Brian's Pick of the Free Software
Follow my links to download the programs

Virus & spyware scanner:  If you don't have one, you deserve every virus that comes your way.
There's a good range of commercial products available: Kaspersky Internet Security, Ashampoo Anti-Virus, Total Defense Unlimited Internet Security, Trend Micro Titanium Internet Security, AVG Internet Security, Norton Internet Security, McAfee Internet Security, etc.
I strongly recommend using one of these, but that's not the subject of this page.

If you don't want to spend money yet, you have 2 options :

  1. Use one of the above commercial products with a 30-day free trial licence.  This is a really good idea before committing yourself to buying a 3-year full licence.  Before activating a product, you should always uninstall the one you previously tried.
  2. Try one of the long-term freebies: Microsoft Security Essentials (MSE), avast! Free Antivirus, AVG AntiVirus Free.
    View these independent file detection test results (and other categories in the left column).
    Except MSE, the free products are bait for those companies' commercial products.  They intercept most viruses, but as you'd expect with a free product, there are major categories (e.g. anti-phishing) left unprotected.  That's why there are paid licence editions which cover all categories of malware & intrusion.

Whatever product you choose, ensure that it includes the all-important real-time protection feature (to scan all files automatically when they arrive via email or your web browsers).  This rules out the free edition of Malwarebytes' Anti-Malware as your primary product – although you could install it in addition to another product, and manually start scans from time to time as a means of getting a second opinion about what's already on your computer.


Media Player:
VLC Media Player from the non-profit VideoLan Organization is an excellent allrounder that plays the following :

  1. Audio & video files in all of the traditional formats (mp3, wav, ogg, mov, mp4, flv, wmv and others).
  2. Video DVDs and audio CDs.
  3. Groups of .ifo/.vob files ripped from video DVDs.  Note: copy-protected DVDs can be copied after installing the very small DVD43 Plug-in.  The main DVD43 program isn't needed.  Just use Windows copy & paste to copy file folders from the DVD to your hard disk.
  4. Video recordings, for example folders of .TS files written by a digital TV or a digital set top box using the record to USB feature.  I've had some problems with this, but I suspect it's mostly due to bugs in my Strong set top box software.  Also, the video display quality is poor when your computer's CPU performance is less than a 2.4 GHz Pentium 4.

On slower computers, I've found that VLC Media Player fails to render .mp4 video files at normal playing speed.
DivX Plus Player is a much better performer, but be warned that the full installer download is more than 75 MB.

For playing audio files only, my strong preference is for Winamp Media Player.  It plays all of the popular audio formats, and its skin is so compact that (unlike VLC Media Player) it occupies less than half of your screen, even with the Playlist & Graphic Equaliser displayed.

Therefore, you probably won't need either of the following freebies, but I mention them because they're historically prominent and they're free :

  1. QuickTime Player from Apple Inc. (needs JavaScript active to download).
  2. Windows Media player from Microsoft.  Note that, as supplied, it lacks the DVD decoder required to play video DVDs.  The DVD decoder can be purchased from various commercial sources, but perhaps the easiest way is to install Cyberlink PowerDVD that's bundled with some DVD-RW units.  Don't bother, as VLC Media Player comes ready to play.

Audio Ripping from CD:
I happily paid the licence fee for Jackie Franck's Audiograbber before it was changed to a freebie.  It was primarily designed to rip audio CD tracks into .wav files, but was then extended to receive "line in" signals via the 3.5 mm stereo input socket e.g. from a HiFi tape player or amplifier.  Using the Lame MP3 Encoder plugin (also free from the Downloads page of the Audiograbber website), the .wav files can be converted to .mp3 files – either automatically at rip time or manually later.  The Lame encoder allows you to specify the MP3 compression method & quality – I recommend VBR (variable bit rate) & Highest Quality (which will use up to 320 kbps when necessary).  I've noticed in several 1970s popular music tracks that the sound is noticeably distorted at 128 kbps, but ok with my recommended settings.


Audio File Editor:
Audacity is a nifty little sound file editor that can work on files in a range of formats, and export them in a range of formats (whether or not you do any editing before exporting).  It can also receive "line in" signals in the same way as Audiograbber mentioned above.
I've noticed that encoding into MP3 format (while exporting) is much slower than the same operation in Audiograbber or Winamp.


An alternative to Microsoft Office:
OpenOffice.org version 3 – editions available for Windows, Linux, Sun, Mac.
These are the main features, with links to Wikipedia :

  1. Writer – Word documents, simple text documents and Rich Text Format (RTF) documents.
  2. Impress – PowerPoint presentations.
  3. Base – Database feature.  No compatibility with Microsoft Office Access.
  4. Calc – Excel worksheets.
  5. Draw – Vector graphics editor and desktop publishing module.  No compatibility with Microsoft Office Publisher
  6. Math – Formula editor similar to the little-known Microsoft Equation Editor
OpenOffice.org version 3 is able to read and edit all Word, PowerPoint and Excel documents moderately well – up to MS Office 2003 type (i.e. pre-XML).  PowerPoint files containing imbedded sound are always incompatible.  There are serious formatting problems with some MS Office 2007 (XML) type files.  It's slow and uses lots of memory, which is a huge problem on old computers.
If you don't exchange documents with other people, or only exchange documents with others who have OpenOffice.org, then this product is an excellent choice.
Like MS Office 2007 to 2013, it can be used to export your documents in PDF format, but can't edit existing PDF files.  Therefore, always keep your document in its native (word processor) format.

Stuck with an old version of Microsoft Office?
Are people sending you XML type documents (.docx, .xlsx and .pptx) that you can't open?
Then install the free Microsoft Office Compatibility Pack to automatically convert them into Office 2003 type documents when you open them.  It can also save documents as XML type if you specify e.g. "Word 2007 Document (*.docx)" beneath the file name.
As always, check the System Requirements section.
I have the Compatibility Pack working very successfully on my Microsoft Office 2003 installations, but had only moderate success with Office 2000.  As you'd expect, it's very slow converting very large files into XML type (or vice versa), but it does get there.  Obviously, special document formatting features introduced in Office 2007 & 2010 are not supported.  Incompatibilities are noted in the section Features that behave differently in earlier versions.  For most documents that you receive, it will work very well.
The download bundle for the Compatibility Pack is at Service Pack 2 (SP2) level.  You should also download & install Service Pack 3 (SP3) for it.

Don't forget to keep your base product up to date with the free Microsoft Office 2003 Service Pack 3 (SP3) for example.  If your Windows Security Centre is set to do Automatic Updates, this would already have been done.  Extended Support for MS Office 2003 ends on 8 April 2014 (the same day as for Windows XP).


Free viewers from Microsoft (for Windows systems only):
If you don't have Microsoft Office, these viewers will allow you to view files sent by other people.
  - Word Viewer plus the Office Compatibility Pack mentioned immediately above.
  - PowerPoint Viewer 2010.  Main difference from the much smaller PowerPoint Viewer 2007:  Silverlight viewer is imbedded.
  - Excel Viewer.
Some earlier versions are still available, which is important if you are still using Windows 98 or ME.  Look for links further down the respective pages.


Free self-paced training courses for Microsoft Office programs:
If you already have Microsoft Office 2003, 2007 or 2010, these free online training courses are excellent – provided that you have a bit of experience with using Office.  Not a good starting point for beginners, however.
Scroll down the target page and select your version of MS Office.  At the "View training anywhere" section at the bottom, you can download the whole training package for later use (using PowerPoint) without being connected to the internet.  Users of MS Office 2000 should be able to learn a lot from the Office 2003 training because the 2 products are visually very similar.


Viewing PDF (portable document format) files:
Back in the 1990s, Adobe Acrobat was about the only PDF file editor, and Adobe Reader was the freebie program they distributed to encourage people to make PDF a popular defacto standard format.  In very recent years, many computer geeks have rightly criticised Adobe Reader for being ridiculously large & slow moving ("bloatware").  So I suggest the following options, starting with the best :

  1. Foxit Reader for Windows – a very agile performer with complex PDF files.  Compared to Adobe Reader, it's a much smaller download and uses a small fraction of the amount of computer memory when running.  A clear winner!  Press F4 to show or hide the annoying Navigation Panel on the left side of the screen when it runs.
  2. STDU Viewer – a much smaller download than even Foxit Reader, but uses almost as much computer memory as Adobe Reader when running.  Press F6 to show or hide the annoying Navigation Panel on the left side of the screen when it runs.
  3. Adobe Reader (versions for Windows, Mac, Linux, Solaris, AIX, HP-UX).  Does several very annoying things, e.g. installs plugins into your web browser without asking permission to do so.  Uses more computer memory and runs more slowly than competing products, but is available for non-Windows systems.  The download file is many times the size of other products, and new releases (with security fixes) seem to be appearing every couple of months.

With all of these (and other) products, don't download any sponsored "piggyback" products that you don't want (e.g. McAfee Security Scan Plus).  During the install process, don't allow them to create browser toolbars or add browser plugins.


Web browser:
Mozilla Firefox (versions for Windows, Mac, Linux) has been my strong preference for several years.
The following add-ons make this a brilliant package.  Use Firefox to download & install the latest versions :
  - Adblock Plus – select which advert pictures are to be banned.
  - NoScript – select which websites are allowed to run their Java Script programs on your computer.
     In this computer virus era, only a total lamebrain would allow all scripts to run uninhibited.
  - Flashblock – permit Adobe Flash Player flashing images to download only when you say so – e.g. YouTube movies.
     Most flash files are hyper-annoying adverts.
The only significant downside with Firefox is the frequency of updates, which require you to download & install an entire new version each time (compared with simple patches on Internet Explorer).

SeaMonkey (versions for Windows, Mac, Linux) has the appearance and facilities of Netscape version 7.  Unlike Netscape, this product is still supported, and security problems are fixed from time to time.  If you want a simple, free, WYSIWYG web page editor, this is probably the way to go.  I recommend the same add-ons as with Firefox :
  - Adblock Plus – latest version, as with Firefox.
  - NoScript – latest version, as with Firefox.
  - Flashblock – earlier version needed for compatibility.

Opera (versions for Windows, Mac, Linux) is also a decent web browser.  If you want to download newspaper articles for permanent storage on your computer, Opera is definitely the best one to use because it faithfully preserves the appearance of complex web pages (unlike Firefox & Internet Explorer).

Internet Explorer (only for Windows).  Because of Microsoft's market dominance, it was the most commonly used web browser for many years – although the level of dominance is less than what you'd expect.

Since 2012, I.E. and Firefox have been overtaken in popularity by Google Chrome, which I haven't tried.  Because it's written by the world's dominant internet advertising company, you should expect to see it leading you (by its default settings) towards other Google services.  That's the primary reason why this browser exists.

View Wikipedia's comparison of web browsers.

Note:  You can install as many different web browsers as you want.  I have had Firefox, Opera, SeaMonkey, Netscape (versions 7, 8, 9) and Internet Explorer (desperate last-resort use only).  They don't interfere with each other.  The only downside is the usual problem of having many programs installed – it slows your system down a bit when starting Windows and when starting a program.


Email client program:
Mozilla Thunderbird (versions for Windows, Mac, Linux) looks reasonable, but like Outlook Express it lacks several nice features that Microsoft Office Outlook has (e.g. the ability to paste individual .msg files into a mail folder). 
An appointment calendar is provided by the Lightning add-on which works quite well.
Setting up email accounts is dead easy – Thunderbird automatically went and found the POP3 & SMTP mail server addresses corresponding to my Hotmail & Netspace email accounts.  I was up & running in a few seconds!

Windows Live Mail (part of Windows Essentials) is Microsoft's successor to Outlook Express and Windows Mail – an email client program that runs on your computer.  It's free, but I haven't tried it.  Not to be confused with Windows Live Hotmail, (Microsoft's free email address and mailbox facility) which you can access via your web browser, Mozilla Thunderbird, the Windows Live Mail program, or Microsoft Office Outlook.  Before downloading Windows Live Mail, check the fine print to ensure that it's the right one for your Windows system.
Note: Now that Hotmail can be accessed via a POP3 server (since about 2009), MS Office Outlook users shouldn't need to use Outlook Hotmail Connector (a freebie), although it's still available if you've already started using it.


File compression/archive utility:
FilZip (for Windows systems only)
Supports several archive formats including zip & tar.  Doesn't have all of the nice bells and whistles that the commercial WinZip product has, but it's ok.  It can read an existing .rar archive, but can't create a new one.

ZipGenius (for Windows systems only)
Supports fewer archive formats than FilZip (e.g. .rar is missing), but has a lot of bells and whistles (which makes it tedious for a novice to use).  The "Cutter" feature produces an archive file that is sliced into pieces of a manageable size, e.g. to email a 2.8 MB piece at a time.  Not compatible with the similar "Split" feature in WinZip, so recipients of your cut pieces will also need ZipGenius.
To get the nice features including Cutter, you need to download the Suite edition instead of the Standard edition.

7-Zip (GUI for Windows systems only)
Open source product that supports several traditional archive formats including zip & tar, as well as the modern and highly efficient 7z format. 

Many other products are listed in This Wikipedia article.


Microsoft Calculator Plus:
Calculator Plus (for Windows XP or above) can do Unit Conversions (e.g. imperial to metric), Number Base conversions or be a Scientific calculator – by selecting the appropriate view.  It makes the standard calculator supplied with Windows redundant.


"Satellite" Image Viewing:
Google Earth is the original freebie viewer of "satellite" images which beat Microsoft Virtual Earth to the punch.
Go to the download page http://earth.google.com/intl/en/download-earth-advanced.html.  If you use Firefox with the NoScript add-on, temporarily allow javascript for all of google.com or google.co.uk depending on the version of English you choose in the top right corner.  Now select the following check box options :

  1. Clear the tick box for Include Google Chrome.
    Google built Chrome because they felt left out, not because the world needed another web browser.
  2. Below the "Terms of Service" info box is the advanced setup option.  Click on it to reveal more check boxes.
  3. Clear the tick box for Allow Google Earth to automatically install recommended updates.  It will now download only the Google Earth installer program (~17 MB).
  4. If you clear the tick from the Make Google Earth available to all users' profiles check box, the downloaded installer program will always install Google Earth into your user profile.  Any other users who login to this computer will need to install Google Earth into their own profile.  I leave this check box ticked.
  5. Click on the Agree and Download button.
  6. Save the download file to a convenient place.  Internet Explorer users might need to click on the Information Bar (below the tabs) to approve the download.
  7. Run the downloaded file to install Google Earth.

Internet Phone Calls:
Skype allows you to make calls to other computers connected to the internet, or (for a fee) to phones in the old-fashioned telephone system.  The Skype program is a free download, and there is no charge for Skype-to-Skype calls; just ensure that both parties have a sufficient broadband download limit (rarely a problem these days).  Webcams are supported, but not compulsory.  They add significantly to internet traffic.


Windows remote support:
Install TeamViewer on both computers – the one giving support and the one receiving assistance.
When Microsoft terminated their internet server for Windows Messenger early in 2013, the good old Remote Assistance feature imbedded in Windows ceased working.  They suggested changing over to Skype with the Sky Remote add-on.  I found that it didn't even vaguely work properly.  Fortunately, TeamViewer is a wonderful product that works better than the original in Windows.


SyncToy: Synchronizing Images and Files in Windows.
Do you have 2 file folders of the same name on different devices (e.g. one on your hard disk and a backup copy on a USB memory stick), and wonder whether the contents are exactly the same?  Is one sub-folder missing a few files?  Perhaps some files are later versions, but how would you identify them?  It could be your music or photo collection.
Use Microsoft's free SyncToy to compare the 2 folders, and optionally correct any differences automatically.
The White Paper for version 2.0 is the easy-to-read user manual.


WinMerge: Comparing text files.
Do you have 2 text files of the same name in different folders (perhaps on different devices), and wonder exactly where they differ?  WinMerge gives you a wonderful side-by-side view of both files, highlighting the parts that differ.  In fact, you could have a pair of folders full of files (with matching names), and it will compare both sets.  This part is so easy that you don't need to read the Manual.  However, there are other features (e.g. Merge) and complex methods of using the program – you will need to read the Manual for those!  Plugins enable you to compare files that are not simple text (e.g. a pair of Word files).


Disk Management:
I use and strongly recommend the following freebies from EaseUs
Partition Master to create, delete, resize & move partitions.  This discipline is certainly not for careless people, and partitioning is best done after you've had practice on a test computer.  In any case, always backup a physical disk before manipulating its partitions.  It can take a lot of time, but it's time well spent.
Todo Backup Free to clone, backup & or restore partitions of whole disks.  Backup is for absolutely everybody!

These 2 programs don't have all of the features in the paid licence editions, but they can perform everything you will need to do on home computers – with one exception (see below).  I used Todo to backup the C: partitions of my main desktop PC and my laptop PC onto a USB external hard disk – child's play!  I also used Todo to create a stand-alone Recovery System on a CD-ROM – also child's play.  When your internal hard disk crashes, you'll buy a blank new one, and use the CD as your bootable operating system to restore your data onto the new hard disk.
Using the Recovery System CD to restore from an image file onto the laptop's spare hard disk took 45 minutes, after which I was unable to boot from it.  Then I realised – I'd used the image file of the desktop PC disk, which has the wrong motherboard profile for the laptop.  My first attempt with the correct image file failed to start, because the target C: partition was a few bytes smaller than the image to be restored.  This left me stuck, because the free edition of Partition Master won't create a bootable CD to let me fiddle with partitions.  Here's the escape hatch for misers: I booted from a gNewSense Linux CD-ROM to use the GParted partition editor for deleting the offending partition.  (Most Linux systems have GParted).  My second attempt saw the Recovery System freeze within a few seconds of completion; no idea why.  My third attempt was successful after another 94 minutes, and Windows booted perfectly from the restored C: hard disk partition.
Todo seems to be an effective and user-friendly replacement for my licensed copy of Norton Ghost 2003 (which insists on shutting down Windows to run as a stand-alone program, won't run on my HP Pavilion test computer at all, and won't recognise my 1.5 TB Samsung USB hard disk).  Bye bye Ghost, with the 19th century user interface.


Windows Troubleshooting Utilities:
The Sysinternals Troubleshooting Utilities are for advanced users of Windows.  Click on "Utilities Index" in the left column to see short summaries of all utilities or select an individual utility in the centre column to read the longer description.
The most frequently useful utility is Process Explorer, which is much better than Windows Task Manager included in Windows systems.
You can download either the whole suite of utilities in one zip file, or just the one(s) that you want.
I make Windows automatically start Process Explorer on all of my computers, and just leave it run all of the time.  The icon in the system tray toolbar (bottom right corner of the screen) is a miniature graph of CPU activity.


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