Favorite Free Programs

1. My Favorite Free Programs
Background:
“Freeware” is computer software that is available for use at no cost.
“Freeware” comes in two versions:
“Free Software” is also called quot;Open source software” and is software that can be
used, studied, and modified without restriction, and which can be copied and
redistributed in modified or unmodified form either without restriction, or with minimal
restrictions only to ensure that further recipients can also do these things. In practice, for
software to be distributed as free software, the human readable form of the program (the
quot;source codequot;) must be made available to the recipient along with a notice granting the
above permissions. Such a notice is a quot;free software licensequot;, or, in theory, could be a
notice saying that the source code is released into the public domain.
The free software movement was conceived in 1983 by Richard Stallman to make these
freedoms available to every computer user. From the late 1990s onward, alternative terms
for free software came into use. quot;Open source softwarequot; is the most common such
alternative term.
Information on a really interesting essay on Open source software can be found here:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Cathedral_and_the_Bazaar
“Freeware” can also be proprietary software made available free of charge. Users
usually cannot study, modify, or redistribute freeware.
Why proprietary Freeware?
Some folks are just nice guys – especially when the program is small.
Some companies give away “personal” versions while trying to encourage sales of
“professional” versions.
Sometimes newer versions are available or the software is no longer supported.
WebWare is the name given to software that one runs using nothing more than your
browser. WebWare is the fastest growing version of free software
Where to find Freeware:
One of the best starting places is probably here: http://www.pricelesswarehome.org/ A
site maintained by Susan Bugher which has links to many other sites and even provides a
way to get programs on CD.
Where to find Webware... On the Web!

2. My favorite Freeware / Webware include:
Google, Google and Google! Google is very powerful, as a look here will show:
http://www.google.com/intl/en/about.html
FireFox - Great, Safer browser. http://www.mozilla.com/en-US/
Note: A new version of FireFox is coming in June (FF3) supposed to have some really
nice improvements.
ThunderBird – Email and Usenet http://www.mozilla.com/en-US/thunderbird/
Open Office – An open source clone of Microsoft Office. http://www.openoffice.org/
for help / info http://documentation.openoffice.org/manuals/oooauthors2/
Advanced WindowsCare http://www.snapfiles.com/get/WindowsCare.html
Galary Utilities http://tinyurl.com/6qprqq or http://www.download.com/Glary-
Utilities/3000-2094_4-10508531.html?tag=lst-1&cdlPid=10840459
Auslogics Disk Defrag http://tinyurl.com/5jnurw or
http://www.download.com/Auslogics-Disk-Defrag/3000-2094_4-10567503.html?tag=lst-
2&cdlPid=10829250
Belarc Advisor for info about your computer http://tinyurl.com/5ddj9d or
http://www.download.com/Belarc-Advisor/3000-2094_4-10007277.html?tag=lst-
1&cdlPid=10831058
Revo Uninstaller http://tinyurl.com/5bdn9b or http://www.download.com/Revo-
Uninstaller/3000-2096_4-10687648.html?tag=lst-1&cdlPid=10838259
Since I am using Tiny Url learn more here: http://tinyurl.com/
If you want to see a LOT of freeware: http://www.digitaldarknet.net/thelist/ I just found
this place so cannot say much, but it has a lot of links.
Having mentioned(!) Google here are some tips: FIRST Use Google itself.
I searched for google tips which got about 149,000,000 English pages for google tips. So then I
searched for +google +tips (both words must be present) and got about 17,500,000 English
pages for +google +tips.

3. Google toolbar: IF you do not already have the Google Toolbar get it by searching
Google. Note: when you click the actual link Google knows which browser you are
using and gives you results based on your browser.
IE7 Item. Improve IE7 http://www.ie7pro.com/
Free web site here: http://www.weebly.com/
There are a zillion free programs and services on the Web all it takes is time!