Three Top Windows Freeware Applications
January 2nd, 2009 (4:00pm) Samuel Dean 7 CommentsTweet This
It’s one of my favorite pursuits to try out bushels of open source and freeware applications, looking for gems. Sometimes you win and sometimes you lose on the hunt, but there are definitely a lot of applications out there that cost nothing but pack powerful punches.
Here are three Windows freeware applications that rose to the top of my favorites list in 2008–ones that I use every week.
Startup Delayer immediately struck me as a very useful Windows utility when I first wrote about it in early October. Indeed, I use it every day and love it.
Startup Delayer is designed to do what its name implies: It lets you set delays for the various Windows applications you load when you boot your computer, so that they don’t attempt to load all at once, slowing boot time down. You just drag applications around in a simple, shared white space to set the delays. If you load a lot of software all the time, as I do, and if you load a fair number of applications upon bootup, Startup Delayer will deliver its maximum benefit.
After taking a look at the Top Downloads list at Download.com, I’m not suprised to see Malwarebytes’ Anti-Malware on the top 20 list. I wrote about this utility here. It’s very common for Windows users to find their systems running slowly and inefficiently over time. Files get littered around hard drives in Windows, registries get mucked up, and more. While there are lots of free tools for task such as disk cleanup, this one consistently ferrets out gunk that other applications won’t.
Finally, IrfanView is a fantastic freeware graphics application that I’ve written up a couple of times. Its latest version 4.23 adds lots uf useful features, including expanded history lists for slideshows, the ability to create multi-page PDF files and more. This application opens and closes like a snap, but is surprisingly powerful, especially in the latest version.
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I LOVE IrfanView and use it all the time! – Mary-Lynn
ccleaner missing from the list
I’ve been using Irfanview for quite some time now, it is wonderful! I’m glad you included it in your list. With how often I play with images, resizing, etc, I don’t know what I’d do without it.
As for Malwarebytes’, I wish I’d known about that program before. I just downloaded it and it has found 8 things… Things that must have slipped past my other protection programs at one point or another. I’m impressed! :-)
I downloaded startupDelayer (startDelay_v2.3b134.exe from r2.com.au) and activated it. After the restart, I am constantly having ‘Transscout Trojan Attack’ detected message from Norton Firewall. I have never seen such message before.
I am not sure if there is any relation between startupDelayer binary I downloaded and the ‘Transscout Trojan’.
A few other gems for PC apps (beyond Firefox and the myriad useful Firefox add-ons):
gMote (mouse gestures application)
Launchy (quick program and file launcher)
KatMouse (allows scrolling of window beneath the mouse cursor without having to click on the window to bring it into focus)
Workrave (rest break reminder with repetitive stress injury-preventing exercises)
I think Evernote is the world’s best clipping and organizing software. It’s a webservice and desktop modules for PC and Mac. Since it keeps your clips synced between computers, it’s a great way to always have your informtion available via web, laptop and desktop. It’s free up to a certain level of bandwidth a month. Can you tell I like it?
I get regularly rootkits from my clients. So I am very used to them. The only thing good about Malwarebytes’ Anti-Malware is that it can delete files that are locked. Few other programs can do that. Other then that it is worthless.
Try SUPERAntiSpyware which is much better.