Free Software

Somewhere out there, there is a free program that can perform the tasks you need done. To find the free programs, use the links below, but also try searching Google for things like "free FTP program macintosh" or whatever you are looking for and you will probably find something useful.

Free Software Directories and Information

Free Software Foundation -- information on what open-source software is and how it works. (Note: not all of the programs in this section are open source, but they are all free.)
Free Software Directory -- the Free Software Foundatation explains their philosophy of free software, and has a list of some free software here. The FSF has information explaining the difference between free (no-cost) proprietary software and free (as in freedom) software.
Sourceforge.net -- world's largest repository of free open source software. You can find a program for just about any task here.
Freshmeat.net -- Another great source of free software.
Tucows.com -- Lots of free software to download.
Download.com -- Lots of software for download, but most of it is not free.
nonags.com -- Lots of software, including many useful for web design.
Free Download Center -- More free software.
theFreeCountry.com -- Great site for programmers, including free tools and utilities.
Free Download a Day -- A site that lists some free software.
Software Replacements for Linux -- This is a comprehensive list of software that you can get for Linux to replace the commercial software you might be using for Windows. Most of it is free. Many of these programs will run on Windows and Macintosh also.
Web Site Test Tools -- Not all of these are free, but there are some web site test tools and site management tools listed here.

Compilation CDs

The Open CD -- A CD of free open-source software that includes some of the programs below. Runs on Windows and includes OpenOffice, Gimp, Gaim, and much more. Check it out.

Free Web Site Creation Software

HTML KIT -- Free HTML editor for Windows. Very good program with hundreds of plug-ins. I recommend using this instead of buying something like Dreamweaver or MS FrontPage.
Filezilla -- This is a great free FTP program for Windows. An FTP program allows you to transfer files between your computer and the server that is hosting your website.
Free Website Hosting -- no ads, 100 MB of space, 1 GB transfer, FTP, PHP. The best free hosting that I have found. You get what you pay for -- my site was deleted at one point when their server when down.
J Album -- A free program that generates photo albums pages for your site. You can also use it to put photo albums on a CD.
Pixie -- A free utility that allows you to hover your mouse cursor over the screen and see the HTML and RGB color values. For example, you can use it to find out exactly what color was used on a web page.
Netscape Browser -- Download old versions of the Netscape Browser to test whether your webpage will display correctly on Netscape 4 and 6.
List of Browsers -- A list of browsers from Wikipedia.org. It is good to test your web pages on several common browsers to make sure that they display correctly.
Firefox Browser -- This is the best browser for surfing the web. It also has free extensions that are useful for web design. This link takes you to the tips.WebDesign10.com Firefox page where you can also find a link to the Web Developer Toolbar extension.
IE Context Menu Toolset -- A tool that gives Internet Explorer some of the features of the Firefox Web Developer Toolbar, such as outlining table cells. This is useful for figuring out why your web page might not be displaying correctly in Internet Explorer. This does not have the features of the Firefox Web Developer Toolbar, but at least has the useful feature of outlining table cells in Internet Explorer.
Xenu Link Sleuth -- A great free program that checks all the links on your web site to see if you have any broken links.
Web Form Designer -- A free program for drawing web forms on a web page.
AWStats -- A free program to analyze your web site statistics from logfiles. It's a great program, but if you are not an advanced computer user you might prefer Analog, listed directly below.
Analog Logfile Analysis -- Another free program to analyze your logfiles. I think this one is easier to use than AWStats but it doesn't give as much information.
Webalizer -- Yet another free program to analyze your log files and get information about who is visiting your web site.

Free Internet Software

Firefox Browser -- Free open-source browser that runs on Windows, Linux, and Mac. It is more secure than Internet Explorer and has more features. You can download extensions that add additional features. Firefox is such a good browser there are entire books written about it. It is best to avoid using Internet Explorer to surf the web because the security is very bad. To take full advantage of all of the features of Firefox, read the documentation. For more information on Firefox, see the Firefox page.
Tweak Firefox -- A site about how to customize the Firefox web browser.
Chatzilla -- A free IRC client for all operating systems that run a Mozilla browser (including Firefox, Netscape, or Mozilla). Chat online for free!
Thunderbird Email Client -- A free, secure replacement for Outlook and Outlook Express. Recommended in Forbes magazine and PC World.
HTTRACK -- a great program that downloads websites onto your computer.
Gaim -- free open source instant messaging program that allows you to log into MSN Messenger, Yahoo Messenger, AOL Messenger and ICQ chat all at the same time. Lets you avoid using invasive MSN, AOL, and Yahoo software.
Mercury Instant Messenger -- A free messenger program that works with your MSN Messenger account and allows the use of webcams and video conferencing. I haven't tried it yet but it looks like it is worth trying if you need webcam and video conferencing features in your free messenger program. It is written in Java, so you need Java on your computer first. To get Java, go to java.com,
click on the "get it now" button on the top right of the web page.
Wait a moment while the site checks to see if you already have java. If you already have Java installed, the website will let you know. Otherwise, click the first download button.

Free Graphics and Image Manipulation Software

Irfanview -- an free image tool for Windows that allows you view images, perform lossless JPG image rotation, make slideshows, and more. If you download the extensions you can also play Real Audio files, MP3 files, MPG files, and QuickTime movies. Most of the commercial media programs spy on you, for example Real Player contains features that are considered spyware. For a good Real Player alternative, see Real Alternative, below.
GIMP -- free graphics editing program (like
Photoshop except $650 cheaper). Follow the installation instructions cafefully. Runs on Windows, Linux, and Mac.

Free Media Software

Real Alternative -- Real Alternative allows you to play Real Audio files without having to download Real Player (which is a form of spyware). Real Alternative also installs Media Player Classic, a free media player. Highly recommended.
Media Monkey -- A free program to organize your audio files and play them back (like Windows Media Player, WinAmp, or Music Match but better for organizing large music collections). You can configure it to use WinAmp as an external audio player but Media Monkey will also play your audio tracks.

Free Office Software

Open Office -- I highly recommend this free replacement for Microsoft Office. It is compatible with MS Office so you can share your documents with people who have MS Office. It also has features that MS Office lacks, such the ability to export your documents as PDF files. Can easily replace MS Word and Excel. (For a free lightweight Outlook replacement, try the Thunderbird mail client.)

Forbes Magazine has an article about how the state of Massachusetts plans to replace Microsoft Office with OpenOffice.

You should have Java installed on your computer before installing Open Office. To get Java, go to java.com,
click on the "get it now" button on the top right of the web page.
Wait a moment while the site checks to see if you already have java. If you already have Java installed, the website will let you know. Otherwise, click the first download button.

Free Portable Software

Also known as "Portable Apps", these are portable applications that you can run without needing admin access on the computer. The ones at PortableApps.com are suitable for running from a USB thumb drive because they are designed not to write to the drive more than necessary. Normally writing to a flash drive too often will wear them out, but the PortableApps should be ok.

• PortableApps.com — A suite of programs that you can run from a USB thumb drive, including Portable Firefox, Portable Thunderbird, Portable Gaim, Portable OpenOffice, Portable GIMP, Portable Filezilla, and many others. Highly recommended. I don't run them from a thumb drive because moving thumb drives between computers can spread viruses, but usually just download them to the desktop for use on computers where I don't have admin access to install the programs that I like to use.
• Wikipedia's List of Portable Apps — Wikipedia.org has a longer list of portable applications. Some of these programs may not be designed for safe use on a thumb drive, but you can download them and run them on computers where you don't have admin access to install programs.

Free Wireless Internet Access Tools

Net Stumbler -- a Windows program for troubleshooting wireless internet connections, or finding them. If you use wireless Internet, you should get this program.
WifiFreespot.com -- a directory of
free wireless internet access spots around the world.

Free Personal Computer Security Tools

Spybot Search & Destroy -- free spyware protection program.
AdAware -- free spyware protection program
to use along with Spybot S&D.
Zone Alarm -- free firewall to prevent intruders from getting into your computer.
AVG Antivirus -- free Anti-virus program.
Ewido Trojan Scanner -- Regular anti-virus programs are not very good at finding trojans. (A trojan is a kind of bad program that installs itself on your computer without your knowledge.) Ewido is a trojan scanner that has a free trial. I often use this program to scan computers after a scan with an anti-virus program and it frequently finds trojans and spyware that other programs missed. You should scan your computer with this program. You can either delete the program when the trial period ends, or purchase it.

Other Free Utilities

MD5 GUI -- A great little graphical MD5 sum checker for Windows. You don't even need to install anything. Just double-click on the .exe file and the program runs. Click on "Generate Checksums" and then drag-and-drop your target file into the MD5 GUI window. It takes a minute or two and your MD5 sum will appear in the window. Use it for checking that downloaded files are exactly as they are supposed to be, for example, Linux ISO files.
Putty -- a free telnet/SSH client for Windows and Unix.
WinSCP -- Free SFTP and SCP client for Windows. Used for secure file transfer between your computer and a server.