible. It is designed to be augmented with plug-ins and extensions to do just about anything. The advanced scripting interface allows everything from the simplest task to the most complex image manipulation procedures to be easily scripted.

- From: http://www.gimp.org/about/introduction.html

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- File Name: Inkscape-0.47-3.exe

- Source: http://www.inkscape.org/

About Inkscape:An Open Source vector graphics editor, with capabilities similar to Illustrator, CorelDraw, or Xara X, using the W3C standard Scalable Vector Graphics (SVG) file format.

Inkscape supports many advanced SVG features (markers, clones, alpha blending, etc.) and great care is taken in designing a streamlined interface. It is very easy to edit nodes, perform complex path operations, trace bitmaps and much more. We also aim to maintain a thriving user and developer community by using open, community-oriented development.

- From: [Same as above]

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- File Name: scribus-1.3.7-win32-install.exe

- Source: http://sourceforge.net/projects/scribus/files/scribus-devel

About Scribus:

Scribus is an Open Source program that brings award-winning professional page layout to Linux/UNIX, Mac OS X, OS/2 Warp 4/eComStation and Windows desktops with a combination of "press-ready" output and new approaches to page layout. Underneath the modern and user friendly interface, Scribus supports professional publishing features, such as CMYK color, separations, Spot Colors, ICC color management and versatile PDF creation.

- From: http://www.scribus.net/

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I will shortly be adding Hubs that contain a little more detail about these programs, as well as short install and use guide for each. These will be fairly simplistic, so no GIMP ir Inkscape tutorials...though I will provide a few links to those. I'll only provide the bare minimum to get you going, and also they will be my personal suggestions, not gospel.

If you have any suggestions for this list, feel free to comment and I will add them as soon as I'm able.

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