Free Stuff

I have a theory that for any given thing I want to do on the computer, somebody has written a free program for it. As it turns out, that's pretty close to the truth. Admittedly, the free software isn't always as powerful or intuitive or functional as the pay version, but it's rare that I need more than the basics. In most cases, I'd rather have the basics for free than a couple of extra features for hundreds of dollars.

Here's a list of some of the free software I have on my machine, most of which I use on a regular basis. I bet you can find something here you can use.*

• AdAware/SpyBot - After cleaning spyware from nearly a hundred machines, I now install these two together by default. I've yet to find a piece of spyware that one of these won't catch.
• Buddi - Budget software. Not as good as Quicken, but infinitely cheaper.
• Skype - Free video phone via the internet. Surprisingly good quality even from Thailand to Mexico.
• ZipGenius - I got tired of Window's lame "compressed folder" nonsense. I need something that can handle zip files like zip files, as well as jar, gz, rar, tar, war, and z files, without telling me my trial period is over. ZipGenius is the best program I've found for this yet.
• PrimoPDF - I know Macs deal in PDF by default, but Windows doesn't (unless you pay $450 for Adobe's solution!). This program fixes that. I love PDF. It means I can send a query package to MattyDub across the Pacific and he prints it exactly like it's supposed to be.
• DeltaCopy - A reliable backup program capable of scheduled, incremental backups.
• FileZilla - An FTP program that doesn't complain about being a trial version and supports drag-and-drop.
• SketchUp - A 3-D modeling program that's easy to learn and fun to use. I designed my house with this.
• Audacity - High quality recording/sound-editing software.
• Metapad - A slightly better alternative to Window's notepad.
• NetBeans - For programmers. A free, feature-full IDE for Java programming.
  

The following programs are also free and seem very promising, though I haven't yet used them myself. I think it's only a matter of time.

• OpenOffice - Microsoft Office for free. And better. As soon as my copy of MS Word (2002) becomes useless, I'm switching to this.
• yWriter - Novel writing software, created by an experienced programmer/novelist. I haven't switched over yet, because I have a system and it works, but I get closer with every project.
• Picasa - Photo organization software. I've seen it in action, and it's a lot better than my "name the directories with dates and hope that's good enough" method of organization. I just haven't taken the time to load all my photos into it yet.
• Avidemux - Video-editing software. For when Windows Movie Maker just isn't good enough.
• Clam AV - I have my own anti-virus solution for now, but this is the best free one I've seen.

What about you? Anything you like better than what's on this list? What other free software do you use?

* Unfortunately, while these are all available for Windows, some are not available for the Mac. I love Macs, but the open source movement doesn't always extend that far. That was actually one of the reasons I chose a Windows machine the last time I had the choice.