The Best Free Software

Software Wants to Be Free...

...but users want it to be safe. Free software is everywhere, which makes it incredibly difficult these days to find the best of any particular kind. And then there's the fact that "freeware" is not always free. Some freeware is just poorly written and may cause your computer to crash. Some are a conduit for spam and other system invasion techniques. Others are illegal copies of commercial software that can land you in legal trouble.

Nevertheless, there are several excellent software packages that are truly free, high quality, and useful. For general computer tasks and other fun stuff, here are some of my favorite sources:

OpenOffice: If you are not addicted to every whistle and bell associated with the Microsoft's Office products, you might find this multi-platform, multilingual office suite exciting. The OpenOffice word processor, spreadsheet, database and presentation modules produce files that are compatible with their popular commercial counterparts, and are built on Open Source ideas, making it part of a larger community of quality software that grows better through collective use and development. You can find it at OpenOffice.org.

Free Anti-Virus Protection: Get inoculations without the pain of paying -- it's becoming more commonplace for ISP's such as AOL to provide free anti-virus protection. But for those willing to look, you can find some stand-alone options. Grisoft.com offers its AVG Free Edition without charge to private, non-commercial, single-home users. You can also get a free one-year trial of the eTrust EZ Anti-Virus package (my personal favorite) from Computer Associates and Microsoft.

Universal IM: If you're into instant messaging (IM) but your friends all use different IM tools, then GAIM is for you. It is compatible with AIM, ICQ, MSN Messenger, Yahoo!, and numerous other systems, allowing you to have conversations with many different folks without running multiple IM programs. GAIM is cross-platform, with versions for Windows and Linux.

Graphics: IrfanView is a great freeware graphics program. It's a fast, small graphic viewer and editor for Windows that tries to be simple for beginners and powerful for professionals. In addition to supporting many file formats and languagesm there's a thumbnail option, slideshow creation, batch conversion, a multimedia player, screen capturing and a host of graphic editing features.

Entertainment: Free, legal music and film is still available, news stories and lawsuits not withstanding. Betterpropaganda.com is one such San Francisco-based site for music news and freebies for independent tunes and upcoming talent. But there are actually many others worth checking out such as Garageband and AtomFilms. You can also find games at Happy Puppy and FilePlanet, which often have other free downloads too.

Practice Safe Computing

Here's some advice to keep in mind when looking for good freeware downloads:

Research before you download

Ask your neighbor (or an expert)

Stay out of bad neighborhoods

Elaborating on that last point, there are some rogue sites in cyberspace that appear to offer free software, but the downloads contain spyware, adware, trojan horses and viruses. Here are some dependable freeware sites you can trust:

www.download.com

www.pcworld.com/downloads

www.nonags.com

www.majorgeeks.com

One final tip: Add to caution a dose of prevention. Make sure your system is up to date and keep it free of malware. See my article How can I avoid computer viruses? for details on how to protect yourself from viruses and other nasties.

BOB RANKIN... is a tech writer and computer programmer who enjoys exploring the Internet and sharing the fruit of his experience with others. His work has appeared in ComputerWorld, NetGuide, and NY Newsday. Bob is publisher of the Internet TOURBUS newsletter, author of several computer books, and creator of the http://LowfatLinux.com website. Visit Bob Rankin's website for more helpful articles and free tech support.

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The Best Free Software