For the gadgeteers – and others.

We have a number of people who like exploring anything that's free. This list, from PC Magazine, suggests several "old standards" and perhaps some that may not be familiar. For those, like me, who take a fairly conservative attitude toward "exessive extras," these offer the possible advantage of being recommended by people who are - at least in name and payroll - fairly professional users. (?)

The Best Free Software

ARTICLE DATE: 02.08.08
By Eric Griffith and PC Magazine Staff

"We did the math: If you bought popular apps instead of trying their gratis counter-parts, at the manufacturers' list prices you'd be out $5,183 and change! Why spend money when you can get what you need for nothing? Sometimes, you do get what you don't pay for."

"Best" is a matter of opinion, but this list includes quite a few things that may be of interest to our "gadget infatuated" members. There are even some things that might be useful for real people, and possibly some "more modern" alternatives to some of the utilities that a few people have been complaining about. …

The link is to the opening page, The Best Free Software Hall of Fame where you'll find things like Adobe Reader and other "standards."

There is a Table of Contents in the left margin of each web page, with links, if any of the following ones don't work (I refuse to preview and check all of them). They claim 175 freebies but they're split up on 17 separate web pages (next button at the bottom of each page, or use the TOC). Some probably will be familiar, but there may be some new ones.

You can use the "print" button at the bottom of any page to get a "printable" copy of the whole 17 pages in one shot, and if you copy and then Edit|Paste Special|Formated Text in Word there's not too much trash to be reasonably readable, and links to the free stuff should be intact in the Word copy so you can click to what you're interested in directly from Word, without going through all 17 web pages. The pasted copy probably will NOT KEEP live links to the reviews that have appeared in the magazine for some of these items, so you'll need to go to the web page if you're interested what they've said about them in reviews.

Other categories:

Operating Systems

Antivirus/Anti-Malware

Firewalls & Security

Finance & Office

Calendar/PIMs

Backup/Sync & App Launchers

Utilities

Downloads & Interface Enhancement

File View/Conversion & Networking

Blogging, RSS Readers, & Instant Messaging

Communication & Audio

Video

Graphics

Browsers & Browser Add-Ons

Games/Fun

and a slightly deviant:

Free (Okay, Cheap) Hardware

Have fun.

John