PC Format’s freeware favourites 2011

In plenty of time for making your Christmas wishlist, issue 260 (on sale 21st November), contains our 2011 ‘Best gear of the year’ cover feature. Nom Nom, lovely hardware….. hardwareeeeee. In the world of free software which I inhabit, I was tasked with creating a similar web pack of freeware. It was harder than I expected, and sadly lacked the time to make the list a large as I would have wanted. So what we have is the top 30 freeware that I like, use and recommend. Feel free to add comments with any of your essential freeware picks that you think we should have included.

Follow these links for our other ‘issue 260 web packs:
Set up a Private Virtual Network for gaming
Stress test your CPU and cooler
PC Format’s freeware favourites 2011
Issue 260 game demo roundup! (coming soon)

DOSBox
So you’ve picked up an abandonware game, but it ain’t gonna work on your modern system! Sucks to be you! Say hello to DOSBox, it’s a DOS emulator for helping ‘Ye Oldie’ games work. For making DOSBox easier to use, check out D.O.G, a front-end GUI for DOSBox. (free)
Download from here

CDBurnerXP
CDBurnerXP is the premier freeware disc burning application bar none. The software will take care of all burning needs; data, music, duplication, complete with ISO support. The intuitive UI appears to have been borrowed from early Nero. Thankfully before Roxio decided to jam it full of unessential bloatware! (free)
Download from here

Granola
The job of Gronola is to help you converse energy, which ain’t a bad thing these days. The program is essentially a superior power management solution that monitors system activity and activates tailored Windows power saving features when necessary. Our other energy saving favourites are SmartPower and TimeComX. (free)
Download from here

SSD Tweaker
Solid state drives  is the future of PC boot drive storage, according to us. With prices tumbling, capacities increasing, things are getting ever closer to becoming a viable standard option over just being an enthusiast only luxury. To ensure the SSD is set up for Windows correctly you’ll want SSD Tweaker. A number of basic Windows tweaks can applied to increase the life expectancy of an SSD. SSD Tweaker packs them all into a single interface and only takes a few seconds to set and then a reboot to apply them. (free)
Download from here

uTorrent
A fairly obvious pick for most of us, but with so many different Torrent clients batting around, uTorrent is worth a mention. It’s always remained a lightweight and hassle-free file sharing client that does the job with perfectly efficiency. (free)
Download from here

XMBC
XMBC is the rather excellent media center software that comes in versions for Windows, Linux and Mac operating systems. Designed to work smoothly with handset controllers, operations feel swift and interface layout is easy to navigate. Within the menus you’ll discover the addition of custom Add-ons. Essentially mini-programs to bolt new functions within the media center itself. Anything from video/music feed browsers and RSS feeds to unexpected entries like the Gmail checker and MAME emulator frontend. (free)
Download from here

Avast Free Antivirus
Microsoft’s own virus protection (Microsoft Security Essentials) is perfectly capable and system resource friendly. Ideal for protecting low end budget systems, but your main multi-core rig packed with excess RAM is better off going down the third-party route for catching threats. Any additional system overhead will not be noticeable.

With a little research we’ve discovered that Avast Free Antivirus is currently the most potent free solution available, closely followed by stalwarts AVG Free AntiVirus and Avira AntiVir Personal. Other worthy contenders include Comodo Antivirus, and Ad-Aware Free Internet Security. (free)
Download from here

CCleaner
If you don’t already have CCleaner installed then I’m going to come around your house and forcibly install it on your PC. I’ll stay for diner too. So you’ve been warned! CCleaner stands for Crap Cleaner, and it’s philosophy is simple – less is more. By securely removing unused and temporary files, Windows can access more of your PCs resources and run more efficiently. Then, it scans the registry for invalid references and cleans up any wayward entries that are slowing Windows down. (free)
Download from here

Spybot – Search and Destroy
Putting the kibosh on adware, spyware and a variety of malware is what this software is all about. Spybot – S&D does a top job at its intended purpose, but should be considered as a backup to compliment any current anti-virus protection installed, not a replacement. (free)
Download from here

ZoneAlarm Free Firewall
The standard Windows firewall is perfectly adequate to protect from intrusion, yet, a more beefier solution is ZoneAlarm. One major advantage here, is being able to prevent both inbound and outgoing data, thus preventing infected machines from broadcasting passwords another sensitive data. If you’ve been put off with ZoneAlarms past over zealous popup interruptions, you’ll be glad to hear that things have moved on significantly with the software now making many of its own decisions without pestering you every 5 minutes. (free)
Download from here

Revo Uninstaller
Unused applications aren’t a good thing so get rid of them with Revo Uninstaller. This utility is superior to Windows Add/Remove where often redundant files, folders and registry entries are left to clutter the drive and registry. Revo digs around and removes all these rogue junk files. (free)
Download from here

VLC Media Player
Whenever I run through a clean Windows installation, VLC is one of the first programs I’ll install immediately. VLC is the most versatile media player in the business, all video or audio formats are natively supported, in addition of advanced controls, effects and filters. (free)
Download from here

Recuva
Why doesn’t Windows already have an option to recover accidentally deleted files? Not to worry, Recuva does a stellar job on both regular drives and removable Flash based media at raising files from the graveyard! (free)
Download from here

Easeus Todo Backup Free
One day your hard drive will knacker. It may be tomorrow, next week, or in two years time. If you’re irreplaceable files aren’t backed up then you’ll always regret how complacent you became. With Easeus Todo Backup free, backups are no more effort than running a virus scan. It offers a potent set of functions covering file and folder backup syncing, boot drive backup and restoration, plus total system migrations. (free)
Download from here

Paint.NET
The GIMP is regarded as the best free bitmap image editor on the planet, and often mentioned as a viable Photoshop alternative. But really nothing beats Photoshop, justified by the hefty £600 price tag. For your basic image editing tasks Photoshop is far too high end, The GIMP still maybe overkill too, wherever Paint.NET offers a good balance of essential features (including layer based editing) and user friendly tools. (free)
Download from here

Fences
Your Windows desktop is the hub of your PC use, with all of your favourite programs, pictures, games and documents spread across it. Fences makes navigating those favourites super-easy by allowing you to setup multiple areas, give them titles, size them as you wish and have them fade into the background to keep from distracting you. If you feel like you need to clear your mind, double-clicking on empty desktop space will hide everything. (free)
Download from here

Screamer Radio
When faced with labour intensive brain-dead computer tasks, nothing helps more than zoning out with some background tunes to distract from the ordeal. Screamer Radio plugs into 1000′s of online streaming broadcasts, categorised into regions, music categories, and popular networks. I love it’s unpretentious interface, and who really needs skins and other bloatware functions just to listen to Internet stations. (free)
Download from here

KeePass Password Safe
With all the passwords we collect over the years, it easy to forget one or two of them, and using the same one for everything becomes a fine line of risk versus convenience. Keeping all your passwords in a text file is also quite mad, so securing all this sensitive data and keeping a record is a major personal security problem. KeepPass Password Safe eliminates this issue by storing all passwords safe within a single password encrypted database. Solved! (free)
Download from here

Game Fire
Once activated the software alters operating system settings, by disabling a number of unnecessary background operations while gaming. This in turn will free up extra resources and improve gaming performance. Configuration options are included, though its default settings should do the trick for almost all games, making Game Fire a button click of win! (free)
Download from here

WinPatrol
How’s this for an idea, rather than trying to fix slowdowns, just prevent them from occuring in the first place! Problem being knowing what hidden junk is being installed, or already running in the background is often hidden from you. Say hello to WinPatrol and Scotty the virtual dog. Don’t fear he’s not annoying like the paperclip guy. WinPatrol operates in the systemtray alerting you to any new unusual activity, giving you the option to allow or deny it from running. For other background startup programs, WinPatrol allows you selectivity disable any of these; paid users get the additional feature of detailed information of what each of these often unidentifiable files really are. (free)
Download from here

Glary Utilities
Glary Utilities describes itself as “An indispensable friend for your PC”, so think of it as the one who holds your PC’s hair back as it is kneels hunched over in the bathroom, ‘uploading’ its guts into the toilet. One-click maintenance is the name of the game here, and as you’d expect it offers basic settings for casual users as well as more in-depth choices for the self-proclaimed expert user. (free)
Download from here

Simple Port Forwarding
For some, port forwarding can be a difficult concept to truly get your head around. Fortunately your don’t have to be a skilled network administration to configure this feature. Download and install this software and you’ll be able to select to have the whole process done automatically for your thanks to it supporting over 190 different routers. From Zyxel to Belkin and NetGear to Linksys, there’s a very good chance your hardware will be recognised. (free)
Download from here

Transmute
This great little utility backups up browser bookmarks, for archival purposes or migration to other browsers. Transmute provides support for every popular browser, and comes in both installable and flash drive friendly portable flavours. (free)
Download from here

Find and Run Robot
Locating an application in your Windows system can often be unnecessarily awkward. If something hasn’t installed to your expected location, it could be almost anywhere. FARR operates an intelligent real-time (no indexing required, therefore saving your CPU usage) search of all applications, and presents the top ten results for you to choose. It has a wide range of customisable features, such as weighting options, heuristics employed per search and even caches file locations to speed-up locating them next time. (free)
Download from here

HotKeyz
While HotKeyz is running in the System Tray you can apply unique keyboard combinations to launch applications, operate system commands such as shutdown / restart / hibernate / close / maximize / minimize etc. The flexibility is incredible with pleasing functions like copying a URL to the clipboard and then launching your browser to that URL, or opening your email client and automatically composing a new message, and many other smart ways to trim down everyday computer tasks into keystrokes. (free)
Download from here

WhoCrashed
PC crashes can be like a riddle, wrapped in a mystery, inside an enigma, and then some! BSOD messages and Windows 7′s attempts to offer useful explanations can be far from helpful. WhoCrashed should at least unravel issues relating with drivers causing instability. It’s dead simple to use, click the ‘Analyze’ button after an incident and let the software tell you what the heck has caused the smack down. (free)
Download from here

7-Zip
7-Zip’s Windows integration plus extra extraction support for RAR and a host of other less familiar archive formats completes this essential archive file manager. We also like PeaZip, though 7-Zip outshines by a small margin through it’s superior user-friendly experience. (free)
Download from here

Pidgin
Pidgin is the instant messaging client built to solve the very real problem of the many different proprietary instant messaging platforms your friends may be using. So instead of installing and running MSN, ICQ AIM, or one of the 14 other supported clients, just use Pidgin. Of course you’ll still need to register accounts with any IM services you want to connect with. (free)
Download from here

TweetDeck
The ultimate desktop application for keeping abreast of all your tweeting activities giving power to group people into categories and making full use of your monitor real-estate. TweetDeck also includes support to follow Facebook, MySpace, LinkedIn, Google Buzz and Foursquare. A mobile edition of TweekDeck is available for smartphone owners. (free)
Download from here

Pick up a subscription to PC Format magazine today
Or, grab a Zinio digital subscription of PC Format magazine

Alternatively, you can order single print edition issues of PC Format magazine
or single digital issues on the Apple Newsstand, and Zinio

Posted on Thursday, November 10th, 2011 at 6:43 am under Web Packs. You can subscribe to comments. You can leave a comment, or trackback from your own site.

Tags: Freeware, hot