Software - Free Programs
Links to free software & information in July 2011
- Foxit Reader version 5.0.2 Maintenance Release: www.foxitsoftware.com
Links to free software & information in June 2011
- 11 Free Microsoft Tools You're Overlooking: www.pcworld.com/businesscenter/
- Mosaic by Tribune e-Reader for Windows Phone and Windows PC: www.mosaicbytribune.com/microsoft/
- Tribune Releases Mosaic App for Windows 7: windowsteamblog.com/windows/b/windowsexperience/
Links to free software & information in May 2011
- 11 Free Microsoft Tools You're Overlooking: www.pcworld.com
- Color Cop - Free multi-purpose color picker: colorcop.net
Links in December 2010
- Free holiday booty from Microsoft Research - AutoCollage, Kodu, Photosynth, WWT: blogs.technet.com/b/next/
Links in November 2010
- MetroTwit: www.metrotwit.com
- Fantasia Painter (Online graphics paint program): fantasia.nokola.com
- ScratchAudio - Record and edit music in the browser: scratchaudio.com
- ScratchAudio - Record and edit music in the browser - Review: mtaulty.com/CommunityServer/blogs/mike_taultys_blog/
- Take a shot and share a screen recording (using Jing): blogs.office.com/b/office_blog/
Links in September 2010
- Introducing Seesmic Desktop 2: team.silverlight.net/guest-posts/introducing-seesmic-desktop-2/
- Introducing Seesmic Desktop 2: blog.seesmic.com
- Seesmic releases Seesmic Desktop 2: windowsteamblog.com/windows/b/windowsexperience/
Links in August 2010
- Inkscape - Draw Freely - Free SVG Editor: www.inkscape.org
Links in July 2010
- 48 Best Free Software Downloads from Microsoft: mtaulty.com/CommunityServer/blogs/mike_taultys_blog/
- Fantasia Painter (in Silverlight): nokola.com/fantasia/
Links in June 2010
- MetroTwit: www.metrotwit.com
Recent news about the free programs:
- Announcing the Seesmic Desktop Platform and Seesmic for Windows Phone: blog.seesmic.com
- Improvements in Seesmic Windows – New RT, Adding Users to Lists, Followers, Tweetphoto and more: blog.seesmic.com
- Mid-January Progress Update on Paint.NET v3.5: blog.getpaint.net
- Ninemsn Toolbar: toolbar.ninemsn.com.au
- Paint.NET version 3.5 (Final) is now available (Nov 6 2009): blog.getpaint.net
- Resource Guide to Free Microsoft Software and Online Services: blogs.technet.com/blogms/
- RSS Bandit (codename - Collossus) will bring stability, bug fixes and Facebook integration: www.25hoursaday.com/weblog/
- Seesmic for Windows: seesmic.com
- Seesmic Web – Now Offers Adjustable Column Size, Sounds, Location Trends and More: blog.seesmic.com
- Theme for Paint.NET v3.5 is... performance: blog.getpaint.net
- Wireless Network MeterV5 (IP, Upload, Download Speed): gallery.live.com
The following free programs have been used by webDotWiz for several years so he can trust them - they carry out their specific task in a professional manner and the author(s) has continued to develop the program over time to keep up with the changes in computing.
- 7-Zip: www.7-zip.org - Small but efficient file compression utility if you don't want to use the built-in folder compression feature in Windows XP or Windows Vista
- AeroNotes: code.msdn.microsoft.com/AeroNotes
- Edison PC Power Management Software (Free): www.microsoft.com/australia/environment/
- Expose your Windows with Switcher: on10.net/blogs/larry/
- Family.Show Version 3 by Vertigo (Feb 23 2009): www.vertigo.com/familyshow.aspx
- FileZilla - Free FTP Program: filezilla-project.org
- Foxit PDF Reader for Windows: www.foxitsoftware.com - A small and efficient reader of Adobe Acrobat PDF documents - Saves megabytes of disk space (about 5Mb versus 200Mb for Adobe Acrobat Reader)
- Free Personal Finance Software Online: www.mint.com
- Jing screen and video capture tool: www.jingproject.com - free and a catchy desktop UI - alternative to OneNote's screen capture tool
- Microsoft Excel Viewer for Excel 97 to Excel 2007: www.microsoft.com/downloads/
- Microsoft Office Accounting Express: www.ideawins.com - Free accounting package (not available as yet for Australia)
- Microsoft Visual Studio 2008 Express Editions: msdn2.microsoft.com/en-us/express/future/ - Learn programming with industry standard development platform - Choose the complete package or concentrate on just one language such as Visual Basic - Also includes SQL Server Express - All are free!
- NineMSN Toolbar: ninemsntoolbar.com.au - adds colour and flair to Internet Explorer - Australian news and weather
- NoteTab Text Editor: www.notetab.com - Free edition is perfect for creating and editing text files - Multi-tab menu file system - Large library of extra features
- RSS Bandit - Free RSS Reader: rssbandit.org
- Small Basic: www.smallbasic.com - A fun way to begin (or resume) programming - Created for the young ones - Simple and colourful working environment - Interactive and intellisense included to help write code
- Switcher for Windows Vista: insentient.net
- Windows Live Essentials: download.live.com - Free downloads of Windows Live Mail, Live Messenger, Live Movie Maker, Live Photo Gallery, Live Toolbar and Live Family Safety
- Windows Sysinternals: www.microsoft.com/technet/sysinternals/
- Word Viewer: www.microsoft.com/downloads/ - View any Word document up to and including Word 2007 documents
Working with photos
- ImageResizer for Windows XP & Windows Vista/Windows 7: blogs.technet.com/aviraj/
- IrfanView: www.irfanview.com - Convert graphics files to other formats - View graphics files of all types - Scan - Simple editing functions
- Live Movie Maker: download.live.com - Edit your own movies - Create movies from photos - Burn to CD and/or DVD - Free!
- Paint.NET - Free Photo Editing Software for Windows: www.getpaint.net - Can edit graphics and photos with many of the same functions as Photoshop - Many effects to apply to graphics and photos - Repair old photos and scans. See this page for more.
- Photo Story 3 for Windows: www.microsoft.com/windowsxp/using/digitalphotography/photostory/ - Create movies from your photos to make a story, add music and narration
- Windows Live Photo Gallery: download.live.com - Import photos from camera, memory card, memory stick, CDs and DVDs - Organise photos by tagging with description and/or people names - Repair photos - Adjust colours, brightness, saturation - Crop - Easily read information about your photos (size, f-stop, ISO, shutter speed) - Free!
Free accessories (screensavers, wallpapers)
- 16 Screensavers: www.dudeworldorder.com
- 101+ Unofficial Windows 7 Wallpaper: wparena.com/inspiration/101-unofficial-windows-7-wallpaper/
- 3D Desk Wallpapers: www.irritatedvowel.com/Wallpaper/
- 70 Dual monitor desktop wallpapers: www.smashingmagazine.com
- Desktop Backgrounds for Windows (Microsoft N.Z.): www.microsoft.com/downloads/
- Desktopography Wallpapers: desk08.customize.org
- Hamad Darwish's Vista Wallpapers: www.hamaddarwish.com
- Microsoft Silverlight Desktop Wallpapers: www.microsoft.com/downloads/
- More DreamScenes For Vista Users: on10.net
- Random Gradient Wallpaper Generator: blogs.msdn.com/kirillosenkov/
- Screen Savers Are (Still) Cool: www.visitmix.com
- Virtual Earth Screen Saver: www.codeplex.com/vescreensaver
- Wallpaper - Meeting of the Minds by Albinal.com: www.flickr.com
- Wallpapers from MSN (More than 100 to choose from): wallpapers.msn.com
- Zune Desktop Theme for XP: www.zune.net/en-us/meetzune/software.htm
Free utilities (online applications or desktop programs)
- Blio bets against e-reader devices: news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/technology/
- ColorPic Color Picker: www.iconico.com/colorpic/
- Family.Show Genealogy Program: www.vertigo.com/familyshow.aspx
- Introducing "Kindle for PC" - The Free Application for Reading Kindle Books on the PC: phx.corporate-ir.net
- Isotope Screen Capture application for Windows: blogs.msdn.com/saveenr/
- Liquid XML Studio (Free): www.liquid-technologies.com/XmlStudio/
- Microsoft Autocollage? What? How? Why?: blogs.msdn.com/vincentbellet/
- Microsoft Baseline Security Analyzer 2.1.1: bink.nu/news/
- Microsoft Reader: www.microsoft.com/reader/
- Ninemsn Toolbar: toolbar.ninemsn.com.au
- Thumbtack - Collect, Organise, Share: thumbtack.livelabs.com
- Windows Memory Diagnostic: oca.microsoft.com/en/windiag.asp