[GimmeABreak]

I don't know how you consider Windowblinds a freebie. It is SHAREWARE - Look up the definitions. A "free download" doesn't constitute a "freebie", freeware, or anything of the likes. Is gas a freebie since you aren't being charged upfront to pump it?
I have to wonder how much Stardock paid for this little scratch on the back. It doesn't do much for your credibility.
Gimmeabreak

[MJJones60]

It would be nice if there more user ratings. "FREE" software apps too often make a mess of things rather than being good tools...

[nantucketbob]

We have to click through 100 items to find out what each does? A concise and accurate description of each site would have been immensely helpful. If 100 is too large a number, split the article.

[NeverQuiteThere]

I had to respond to this spectacular comment above:

'utorrent was bought out by bittorrent thus is worthless now'...

WHAT ARE YOU GOING ON ABOUT?

What exactly does this silly statement mean??!!

Utorrent was bought by another company and so erm..it no longer works?

Utorrent is being monitored by the FBI and anyone who uses it for nefarious purposes will find themselves arrested??

Both of the above are completely silly and unfounded in any reality.

I just wanted to reaffirm that UTORRENT is most certainly THE torrent client to use.

So light on resources an old P1 pc can use it..try that with some of the other clients out there!

Nice List PCW but I don't agree with more than half of your suggestions.

I know, I know a list like this is always going to guarantee only ONE THING: People will disagree with it!

Cheers!



Oh and vMATTLEEv: reactOS = hehehe

[darklightning]

OpenOffice is Free, www.openoffice.org, get it today

[mlibrescu]

It seems to me that most of these are either useless, really old, or things that I alreay have paid software that will do it better.

[darklightning]

I think some of you are either very uneducated or simply being spiteful. First, concerning reactOS, read this, taken from their homepage
"Please bear in mind that React OS is still in Alpha stage, meaning it is not feature complete and is not recommended for everyday use."

Bear that in mind. Next AVG is actually a good antivirus, and bad antivirus is better than no antivirus when you cannot afford any.

OpenOffice is actually on of the best office solutions out there, espically considering it's price.

Just because Utorrent was "bought out" does not mean that it is "worthless".

Why don't you think PC World should test drive all the different free OS' out there as well. Fedora is great, and there are a ton of different apps out ther. PC World chose those that would have great funtionality and be useful. Sure, there are thousands of free downloads out there. But look at them, many have not been updated for 10 years, or have critical flaws, or worse, have spyware. When analyzing software, you need to do only those that will have a great potentail of use, otherwiseyou waste your time. Please research your complaints fully before speaking.

[GimmeABreak]

WindowBlinds is still Shareware. I think that the editors on this site should do THEIR research before making posts like this. (!)

[Ronh56]

Open office is great!! I use it all the time. Many people send me microsoft office docs, and before open office, I couldn't open them. The only thing that would make it better would be if they included desktop publisher. Now I have need of a program that can open desktop publisher files.

[darklightning]

I give you that. WindowBlinds is Shareware. But, the article was on
h1. Freebies!
not FreeWARE. Shareware is free, it is a limited edition of a commercial program. Not only are you confusing your terms, you are misleading others by saying that sharware is different. Is is a Freebie. I do understand that theyleft some out, like the GIMP, www.gimp.org. But, you can't test everything! So please, stop being all mad over shareware or freeware, when they are both freebies!

[MarkSullivan]

Hey Flashorn,

Thanks for the freebies selections. There are some really good ones in there. Dial-a-fix, for instance will be profiled in a PCW feature coming out very soon. Some of the others I hadn't heard of and will check them out. Feel free to let us know about cool new freebies as you run into them. And thanks for reading. -Mark (editor of Freebies feature)

[Flashorn]

Hey Mark!!
This is quite an honor for me to be acknowledged by you and PCW.
I'm always interested in new and beta apps. I must have tried 100's of them . Some good ,some not good at all!



In the end I'm just trying to do my part in keeping everyone here and new members apprised of what is available for them on the web.



Especially if it's free and works well.









If time permits , you might want to take a look at this site, techsupportalert.com/drupal/ .









They have 100's of free apps. of all kind, along with suggestions for the best of the best as they conduct an



evaluation of the products on their site.









So, half your job is done ,simply by reading their evaluations and recommendations.









And most if not all are free.









I Thank You very kindly for your acknowledgement and hope that some of the apps. on this site meets with your approval.









FLASHORN.



PS> the site that I mentioned just recieved a face lift and not all of the links are working properly yet.

Here is an alternate address that works fine : http://www.techsupportalert.com/best46free_utilities.htm

On the other hand I have another site that I did post in the forum .

[http://forums.pcworld.com/message/105941#105941|m-105941]



good hunting!

[DennisA]

www.filehippo.com/download_openoffice/ Here for FREE!

[jjh483]

I have one thing to say, FREE to me means no cost EVER most of the programs are shareware or have a time limit to them before you have to buy the thing
dose anyone other than me miss a good FREE drawing program for XP not a picture changer just a good line and paint one 3.1,95 and 98 all HAD a ton of real free stuff but all got left out in the rain if you do not want to spend 100s$

[Shade]

Someone earlier mentioned AVG, but that is no longer free. Also, I would like to give my two cents for FireFTP, Azureus and the classic game DX Ball (which all are truly free). Also, someone there missed VLC media player, sure it has a cruddy shell, but it plays nearly everything.

[Shade]

Actually, there is a few other great freebies such as Display Fusion for those of you who have more than two monitors. It will allow you to set up individual wallpapers and resolutions without the hassle of using windows display properties. I stumbled on this when I was trying to set up wall papers and all it would do was clone an image. It runs in your quick start menu and is rather small. Great for Windows Vista!
Another freeware that I love that wasn't on this list is Firefox. Much more convenient that Microsoft's I.E. 2.0 has been one of the best updates I've seen for any software.
Spybot and Ad-Aware are also musts for cleanup and security. These two applications will put a foot down on anything that shouldn't be on your computer. I've been using them for years and I have no anti-virus software on my computer. Still haven't gotten anything yet.
Just some more great freeware/shareware

[goorsha]

On the subject of file backup, sharing and storage ...
Online backup is becoming common these days. It is estimated that 70-75% of all PC's will be connected to online backup services with in the next decade.
Thousands of online backup companies exist, from one guy operating in his apartment to fortune 500 companies.
Choosing the best online backup company will be very confusing and difficult. One website I find very helpful in making a decision to pick an online backup company is:
http://www.BackupReview.info
Have a look here, too:
http://www.backuprev...ex.php?pid=readarticle&articleid=9
This site lists more than 400 online backup companies in its directory and ranks the top 25 on a monthly basis.

[vMATTLEEv]

Edited by MPHEnterprises - No Personal Attacks




lets put it this way 99% of people who use torrents download illegally. using utorrent to download illegally is stupid because its now monitored by bit torrent


who made their money by turning their backs onto those who used their client by installing monitoring software in their clients (they couldnt make money off legal downloads


, not many download legally even those who say


they do dont.) so basically if you use bit torrent or utorrent to download illegally your begging to be caught. i believe all ppl busted using torrents were bit torrent and utorrent


members.





and for reactOS looks like a windows os and runs like a windows os, perfect to laugh about. i guess you would rather pay for something then get for free legally. very stupid

[DennisA]

I would like to suggest you run a spyware program one time on your computer. Like avg professional, YOU'LL CRAP at you find what you find is stealing your information. I KNOW I DID!

[Shade]

You never run more than one at a time, mainly because what you said. I know that. But AVG isn't free anymore, just an FYI. I used to run it. Also, most antivirus doesn't help. Did you notice that you get the same things over and over again. The best thing to do is micromanage your own computer (which is better if you are the only one using it), because then you know what you have put on your computer. Only do this though if you are computer savvy, otherwise, get antivirus.



But for the most part, I ran across another piece of freeware called Awasu. It basically takes feeds off sites and allows you to view those feeds through the program. Great feature for those of you who read news or like more than one site for information. You can even add your own feeds to this.