The best completely Free Windows Software - Freeware. No shareware, no nagware, no adware.
Reviewed continuously, Categorized conveniently. Always up-to-date.
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Chrome
Zoho Office Suite
Full-fledged cloud-based office applications have been available for about seven years now, yet the vast majority of users still stick to traditional desktop apps, i.e., MS Office.
There is only one company that has a fully cloud-based suite of applications that can completely fulfill the needs of a business. Without the need for extra applications. Zoho.
When I say complete, I mean complete.
Jarte
Do you need to take notes when you're not on your own PC? What about modifying a Word document where no MS Word is installed? Maybe you want to have a collection of documents available with you at all times.
Jarte is a full-function word processor and note taker that runs off a USB drive. (I actually keep a copy on my phone.) Take your documents and the word processor with you wherever you go.
Calibre
There is no other. I use it daily.
Calibre manages all common ebook file formats including LIT, MOBI, EPUB, FB2, HTML, PRC, RTF, PDB, TXT, PDF and more and converts between them. You can edit metadata such as author and the date the work was published and automatically sync the correct format to your device. It also has a built-in reader to read on your computer.
FreshBooks
I track my time. I bill for my time. I work a lot of different places. I need a way to keep track of it all. Freshbooks does this.
AbiWord
As impressive as LibreOffice is, you may rather have just a word processor. If you never use spreadsheets or make presentations, why bog your computer down with software you don't need? AbiWord is the best of the free word processors. It starts up very fast, and uses very little hard drive space and memory.
http://www.abisource.com/
Writeboard
Writely - now Google Docs
Both these web applications allow you to create and edit text-based documents online. Setting up collaboration groups with others is as simple as entering their email addresses. An email is automatically sent to them with a link to the document and a password.
Foxit PDFReader
Weighing in at a little over a meg, this PDF viewer is faster than Adobe Reader. Believe it or not, you might come across a machine that doesn't have Adobe Reader installed. You might even prefer Foxit. A lot of people do.
EssentialPIM
It performs all your basic PIM needs: calendar, contact manager, etc. Conveniently, you can import your Outlook information, and it supports built-in encryption. You don't want your whole life in someone's hands when you lose your keys, do you?
Portable OpenOffice
Hey, is that a full office suite of applications along with your private documents in your pocket or are you just happy to see me? John Haller is a heck of a guy. He's taken several of the best freeware applications and made portable versions. The outstanding OpenOffice works great from a USB drive (as long as the drive is over 127 meg).
Portable AbiWord
If you don't want or need a full office suite, take a look at Portable AbiWord. It's much smaller than LibreOffice and faster, too. John Haller created this version of the excellent AbiWord word processor to perform even faster than the original.
If you are truly paranoid about leaving tracks on a visited computer, run Restoration to see what files may be undeleted after you leave.
Notepad2
This is a lean, mean text-editing machine. Notepad2 is one of the lighter-weight of the notepad replacements, but it's still vastly superior to Windows Notepad.
WordWeb
Significantly better than any on-line dictionary or thesaurus. WordWeb has some of the following features.
Definitions and synonyms
Proper nouns
Related words
Pronunciations
140 000 root words
115 000 synonym sets
It will look up words from most programs, including OpenOffice (yay!) or Word (ugh).
http://wordweb.info/free
SimpleOCR
So you got that spiffy new scanner for $25 (after rebate) at your local Humongo Electronics Store. You want to save your old Social Studies papers. Scan 'em in and run them through OCR. Then you can edit them and post them on your blog.
SimpleOCR is aptly named. It doesn't have tons of unnecessary "features" that you find in most commercial OCR packages. You can process scanned pages or pre-existing images and save them to a simple text file or save them as a Word document if you prefer. Clean and quick.
TinySpell
Don't want to fire up your word processor just to spell-check a word? TinySpell will check your spelling in any application. A system tray icon will turn yellow if a word is misspelled, and will give you the option of correcting it. You can also add words to the dictionary. There are a handful of utilities out there that do the same thing, and none really stand out significantly. I like TinySpell's small size and ease-of use.
http://tinyspell.m6.net/
EverNote
new! Updated August 16, 2005
I work at a computer a lot. For years, I always kept some type of text editor open at all times to type and copy notes as needed. Phone numbers, scraps of code, internet urls, I would type in anything that came up throughout the day. At the end of the day I would go through the notes and save what I needed. This worked, but not perfectly. It was often difficult to find old notes, and it would be nice to be able to paste pictures or format the text.
Enter note-taking applications.
PDF Creator
PrimoPDF
I consider the ability to create pdf's a "must". For good or evil, pdf is the standard format for universal accessibility. Adobe Reader is ubiquitous, and pdf's are viewable on all computer platforms. OpenOffice allows you to create pdf files within that program, but PDF Creator allows you create pdf files from any program. For ease of install and use, PDF Creator can't be beat. It's Open Source as well.
