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The 46 Best-ever Freeware Utilities
There are a lot of great freeware products out there. Many are as good or even better than their commercial alternatives. This list features my personal pick of the "best of the best."
All the utilities in this list have featured in past issues of my free monthly newsletter "Support Alert"  More freebies are published in each new issue. If you are interested in great utilities and freeware you really should considersubscribing. It‘s free.
Listed below are 46 different freeware categories with my selection of the best products in each category. The list is ordered by program function rather than merit so you‘ll get the most out of it by browsing down this page at leisure. The pathologically impatient can consult the index below.
This page is updated regularly - most recent: 18 Sep, 06
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1  Best Free Web Browser      Sponsored links: 31Best Free Screen Capture Utility 
2  Best Free Anti-Virus Software     Best Backup Program 32Best Free Search Toolbar
3  Best Free Adware/Spyware/Scumware Remover     Best Spyware Detector 33Best Free Download Manager
4  Best Free Browser Protection Utility     Best Remote Access Software 34Best Free Web Site Ripper
5  Best Free Firewall     Best Spam Blocker for Dummies 35Best Free Download/Upload Meter
6  Best Free Trojan Scanner/Trojan Remover     Best Anti-trojan Scanner 36Best Free TCP Settings Tweaker
7  Best Free Rootkit Scanner/Remover 19Best Free Desktop Search Utility 37Best Free File Cleaner
8  Best Free Intrusion Detection Utility   20Best Free Digital Image Viewer  38Best Free Resource Meter
9  Best Free Anonymous Surfing Service 21Best Free Digital Image Editor 39Best Free Sticky Notes Utility
10 Best Free Software Suite 22Best Free Digital Photo Organizer 40Best Free Secure Erase Utility
11Best Free File Manager 23Best Free Notepad Replacement 41Best Free Registry Editor
12Best Free Email Client 24Best File Archiver/Zip Utility 42 Best Free Process Viewer
13 Best Free Web Mail Accessory 25Best Free Hotkey Utility  43Best Free System Information Utility
14Best Free Clipboard Replacement Utility  26Best Free Registry Cleaner 44Best Free Search and Replace Utility 
15 Best Free HTML Editor 27Best Free BitTorrent Client  45Best Free Outliner
16 Best Free Spam Filter for the Average User 28Best Free FTP Client 46Best Free Rename Utility
17Best Free Spam Filter for Experienced Users 29Best Free Bookmark Cleaner
18Best Free Popup Stopper 30Best Free Folder Synchronization Utility 47-95latest additions to the list
The Best-ever Freeware List
1  Best Free Web Browser  Updated August 23, 2006
Internet Explorer (IE) is a competent browser but it has become such a target for malicious exploits that it is now a major security risk. Quite separately, the browser itself is now looking dated with most alternative products offering tabbed browsing and other productivity enhancements.
There are several excellent alternatives with Mozilla Firefox [1] a solid first choice.  It‘s safer than IE, so safe in fact that many users have reported no spyware infections since they started using the product. It‘s also browses a tad faster than IE, is very stable and is more standards compliant. The program loads a little slower than IE but once running, it positively zips along. With tabbed browsing and over 600 free extensions that allow you to customize your experience, it provides most users with a major surfing upgrade. Firefox is now my everyday browser though I still leave IE on my PC for the occasional web site that‘s designed around IE‘s non-standard features. If you need any further convincing then check out my IE to Firefox migration guide [2].
An equal first choice is Opera [3]. It‘s a speed demon; probably the fastest of all the common browsers. But it‘s much more than that; it‘s full featured, standards compliant and safe. Just as Firefox is extensible through extensions, Opera can be enhanced using Widgets, though there are not nearly as many of these available as Firefox extensions. Then again, it doesn‘t need as many extensions as a lot of the features added by Firefox extensions are already available built into the standard Opera browser. There‘s just so much to like about Opera V9 that you could easily create a case that it‘s better than Firefox. Indeed, if I could get an Opera replacement for some of my key Firefox extensions, I‘d probably switch.
Users who don‘t want to drift too far from the Microsoft stable can get some of the advantages of Firefox and Opera by using one of the many customized shells for Internet Explorer. These offer tabbed browsing and many other features missing in IE. On the downside they share most of the same security problems as IE as they utilize the IE engine.
The IE shell that I like most is a freeware product called Maxthon [4] .  After using Maxthon for a while, Internet Explorer seems totally out-of-date and painfully cumbersome. Don‘t expect a lot of documentation though but if you read the FAQ  [5] you‘ll have no problems. Some folks prefer the free Avant browser [6] to Maxthon. It‘s a close call; Avant has a cleaner look while Maxthon has more features. In the last analysis it‘s Maxthon‘s ability to accept Internet Explorer plug-ins that put it a nose in front.  Note that Maxthon and Avant both use the Internet Explorer rendering engine and consequently share with IE most of the same security flaws.
Last but not least is the K-Meleon browser [7], a slimmed down cousin of Firefox that‘s optimized for Windows. Of the four browsers I use regularly on my different PCs, K-Meleon is the quickest loading and along with Opera, the fastest for surfing. On the downside there are only a limited number of add-ons and plug-ins available so you are pretty well limited to the features available in the standard product.  If you are the type of person who prefers performance to bells and whistles you should definitely try K-Meleon.
=>index
[1]http://www.mozilla.org/products/firefox/  (5.0MB)
[2]http://www.techsupportalert.com/firefox.htm
[3]http://www.opera.com/ (4.6MB)
[4] http://www.maxthon.com/index.htm (2.0MB)
[5]http://maxthon.cafedeux.com/faq/
[6]http://www.avantbrowser.com/ (1.6MB)
[7]http://kmeleon.sourceforge.net/  (6MB)
2  Best Free Anti-Virus Software   Updated August 23, 2006
There are two equal recommendations in this category. First there is AVG Antivirus 7.0 Free Edition. This product [1] has been continuously refined since it was first released in 1991 and now offers solid protection capabilities. Additionally, it‘s relatively small, light on resources, has regular automatic updates and handles email scanning. There is a free and a pro version, the only difference being that the free version has a few non-critical features disabled and has no direct technical support.
Equally effective is the free Avast! scanner [2] though its funky media player style interface is not to everyone‘s taste. Avast! also required periodic re-registration while AVG does not. However Avast! does not seem to suffer the signature file update problems that plague some AVG users.
A possible third choice is the AOL Anti Virus Shield.  This is a cut down version of the top rated Kaspersky AV and is being made available for free to all uses not just AOL members.
On first sight it seems like an unbeatable deal but it‘s not quite what it seems. First this really is a "lite" version. It  lacks the important html and heuristics modules present in the full Kaspersky product so the protection afforded against hostile web sites is actually inferior to AVG and Avast!.  Gone, too, is the ability to create rescue disks and to fully manage the quarantine area. The configuration options are also more limited.
Secondly the End User License Agreement is worrying. AOL basically reserves the right to spam you so think first before installing.
On the subject of installing AOL AVS automatically installs the AOL search bar in Internet Explorer as part of the AVS install. You are not giving the option at any stage of opting out though to be fair, you can afterwards un-install the search bar if you wish.
So on balance I‘m cautious about recommending AOL AVS. If you can however, live with the limitations then you‘ll be rewarded with a first class scanner.
Both AVG  and Avast! are excellent free products that will meet the needs of most users.  However neither can be considered to be the best in their class. That title belongs to commercial products likeNOD32, F-Secure, the full version ofKaspersky AV and others.  They are however capable packages and offers the financially challenged a real alternative to the major anti-virus suites.
However if you use these free products in conjunction with a free on-demand scanner, you can achieve a level of detection approaching that of the best commercial products. Further improvement is possible bycreating a layered defense using additional free security products such asEwido.
On-demand scans should be run regularly, at least weekly, to check for viruses that may have been missed by your main scanner. My top recommendation as on on-demand scanner is AntiVir Personal Edition Classic [3]. It offers somewhat better detection rates than either AVG or Avast! but the lack of email scanning precludes recommendation as a primary scanner. However as an on-demand scanner, it‘s first rate. If you use it in this role, make sure you disable its resident virus guard during installation to prevent it interfering with your main AV scanner. Note that the recently released V7 unfortunately introduces a time limited license though apparently this will be renewable.
Another good option for on-demand scanning is the free version of the commercial AV product BitDefender [4].  It‘s a first class product with outstanding detection rates but as the free version lacks an email scanner and a resident virus guard, it‘s only really suited for use as an on-demand scanner rather than your main AV product. There are some  other limitations as well. First it has an annoying habit of detecting malware products that have been quarantined by other security products and you can‘t exclude these areas from subsequent scans.  Second it is only available on a one year non-renewable license.
=>index
[1]http://free.grisoft.com/freeweb.php/doc/2/ (16.0MB)
[2]http://www.avast.com/eng/avast_4_home.html   (8.8MB)
[3]http://www.activevirusshield.com/antivirus/freeav/index.adp? (13.9MB)
[3]http://www.free-av.com  (8.7MB)
[4]http://www.bitdefender.com/PRODUCT-14-en--BitDefender-8-Free-Edition.html (13.2MB)
3  Best Free Adware/Spyware/Scumware Remover  Updated August 23, 2006
If you are using Windows XP SP2 my top recommendation is Microsoft‘s  Windows Defender program [1] which is currently available as a free beta. Defender is the latest re-incarnation of  the excellent Giant Antispyware product that Microsoft purchased late in 2004. Based on my tests, Windows Defender is not as effective as its immediate predecessor but still has the best protective capability of any of the free anti-spyware products. I tested it on several  drive-by download sites and its multiple real time monitors provided reasonable  (though by no means watertight) defense.  It appears to be a little vulnerable to polymorphic malware in particular and for this reason I suggest it should be used in combination with regular on-demand scans from the free Ewido anti-trojan program . My other reservation about Windows Defender is that it consumes quite a lot of your processing power.  If you have a modern PC this should not be a problem but older machines will definitely suffer a performance hit.
Note that you need a legal version of Windows XP SP2 to run this program. I‘ve been told cracked versions of Defender that will run on any XP SP2 PC are currently circulating on the P2P networks but I‘d approach those with caution. The idea of a cracked security program strikes me as an oxymoron.
For Windows 9x and ME users I suggest two free products: Ad-Aware SE V1.6 [2] and SpyBot Search and Destroy V1.4 [3].  Neither product is state of the art but if you use them together you should pick up most spyware products. Ad-Aware "free" is just a scanner and has no memory monitor. This leaves you vulnerable to new infections.  SpyBot provides some protection through its "immunization" feature and offers a tad more if you turn on the optional "TeaTimer" monitor though this will cost you a chunk of your processing power. The active protection offered by SpyBot even with TeaTimer enabled is not all that comprehensive but Internet Explorer users can enhance their protection by using SpywareBlaster and SpywareGuard (see next item).
=>index
[1]http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?FamilyID=435bfce7-da2b-4a6a-afa4-f7f14e605a0d ( 6.4MB)
[2]http://www.lavasoftusa.com/software/adaware/  (2.7MB)
[3]http://www.safer-networking.org/en/index.html (4.8MB)
4  Best Free Browser Protection Utility
There‘s a scumware  plague at the moment. All it takes is a visit to a pushy web site or a "loaded" shareware install and next minute your Internet Explorer homepage has been changed, your default search setting altered, unwanted ads pop up on your screen and worse.
If you use Windows 2000 or later my top recommendation for safe browsing is a free program called Sandboxie [1] that creates a special contained "sandbox" environment on your PC. While browsing within the virtual sandbox provided by Sandboxie you are totally corralled off from other parts of your PC. So any files you download are isolated to the sandbox. Similarly, any programs that are executed only do so within the sandbox and have no access to your normal files, the Windows operating system or any other part of your PC.
Usage is remarkably simple. To start a sandboxed browsing session you just click the Sandboxie icon from the Quick Launch tray and this will launch your default browser in the sandbox. You can then use it in the normal way to browse to sites or download files.
If you downloaded a file it will install normally but again will be corralled off from your real PC. Anything it writes to your hard drive, any changes to the Windows Registry or changes to the Windows startup will be held in a separate area within the sandbox. Similarly, any new processes running in your computer memory will be sandboxed.
After you have finished browsing you can right click the Sandboxie icon and delete all sandboxed files and processes and your PC will be returned to the same state it was in before the browsing session. If you want retain particular downloaded files you can save them permanently before clearing the contents of the Sandbox.
The advantage is clear: any spyware, trojans, keyloggers or other malware products that infected your PC while browsing will be eliminated.
Sandboxie works fine with all browsers but requires Windows 2000 and later. It can cause problems on some PCs so backup before installing.
Users of earlier Windows versions may want to check out  SpywareBlaster [2].  It‘s is not a sandbox but rather is a program that changes some settings in your computer to help prevent an initial infection. It provides protection against thousands of malevolent products that use ActiveX based exploits, block hostile sites and discards unwanted cookies as well. SpywareBlaster is most effective with Internet Explorer but can be used with Firefox as well. though this may be overkill as Firefox doesn‘t need to be protected against ActiveX exploits. Once it has changed your setting SpywareBlaster doesn‘t really need to continuously run on your PC other than to provide automatic updates. These can however be initiated manually. SpywareBlaster is free but the update service costs $9.95 annually.
A companion program to SpywareBlaster is SpywareGuard [3] that provides active protection. It is a monitor that checks programs before they are run for malware behavior and also does some signature checking as well. However of late SpywareGuard seems to have been rather neglected with no new updates for more than a year so I can only give it a qualified recommendation.
An alternative to SpywareGuard is to use one of the free intrusion prevention and detection utilities listedhere. These provide active protection against infection and work very effectively in concert with the passive protection provided by SpywareBlaster.
=>index
[1]http://www.sandboxie.com  Free for personal use, Win2K and later, 310KB
[2]http://www.javacoolsoftware.com/spywareblaster.html  Freeware, all Windows version, 2.5MB
[3]http://www.javacoolsoftware.com/spywareguard.html  Freeware,  All Windows versions, 913KB
5  Best Free Firewall  Updated August 23, 2006
No other single product class seems to cause as much angst to average users in their installation and day-to-day use as Firewalls. That‘s why my choice for "best" goes to Kerio Personal Firewall  the product that seems to cause the fewest problems for users yet manages excellent protection as well.
Kerio dropped the product in late 2005 but thankfully Sunbelt Software, the makers of the excellent CounterSpy anti-spyware scanner,  picked it up and will continue making it available under the name of Sunbelt Kerio Personal Firewall [1] . Note that the free and paid versions of Sunbelt Kerio are the same. If you don‘t buy the product some advanced features are automatically turned off after 30 days.
Another product that‘s reasonably easy to use is the latest free version (V6) of the ZoneAlarm firewall [2] however I‘m reluctant to give it my full recommendation.  First, it can be a troublesome program on some PCs. Second, it‘s a very basic product compared to the commercial ZoneAlarm Pro version. Theleak-test performance of the latest free version is in fact, quite poor while the Pro version is excellent.
If performance rather than ease-of-use is your criterion then the Comodo firewall [3] is a top contender. The firewall itself is very robust and it comes with a well designed intrusion detection system as well.  The later however can be quite talkative and may unnecessarily alarm inexperienced users. Comodo is acquiring a reputation for conflicting with some other security products so backup  before installing. For the technically initiated though, this is an outstanding free product.  Note that Comodo requires Windows 2000 or XP SP2.
Also technically impressive is the Jetico Firewall [4]. It rates highest on the leak tests of all firewalls but personally I find it awkward to use. It may however, be just your cup of tea.
Another tricky product is NetVeda Safety.Net firewall [5] however its performance is quite outstanding and it offers application control and content filtering as well. This highly capable product deserves to be better known and experienced users should definitely put it on their short list.
=>index
[1]http://www.sunbelt-software.com/Kerio.cfm (7.3MB)
[2]http://www.zonelabs.com/store/content/company/products/znalm/freeDownload.jsp  (9.0MB)
[3]http://www.personalfirewall.comodo.com/ (8MB)
[4]http://www.jetico.com/index.htm#/jpfirewall.htm[ (2.7MB)
[5]http://www.netveda.com/consumer/safetynet.htm (6.3MB)
6  Best Free Trojan Scanner/Trojan Remover
Ewido [1] is the best of a new crop of anti-Trojan programs. On my recent tests over atwww.anti-trojan-software-reviews.com it emerged as was one of the few products that could reliably detect polymorphic and process injecting Trojans that were totally missed by anti-virus products like Norton and AVG. Unfortunately the free version of Ewido doesn’t have a memory monitor and this omission significantly  reduces the level of active protection provided. However the on-demand scanner is excellent. I recommend that all average PC users who don‘t have an anti-trojan scanner download Ewido and scan their PCs weekly. I suspect you may be surprised at what you will find. Ewido is also pretty good at removing some spyware infections so bear that in mind next time you encounter a spyware product you can‘t remove with normal anti-spyware products like Ad-Aware.  You can read my full review of Ewido here [2].
Note that Ewido only works with Windows 2000 and later so Win 9X users should consider the free version ofa2 (a-squared) anti-trojan as an alternative. It‘s not quite as effective as Ewido but is still an excellent product.
High risk PC users such as P2P file sharers and frequenters of hack sites, should however consider the industrial strength protection ofTrojan Hunter or thefull version of Ewido both of which offer the active protection they need.
Note 1 : The free version of Ewido is actually the same as the paid version but after 14 days the active protection (i.e. memory monitor) becomes non-functional.
Note 2: Ewido was acquired by anti-virus vendor AVG on the 19th of April 2006. Ewido will eventually be incorporated into AVG‘s products but according to the Ewido site the Ewido free and paid versions will continue. Time will tell, but I suggest you get Ewido while you can.
=>index
[1]http://www.ewido.net/en/  (2.2MB)
[2]http://www.anti-trojan-software-reviews.com/review-ewido.htm <= review of Ewido
7  Best Free Rootkit Scanner/Remover Updated August 23, 2006
Rootkits are a special kind of software tool used to hide trojans, viruses and other malware from your anti-virus scanner and other security products. Unfortunately, they are extremely effective which means that some of you reading this will be infected even though you believe your PC to be totally clean. Thankfully there is a new class of  security product now available called rootkit detectors that use specialized techniques to detect these dangerous intruders.
Most of these detectors require quite a bit of technical skill to interpret the results but one of the simplest to use is also amongst the most effective.  It‘s called BlackLight [1] and is currently available as a free beta from F-Secure. The beta will expire on the 1st of October, 2006 but you can use it freely up to then. I suggest everyone download this product and scan their PC. The chances of you being infected are small but for five minutes work it‘s not worth taking the risk.
BlackLight will detect most rootkits missed by AV scanners but is can‘t provide perfect detection; no rootkit detector can. That‘s why its‘ advisable to use more than product.
If you are an experienced user you should check out SysInternals RootkitRevealer [2].  It uses a totally different different technique to BlackLight so by using both products together you‘ll be getting excellent overall detection. RootkitRevealer is however, harder to use than BlackLight and is a bit prone to false positives so take care before deleting detected items. If in doubt, consult the SysInternals RootkitRevealer forum. [3]
Another useful rootkit detector for experienced users is GMER [4] though please read the documentation carefully before using. If you are the type that simply likes to press the "scan" button then stick with BlackLight ;>)
Currently one of the biggest guns in the rootkit detection war is a free Chinese product called IceSword. It‘s not really a  detector like the other products rather it offers a set tools that can help reveal the presence of a rootkit. These tools include a special process viewer, startup manager and port enumerator that are not fooled by rootkits. It‘s left to the user though, to interpret the results. In the hands of an skilled user, its an amazing tool but not much use to beginners.  The Chinese download site  is very slow it‘s also available from Major Geeks has a local download link [5].
The reality is that at the present time full protection against rootkits may require the use of multiple products. For details see my article on rootkits [6].
=>index
[1]http://www.f-secure.com/blacklight/  Free  beta, Windows 2000 and later, 818KB
[2] http://www.sysinternals.com/Utilities/RootkitRevealer.html Freeware, All Windows versions, 207KB
[3]http://www.sysinternals.com/Forum/default.asp
[4]http://www.gmer.net/ Freeware, Windows NT and later, 280KB[5]http://majorgeeks.com/Icesword_d5199.html  Freeware, Windows XP and later, 1.9MB
[6]http://www.techsupportalert.com/rootkits.htm <= How to deal with the threat of rootkits
8  Best Free Intrusion Prevention and Detection Utility for Home Use
These days all users face a real risk of malicious programs secretly installing themselves on your computer. Anti-virus and anti-spyware products dramatically reduce the chance of infection but are not perfect. In particular they are prone to miss new malware products not yet included in their signature databases. They can also fail to detect malware programs that are cleverly disguised to avoid detection.
To detect these malevolent programs that manage to slip by your AV and anti-spyware programs you need additional defenses such as an Intrusion Detection program (IDS). These programs pick up intruders by their behavior rather than by their characteristic fingerprint. They are not limited to detecting specific malware products but can target a wide range of interlopers.  Generally IDS programs all work in a similar manner; they stop any suspicious behavior and then ask the user whether they want to allow it. This, as we shall see, can be a mixed blessing.
For advanced users Prevx Home is a stand out recommendation. Prevx provides a vital "last ditch" defense layer by telling you when a product is trying to change any of the critical settings on your PC such as the registry and auto-start areas.  In my tests [1] it beat all other free intrusion detection systems hands down. Unfortunately the free Home version was recently discontinued by the developer in favor of a new product Prevx1 for which there is no free version only a free beta  [2] . However Prevx Home is still readily available from other download sites [3] and remains a very viable product.
The only real problem with Prevx Home is that it pops up lots of warning messages many of which are quite cryptic. These messages tend to alarm many less experienced users who feel there is something wrong and simply don‘t know how to respond. That‘s why PrevX is only suitable for the very experienced (and very patient).
For less experienced users  (but not beginners) I recommend the free version of WinPatrol [4]. It works just like PrevX except it is not nearly as intrusive. Its warning messages are also a little more comprehensible.  It is however markedly less comprehensive than PrevX in its monitoring.
Of course being warned is useless unless you know how to respond appropriately to the warning. That‘s why neither Prevx nor WinPatrol is suited to non-technical users. If you are a beginner you should seriously consider the $24.95 Plus version of WinPatrol which provides lots of guidance to help you make sense of any warning messages. As a bonus it offers better protection then the free version as well.
=>index
[1]http://www.techsupportalert.com/intrusion-detection.htm[2]http://www.prevx.com/prevxhome.asp  Freeware, Win2K and later, 7.5MB
[3]http://www.download.com/Prevx-Home/3000-8022_4-10364927.html
[4]http://www.winpatrol.com/download.html  Freeware, Win 98 and later, 1.1MB
9 Best Free Anonymous Surfing Service  Updated September 18, 2006
There are lots of reasons folks have for wanting to surf anonymously, ranging from simple paranoia to possibly being murdered by a malevolent foreign government. Whatever the reasons, commercial services that offer anonymity are doing real well. However one of the best services JAP [1], is totally free. In fact JAP is perhaps a little too good. That‘s why the German Police insisted in 2004 that a backdoor be put into the product to allow interception of child pornographers. This was done but subsequently removed as a result of court action by JAP.
An alternative to JAP is a system called Tor [2]. It not only allows anonymous browsing but anonymous P2P, email, IM, and IRC chat as well. Given the US Navy origin of Tor, the suspicion arises that this system may indeed have a permanent backdoor. However the source code is now publicly available so that suspicion can perhaps be set aside.  More worrying was a raid by German police in September 2006 involving the seizing  of some Tor servers in that country. Again, pedophiles were the supposed target but who really knows.
Whatever, both JAP and Tor offer a level of secrecy that is better than many commercial systems though not watertight. However expect your surfing to slow down as you‘ll be relayed through a chain of servers particularly with Tor which has been ground to a near standstill by BitTorrent users seeking to hide from the RIAA. Note: the latest V5 release of JAP now allows Tor users to use JAP as a software access point.
=>index
[1]http://anon.inf.tu-dresden.de/index_en.html
[2]http://tor.eff.org/
10  Best Free Software Suite
The Open CD site [1] offers for free a wonderful collection of just about every application software product you need to run a PC including the latest version of OpenOffice. Many of these freebies substitute admirably for expensive commercial products. There is Abi Word as an alternative for MS Word, OpenOffice for MS Office XP, Thunderbird for Outlook, The Gimp for Adobe Photoshop, 7-zip for WinZip and many more. If you then add to this collection some of the other utilities from my "46 Best-ever Utilities" collection you will have all the software you‘ll ever need without spending a cent. Note: All of the Open CD utilities can be downloaded for free as a CD ISO image. If you have a slow connection you can purchase the CD for a as little as $1.99. In addition to the Windows versions,  the CD also contains the same collection of programs implemented under a  version of Linux calledUbuntu that can be booted and run directly from the CD. That way you not only get to try all these great programs you can try Linux as well, without interfering in any way with your current Windows installation.
Update: the folks at Ubuntu [2] are now giving away free CDs containing the latest version of Ubuntu Linux together with most of the programs on the Open CD. They will send you the full Ubuntu installation CDs plus a live CD where you can run Ubuntu directly from the CD. You can order as many CDs as you want and you don‘t even have to pay the mailing costs! When you get your CDs read this this simple introduction to Linux [3] before starting.
=>index
[1]http://theopencd.org
[2]http://www.ubuntu.com/download/support/documentation/faq/shipit/
[3]http://www.paulstamatiou.com/2005/10/24/how-to-ubuntu-linux-for-novices/
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The Best Windows Backup Software
We are in the process of updating all the backup reviews at our site but I can tell you right now that the top product has blitzed the field for a second year in row. In fact, it‘s improved so much that it‘s now a one horse race for our "editor‘s choice." The updated review of the top product is now online. If you have been looking for a backup program, this is the one.
http://www.backup-software-reviews.com/
The Best Spyware Detector
If you use Ad-Aware or SpyBot you will be surprised just how more effectively SpySweeper detects and protects your PC from Adware, Spyware, Trojans and other malicious products. That‘s why it yet again won the prized "Editor‘s Choice" award from PC Magazine.  Try the free evaluation copy and see for yourself, you may be surprised what it finds on your PC.
http://www.webroot.com/wb/products/spysweeper/index.php?rc=1132
The Best Remote Access Software
Our reviewer had given this product category away as "too slow, tool clumsy and too unreliable" but after reviewing this product he‘s changed his mind; "... at long last a remote access solution that actually works!  Quite frankly we agree with him, it‘s an impressive product.  Read the full review here:
http://www.pcsupportadvisor.com/best_remote_access_software.htm
The Best Spam Blocker for Dummies
Most spam filters require you to be a computer expert. Our Editor has found two spam filters for average users that will remove the spam from your email and yet are simple to use.http://www.techsupportalert.com/best-antispam.htm
The Best Anti-trojan Scanner
Most users are not aware that their anti-virus scanner can only provide a moderate level of protection against trojan programs that try and take control of your PC. To really protect your computer, you need a dedicated anti-trojan program. Our editor‘s have reviewed every major product on the market and have concluded that two scanners stand head and shoulders above the other contenders.
http://www.anti-trojan-software-reviews.com
The Best Drive Imaging Program
In this race there are really only two runners worth considering. This review provides an in-depth comparison of the top contenders but in the end, one product is the clear winner.
http://techsupportalert.com/drive-imaging-reviews.htm
The Best Free Kids Craft Projects
Keep your children engaged and amused with healthy, creative arts and craft activities that won‘t cost you a cent. Free weekly newsletter packed with easy kids craft projects.http://kidscraftweekly.com/
11  Best Free File Manager
Windows Explorer is fine for simple file management activities but when you have some serious work to do, you need a two pane file manager. I useDirectory Opus which is without doubt the best product in this class but costs $59.  A good free alternative is xplorer² [1].  It offers a good part of the functionality of Directory Opus and is totally free. As a bonus, its user interface is very similar to Windows Explorer, so most users will find this tool easy to learn and use.
XYplorer is another strong contender. It uses a tabbed view rather than a two pane view which is better when working with multiple folders though not quite as efficient as the two pane approach when working with only two. XYplorer is packed with features included one of the best file-finders I‘ve seen. It‘s one of those products that impresses more with use. In fact I suspect that if you use it for a month, you‘ll end up using it permanently.  Until the 21st March 2006 it was freeware but has now morphed to shareware but the last free version is still available from the vendors site [3] and various freeware sites [4].
=>index
[1]http://zabkat.com/x2lite.htm   Free for private use, Win 95 and later, 899KB
[2]http://www.xyplorer.com/  Free for private use, Win 98 and later, 623KB.[3]http://www.xyplorer.com/download/xyplorer_full_lfv.zip  All Windows versions, Free for private use, 633KB
[4]http://www.pricelesswarehome.org/2006/PL2006FILEUTILITIES.php#FileManager
12 Best Free Email Client
Thunderbird [1] is a free open source POP and IMAP email client developed by Mozilla.org, the same folks who brought you Firefox. Feature-wise it sits somewhere between Outlook Express and Outlook which means that it offers an upgrade to Express users and a downgrade to those who use the more advanced PIM features of Outlook.
All Outlook Express users should seriously consider switching. You’ll be rewarded with a more advanced product including built- in spam filtering, built-in RSS reader,  message color coding, fast email search, anti-phishing measures, spell check as you type,  inbox filters, Kerberos authentication, automatic updates and the ability to view your mail in conversational threads. On top of that, the product is more secure than OE and unlike the latter, is still being actively developed.
Further features can be added through free extensions. Notable among these is Webmail [2], an extension that allows POP3 access to webmail services operated by Yahoo, Hotmail, Lycos, MailDotCom, Gmail and Libero.
Thunderbird email files can be indexed by the Google, Yahoo! and Copernic desktop search programs.
Switching from Outlook Express is made easier by the fact that Thunderbird looks and works similar to OE. Tools within Thunderbird also allow you to easily import OE account settings and stored email. If you need assistance check out this excellent guide [3] from Mozilla.
If you want an alternative to Thunderbird then try Foxmail [4]. Despite the name it‘s not related to Firefox but comes out of China.  It‘s an impressive product with features matching or exceeding Thunderbird and it‘s also really easy to use.  My only real beef is the quality of the help files.  Yes, they have been translated to English but rather poorly.  So poorly that they are actually quite amusing. Don‘t let that deflect you though, Foxmail is a top product with eight million users world-wide and is a real alternative to Thunderbird.
=>index
[1]http://www.mozilla.org/products/thunderbird Free Open Source software, Win 98 and later, 6.0MB
[2]http://webmail.mozdev.org/index.html
[3]http://opensourcearticles.com/introduction_to_thunderbird
[4]http://www.softpedia.com/get/Internet/E-mail/E-mail-Clients/Foxmail.shtml Freeware, Win 95 and later, 5.5MB.
13 Best Free Web Mail Accessory
It‘s a real plus to be able to collect your Hotmail, Yahoo! or other Webmail using your POP3 email client. It used to be simple but these days most Webmail services only provide POP3 access for premium paid accounts. However it‘s still possible to do it though by using a special utility designed for the job.
If you use Yahoo! mail then head straight for YPOPs!  [1]  that allows you to download your Yahoo webmail from within your POP3 email client such as Outlook, Thunderbird or Eudora. It‘s free, easy top set up using the instructions on the web site and is simple to use.  I use it on multiple Yahoo accounts and it works wonderfully.
The second suggestion is a free utility called FreePOPs [2]. It‘s a much more flexible product than YPOPs! and will download mail from HotMail, AOL, Yahoo!, Juno, Libero and a myriad of other webmail services as well. It‘s power and flexibility can confuse new users but thankfully there is a clearly written tutorial for beginners [3] . FreePOPS is for receiving email only and has no sending capabilities.
A  third possibility is the Open Source program MrPostman [4] which offers similar functionality to FreePOPs and allows access to email accounts on MS Exchange 5.5 as well.  It needs a bit of fiddling to work correctly but you‘ll find a couple of links below [5], [6} that will help you. Note that MrPostman requires the Java Runtime Environment to be installed on your PC.
Another webmail accessory you might useful is POP Peeper, a free utility that lets you know when new mail arrived in your Webmail account. It installs a little tray icon that alerts you to new mail in your Hotmail, MSN, Yahoo, Mail.com, MyWay, Excite, Lycos.com, or RediffMail accounts.  It‘s particularly useful for users who have multiple webmail webmail services.  It won‘t though, download your mail to your POP3 email client. To do that you need one of the products above. It does however, allow you to read and even respond to your mail within the product without opening your email program.  This makes it very attractive to Webmail users who don‘t use a regular email client such as Outlook or Thunderbird.
=>index
[1] http://www.ypopsemail.com/  Free GPL license, Win95 and later, 1.48MB
[2]http://www.freepops.org Freeware, Windows 98 and later, 813KB
[3]http://www.freepops.org/en/tutorial/index.shtml
[4]http://mrpostman.sourceforge.net/   Free Open Source, 1.5MB
[5]http://2mod2.com/mohot/   <= Installing Mr Postman
[6]http://sourceforge.net/forum/?group_id=68124   <= MrPostman forum
[7]http://www.poppeeper.com/ Freeware, Windows 95 and later, 818KB
14 Best Free Clipboard Replacement Utility
The regular clipboard in Windows has limitations – one item at a time and no retention after logging off. Clipboard replacement utilities provide the ability to hold multiple items and store them for future use, even after logging off. There are many free clipboard replacement utilities available, including CLCL, Clipboard Magic, Clipboard Recorder, Clippy 2001, Ditto, DzSoft Paste & Save, and Yankee Clipper III. While none of these have the very extensive set of features of the class-leading shareware product ClipMate 6 ($29.95), they all offer the basic clipboard replacement features that 95% of us really want and need.
If you just need a basic clipboard replacement utility, look no further than Clipboard Recorder [1]. It will store up to 99 items that can be easily selected and pasted from the popup history list by pressing the shortcut key (Ctrl-Alt-V by default). It supports a variety of formats (text, RTF, HTML, CSV, Bitmap, etc.) and has the ability to transfer copied items between computers. In addition, it is a very small program and uses very little resources. Clipboard Recorder is what the regular clipboard in Windows should have been!
However, if you need advanced features such as the ability to support additional item types, create groups of items, search previous items, and synchronize clipboards across multiple computers, then I would recommend trying Ditto [2]. In addition to its extended feature set, its user interface is very clean, easy to use, and has many configurable options that you can configure to meet your needs. Note that Ditto requires DAO to be installed [3].
=>index
[1]http://www.lw-works.com/  Windows 98 and later, 382 KB
[2]http://ditto-cp.sourceforge.net/  Windows 95 and later, 422KB
[3]http://ditto-cp.sourceforge.net/dao_setup.exe  .3MB
15  Best Free HTML Editor
This is one of my most requested items but up until now I‘ve not been able to give any product my hearty endorsement. There have been any number of contenders: Amaya for example, impressed with its standards compliance but was incomplete while Selida looked slick but had too many bugs. Finally a worthy contender has arrived on the scene in the form of the Open Source Nvu.
In reality Nvu is nothing new but rather a reworking of the old Netscape Composer. Composer was always a solid product and the revamp has lifted the product into another class. Here is an HTML editor and site manager that‘s easy enough for beginners to use but powerful enough to build large sites. It‘s closer in concept to Microsoft‘s FrontPage more than any other product but unlike FrontPage it, thankfully, produces standards compliant code. Its easy-to-use WYSIWYG editor will delight HTML newbies while HTML honchos can simply click a tab to switch to code view. Multiple tabs can be kept open to allow simultaneous editing and there is excellent support for forms, tables and templates. An internal spell-checker is included. CSS is handled through the CaScadeS editor from Mozilla Composer. Nvu also has the handy ability to call W3C‘s HTML validator from within the product. It‘s also extensible via XUL.
Nvu can upload files to your site via FTP and has some basic site management features but this is not its strength. Indeed the FTP side of the program has proved so problematic for some users  that they have switched to using an external FTP client for uploading their sites.  Overall it‘s an impressive product; no, it‘s not a replacement for commercial products like DreamWeaver but those looking for a competent, free, easy to use,  WYSIWYG HTML editor need look no further.
If you want an editor that puts you closer to the code then you might consider 1st Page 2000. It‘s a free, earlier version of Evrsoft‘s [2] excellent 1st Page 2006 editor and while lacking many of the features of the latter, is still an excellent product.  It‘s not the best choice though for HTML newbies. Note: The download seems to have been removed from the vendor‘s site. It is available elsewhere though [3].
=>index
[1]http://www.nvu.com/  Free Open Source, Windows 98 and later plus Linux, 6.57MB
[2]http://www.evrsoft.com
[3]http://www.voodoofiles.com/4836 Free, Windows 98 and later, 5.2MB
16 Best Free Spam Filter for the Average User  Updated 23 August, 2006.
This is a difficult category as ordinary users need products that are easy to use and frankly, most free spam filters are way too complex to set up and use. The best products in this class are in fact, shareware not free. That said, MailWasher [1] is for most folks, the best free option.
MailWasher is an email preview utility that allows you to check your email on your mail server before you download it to your PC. The advantage of this approach is that you can kill unwanted messages including spam, viruses and large attachments before they get anywhere near your computer. MailWasher flags for you any messages containing possible spam and viruses for you to quickly check.  It‘s a simple idea but quite effective and one which average users find easy to understand.
At the Mailwasher site you can download a free or "Pro" commercial version. The former lacks quite a few of the features of its commercial cousin. the most limiting of which is the ability to a access multiple accounts. However the last free version of MailWasher before it went commercial is still floating around the web [2] and it will handle multiple accounts. It too lacks many of the advanced spam detection features of the current commercial version but is still very effective.  Alternatively, try XTerminator [3] which works much the same way as MailWasher and is totally free. I must say though, I prefer MailWasher‘s user interface.
=>index
[1]http://www.mailwasher.net ( 3.05MB)
[2] http://www.321download.com/LastFreeware/page2.html#Mailwasher (1.57MB)
[3]http://www.artplus.hr/adapps/eng/xterminator.htm  (1.87MB)
[4]http://www.techsupportalert.com/best-antispam.htm  <=brief review of the best spam blockers
17 Best Free Spam Filter for Experienced Users
There are many different spam filters available employing lots of different techniques. In my experience "learning" spam filters that use the Bayesian statistical approach out-perform most other types of filters I‘ve tried. Not only are they better at detecting spam they are also less liable to classify your real mail as spam. This effectiveness takes a little time to develop as the filter has to be trained to recognize your spam from your normal mail.  It takes a week or so before results start becoming accurate and best results may take a month or more.  POPFile, a free, open source spam filter,  was one of the first Bayesian filters and is still one of the best. It works as a proxy mail server so that means that it can be used with any POP email client. Setup is reasonably straightforward for experienced users but beginners may be better off with Mailwasher. If you use Outlook there are several excellent free Bayesian spam filters available including SpamBayes and K9. Both are simple to install though, like all statistical filters, they need to go through a training phase before they reach full effectiveness.
=>index
http://popfile.sourceforge.net/old_index.html (4.3MB)
http://spambayes.sourceforge.net/  (3.6MB)
http://www.keir.net/k9.html (113KB)
18 Best Free Popup Stopper Updated August 30, 2006
The need for popup stopper utilities has fallen away in recent months as many browsers such as Firefox now have this function built in. If you need a separate popup stopper and have good PC skills I suggest you try The Proxomitron. It operates by filtering and transforming all your Web pages on the fly. As a result you can not only stop pop-ups but pop-unders, ads, flash animations, status bar scrollers and just about anything else. Besides, next time you are asked what pop-up stopper you use, you can answer; "why, I use The Proxomitron" and how cool is that ;>)
The product‘s author Scott R. Lemmon unfortunately has passed away but support for The Proxomitron continues through its large enthusiast following.  This is evident from the main download site [1] which offers several versions of the product including the last version Scott released before his death. The site also has setup instructions, resource links and lists of sites where you can test whether the product is working. There are a number of other enthusiast sites [2], [3] that offer additional information.
If you are a novice PC user I suggest you try the Google toolbar [4] rather than The Proxomitron. It‘s free as well and has  an excellent popup filter built in. It‘s nowhere near as flexible as as The Proxomitron,  but it requires no setup. As a bonus it also makes Google searches easier.
=>index
[1]http://proxomitron.info/ Freeware, All Windows versions, 1.38MB
[2]http://accs-net.com/smallfish/prox.htm
[3]http://www.sankey.ws/proxomitron.html
[4]http://toolbar.google.com/
19 Best Free Desktop Search Utility  Updated September 8, 2006
A couple of years back there were no contenders for this title. Today we have a wealth of choices. In a close race I would have to say  X1 Enterprise Client [1] comes out in front because of the clear way it presents search results. It used to be a $99 product but as from mid 2006 is now free for non-commercial use.  It‘s fast, reliable and can index the contents of 370 different file types including Word, Excel, PowerPoint, PDF, Outlook, Outlook Express, HTML, text, ZIP and Adobe PhotoShop  It also indexes files for most of the popular e-mail clients such as Outlook, Outlook Express, Thunderbird, Netscape, Eudora and Lotus Notes. Note: If you want to use X1 commercially then you can download Yahoo Desktop Search Program which is actually powered by X1. Unfortunately the Yahoo product includes quite of other stuff as well including the Yahoo browser search bar though some of these "extras" can be disenabled during the install.
X1 can index html files but can‘t index your web browsing history. If the  later is important to you, you may want to look at Google desktop search [3]. It not only will search your web history but offers an Outlook toolbar, integrated Gmail search and a novel desktop sidebar that allows personalized search, news, weather, photos and more. The Sidebar also includes a quite effective application launcher.  Some folks love the Sidebar but others, me included,  find it intrusive.
Exalead is a little known but highly impressive desktop search program from France. It‘s great strength is the highly customizable nature of its search, probably the best of any product. It can also do fuzzy searches as well. If you need to make highly specified searches then do try Exalead, you wont  be disappointed. Versions are available for English and French speakers.
All the products I‘ve mentioned require Windows 2000 or later. If you are stuck with an earlier version of Windows then try the free Copernic Desktop Search. Just because I‘m mentioning it last don‘t think it‘s inferior to the others - it‘s a very competent and balanced product and one of the few freebies that supports network shares. Indeed many experienced users think that overall, it‘s the best available. If the email search results were as effectively presented as X1 I‘d be inclined to agree.
=>index
[1]http://www.x1.com  X1 Enterprise Client, Free for personal use, Windows XP, 12.9MB.
[2]http://desktop.yahoo.com Freeware, Windows 2000 SP3 or later, 5.3MB
[3]http://desktop.google.com Freeware, Windows 2000 SP3 or later, 2MB
[4]http://corporate.exalead.com/enterprise/l=en?p=produits_exalead-desktop_screenshots Freeware, Windows 2000 or later,  8.7MB
[5]http://www.copernic.com/en/products/desktop-search/index.html Freeware, Windows 98 and later. 3MB
20 Best Free Digital Image Viewer
Three good choices here. First there‘s the classic IrfanView. Irfan [1] is a first class product but one for which I have mixed feelings. That‘s why it‘s been in and out of my "46 Best Freeware" list several times. It‘s an amazingly capable product but it just doesn‘t work the way I want it to. Other users though, just love it.
A product I feel more comfortable with is XNView [2]. Like Irfan it is very versatile; it can read and display nearly 400 types of graphic files and convert any of these to over 50 formats. It displays pictures very quickly and these may be viewed full screen, as slideshows or thumbnails. It‘s quite capable at processing images, too; you can adjust brightness, color, apply filters or effects, crop photos, re-size, convert format and more. These operations can also be carried out from a batch file, which makes it ideal for converting large digital photos to smaller sizes for the web or emailing. It supports drop and drag, has many plug-ins, is available in 44 languages and has full cross-platform support including Mac. XNView has a lot of similarities with IrfanView, so many in fact,  that it comes perilously close to plagiarism. Put positively, one may say that imitation is the sincerest form of flattery however the developer of IrfanView must feel more than a little miffed. XNView is free for non-commercial use, all Windows versions plus many other platforms. The standard version for Windows is 3.3MB but I suggest you download the complete version with all plug-ins which weighs in at 6.8MB.
My third choice and personal favorite is FastStone Image Viewer [3]. This is a speed demon with a zippiness in displaying images that‘s reminiscent of the old ACDSee before it suffered feature bloat. It supports all major graphic formats and popular digital camera RAW formats as well. It‘s also got good basic image editing facilities, a great slide show and a very cute interface. Much to like here. Free for personal use, Windows 98 and later.
=>index
[1]http://www.irfanview.com/ (874KB)
[2]http://perso.wanadoo.fr/pierre.g/xnview/endownloadwin32.html (3.3MB)
[3]http://www.faststone.org (3.0MB)
21 Best Free Digital Image Editor  Updated 18th August, 2006
I use to recommend The Gimp [1] but after dozens of letters from newbies who couldn‘t manage to install it or work out the idiosyncratic user interface, I‘ve decided to confine that recommendation to more experienced users. If that‘s you and you patient enough to learn the product‘s sometimes quaint ways then you have no need to consider anything else. If you are used to Photoshop you might like to look at GIMPShop [2] , which changes the user interface of GIMP to something more familiar though frankly, I prefer the original.
For other less experienced users I have two recommendations: First there is Paint.net, an amazingly sophisticated piece of work from computer science students at Washington State University. It‘s not quite as powerful as The Gimp but a lot easier to use and install. It‘s also getting better; the new V2.5 continues this product‘s impressive development record. It is however only for Windows 2000 and later and you‘ll need Microsoft‘s bulky .NET framework installed on your PC.
My second choice is PhotoPlus 6.0 from a company called Serif [4] . It‘s an impressive piece of work; again it installs easily and it‘s loaded with features including layer support. In fact, it looks and feels like a "lite" version of Adobe PhotoShop except that it is relatively easy to use. I say "relatively" because graphics editing is by its nature, not simple.  Both Paint.net and PhotoPlus are outstanding free products. Which is the best?  Hard to say, try both and decide for yourself.  Note: You need to register with your email address to get PhotoPlus and you may receive promotional material as a result.
=>index
[1]http://www.gimp.org/windows/ (7.07MB)
[2]http://www.gimpshop.net/  (7.4MB)
[3]http://getpaint.net/  (3.6MB)
[4]http://www.freeserifsoftware.com/software/PhotoPlus/default.asp (19.4MB)
22 Best Free Digital Photo Organizer
It’s rare for me to be utterly wowed by a product but this one certainly did it. When you first run Picasa it offers to scan your whole hard drive (or designated locations) for photos and videos. Scanning is surprisingly quick and when finished you’ll have all your shots neatly organized into folders on a time line basis. Now you can view you shots one at a time, in slideshow or traversing the time line. The editing features are limited compared to professional image editors yet they provide you with every function amateur photographers need including one click red eye reduction. Similarly adding labels to photos is a cinch while a simple but effective star rating system allows you to flag favorite snaps. Individual folders can also be password protected. Facilities are provided to import your images from your camera in multiple formats including RAW. You can send photos to your choice of web printing service, cut a CD, print to a local printer or share with others via your own blog or instant messaging. Simply sensational. Windows 2000 or later, 300MHz Pentium with 128MB memory or better, 4.0MB.
=>index
http://www.picasa.com/
23 Best Free Notepad Replacement
There are lots of text editors and Notepad replacements. Some of these aspire to be programming editors while others try to be word processors.  What I love about EditPad is that, unlike the others, it concentrates on simply being a better plain text editor and in that role, it succeeds brilliantly.  It has a Notepad-like interface combined with tabbed document windows, the ability to open as many documents as you like, no file size limitations and unlimited un-do capability.
If however you are looking for something that will also serve as a programming editor you might like to check out Notepad++. It‘s not only great for programming but can be used as a Notepad replacement as well. It also supports plug-ins, themes and has multi-language support. Note that I‘m not saying that Notepad++ is the best programming editor available, that‘s too controversial a category even for me ;>)
=>index
http://www.editpadpro.com/editpadlite.html  Windows 98 and later, Free for non-commercial use, 2.4MBhttp://notepad-plus.sourceforge.net/uk/site.htm  Windows 95 and later, Free Open Source,1.03MB
24 The Best File Archiver/Zip Utility
I checked out six utilities: QuickZip, ICEOWS, IZArc, TUGZip, ZipGenius and 7-Zip. The product that impressed me the most was the Open Source program 7-Zip. It was the only product in the group that could unpack a multi-part RAR volume embedded in a ZIP archive and the only product to give a meaningful error message when an attempt was made to unpack a 256bit encrypted WinZip archive. My only reservation is that it handles fewer archive types than some of the other products; it only supports 7z, ZIP, CAB, RAR, ARJ, GZIP, BZIP2, Z, TAR, CPIO, RPM and DEB . If that‘s really important to you than I‘d recommend IZArc. It can read nearly 50 archive types including media formats like ISO, BIN and IMG and can write (and convert) to 12. You couldn‘t go wrong with either product. 7-Zip is a little more robust while IZArc is a little more flexible. If you already use WinZip you‘ll find either 7-Zip or IZArc make excellent companion products. They can can read just about all the major archive formats WinZip can‘t, including the widely used RAR.
=>index
http://www.izarc.org/download.html Windows 9x and later, 3.1MB
http://www.7-zip.org/ Windows 9x and later, 1.05MB
25 Best Free Hotkey Utility Updated July 25, 2006
PS Hot Launch VVL [1] is a free utility that allows you to define your own hotkeys so that a single key press can launch an application, insert commonly used text, change your volume, or just about anything else.  Hotkeycontrol works on all versions of Windows and is an excellent performer even on slow machines.
A second alternative is the qliner‘s free Open Source "hotkeys" utility [2]. It‘s strength is its wide support for international keyboard layouts plus a handy reminder key that flashes up your current hotkey assignments. On the minus side, it‘s not quite as flexible as PS Hot Launch and it‘s only available for Windows XP.
A third option is not really a hotkey utility at all but achieves the same result by using "magic words." SlickRun [3] places a tiny text box on your screen and when you type specially assigned words into the box, it will launch a program, go to a web site or whatever. For example if you type "mail" it can launch your mail reader. Type in "46" and it can take you to the web page of the "46 Best-ever Freeware Utilities." Of course, it‘s up to you to define these magic words and you can have as many as you want. It all works very neatly with some really nice touches like auto-complete for your magic words which means you only have to type in two or three letters and SlickRun will complete the rest. Nice too, is an eyedropper tool that allows you to identify a program you want to "hotkey" just by clicking in its application window. There‘s also a built-in note jotter and a calendar date display.
=>index
[1]http://www.pssoftlab.com/pshl_info.phtml  Windows 9x and later, 743KB
[2]http://qliner.com/hotkeys/  Windows XP and later, 804KB
[3]http://www.bayden.com/SlickRun/  Win 98 or later, 168KB
26 Best Free Registry Cleaner Updated September 18, 2006
In my mind the best registry cleaner is one which reliably fixes problem entries but doesn‘t itself cause problems in the process. The products most likely to possess these qualities are those that are conservative in operation and confine their cleaning to removing definite and unambiguous errors. I say this because I have seen as many problems created by registry cleaners as problems solved. This view flies in the face of many who consider, for whatever reason, that the best registry cleaner is the one that finds the most problems. To me such products can be dangerous and not worth owning.
That said, my top recommendation is Toni Helenius‘  free EasyCleaner [1] . It‘s a good reliable, conservative performer that will fix all major problems with a low risk of creating problems of its own  As a bonus, it will also detect duplicate files and help you clean up temp files to make more disk space.  One of its best features is a regularly updated "blacklist" of registry values that should not be cleaned. I‘m sure this contributes to the products excellent record of causing few problems.  Remember though, as with every Registry cleaner, to back up your Windows Registry before use.
A reasonable alternative is Eusing Free Registry Cleaner [2]. I‘ve only had a couple of reports of it causing problems but it has an easy to use backup and recovery feature that will help you out should you get into trouble.
CCleaner (see section37) , the class-leading disk cleaner has an inbuilt registry cleaner as well. However I‘d never leave anything as critical as registry cleaning to a general purpose product; you really need a specialist utility.
To keep the registries on my PCs in top running order I use the Registry Cleaner injv16 PowerTools. It‘s now a commercial products though you can still find the last free version of jv16 [3] on the web.
=>index
[1]http://personal.inet.fi/business/toniarts/ecleane.htm   Freeware, All Windows versions, 2.8MB
[2]http://www.eusing.com/free_registry_cleaner/registry_cleaner.htm Freeware,  Windows 98 and later, 860KB.
[3]http://www.321download.com/LastFreeware/index.html#jv16  Freeware, All Windows versions, 2.1MB
27 Best Free BitTorrent Client  Updated September 18, 2006
It‘s amazing how quickly BitTorrent has become one of the major download formats. With good reason, too: it‘s fast, equitable and efficient. If you haven‘t yet installed a BitTorrent client on your PC, you should as there are some great free clients available. I recommend the Open Source program Azureus [1]. It‘s beautifully implemented, well supported and, being Java based, is available for multiple platforms. It‘s very feature rich and supports embedded tracker so you can host your own torrents, UPnP, a distributed decentralized database for decentralized torrents and DHT (Distributed Hash Table) which distributes indexing responsibility across multiple clients rather than relying on a single web-based tracker plus many other features too numerous to mention.  There are also a lot of plug-ins available for Azureus including a competent RSS feed scanner. One downside with Azureus is that the Java code will eat up your CPU cycles so you need a reasonably fast PC.
A good alternative is uTorrent [2] which comes in at a tiny 170KB. Small it may be but it‘s very fast and will show Azureus a clean pair of heels of most downloads. It‘s also  lean on resources, easy to use and requires no installation. It formidable feature list includes trackerless downloads, multiple simultaneous downloads, multi-scrape, UPnP and has an inbuilt RSS reader which is an impressive achievement for such a tiny package . uTorrent is being enhanced so quickly that I suspect it will soon match or surpass Azureus on features.
=>index
[1]http://azureus.sourceforge.net/ Open source, any PC that supports Java, 7.6MB
[2]http://www.utorrent.com/ Freeware, all Windows versions, 170KB
28 The Best Free FTP Client  Updated July 25, 2006
I usedWS_FTP Pro as my principal FTP client for years. What started out as simple and effective product gradually with each new version became more feature-bloated and less effective for simple routine tasks. With the release of Version 9 it was clear to me that the product had totally lost its way so I started looking for an alternative. After trying seven different FTP clients I decided that the best for me was the Open Source utility FileZilla. It uses a simple layout based on a two pane interface that looks a bit like the early versions of WS_FTP. But this simplicity is deceptive, it is actually a quite powerful product There‘s a full featured site manager, firewall and proxy support, SSL and Kerberos GSS security, restart, drop and drag and a lot more. The only significant feature that‘s missing is site-to-site transfer but that‘s of no importance to me. What is of importance is that FileZilla is fast, totally reliable, secure and and very easy to use. There‘s also a free FileZilla FTP server which I haven‘t used but I hear that it‘s just as good as the client.
If you want a SCP (secure copy) client for Windows that uses SSH and offers a rich feature set you might like to try WinSCP. It features a built-in terminal, it can launch Putty directly, allows remotely file editing edit files, direct transfer and transfer queuing and the ability to limit download speed rates. Me, I‘ll stick with FileZilla.
=>index
[1]http://filezilla.sourceforge.net/  Free Open Source,  Windows NT and later, 3.4MB
[2]http://winscp.net/eng/index.php Free GNU license, All Windows version, (1.4MB)
29 Best Free Bookmark Cleaner
AM-DeadLink scans your browser bookmark file for dead links or duplicate links. When I tried it on my huge favorites file I discovered 17% of my links were dead. I‘ve now got a much leaner set of favorites and the comfort of knowing that the links actually work. Freeware, all Windows versions, Internet Explorer, Opera, Mozilla and Firefox, 1.1MB.
=>index
http://aignes.com/press/deadlink140.htm
30 Best Free Folder Synchronization Utility
This is getting scary. First I recommend Microsoft Antispyware and now I‘m going to recommend another Microsoft product as the best in this category. Well, equal best. It‘s called SyncToy v1.0 for Windows XP [1]  and, as the name implies, is only for XP - SP2. This program is more than a syncing program; it can copy, move, rename, and delete files between any number of folders and even computers. The program operates on the principal of pre-defined folder pairs. You define and name these pairs and then when you want to perform a sync or other task, you recall one of these pairs and carry out the operation. Syncing can be in either direction and covers all options from complete sync to updating newer files only. The handling of files with changed file names is exceptional as is the backup of overwritten files. Overall, pretty well everything you ever wanted in a sync utility. Note that SyncToy requires V1.1 of Microsoft‘s .NET framework.
Also highly recommended is 2brightspark‘s SyncBack [2]. It works for Windows 98 and later and has a number of  features that SyncToy lacks such as the ability to sync to a remote FTP server.
=>index
[1]http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?FamilyId=E0FC1154-C975-4814-9649- CCE41AF06EB7&displaylang=en  (844KB)
[2]http://www.2brightsparks.com/downloads.html  (1.9MB)
31 Best Free Screen Capture Utility   Updated September 18, 2006
Three recommendations here: The first is PrintScreen [1]. It‘s a prime example of the KISS principle. It does exactly what I want, in the way I want while avoiding the trap of providing lots of useless and confusing features. It‘s the little things that count like making the hot key PrtSc so I don‘t have to remember it, and automatically sequentially naming the output files for multiple screen shots.
A second recommendation is Screen Hunter [2]. It‘s a commercial product but the "lite" free version is excellent, offering more features than Gadwin at the cost of a little added complexity. It‘s also small, a tiny 381KB.
Also highly recommended is FastStone‘s Screen Capture [3] It doesn‘t require installation and yet has more features than you could ever want including the ability to capture scrolling screen shots across more than one screen page. It can also save in BMP, JPEG, JPEG2000, PNG, GIF, TIFF and TGA formats. In many ways it‘s like the full commercial
version of ScreenHunter except that it‘s free for personal use.     All three products work with Win 98 and later versions.
=>index
[1]http://www.gadwin.com/printscreen/?prnscr   (1.1MB)
[2]http://www.wisdom-soft.com/products/screenhunter.htm  (381KB)
[3]http://www.faststone.org/FSViewerDetail.htm (2.9MB)
32 Best Free Search Toolbar
Search toolbars allow users to do web searches without having to go first to the home page of a search engine. This really saves a lot of time. In the last year search toolbars have become a hotly competed product class and as result, users now have an excellent choice. The "best" in terms of features is probably Yahoo‘s Toolbar whose features include anti-spyware capabilities as well as popup blocking. It‘s for Internet Explorer but they are currently offering a beta version for Firefox. My only beef with the Yahoo product is that I prefer to use Google for my web searches rather than Yahoo and that‘s why I use the Google Toolbar which also offers popup blocking though no anti-spyware features. On the other hand it includes a useful web form spell-checker and a few other goodies not found in the Yahoo product. Google also offers a full Firefox version as well as the standard IE version.
Some folks still like Dave’s Quick Search Bar because it gives access to multiple search engines. Another advantage is that it resides in your task bar rather than your browser so it‘s easily accessible from any application. Other Dave‘s features include a dictionary, thesaurus, calculator and a lot of customizability.
=>index
http://toolbar.yahoo.com/ie (3MB)
http://www.dqsd.net/  (327KB)
http://toolbar.google.com/deskbar/ (447KB)
33 Best Free Download Manager
You have several good choices in this category. To me a good downloader is one that does the job, is well integrated into your browser and is not intrusive.
That‘s why my top recommendation for some time has been Star Downloader [1]. Unfortunately the freeware version has been effectively frozen at version 1.44 with future enhancements restricted to the shareware version. It is however, still a fine choice.
After trying half a dozen other products, I‘ve settled on "Free Download Manager" [2] as my current top selection. It‘s fast, stable and integrates well into both Internet Explorer, Opera and Firefox though the later works best with the free FlashGot extension installed.  "Free Download Manager" offers simultaneous multi-part downloads, easy restarting and recovery, a  powerful scheduler, downloading from mirrors and just about everything else you need in a download utility. Additionally, there is no embedded adware or nag screen.
After using it for a couple of weeks, I‘ve decided that it‘s actually just as good as Star Downloader with the advantage that it‘s still being actively developed.  Indeed, version 2  released in April 2006  adds even more features to this already impressive product.
If you are looking for another option the commercial FlashGet [3] program is now available for free. It‘s certainly full featured and nicely integrated but I find it overly complex to use.  The product has a bit of a history of bundling in other products with the install but when I tried V1.72, it was totally clean.
A final (and excellent) choice is the time-proven LeechGet [4] program which is free for personal use. Again it‘s got pretty well everything that you want in a download manager. Some folks find its colorful graphical presentation attractive, I find it a little gaudy and intrusive. Looks aside it certainly does its job well. Note that the  indicated download rates are a tad optimistic so don‘t mistake this for superior performance. There is a separate plug-in for Mozilla/Firefox, Netscape and Opera integration.
=>index
[1]http://www.stardownloader.com/downloads.php Freeware, All Windows versions, 2.34MB
[2]http://www.freedownloadmanager.org/download.htm  Freeware, All Windows versions, 1.66MB
[3]http://www.flashget.com/index_en.htm  Freeware, all Windows versions, 1.43MB
[4]http://www.leechget.net/en/ Free for personal use, All Windows versions, 2.9MB
34 Best Free Web Site Ripper  Updated July 25, 2006
HTTrack is one impressive product: it‘s easy to use, has an excellent user interface, offers every feature you could want, is blindingly fast and free of any adware as well.  If you like to download web sites so that you can "browse them offline", this is the product to get.
=>index
http://www.httrack.com/ Free GPL, All Windows versions, 3.3MB
35 Best Free Download/Upload Meter
NetMeter [1] shows upload and download speeds, along with cumulative weekly and monthly volumes and projected values. The program reminds me in many ways of Hagel‘s excellent $20 shareware product "DU Meter."  It‘s freeware and works with all Windows versions. In essence, everything you really need for nix.
A good second choice if you have the Microsoft .NET package already installed on your PC is BitMeter II from Codebox Software [2] . It‘s a little more feature rich than NetMeter but uses a tad more of your PCs resources to deliver those features.
=>index
[1]http://readerror.gmxhome.de/ (601KB)[2]http://codebox.no-ip.net/controller?page=bitmeter2  (806KB)
36 Best Free TCP Settings Tweaker
Whether you use a modem or broadband, you‘ll get a faster connection if you tweak your connection‘s TCP parameters. Among the most important of these is MaxMTU which, in simple terms, needs to be set to the largest value possible without your data being broken up into smaller chunks en-route. Most techies determine MaxMTU by trial and error pinging using different packet sizes but it‘s a tedious procedure and definitely not for beginners. TCPOptimizer from SpeedGuide.net is a free utility that will do the job for you automatically. Furthermore, it will use this value to advise you on your other TCP settings and then apply these values at the press of the button. There are commercial programs that will do much the same thing but TCPOptimizer does it just as well and is totally free. The only minus is the lack of in-program help however you‘ll find a useful FAQ at the SpeedGuide site. (225KB)
=>index
http://www.speedguide.net/downloads.php
http://www.speedguide.net/faq_in.php?category=100
37 Best Free File Cleaner Updated August 17, 2006
My first choice here is CCleaner [1], a product that started off as pretty basic but has continued to improve to the point where it is now very close to the best in its class regardless of price. It‘s very effective in freeing up disk space by removing unused and temporary files, cookies, Recycle bin entries, Windows hot-fix files, sold prefetch data, history and cache files in many applications such as Internet Explorer and Firefox and much more. Additionally it will check the Windows Registry for invalid entries.
There are some minuses: first the installation settings are quite aggressive so do check them carefully. Second the product installation, by default, includes the installation of the Yahoo Toolbar so if you don‘t want it, make sure you uncheck that option. Finally I wouldn‘t trust this product to do your Registry cleaning; that‘s a job for a specialist utility. Similarly if your aim is to remove all your surfing traces rather than just to clean up your disk I‘d be inclined to use a specialist cache cleaner.
However if simply freeing up disk space is your objective the CCleaner is hard to beat.
A good companion to CCleaner is Empty Temp Folders. It‘s not as complete a product as CCleaner and it‘s been a while since it was last updated however I find it always manages to clean more temporary file than CCleaner. That‘s why I suggest you use both.
Another cleaner with a solid following is Steven Gould‘s CleanUP!  [3]  It‘s a compact, well designed and very well maintained and is a real alternative to CCleaner. I‘ve had a couple of instances of it causing problems on my test PC but this may be specific to my setup. Certainly the feedback I get from users has been uniformly excellent.
=>index
[1]http://www.ccleaner.com/  Freeware, all Windows versions, 1.4MB
[2]http://www.danish-shareware.dk/soft/emptemp  Freeware, Windows 98 and later, 667KB
[3]http://www.stevengould.org/software/cleanup/download.html Freeware, Windows version unstated, 331KB.
38 Best Free Resource Meter
This is cute. TinyResMeter [1] is an itsy-bitsy system monitor. Unlike many other monitors, it doesn‘t consume a lot of CPU utilization in order to tell you your CPU utilization. In addition to CPU usage, you can optionally monitor cache, RAM, page file and swap file usage, running processes and threads, disk space utilization and a number of other parameters as well. Also built-in, is a screen grabber that saves the current screen to disk when you press PrintScreen. How the author fits all this into 92KB beats me. A new version is on the way offering even more functionality.
If you are like something a little fancier than TinyResMeter then check out StatBar [2]. It‘s got more features than you could ever want though but at the cost of a higher resource overhead needed to run the program. Nice product though and easy to try out as the program doesn‘t require installation.
=>index
[1]http://www.pesoft.com  (92KB)
[2]http://www.statbar.nl/ (1.65MB)
39 Best Free Sticky Notes Utility
Some people hate these programs others swear they can‘t work effectively without them. I used to be in the first category but with so many things on my plate these days, I‘m slowly being converted.  The function that I find really useful is the reminder that pops up at a designated time and date. I use it for simple things like "put up the latest issue on the web site." ATnotes is a neat implementation that features configurable alarms, resizable windows, variable fonts and a host of other useful features. The product is remarkably similar to the class-leading commercial sticky notes utility called,TurboNotes, a case perhaps of imitation being the sincerest form of flattery.
NOTE: As of the 30th of May 2005, development work has ceased and the author‘s site pulled down. However someone has built a mirror of the author‘s site [1] where you can read about ATnotes and download the final version. You can also download ATNotes from the a number of other sites including the second link below. If you want an alternative that is still being developed try StickyPad.  Some folks actually prefer it to ATnotes and I must admit the interface is very slick but I find the alarm function to be rather inflexible. It cannot for example handle recurring events such as birthdays. If you want that functionality you are better of with another sticky note program called "Stickies" from Zhorn Software. It‘s not quite as svelte as the other two programs I‘ve mentioned but it‘s very effective in operation.
=>index
[1]http://atnotes.free.fr/news.html (723KB)[2]http://www.pcworld.com/downloads/file_description/0,fid,17660,00.asp
[3]http://www.greeneclipsesoftware.com/stickypad.html (550KB)
[4]http://www.zhornsoftware.co.uk/stickies/ (596KB)
40 Best Free Secure Erase Utility  Updated July 25, 2006
Eraser [1] is a free, GNU license utility that will securely erase files, folders or even whole disks from any Windows or DOS PC. Eraser overwrites data area with selectable random data patterns and also wipes data in the paging file, Internet cache, temporary files, Internet cookies, unused disk space and a number of other places where data can secretly lurk.  It handles FAT16, FAT32 and NTFS partitions as well.  Erasing files with high security will always be a difficult and time consuming task and can never offer absolute 100% safety. However Eraser makes the task about as easy as it be, with a security level beyond most conceivable requirements. The author‘s site is sometimes unavailable but you can find Eraser at numerous download sites including MajorGeeks [2].
If Eraser is overkill for your needs try Simple File Shredder[3]. It‘s not as comprehensive a solution to secure deletion as Eraser but it‘s much easier to use.
Another rather different alternative is Darik‘s Boot and Nuke  [3]. Its an Open Source program that‘s used to construct a floppy disk or CD that will automatically wipe the all hard drives of any PC booted from the disk.  It‘s great for bulk disk cleaning of PCs and is useful too as an emergency tool for quickly removing sensitive information.  However this power makes it a dangerous tool in the hands of beginners.
=>index
[1]http://www.heidi.ie/eraser/   Free GNU license, all Windows versions, 2.4MB
[2]http://www.majorgeeks.com/download4221.html
[2] http://www.scar5.com   Freeware, Windows NT and later, 1.24MB
[3]http://dban.sourceforge.net/  Free Open Source, All Windows versions, 1.99MB
41 Best Free Registry Editor
I‘ve used the full version of Resplendent Registry Editor for years and have never had any reason to look for an alternative. Recently a subscriber asked me what was the best free registry editor and that made me realize I‘ve never looked at that particular product category. The first product I checked out was Registrar Lite [1], the free version of Resplendent Registry Editor and I‘d have to say it‘s an impressive freebie. To start with, it works totally reliably - an essential feature for any registry editor. On top of that, the user interface is simple, the functionality excellent and, perhaps most importantly, it has a really fast search. I did, however, miss a "search and delete" option - that‘s unfortunately only available on the full product. That said, it leaves Regedit for dead. If you know a better free registry editor, drop me an email. NOTE:  It looks like Resplendent have pulled the Lite download page from their site. You can still get it though from various download sites including MajorGeeks [2].
=>index
[1]http://www.resplendence.com/reglite  Freeware, All Windows versions, 2.0MB.[2]http://www.majorgeeks.com/download469.html
42 Best Free Process Viewer Updated July 25, 2006
PrcView has long been my personal choice but Process Explorer [1] has pushed it aside. The reason? A better display setup coupled with more features and even more information. Process Explorer uses two vertical panes. The top contains all active processes while the second shows either all the handles opened by a selected process or, optimally, a list of DLLs and memory mapped files. A very handy search feature allows you to work backwards from named DLLs or handles to the owning process. The feature list is almost endless though only a few will ever be used but average users. The latest V10 release adds even more features including a faster refresh rate. Quite simply Process Explorer is an astonishing product and a freeware gem.
Another option is What‘s Running [2] , a new comer that has number of features that could make it the best choice for a lot of users. First, processes are shown in a tree rather than a list, a representation that makes the parent and child relationship crystal clear.  Second, What‘s Running doesn‘t only show processes; it also displays, in separate tabs, running services, dlls, drivers, IP connections, startup programs and system information. The startup tabs and IP tabs are of particular interest as they are of sufficient quality that you don‘t need separate dedicated applications to provide this information.
So is What‘s Running better than Process Explorer? For  expert users no, but all other users will benefit from the clear, non-confusing display and the fact they get a first class startup manager and IP enumerator in a single product.
=>index
[1]http://www.sysinternals.com/Utilities/ProcessExplorer.html Freeware, Windows 9x and later, 640KB.
[2]http://www.whatsrunning.net/whatsrunning/main.aspx Free beta, Windows 2000 and later, 1.09MB
43 Best Free System Information Utility Updated September, 2006
The freeware utility AIDA32 was the best system information / inventorying tool ever, regardless of price.  It documented just about every aspect of your hardware and software configuration as well as checking networks and providing memory benchmarks. However the developer announced in March 2004 that the free product had been frozen and development work shifted to another organization where AIDA32 was re-launched as a commercial product called Everest [1]. You can however still find the old AIDA32 at the second link below [2] and the non-discontinued free version of Everest called Everest Home here [3]. The old AIDA32 works better across networks while Everest Home covers more modern hardware than AIDA32.
Another inventory utility for networks is Spiceworks [4], currently available as a free beta version. It‘s a browser based inventory program that allows LAN managers to quickly discover and document the hardware, software and patch status of their network PCs.
That rather bland description seriously under-sells the usefulness of this product. It‘s got a terrific filter system
that allows you to target your inventory request plus a highly customizable reporting system. On top of that it has a great interface, is easy to use, can handle Linux and Mac OS X workstations and uses standard network protocols.
If you  only need to inventory a single PC then you should also check out Belarc Advisor [5]. It‘s free for non commercial use and while not quite as thorough as AIDA32, it has the advantage of being actively developed.
My current favorite for home use is the SIW utility [6] written by Gabriel Topala. It "displays detailed specs for motherboard, BIOS, CPU, devices, memory, video, disk drives, ports, printers, operating system, installed programs, processes, services, serial numbers (CD keys), users, open files, system uptime, network, network shares, as well as real-time monitors for CPU, memory, page file usage and network traffic. It also displays currently active network connections, passwords hidden behind asterisks, installed codecs, and more. " That‘s impressive enough for a freebie but my favorite feature is SIW does not need installing; all you need to do is run the executable. This means one less installed program on your PC as well the fact that you can run the program directly from a USB flash drive.
=>index
[1]http://www.lavalys.com/products.php?lang=en
[2]http://www.majorgeeks.com/download181.html  Freeware, all Windows versions, 2.9MB
[3]http://www.majorgeeks.com/download4181.html Freeware, all Windows versions, 4.0MB
[4]http://www.spiceworks.com/    Free beta, Windows XP Pro with 512MB RAM on the administrator‘s PC, 7MB.
[5]http://www.belarc.com/free_download.html  Free for personal use, all Windows versions, 945KB
[6]http://www3.sympatico.ca/gtopala/about_siw.html  Freeware, Win98 and later, 1.18MB
44 Best Free Search and Replace Utility  Updated July 25, 2006
There are several contenders for this title but HandyFile‘s excellent Find and Replace program is my favorite because of tiny size and no nonsense simplicity. It‘s also fast, has a simple but effective user interface and some nice features including support for regular expressions. It started life as a free product before going commercial however the free version 1.2 is still floating around and can be downloaded from a number of sites including this one [1].
If you are looking for something a bit more comprehensive then check out A.F.9 from Fauland [2]. It allows multiple search and replace operations in the one pass, can save search and replace operations for later re-use and has full drag and drop support.
Note that these programs are designed for use on text based files such as .txt and .html and must not be used on binary files or proprietary formats such as Microsoft Word.  If you want to search and replace these kind of files then check out InfoRapid Search and Replace [3]. It‘s not as powerful as the best binary editors but with suitable add-ins it can handle certain Microsoft Office file types plus .rtf and .pdf.
=>index
[1]http://www.pcsupportadvisor.com/downloads/HFFRSetup.exe Freeware, all Windows versions, 361KB
[2]http://www.fauland.com/af9.htm Freeware, all Windows versions, 992KB
[3]http://www.inforapid.de/html/searchreplace.htm Free for private use, 1.03MB
45 Best Free Outliner Updated July 25, 2006
I‘m not a great fan of outliners - my brain doesn‘t work that way. Some folks however, swear by them and if that includes you, then you should check out Keynote, a freeware program that has a dedicated band of followers.  Its major design attribute is its ease of use. Words like "natural" and "seamless" come close to the mark but really don‘t capture the essence of what is really a great design. What do you do with it? Well to quote the web site “KeyNote is used by screenwriters to draft screenplays, by medical doctors to keep patient databases, by developers to store source code snippets - and to everyone it serves as a place to put all the random pieces of information that have no particular structure of relationship to other data, and do not fit easily in task-specific applications such as word-processors, databases or spreadsheets.”  Unfortunately the program is no longer being developed but is totally usable in its current form.
If you find that a turn-off you might like to consider NeoMem [2] as an alternative. It‘s not really a dedicated outliner rather more of a general purpose note taking program that can be used as an outliner. It‘s a kind of hybrid of a database and word processor that‘s designed to allow you to organize, store, hyperlink and search information. That bland description totally under-sells the product.  It‘s one of those programs that you really need to use in order to understand the potential. It works with all Windows versions so try it.
=>index
[1]http://www.tranglos.com/free/index.html Free Mozilla Public license, Windows 98 and later, 1.7MB
[2]http://www.neomem.org/  Free MIT X11 License, all Windows versions, 680KB
46 Best Free Rename Utility Updated September, 2006
If you want industrial strength file renaming there are two great choices: First there‘s  Lupas Rename 2000 [1]. This is a small utility for Win 98 and later that globally renames all the files in a directory and its subdirectories. It can convert names to upper/lower case, change the case of the first letter, add text, left crop, right crop and just about anything else you can think of. And unlike DOS based utilities, it will work on hidden files as well. Add in a nice GUI interface, an undo feature, full preview of changes, MP3 tag renaming, support for regular expressions and the fact that it‘s free and you have an outstanding product.
The second and equally attractive option is Flexible Renamer [2]. It‘s quite similar to Lupas and choosing between them is not easy.  Lupas seems to me to be easier to use for simply renaming files while Flexible Renamer has the edge with MP3 tags. Flexible Renamer can also can bulk change file attributes while Lupas can‘t. It also runs without installation, a definite plus.
A third choice is Bulk Rename [3]. It‘s a bit like Lupas Rename and Flexible Renamer rolled into one product. That means more power but at the cost of greater complexity and a steeper learning curve.
However if you only need a re-namer for re-labeling digital photos and MP3 files you might like instead to looked at a program [4] called "THE Rename" (sic). that‘s better suited to these tasks. It‘s freeware and works on all versions of Windows though usage is not very intuitive.
=>index
[1]http://www.azheavymetal.com/~lupasrename/lupasrename.php   Freeware, all Windows versions, 734KB
[2]http://hp.vector.co.jp/authors/VA014830/english/FlexRena/    Freeware, all Windows versions, 648KB
[3]http://www.bulkrenameutility.co.uk/Main_Intro.php  Freeware, Windows 98SE and later, 622KB
[4]http://www.herve-thouzard.com/modules/wfsection/article.php?articleid=1  Freeware, all Win versions, 2.9MB
There‘s more:  Click here for the next page -  best freeware utilities numbers  47-95
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