7 Essential Free Programs
About the Author
Mike Rogers is a Web Developer who is currently at University studying Web Technologies. He also is the founder of Full On Design. He has several years experience freelancing and you can follow him on Twitter (Rogem002).
Here are some free programs I consider essential for all PC’s.
1. CCleaner
CCleaner is a freeware system optimization, privacy and cleaning tool. In a nutshell this deletes all the temporary files and rubbish that build up over time. It also is able to easily clear up the Windows Registry (Which after a few uninstalls or installs is worth a look).
2. Firefox, Opera or Chrome
Forget Internet Explorer, make your computer more unique (and possibly more secure) and take on a different browser. There are loads to close from, but personally I like Mozilla Firefox the most, as its open source nature means that it can be adapted and (if a bug appears) fixed very quickly.
3. Tweak UI (A Microsoft Powertoy)
Ever wanted to fix those little annoyances in Windows? Well Microsoft has a neat little application which lets you modify some of the hidden settings in windows.
4. Recuva
Ever lost a file and need to recover it? Or just make sure something has been securely deleted? This application does both.
5. Smart Defrag
One of the best Disk Defragmenter and Drive Optimization tools out there. I tested this program on a 700GB SATA hard drive (40% full) and within 20 minutes it had lowered fragmentation to 0.00% and reorganized my hard drive for faster loading time…Fantastic.
6. Foxit Reader
I have nothing against Adobes PDF reader, except it’s sluggish and unnecessarily large. This free alternative is only a few MB and does basically the same thing. For just reading PDF’s it’s fantastic. I suggest you give it a try.
Download Foxit Reader at FileHippo
7. K-Lite Codec Pack
Save yourself hours of looking for various codec’s and players to play audio and video. This essentially is all the codec’s you need.
Download K-Lite Codec Pack at FileHippo
I love Tweak UI, it was an essential install for Win XP (along with ‘Open Command Prompt Here’), just a shame that there are no useful powertoys in Vista (then again, from a UI point of view Vista is a major advancement over XP, so they are a little less essential).