2011-02-08 The Editors' Choice List: Our Sele…

The Editors' Choice List: Our Selection of the

Best PC Freeware
Updated 9. January 2011 - 17:29 by bodis

Introduction

Welcome to the Gizmo's Freeware Editors' Choice List, where you'll

find a c ollection of the very best freeware from our site.

This really is a "best of the best" list. Most of the produc ts in this
list have been awarded the c oveted "Gizmo's Top" pick award
signifying they are the best free produc t in their class. We've also
inc luded some other outstanding produc ts that have impressed our editors with
their usefulness and professionalism.

We suggest you browse the whole list at your leisure as you may be surprised
what freeware gems you will disc over. The pathologically impatient can use the
Quic k Select Index below.

Caution: Some of these rec ommendations involve advanc ed system tasks like
cleaning the Windows registry so be sure to backup or image your system first.

The Editors' Choice List of the Best Freeware - Quick Select Index

After clicking a link, use your browser's Back icon to return here.

Items added or updated most recently: LastPass | Cyber Ghost | File

Renamer Basic | SUMO | LiberKey | Mini Tool Power Data Recovery | How to
install Comodo Firewall | Free Download Manager

Security Guide | Antivirus | Firewall | Antispyware | Trojan

Sc anner | HIPS | Browser Protec tion | Anonymous Surfing |
Security/Privacy:
Secure DNS | Rootkit Sc anner | Software Update Monitor
| Site Adviser

PC Tuneup | Registry Cleaner | Disk De-fragmenter | File

Cleanup/Tune: Cleaner | Eraser | Uninstaller | Startup Manager | Memory
Optimizer | Windows Tweaker

PDF Writer | PDF Tools | PDF Reader | Office Suite | Software

Home/Office: Suite | Word Processor | Finance Software | Text Editor |
PIM | World Clock | Sticky Notes

High Dynamic Range Software | Image Editor | Image Viewer |

Image Tools: Sc reen Capture | Paint Program | Photo Organizer | Noise
Reduction | Vec tor Graphics Editor | Image Stitc her

Web Browser | Email Client | Bittorrent Client | Download

Manager | Remote Access | HTML Editor | FTP Client |
Internet Tools:
Instant Messenger | Password Manager | Download Meter |
Network Finder

Disc Burner | Media Player | Music Player | MP3 Tag Editor |

Format Conversion | Video Editor | Audio Editor | TV Viewer |
Multimedia:
Disc Emulation | Media Rec order | CD Ripper | DVD Ripper |
Media Centre

Bac kup Program | Drive Imaging | Software Updater | Folder

Sync | File Encryption | File Manager | Partition Manager |
Duplicate Detector | Disk Spac e Analyzer | Archive Utility |
System Tools:
File Copy | File Comparison | Data Recovery | Renamer |
System Information | Process Viewer | Virtual Desktop | WE
Addons | Program Launcher | Desktop Search

Jump to Games, Lists, Tutorials, & More | Jump to Related Top

Still Reading?
Pick Lists

Best Free Security & Privacy Software

Best Free Antivirus Software:

Avira AntiVir -- Download | Review

"My top pic k if you're looking for the best

techsupportalert.com/…/top-free… 1/22
2011-02-08 The Editors' Choice List: Our Sele…
protection against virus, spyware and rootkit
threats. AntiVir is very light on resources and
the detec tion rate of malware is outstanding,
better than almost every other antivirus
according to tests."

High Quality Alternatives:

Microsoft Security Essentials: "By far the best choice for average users
bec ause of the minimal user interaction required and clean interface. The
detection rates are very good, in particular the detec tion of zero-day threats
and rootkits. Even more impressive, it has very few false positives and is light
on resourc es."

avast! Free Antivirus: "An exc ellent free antivirus program that many users
prefer. Its detection rates are on par with AntiVir, it's light on resourc es, and
it has the most features: full real-time c apabilities (web, e-mail, IM, P2P and
network shields), boot- time scanning, and a behavioral blocker."

Provides an essential layer of protection from a multitude of virus, trojan, worm,

spyware, adware, dialer, keylogger and rootkit infections. Most c urrent
antiviruses have at least reasonably good detec tion rates of all forms of
malware. We rec ommend using only one antivirus program for real-time
protection.

Best Free Firewall:

Comodo Internet Security - - Download |

Review

"The sec urity effec tiveness of the firewall and

applic ation monitor (Defense+ HIPS) exceeds the
performanc e of many c ommercial products. On
the minus side, it's rather talkative and this may
alarm or annoy users." The antivirus c omponent
is optional and not recommended.

How to install Comodo Firewall - Comodo 5.0 / 2111 installation guide.

High Quality Alternatives:

Online Armor Free: "A solid c ontender in proactive protection, with a novel
Run Safer feature that allows the added protection of a limited user ac count
without the annoyanc es. If you can handle the ads and installation nags, it
functions similar to Comodo with a few extra user friendly features."

Zone Alarm Free Firewall 2010 "is an excellent inbound/outbound OS

firewall solution suited for users of every level of experience. Users c an
adjust sec urity settings for their needs to allow for file/printer sharing, public
networks, and even turn off the firewall if ever needed. Simple c ontrols in the
form of visual slide bars make setting up this firewall a snap."

Firewalls not only filter incoming traffic to your c omputer but they also
inc reasingly help you to control the activities of Internet facing applications on
your PC. The ones that provide the most control and sec urity, typically require
the most user involvement to answer popup alerts. If all the popup alerts are
meaningless to you, then at a minimum remember to enable the windows
firewall. In any case, only install one software firewall.

Best Free Adware/Spyware/Scumware Remover:

SuperAntiSpyware -- Download | Review

"Top of the list once again in detection and
removal of malware, with a fairly lightweight
download and simple installation."

High Quality Alternatives:

MalwareBytes Anti-Malware: Tied for

sec ond and rec ommended by our sec urity
wizard.

Emsisoft Anti Malware 5.0: Tied for second and highest as a Trojan
Sc anner/Trojan Remover.

techsupportalert.com/…/top-free… 2/22
2011-02-08 The Editors' Choice List: Our Sele…
Additional scanners/removers will often find additional unique threats. Regular
on-demand anti-malware scanning is still a must.

Best Free Intrusion Prevention and Detection Utility

(HIPS Software):

ThreatFire -- Download | Review

"It has now bounc ed back to the top of the pile
and is far less capable of causing system
problems. It provides behavioral based detec tion
and runs from the box without the need for
additional configuration. Be aware that
automatic updates are not provided with the
free version if you elect to “opt out” of the
ThreatFire Community."

If you need a lite HIPS alternative, try WinPatrol.

If you use a simple firewall (suc h as the built-in windows firewall), then a HIPS
program provides a potent second layer of defense. But some anti-virus/anti-
spyware programs have a behavioral component too. Learn about HIPS software
here.

Best Free Browser Protection Utility:

Sandboxie -- Download | Review

"Creates a special sandbox environment on your
PC [either for web browsing or any program]. So
that within the virtual sandbox provided by
Sandboxie the vital portions of your PC are
totally isolated. If set c orrectly, any spyware,
Trojans, keyloggers or other malware produc ts
that 'infec t' your PC while browsing will be eliminated. It c an c ause problems on
some PCs so backup before installing.

Alternatively, you c an isolate your browser and other Internet facing applications
with GesWall. It provides exc ellent security and is a worthy alternative to
Sandboxie" (see the review above).

Browser protection utilities like Sandboxie and GeSWall c an greatly inc rease your
defenses against drive-by downloads and other vulnerabilities. Instead of only
reacting to malware, they use proactive tec hnology to protec t your computer.

Best Free Anonymous Surfing Service:

Cyber Ghost -- Download | Review

"Cyber Ghost VPN is a VPN client offered by
S.A.D. GmbH and their servers are based in
Germany. They use 128-bit AES encryption on
all connections to ensure a high level of
anonymity and use data c ompression to make
c onnec tions to their servers faster.

For their free servic e, they offer 1 GB a month

which is more than enough for surfing the web.
You must register in order to use this servic e.

It's GUI is very basic . attractive and user-friendly. They have just recently hit
half a million users and are growing fast. I am very pleased with this produc t. It's
well worth a look."

Anonymity services safely transmit information with little risk of loc al

interc eption, making them ideal for surfing on open Wi-Fi networks or in hotels
while traveling.

Related Security Top Picks and Hot Items

Best Free Secure DNS -- OpenDNS -- Download | Review. "After only a

quic k registration and c onfiguration c hange, it considerably improves your
pro-active protection against drive by malware. It's an exc ellent first line of
defense."

techsupportalert.com/…/top-free… 3/22
2011-02-08 The Editors' Choice List: Our Sele…
Best Free Rootkit Scanner -- "Several free applic ations spec ialize in the
detection and removal of rootkits."

Secunia PSI -- Download | Review. Scans for insec ure software and helps
you quic kly update risky products like browsers, PDF readers, Sun Java,
office software, email software, media players, instant messengers, download
managers, P2P clients, etc.. You should also allow Windows to automatically
update with its latest patc hes, for Windows itself often has sec urity flaws
(learn more).

Best Free Site Link Adviser -- WOT -- Download | Review. Quickly rates
sites and links, uses an automatic warning or blocking screen to help you
avoid ac cidentally interacting with potentially bad websites, and provides
informative ratings and user c omments without censoring the visibility of
sites.

Best Free Cleanup & Tuning Software

Best Free PC Tune-up Utility:

Ashampoo WinOptimizer -- Download |

Review

"It's very easy to use and has a sleek interface.

Allows one-c lick cleaning for disk, privacy and
registry cleaning tasks, and has an exc ellent
tweaking tool."

Note that it requires registration and some

components are not as advanc ed as other produc ts, suc h as the disk defrag and
disk c leaner.

Intended as an all-in-one PC performance optimizer and tweaker to simplify

system tasks that typic ally require many separate specialty programs.

Best Free Registry Cleaner:

Wise Registry Cleaner -- Download |

Review

"The most satisfac tory product I have come

ac ross. It allows you to backup the Registry
before you start and it doesn't c heck areas
where most Registry tricks are played. I caution
against c hanging the default settings unless
you have a good understanding of the Registry
and how applications use it."

If you use registry cleaners suc h as Wise, CCleaner, or WinOptimizer, be sure to

backup and image first. Registry c leaning mistakes can quic kly lead to the need
to completely re-install windows.

Best Free Disk De-fragmenter:

Auslogics Disk Defrag -- Download |

Review

"The latest release is way ahead of the

competition. I found the defragmentation time
to be incredibly fast, and for the first time in a
while, the long proc ess of defragmenting my
hard drive was shrunk to minutes."

Defragmenting your hard drive on a regular

basis is a sound housekeeping habit. It can greatly increase system
performanc e and relieve stress on your hard drive.

Best Free File Cleaner:

CCleaner -- Download | Review

"Quickly and effectively remove unused or
temporary files, unwanted cookies, and other
unneeded files that acc umulate from

techsupportalert.com/…/top-free… 4/22
2011-02-08
unneeded files that acc umulate from
The Editors' Choice List: Our Sele…
applic ations."

Additionally, it can scan the Windows registry

for issues, securely erase, manage the startup,
uninstall software, clean system restore points, and run automatically at startup
or as a task.

Best Free Secure Erase Utility:

Eraser -- Download | Review

"Highly effective at wiping the free space,
leaving behind only unrecoverable nonsense file
names on modern size hard drives. It erases the
unused disk space (or "free spac e"), cluster tips
(or "slac k spac e"), individual files or folders, and
data in the recyc ling bin."

Normal file deletion doesn't prevent a common file rec overy program from
rec overing your files, so eraser utilities are helpful to permanently delete any
personally identifiable or unwanted files to protect your privac y.

Best Free Program Uninstaller:

Revo Uninstaller -- Download | Review

"It is the only freeware produc t I know of that
will make a dec ent job of cleaning up a failed
install. It finds leftover files and registry entries
to help uninstall more cleanly, but it doesn't
always find everything.

An alternative technique (requiring more work

on your part) allows you to monitor before and after an installation to c ompletely
remove files and registry entries. For this, try ZSoft Uninstaller. But there is
always the slight chanc e it will remove unwanted entries, so use caution."

The Windows control panel has limited uninstalling capabilities, but freeware
programs like Revo and ZSoft allow for better deletion of programs by removing
many files and registry entries that are usually left behind.

Best Free Startup Manager:

Autoruns -- Download | Review

Besides startup/logon management, Autoruns
also allows you to manage services, drivers,
sidebar gadgets, scheduled tasks, image
hijacks, Winlogin entries (that many other
startup managers miss), and more, but use it
carefully.

Alternatively, average users could use Starter, CCleaner, Revo Uninstaller, etc.

If you have a system full of programs running in the background that don't do
very much (and a start menu full of near useless tray icons), then startup
managers are espec ially helpful for increasing system performance. Run
programs when you want, not when they decide.

Related Cleaning/Tuning Top Picks and Hot Items

Best Free Memory Optimizer -- CleanMem -- Download | Review.

"Cleans system memory and c ache, and actually seems to work. It doesn't
run c onstantly in the tray. So you just set it and forget it (via the task
scheduler at user- specified time intervals)."

Best Free Windows Tweaker -- Ultimate Windows Tweaker -- Download

| Review. "A well equipped tweaker utility that covers user ac count,
sec urity, performance and internet tweaking." Be sure to check out the
complementary tweaking guide, here, which largely applies to windows 7
too.

Best Free Home & Office Software

techsupportalert.com/…/top-free… 5/22
2011-02-08 The Editors' Choice List: Our Sele…

Best Free PDF Writer:

Bullzip PDF Printer or PDFill Writer --

Read Review

"Both have more of the options I need (enc rypt

and password protect PDF files, add
watermarks, append files, adjust output quality,
edit metadata), and have worked flawless for
me."

PDF writers act like a pseudo printer on your system. When you want to create
a PDF document from pretty muc h any application you just choose to print it to
the PDF printer and it c reates a PDF document.

Best Free PDF Tools Utility:

PDFill PDF Tools -- Download | Review

"Clean and nic e user interface, includes most
features such as merge, split, reorder, rotate,
header and footer with page number,
watermark, encrypt and decrypt, c onvert PDF
to images or vice versa, c onvert PostScript to
PDF."

See here for related online apps and services.

Some programs in this review are designed to c ombine merging, splitting and
other c apabilities in a single application (like PDFill), but some perform a more
specific task (see the Specific Tools section in the review).

Best Free PDF Reader/Viewer:

PDF-XChange Viewer -- Download |

Review

"Loads reasonably fast, can print PDFs, allows

basic annotation without watermarking, good
text clarity, allows you to fill and save Adobe
PDF forms, extrac t text and images, magnify
text, and export PDF pages or doc uments to
BMP, JPEG, TIFF, PNG formats."

Third party readers like PDF-XChange help you to replace the slow and bulky
Adobe PDF Reader.

Best Free Office Suite:

OpenOffice -- Download | Review

"OpenOffice c overs the basic s of office
document c reation: word processing,
spreadsheets, presentations, graphic s, and
databases. It allows you to save your
documents in many c hoices of file formats, so
you'll have no problem exchanging documents
with MS Office."

Free substitutes for MS Offic e like this go a long way to meeting the needs of
home users, small businesses, and many others.

Best Free Software Suite:

LiberKey -- Download | Review

"Liberkey has 305 applications to choose from
inc luding most popular ones. If you know what
you want I would suggest installing Standard
suite and adding other apps to your taste. "

Software suites is a great way of having your

favorite applic ations in one place and it is
completely portable.

techsupportalert.com/…/top-free… 6/22
2011-02-08 The Editors' Choice List: Our Sele…
Related Home/Office Top Picks and Hot Items

Best Free Word Processor -- Jarte -- Download | Review. "A clean, light,
and task oriented word processor. It provides outlining functions, basic spell
checking, sc reenshot capturing, and PDF exporting. Additionally, it has extra
interface layouts/skins, a wealth of formatting options, and support for Rich
Text Files (RTF) and Word documents (DOC, DOCX)."

Abiword -- Download | Review. "A popular, free word proc essor with an
interface similar to Word & WordPerfec t. It reads many document types
(OpenOffice, MS Word, WordPerfec t, RTF, HTML) and you will be pleased
with its layout capabilities. Includes spell checking, annotations, common
formatting tools, and support for many plugins."

Best Free Finance Software -- GnuCash -- Download | Review. "Eases

you into acc ounting equations and helps you keep tabs on your budget."

Best Free Text Editor - - "General purpose text editors that have more
features than Notepad, such as tabbed interfaces and block func tions."

Best Free Personal Information Manager -- Palm Desktop -- Download

| Review. "An excellent, full function PIM, much like Microsoft Outlook
without the email client. Track expenses for multiple c ategories (and in
different currencies) and quickly export them to Microsoft Exc el and Word."

Best Free World Clock -- Wim's World Clock -- Download | Review. "A
light world cloc k with a c hoice of virtually any number of time zones."

Best Free Sticky Notes Utility -- Stickies -- Download | Review. "Provides

a plethora of advanced features (suc h as recurring reminders) that really
makes it shine."

Best Free Image Viewing & Image Editing Software

Best Free High Dynamic Range (HDR) Software:

Picturenaut - - Download | Review

"If you are looking for straight forward images
without exc essive tone mapping this has to be
your top software. Provides image alignment,
exposure c orrection, color balancing, noise level
compensation, and derivation of the c amera
curve from the source images."

HDR photography c ombines several photos of the same scene, taken at

different exposure settings, into one photo. The details of dark areas (from a
longer-duration exposure) are c ombined with the details of brightly lit areas
(from a shorter-duration exposure). The result is a single photo that is
correctly exposed and also looks more dimensional.

Best Free Digital Image Editor:

LightBox Image Editor or Paint.net -

- Read Review

"Lightbox is my top pic k for basic image editing

because it has an attrac tive user interface and
it's simple and straight forward to use.

Paint.net is a very good choice for mid-level

photo retouching because of its exc ellent design and attrac tive interface. It also
has options and tools comparable to commerc ial software, but it requires you to
install Mic rosoft .NET Framework 2.0 or newer."

See here for related online apps and services.

Basic editors like Lightbox allow you to quic kly make small adjustments to the
overall lighting, c olors, and tones of your images (along with other tools:
cropping, sharpening, red eye c orrec tion). But editors like Paint.net offer more
advanc ed tools (layers, c aptions, shapes, selec tive adjustments, artistic

techsupportalert.com/…/top-free… 7/22
2011-02-08 The Editors' Choice List: Our Sele…
effects, etc.). See the review for editors comparable to professional programs.

Best Free Digital Image Viewer:

Zoner Photo Studio Free - - Download |

Review

"It is organized into a manager, a fullsc reen

viewer and an editor, and is perfect for the
needs of average users. It reads many formats,
generates thumbnails in a blink, complete with a
powerful search with many filters, a lot of
display options, full shortc ut customization, the
ability to temporarily rotate pic tures and to straighten them by drawing a
horizontal line. You can also organize pictures into albums, geotag, build
calendars, stitch panoramas, make 3D pictures and more."

High Quality Image Viewer Alternatives:

XnView: "It's probably the most versatile of all viewers because it c an read
nearly 400 types of graphic files and c onvert any of these to more than 50
formats."

IrfanView: "This is a first-class product, an amazingly c apable applic ation

and quite fast at displaying images. It offers plenty of func tions for editing,
converting, batc h proc essing, slideshow exporting, etc."

Apart from the basic viewing and browsing functions, digital image viewers offer
loads of features like editing, filtering, batch processing, organizing, publishing,
etc .

Best Free Screen Capture Utility:

PicPick -- Download | Review

"A powerful and user friendly sc reen capture
tool with a plethora of features. Captures full
sc reen, active window, and other regions
(rectangular, fixed, or freehand). Supports
auto-sc roll, dual monitors, sound effect and
multiple formats. An image editor is included,
plus several extras: color picker, sc reen ruler,
protrac tor, c ross hair and whiteboard."

As an alternative to the utilities that come with windows, free sc reen c apture
products like Pic Pick cover many useful features and functions: c apture full or
selected areas, auto detect windows, snap sc rolling windows, allow delayed
captures, etc .

Related Image Top Picks and Hot Items

Best Free Paint Program -- Project DogWaffle -- Download | Review.

"Any one of these in the review will definitely satisfy the inner artist in you.
My requirements inc lude graphic tablet support and the feel of natural paint
on a digital c anvas, but support for animation or booklet pages is a plus."

Best Free Photo Organizer -- Picasa 3 -- Download | Review. "Organize

photos and videos, import photos from cameras, send photos to many
devices, and use many editing features (sufficient for what amateur
photographers need)."

Best Free Photo Noise Reduction Software -- "Noise on a digital image

looks like random speckled-c olor dots in areas where the c olor should be
more even. Noise-reducing programs c annot eliminate noise from your digital
photos, but they can make it less obvious."

Best Free Vector Graphics Editor -- Inkscape -- Download | Review.

"Highly usable interface and comes with impressive tutorials to ease you into
the world of nodes, lines, curves, and shapes" (review). "Suitable for web
graphics, logos, creative art, images with text, technic al illustrations, etc ."
(FAQs).

techsupportalert.com/…/top-free… 8/22
2011-02-08 The Editors' Choice List: Our Sele…
Best Free Digital Image Stitcher -- Microsoft Image Composite Editor
(ICE) -- Download | Review. "If you have taken a series of photographs of
a scene that you would like to piec e together as one pic ture, then this is
what you're looking for." ICE also rec ently made Gizmo go "Wow!" (here).

Best Free Internet & Email and Networking & File Transfer Software

Best Free Web Browser:

Mozilla Firefox -- Download | Review

"It's safer and a tad faster than Internet
Explorer at general browsing, and is very stable
and more standards c ompliant. Version 3.5
made Firefox even more feature rich with such
capabilities as Private browsing (similar to
"Inc ognito Mode" in Chrome). It allows you to
customize your web experienc e with over 2000
free add-ons, providing the most flexibility, expandability, and features of any
browser to date."

To setup or backup Firefox, see Gizmo's guides: How to Install Firefox, How to
Back up Mozilla Firefox (and Thunderbird), Best Firefox Add-ons.

High Quality Web Browser Alternatives:

Opera: "Extremely fast at loading pages, loads of features. There's so muc h

to like about it you c ould easily c reate a case that it's better than Firefox.
Though, alas, there are not nearly as many widgets available as there are
Firefox extensions."

SRWare Iron: "Looks and acts almost exac tly like Google Chrome, but
without sending any information bac k to Google's servers. Amazingly fast at
loading pages, minimalist interface, with impressive features suc h as an
Inc ognito Mode for privacy."

Best Free Email Client:

Mozilla Thunderbird -- Download |

Review

"Intuitive user interface and highly customizable

and expandable through add-ons. More secure
than Outlook Express and, unlike the latter, is
still being actively developed."

In addition to sending and rec eiving email,

email programs like Thunderbird can manage your contac ts and calendar, read
news groups and RSS newsfeeds, and even integrate with various web-based
mail systems like GMail and Hotmail.

Best Free Bittorrent Client:

µTorrent - - Download | Review

"Small, effic ient, many features, and excellent
support. Tied for lowest memory use of all
clients."

You may also want to browse the related

guides, Optimizing µTorrent for Speed and
Optimizing Bittorrent Clients.

Bittorrent quickly bec ame an important download format for its speed,
effic iency, and c heapness in distributing content over the Internet. Learn more
about Bittorrent here.

Best Free Download Manager:

Free Download Manager -- Download |

Review

"A popular download manager and a good

choic e for its stability, nic e user interface and

techsupportalert.com/…/top-free… 9/22
2011-02-08 The Editors' Choice List: Our Sele…
support for various browsers suc h as Internet
Explorer, Firefox, Chrome, Opera and Safari."

There c omes a time when you are downloading

a large file and the download stops part of the way through. Specialized
download managers like Free Download Manager will allow you to resume a
download, start several c oncurrent download sessions, and dramatic ally
improve download speed.

Best Free Remote Access Software:

UltraVNC or LogMeIn -- Read Review

"UltraVNC offers all the features you need,
inc luding auto-configuration, easy user
interfac e, extensive hotkeys and embedded file
transfer. Add to that the fact that it's free,
secure, reliable and reasonably speedy and you
have a winner.

LogMeIn is possibly the fastest most reliable

remote control freeware available. It will even
allow a PC to remotely control a Macintosh. Exc ellent tool for ac cessing home
computer or friends/family computers from anywhere."

Remotely administer another c omputer for off-site troubleshooting or for

ac cessing your home PC while traveling.

Related Internet/Network Top Picks and Hot Items

Best Free HTML Editor -- "Includes WYSIWYG editors for non-technical

users who want to create an attractive web site, but also disc usses HTML
text editors for programmers or for anyone comfortable with c oding raw
HTML."

Best Free FTP Client -- Fire FTP -- Download | Review. "With a robust
feature set, ease of use, and browser integration, FireFTP should serve the
needs of all but the heaviest power user. FTP c lients enable fast bulk file
transfers; essential for website management."

Best Free Instant Messaging Client -- Pidgin -- Download | Review.

"Easy- to-use and very functional multi-protocol IM client (see its download
page for a long list of supported clients). It aptly calls itself the 'universal
chat c lient'."

Skype -- Download. "Allows free Skype-to-Skype Internet phone calls with

video, but it also has instant messaging and many other features (voicemail,
SMS, forwarding)."

Best Free Web Form Filler / Password Manager -- LastPass --

Download | Review. "LastPass is a one of a kind product. Most password
managers are either online or software only. It is the combination of web
service and software. With the web service you can acc ess your data
anywhere."

Best Free Download/Upload Meter -- NetMeter -- Download | Review.

"Provides a graphic al representation of the network traffic going in and out
of your PC. Has excellent graphics, usability, and configurability."

Best Free Network Finder -- InSSIDer -- Download | Review. "A WiFi

network finder helps mobile users see the available wireless networks in an
area. It also helps you identify the strongest wireless signals and the SSID
of an acc ess point. For example, it may help you solve slow and unstable
connections that are due to overlapping signals."

Best Free Multimedia Software

Best Free CD / DVD Burning Software:

ImgBurn -- Download | Review

techsupportalert.com/…/top-free… 10/22
2011-02-08 The Editors' Choice List: Our Sele…
"Most powerful burning applic ation with
advanc ed features, support for every modern
optical disc from CD to Blu-Ray, more than 10
image formats, authoring rewritable disc s, etc ."

Whether bac king up data, preparing an audio

mix CD, or creating a bootable Linux disc,
finding the right burning software is essential.

Best Free Media Player:

The KM Player -- Download | Review

"Easy to use and install, awesome playbac k,
and no need for extra c odec packs, making it
easy to use for those with less experience.
Other features inc lude setting multifarious audio
and video effects, slow down or increase
playbac k speed with regular tone, etc."

Capable of playing multiple types of media files, including various digital audio
and video formats, CDs, and DVDs.

Best Free Music Player and Organizer:

Jaangle -- Download | Review

"The library is impressive for organizing music ,
the download capabilities enhanc e the music
experience (get artist and album photos,
reviews, bios, etc .), and the auto continue (or
"auto DJ") mode chooses songs based on many
tag c ategories (artist, genre, all music, etc.). It
ac hieves a good balancing ac t between
lightness, resourc e efficiency, and feature
support for music lovers.

If you need more music managing features all in one program, try MusicBee."

Music players like Jaangle and MusicBee serve as exc ellent MP3 players and play
most popular audio formats. As music centric programs, they may inspire you
to rip or download music, organize your music collection, or learn more about
your favorite artists or songs.

Best Free MP3 Tag Editor:

TagScanner -- Download | Review

"Supports basic and extended tags, c omplete
with Music Renamer and Tag Processor. It
allows you to preview tag information and cover
art from online databases like freedb or
Amazon.

But if you prefer a more normal user interfac e

then Mp3tag is a good alternative."

Useful for when you need to playback audio files with their tag information
shown c orrec tly or to organize a large music c ollec tion based on tag
information.

Best Free Audio & Video Format Conversion:

iWisoft Free Video Converter --

Download | Review

"Simple polished interfac e, file and preset

editing allowed, good devic e presets. It even
has a few pleasant surprises, such as a basic
editing suite built in. In short, this program is an
outstanding c hoic e for almost any devic e
conversion."

Despite its name, it converts a huge number of both video and audio formats,
and as a nic e extra also provides some video editing.

Converters like iWisoft make many different audio and video formats c ompatible

techsupportalert.com/…/top-free… 11/22
2011-02-08 The Editors' Choice List: Our Sele…
for use with common devic es or programs. Most devic es will only take a few
specific formats; for example, a DVD movie will not play on an iPod without
being c onverted into an MP4 file.

Best Free Video Editor:

Avidemux -- Download | Review

"My personal favorite for multi- purpose video
editing and processing bec ause of its simplic ity,
wide range of tools, and well doc umented
tutorials. Supports many file types inc luding
AVI, DVD compatible MPEG files, MP4 and ASF."

Video editing is becoming ever more prevalent and crucial; both to the aspiring
young direc tor and to the mom who just wants to save old memories.

Best Free Audio Editor:

Audacity -- Download | Review

"It does all the rec ording and editing I need,
and is muc h simpler and faster to use than a lot
of pay products. It easily applies noise profiles
and saves in multiple c ompressed formats."

Excellent free products like Audac ity give a

professional touc h to your rec ordings. For
example, podcasting enthusiasts use them to
rec ord, edit, mix, and save sound on their PCs. They may even make entire
downloadable shows that sound almost as good as a professional produc tion.

Best Free Online TV Viewer:

JLC's Internet TV Viewer -- Download |

Review

"A simple, but effective TV streams viewer that

doesn't have muc h overhead. The c hannel
guide is maintained by users and is very
complete. User ratings help you c hoose good
streams, and a favorites category helps you
corral the streams you like. Requires Windows Media Player, Real Player, or VLC."

Get Podcasts, video on demand, reruns of past shows, and live video streams.
Many TV stations make their over-the-air broadcasts available as Live streams,
but quality c an vary. You may also find independent and international networks
that aren't c arried by cable companies.

Best Free CD & DVD Emulation Software:

Gizmo Drive -- Download | Review

"Support up to 26 virtual drives, c reate ISO
image, burn ISO files or folders to rec ordable
disks, complete with Gizmo Manager and Image
Wizard to perform tasks."

Emulation software allows users to run a

CD/DVD image direc tly from a hard disk after
mounting the image to a virtual disk drive. This
works the same as or even better than the traditional way of running a CD/DVD
from a disk drive.

Best Free Streaming Media Recorder:

Jing -- Download | Review

"Comes with an eye-catching interface, and
outperforms the competition in the quality of its
recorded stream. Allows you to manually select
a recording area on your sc reen, c apture
images, play videos, save to vendor servers,
and create links for public viewing."

techsupportalert.com/…/top-free… 12/22
2011-02-08 The Editors' Choice List: Our Sele…
A good option for most users is to use a free
web servic e to record streaming media (suc h
as ZamZar, SplanDoo and YouConvertIt), and if
that fails, simply rec ord the streaming media
while it is playing on your PC.

Best Free CD Ripper:

Exact Audio Copy -- Download | Review

"Rips CD imperfec tions and sc ratc hes with ease.
Of 800 or so CDs, I only had 7 trac ks that EAC
couldn't rip perfectly. Given the c ondition of
some of my CDs, that's a mighty impressive
performance. Rips to WAV, MP3, OGG, FLAC,
APE, and more audio formats."

Digitize your music collection to use on a computer or other player.

Related Multimedia Top Picks and Hot Items

Best Free DVD Ripper -- "Copy the audio and video content of a DVD to a
file in MP4, MPEG, or other video formats. Edit, bac kup, share, or playbac k
without the need to load a DVD."

Best Free Media Centre -- XBMC -- Download | Review. "Highly intuitive

and usable features for listening to music , viewing photo albums, or
watc hing digital videos. Organizes your media files intelligently (handling
some that Windows Media Center does not), and downloads online
information about them. Specially designed for better image and sound
quality on big sc reens or while 'sofa surfing'."

Best Free System Tools, Disk & File, Desktop & GUI Software

Best Free Backup Software:

GFI Backup -- Download | Review

"It's the top recommendation for average users,
with an easy to use bac kup scheduler and
restore func tion (that restores c omplete
archives or individual files). It also bac kups files
even if they are in use and supports numerous
backup loc ations (inc luding LAN and FTP). You
will find GFI similar to Titan Backup, with some nic e extras."

See here for related online apps and services. Online backup services allow you
to share your data, ac cess it when traveling, or arc hive it in yet another extra
storage location.

You might also be interested in Real-Time Continuous Backup Freebie.

Backup software like GFI has wizards and step by step guides to make the
process painless, giving you confidence that it will c ontinue to work behind the
sc enes to protec t your data. They include support for sc heduling and bac king
up to local and online storage locations, verification of backup archives, and
easy to use restore functions.

Best Free Drive Imaging Software:

Paragon Backup and Recovery Free

-- Download | Review

"Overall a reliable program with some great

features to handle the needs of most users:
fast c omplete backup and restore, basic
partitioning, differential bac kups, individual file
restore, c yc lic bac kup, hard drive c loning, and
good c ompression options."

For guidance on drive imaging, see Gizmo's three part article, encouragingly
named "Never Re-install Windows Again" -- Part 1, Part 2, Part 3.

techsupportalert.com/…/top-free… 13/22
2011-02-08 The Editors' Choice List: Our Sele…
Disk Imaging has rapidly bec ome a must have tool for most users because of
its c onvenience, speed, and ease of use. It nearly eliminates any reason at all
for going through the painful proc ess of c ompletely reinstalling, re-updating,
and re-customizing Windows. A user can quickly rec over from a system crash
or a bad virus infection by simply restoring to a bac kup image.

Best Free Software Update Monitor:

Software Update Monitor (SUMo) --

Download | Review

"This is perhaps the best software update

monitor for expert users. It's faster than
Sec unia's PSI and easily adds portable
software. It's not restricted to any one
download site. However, it doesn't provide
direc t download links.

Warning: c hoose the download link."

If you have many sc attered programs and programs that don't automatically
chec k for updates, then an update monitor lets you know when new versions
come out. They also allow you to scan c ustom folders to inc lude portable apps.
You c an then update old software to get the latest features or security fixes.

Best Free Folder Synchronization Utility:

PureSync -- Download | Review

"Over all I was very pleased with its numerous
features and ease of use, and heartily
recommend it to the average user. It has a
good preview of what files are going to be
copied, updated, or deleted when performing a
sync job. Supports scheduling and auto
syncing."

Sync hronization utilities are important in helping you keep identical versions of
your files or folders, say, on both your home computer and offic e computer.

Best Free File Manager:

xplorer² lite -- Download | Review

"Offers more functionality and customization
than Windows Explorer, but with an interfac e
sufficiently similar to Explorer that most users
will find it easy to learn and use. Supports dual
panes and folder tabs."

Best Free File Encryption Utility:

TrueCrypt -- Download | Review

"Use this seasoned enc ryption program when
you want an encrypted container that mounts
as a virtual drive. You simply mount its
encrypted files/volumes and then use the
content like any other drive. TrueCrypt's open
source status allows peer review of the source
code, adding to its trustworthiness. It also
comes with a 'Traveler mode' for portable
encryption."

Encryption is normally used to protect highly sensitive documents, but it's a

good way to stop people from looking at your personal stuff." Learn about other
important steps/c autions beyond encryption here.

Best Free Partition Manager:

EASEUS Partition Master -- Download |

Review

techsupportalert.com/…/top-free… 14/22
2011-02-08 The Editors' Choice List: Our Sele…
"Intuitive and user-friendly interfac e, features
inc lude resize, move, copy, c reate, delete,
hide, unhide, c onvert, explore and format
partitions with a single step."

One of the objectives of having multiple

partitions is for the separation of user files from system files. By keeping user
files in a separate partition from the operating system, user files can usually
remain intac t if the operating system needs to be reinstalled.

Basic Safe Computing Guides:

Security Advic e Wizard: Get personalized results from our sec urity team.

Safe Computing in Under an Hour: Sec ure your PC by following these simple
guidelines.

Secure Your PC: Provides an overview of safe computing prac tic es. Then it
details four novel ways to block the majority of malware from getting a
foothold.

Probably the Best Security List in the World: Antti Koponen's must read
mega sec urity list.

How to Bloc k Bad Websites: Three different ways to prevent your PC from
being infected by ac cidentally visiting a malic ious or compromised website.

Related System Top Picks and Hot Items -- Disk & File

Best Free Duplicate File Detector -- Duplicate Cleaner -- Download |

Review. Detect duplicate files.

Best Free Disk Space Analyzer -- SpaceSniffer -- Download | Review.

Analyze disk space; find space hogs.

Best Free File Archive Utility -- 7-Zip -- Download | Review. Archive

files/folders to better transfer, store, and organize your data.

Best Free File Copy Utility -- TeraCopy -- Download | Review. "Copies

large collections of files more quic kly, integrates well with Explorer (and
other file managers), and gives more stability and better error messages."

Best Free File Comparison Utility -- WinMerge -- Download | Review.

"Compare and merge the differences between two (or more) versions of the
same text file, or detec t variations between two different sets of data."

Best Free Data Recovery Utility -- Mini Tool Power Data Recovery --
Download | Review. Recover data after accidentally deleting it.

Best Free File Rename Utiity -- File Renamer Basic -- Download |

Review. "Rename your files for organizational purposes, inc luding your MP3
libraries and digital image c ollections."

Related System Top Picks and Hot Items -- System

Information

Best Free System Information Utility -- System Information for

Windows (SIW) -- Download | Review. "Displays many detailed specs suc h
as CPU, memory, devic es, installed programs, processes, services, network,
and page file usage."

Best Free Process Viewer -- SystemExplorer -- Download | Review.

Investigate your system: view active processes, end processes, view
resource use of processes, and much more.

Related System Top Picks and Hot Items -- Desktop &

techsupportalert.com/…/top-free… 15/22
2011-02-08 The Editors' Choice List: Our Sele…
GUI

Best Free Virtual Desktop Manager -- Dexpot -- Download | Review.

Organize your applications over several virtual desktops or work spaces, and
work more efficiently and comfortably.

Best Free Windows Explorer Addons -- QT TabBar -- Download |

Review. "Provides some of the desirable features found in replac ement file
managers, like dual-panes, tabs, favorite folder acc ess, etc., while retaining
the speed and familiarity of Windows."

Best Free Program Launcher -- "Provides a more efficient way of running

programs than by using the Windows Start Menu or having your desktop
littered with ic ons."

Best Free Desktop Search Utility -- Copernic Desktop Search --

Download | Review. Find files/folders faster; use advanced searc hes.
Additionally, here are two lite search utilities reviewed by Gizmo: Everything,
Agent Ransack.

Still reading? Here are more goodies for you.

techsupportalert.com/…/top-free… 16/22
2011-02-08 The Editors' Choice List: Our Sele…

Visit Our Home Page or Find the Latest Stuff:

Recent Posts | Rec ent Articles | Forum Posts | Freeware News | Feeds: Gizmo -
Hot Finds - Tec h Treats

Related Top Pick Lists

Best Free Windows 7 / Vista 64 bit Software

Best Free Online Applic ations and Servic es
Best Free Portable Applic ations
Best Free Software for Linux
Probably the Best Security List in the World

Help the Editor

This category is maintained by volunteer editor bodis.

Related Tags

best freeware free software must have free programs top pic ks windows pc xp
vista 7 freeware download sites

Back to the Index of the Article

Average: Your rating:

Average: 4.8 (236 votes) Your rating: None

Article type: Cleanup & Tuning, Softw are list, Desktop & GUI, Disk & File Utilities,
Home & Office, Educational, Games and Diversions, Image View and Edit, PC
Freeware, Internet, Email & Messaging, Multimedia (CD, DVD, Video, Audio),
Netw orking & File Transfer, Programming & Engineering, Reference & Cataloging,
Security, System and Performance Info, System Utilities

Printer-friendly version

COMMENTS

by Dinesh BAbu (not verified) on 12. January 2011 - 10:37 (#64355)

Nice work of presenting in the page........i wish VLC Media Player is another
Media Player option whic h can be inc luded in the list

reply

by George.. (not verified) on 10. January 2011 - 12:12 (#64212)

heyy gizmo guys.... y dont u add a hyperlink like "go bac k to the last page
you were viewing" after every log on! Like if was viewing a subcategory and
decided to log in to post a c omment, after logging in, i would have to go to
home->editors choice->Best free antivirus etc .....it would be most useful
for people having slow net connections.Also its implemented in most
forums....could you please add this feature

reply

by ixan on 9. January 2011 - 16:21 (#64182)

Typo in Internet Tools (above). Its Messenger, not Messanger. :-)

techsupportalert.com/…/top-free… 17/22
2011-02-08 The Editors' Choice List: Our Sele…
reply

by bodis on 9. January 2011 - 17:32 (#64184)

Thanks for pointing this out. Updated

bodis

reply

by Mortal Mister (not verified) on 8. January 2011 - 7:39 (#64121)

Sir, I m an average user. Some years ago I installed AVG anti virus &
Superantispyware (both free version) basd on the rec ommendation of Gizmo
Ric hard site. These both have given me very good servic e in these years
but now I feel I need to review this protection (spec ially anti virus). Could
any body suggest me some free, simple yet efficient options.
Mortal.

reply

by MidnightCowboy on 8. January 2011 - 7:51 (#64122)

I'm sure you will rec eive a lot of opinions on this subject as everyone
has their favorites.
AVG remains a solid performer so I guess my main c omment is why
change? If you have managed to avoid infec tion during this period then
AVG would seem suitably matched to your needs and surfing habits.

If on the other hand it's a question of really wanting something new

then Avira is never far from the top in terms of performance. Currently
I'm quite impressed with Ad-Aware which has bounc ed back after a few
lac k luster years with an exc ellent produc t.

For sec ondary scanners I would c heck out Malwarebytes and

HitmanPro, both of which are exc ellent performers.

reply

by Mortal (not verified) on 14. January 2011 - 2:48 (#64485)

SIR, Thanks for your c omments. I have installed Avira and its giving
me good servic e.In the anti spy ware c atagory, I c ontinue yo use
SUPERantispyware. Both are free version and I expec t trouble free
use for next few months. Thanks onc e more, And to you Gizmo and
your team too. You are always forth c oming !!
Mortal.

reply

by MidnightCowboy on 14. January 2011 - 7:31 (#64500)

You're welcome :)

reply

by AnonymousGeezer (not verified) on 5. January 2011 - 19:29 (#63878)

I enjoy reading everyone's opinion, and comment.
I don't have much to say, exc ept, " it reads better than the NewYork
times"
Have a Happy New Year everyone.

reply

by Anonymousfff (not verified) on 23. December 2010 - 15:54 (#63141)

LastPass is duplicated in the Related Internet area. It also seems like the
Safe Computing Guide would be better grouped under the Related Sec urity
Top Picks and Hot Items. Keep up the great work. Happy Christmas, or as
Disney converts it, Happy Universal Holidays!

reply

by bodis on 9. January 2011 - 17:33 (#64185)

Thanks for pointing this out, duplic ate removed.

bodis

techsupportalert.com/…/top-free… 18/22
2011-02-08 The Editors' Choice List: Our Sele…
reply

by chic kenchaser (not verified) on 14. December 2010 - 9:08 (#62445)

free CD ripping software I rate is "CDex" - I can't find a fault with it or
figure out something it lacks.

reply

by bodis on 14. Dec ember 2010 - 22:47 (#62508)

Hi chickenc haser,

Thanks for your post. If you have rec ommendations of a specific

software then please mention it in that c ategory page. This page is
mainly to highlight editors choices.

Many Thanks
bodis

reply

by Chip W (not verified) on 12. Dec ember 2010 - 9:52 (#62346)

I've been visiting here for a few months and just want to say this is one
nifty site.
Plus "Gizmo" is one of my favorite words.

reply

by TexTech (not verified) on 1. Dec ember 2010 - 3:28 (#61853)

Love this list with one exception. Best Free Streaming Video Recorder is,
Streamtransport @ http://www.streamtransport.com/

reply

by Ba (not verified) on 28. November 2010 - 22:29 (#61748)

Great list!
Pretty well all of your conclusions I would agree with.
The thing is, I wanted to see how some of the other programs I use went;
-unloc ker assistant, programs for visual upgrades (yodm3d, yahoo widgets,
truetransparency, flux etc.)
as well as for more enjoyable uses (e.g. acid Xpress, Hydrogen)
-There were a c ouple of good option I think were missed, including online
equivalents (a.viary) or programs such as GIMP.

[Moderators comment: link removed]

reply

by bodis on 28. November 2010 - 22:55 (#61749)

Hey Ba,
This artic le is mainly used to highlight most popular top picks in their
categories. If you have some of the software in mind please do not
hesitate to mention it in appropriate thread or forums.

Thank you for you contribution.

bodis

reply

by garth on 29. November 2010 - 0:49 (#61755)

@Ba
Hydrogen is reviewed here http://www.techsupportalert.c om/best-
free-music -software.htm
The reason it didn't make the editors c hoic e list is bec ause while it
is great freeware, it is only a drum sequencer. This is not to say it
isn't a really good drum sequencer but it was up against some stiff
c ompetition when it was reviewed. LMMS is pretty muc h all singing
all danc ing as far as it goes and there c an be only one top pick. The
fac t is, no other free drum sequencing app even c omes close to
Hydrogen (that i'm aware of) in terms of overall quality, but LMMS it
ain't. Were there to be a review purely for drum sequencing
software, Hydrogen most certainly would be on the Eds choice list.

techsupportalert.com/…/top-free… 19/22
2011-02-08 The Editors' Choice List: Our Sele…
:)

reply

by struan7 (not verified) on 21. November 2010 - 15:45 (#61459)

Like many of you, I am a regular visitor to our favourite site and
acknowledge the effort put into producing informed data to help others.
Quite often, it's the added c omments that fuel further debate and today I
noticed that bac k in May our friend MidnightCowboy mentioned alternatives
to Online Armor, namely Privatefirewall and Sunbelt. Well, since abandoning
PC Tools Firewall Plus, I have started to use Privatefirewall and intend
learning how best to set it up and this leads me to a possible dilemma.
Back when I used old Kerio 2.15 I used to type in some rules disallowing
ICMP, IGMP, UDL and then added (via info from the internet) the following
Alert rule down at the bottom (last insert) "Bloc k All - protocols, all ports,
all everything." That simple little phrase used to c atch anything that got
through any other rules. Gibson's Researc h LeakTest was "unable to
c onnec t". Likewise, when Privatefirewall's Block Traffic is ac tivated, it too
seems to be watertight. And this brings me to the crux of the matter.
Ports, Ping etc .
It's great informing people of important software such as firewalls but c ould
it not be possible to allow/encourage some experts ( I don't have the inner
knowledge) to provide data on eac h of your rec ommended firewalls such as
to what ports are allowed or not allowed etc.
One thing I do know is that when I used Kerio on XP I only needed one
c :\windows\system32\svchost.exe to connect as oppossed to
preconfigured winlogon etc. Sometimes, I feel I ought to revert bac k to
Kerio 2.15.
It's probably asking too muc h but perhaps many of us users are just using
firewalls in default mode and as we know that is seldom adequate to fully
protect our pcs.
Would like to hear opinions on the subject as I for one am keen to learn
from those much more knowledgeable than I am.

reply

by johng (not verified) on 4. Dec ember 2010 - 20:39 (#62035)

I too have been searching (for a very long time) for configuration
information. Many firewalls have options to specify whic h
ports/protocols to assign a particular program/connection/.dll. However
I have not found anyone qualified to make suc h c onfiguration c hanges.
The firewall I use allows me to see specifically .dll files involved in the
outbound c onnec tion, and one time I noticed a very long list (over 50)
related to windows explorer. If I just "allowed" windows explorer to have
full internet acc ess (default setting) without a prompt I would not have
known about this. My question would be, why do all these files need
internet access and what are they for? When I c lick "deny" not a single
one affec ted my ability to use the browser. However if some of these
files are related to windows sec urity, clic king on "deny" could also be
the wrong choice.

reply

by MidnightCowboy on 5. December 2010 - 6:54 (#62049)

The only way to find out this information would be to post the list in
the Microsoft forum. It seems reasonable to assume that these
c onnec tions will be a mix of system functions and a certain amount
of data gathering whic h is what you would expec t having c hosen to
install a c ommercial operating system. Although there are still
Windows system vulnerabilities whic h can be potentially exploited,
all firewalls, including the built in one, either c ontain default rules to
manage these or they c an be set manually.

The only way to be free of any suc h concerns totally would be to

switch to Linux. That said, I have a bunch of ex customers here
using both XP and W7 with only the built in firewall and not one of
them has been hac ked or otherwise exploited.

reply

by bettylynn on 15. November 2010 - 16:27 (#61241)

Thank you for your hard work , I found some useful stuff I didn't even know

techsupportalert.com/…/top-free… 20/22
2011-02-08 The Editors' Choice List: Our Sele…
existed !

reply

by George.J on 12. November 2010 - 1:16 (#61058)

Would be great to add button "go bac k to the last page you were viewing"
after user login.

reply

by rowal5555 on 15. October 2010 - 4:39 (#59561)

Tip, and apologies if it has been mentioned before....

[On page - http://www.techsupportalert.c om/c ontent/top-freeware-picks-

c ategory-edit...

Index: Search the Best of Gizmo's Freeware -- The Top Freeware for PC
List

Quick Selec t Links (After c licking a link, use your browser's Back icon to
return here.)]

It is my humble opinion that clicking the back button to return to a page is

almost guaranteed to drive you demented, when it is so simple to clic k on a
link with your middle mouse (scroll) button and to have said link open in a
new tab, thereby leaving the original page untouc hed and always available
to return to.

Cheers

reply

by Jojoyee on 15. Oc tober 2010 - 8:21 (#59567)

It depends on the user's preferenc e. Using the Bac k button is useful
when I need to keep viewing this article in a single tab without opening
too many other tabs.

Assuming that I clic k PDF Writer under Home/Offic e, after reading it I

can click Back to go back to the Index Table easily to find another item
say Bac kup Program to c ontinue reading. It's a basic but useful
navigation to and fro within the same page.

That said, it's true that I can Middle-clic k or Ctrl + Left- click all the
links I need in one go so that they will open up in separate tabs in the
background, provided that I don't have to open up too many tabs and
close them thereafter :>)

reply

by rowal5555 on 17. October 2010 - 4:58 (#59658)

Very true. Your computer - your c hoic e. And these days our
c hoices are somewhat overwhelming LOL. (Just wander through this
site for example).

My comment above was aimed at those who have multiple tabs

open when it is all too easy to c lose the one you want to go bac k
to.

Regarding the scroll button, I find it easier to middle clic k anywhere

on a tab rather than honing in to c lick on the X in order to close
them.

reply

by Anonym (not verified) on 19. October 2010 -

23:29 (#59764)
That note in the Index means this:

1. After you click a link in the index it changes the url of the
page; for example, clic k to jump down to the Antivirus top pic k
and the page c hanges to:
www.techsupportalert.c om/c ontent/top-freeware-picks-
category-editors.htm#best-free-antivirus

2. So you can click the back button to return to the original url,
which also helpfully jumps you back to the Index. This is why it

techsupportalert.com/…/top-free… 21/22
2011-02-08 The Editors' Choice List: Our Sele…
says "after c licking a link...". It won't work if you don't jump
down to a product from the index first. Maybe it should read
"after clicking a link in the index, then...".

You can navigate the Editor's List with the use of the Index and
the back button. It prevents you from having to do as much
rolling with the c enter mouse.

It probably wasn't intended to refer to non- index links for

opening articles or for going to download pages.

reply

by bodis on 15. Oc tober 2010 - 5:30 (#59563)

Thanks for your comment, I personally did not even know that middle
mouse button does that. Very helpful indeed.

I have always used Shift+Click to open my links in another window.

I will include this tip in my next update.

Regards
bodis

reply

by George.J (not verified) on 2. Oc tober 2010 - 2:25 (#58878)

is there any way to know whether a particular c ategory here gets updated
with time, or do we have to manually searc h all the c ategories to get
notified. is there any way to get notified by e- mail or what?

reply

by Anupam on 2. Oc tober 2010 - 10:15 (#58890)

To see which categories have been updated, you c an use the link "New
Posts" from the Navigation menu on the LHS. By default, it shows the
categories which have got new c omments. But, you c an see whic h
artic les have been updated, by c lic king twic e on the "Last Updated"
column in that list.
It will be more convenient if you register on the site.

reply

1 2 3 4 5 next › last »

techsupportalert.com/…/top-free… 22/22