Sunday, May 10, 2009

My list of Windows Free/Open Source Software, part 1

With this post I want to list the software I use on my computers. Some time ago, I realized that all the software I have, besides the legal Windows, is either free or Open Source. I have everything I need and most times it is better for me than the paid alternatives.

Very important - some of the software, I list below, has paid versions, too. I provided only links to the free versions. I don't have cracks for any of the software and I don't work for any of the companies, making the software. This list is my personal recommendation for ways to have legal and functional software on your Windows PC's.

- Browser - Mozilla Firefox - much faster and secure than Windows Explorer. I am also keeping an eye on Google Chrome, I hope it becomes a decent competitor soon.
Download Link - http://www.mozilla.com/en-US/firefox/personal.html

- Creativity Suite - Open Office.org - very feature-rich, haven't touched Microsoft Office since I installed it. It has all the options I ever needed. Still requires better compatibility with Microsoft Office 2007.
Download Link - http://www.openoffice.org/

- Music Player - Winamp - hot keys, skins, plug-ins - I have been using it for years now and hope to use it for many more to come.
Download Link - http://www.winamp.com/

- Video Player - Media Player Classic - not completely flawless, but very light and does the job OK. I am looking for another one, since MPC is not supported anymore. Requires a codec pack to work fine.
Download Link - http://sourceforge.net/projects/guliverkli/

- PDF Viewer - Foxit Free - very light and fast. Definitely better than Adobe Acrobat Reader, when it comes to speed and ease to use. Excellent printing manager.
Download Link - http://www.foxitsoftware.com/pdf/reader/

- Anti-Virus Software - AVG Free - light and easy to use. Updates frequently, haven't had any problems with it ever.
Download Link - http://free.avg.com/

- Graphics editing - GIMP - still a beginner at it, but has many features and is it completely free. Good alternative to Photoshop.
Download Link - http://www.gimp.org/
- Photo Filtre - free, light and has some very good filters. Works fine for more simple tasks. Does not support layers.
Download Link - http://photofiltre.en.softonic.com/

- Audio editing - Audacity - has been getting better and better over time. Decent functionality, including multi-track recording.
Download Link - http://audacity.sourceforge.net/download/

- Torrent Client - utorrent - many people forget that torrents are also used to transfer completely legal files between people. When I have to do it, I use this software. Stable, light and free.
Download Link - http://www.utorrent.com/

- Virtual CD - Daemon Tools - works very well, supports multiple virtual drives.
Download Link - http://www.daemon-tools.cc/eng/downloads

Join me again in Part 2, when I will list more software, which not only costs nothing, but also gives you great productivity.

2 comments:

  1. Great list. I use most of these apps myself, and will definately check out the ones I'm not familiar with.

    ReplyDelete
  2. I am glad you like them, hope you enjoy part 2

    ReplyDelete