http://www.getfirefox.com/
Replaces Internet Explorer
If you haven’t switched to Firefox for your web browsing needs, do it now. It stops annoying popups and it has tons of amazing plugins
that can make surfing the web even better. I could evangelize all day
about Firefox, but one thing’s for sure: the first thing I do on any
new Windows machine is run Internet Explorer just long enough to
download Firefox.
2. Thunderbird
http://www.mozilla.org/thunderbird/
Replaces Microsoft Outlook or Eudora
Thunderbird is an email client that has five big things going for it:
it’s free, it’s full featured, it’s lightweight and runs quick, it has
an unparalleled spam filter, and it protects you from those ridiculous
phishing attacks by clearly indicating which emails send you to a bogus
website. If you’re not already using a web-based email solution,
Thunderbird should be your client.
3. Sunbird
http://www.mozilla.org/projects/calendar/sunbird/
Replaces Microsoft Outlook’s calendaring functions
Might as well get the Mozilla trifecta out of the way by mentioning
Sunbird, which is the Mozilla Foundation’s calendaring program. It’s
extremely easy to use (I figured out everything I needed in a minute or
two) and easy to share your calendar with others. I consider a
calendaring tool to be essential if you’re using a laptop, and this is
no different.
4. Abiword
http://www.abisource.com/
Replaces Microsoft Word
Want a good word processor but find Microsoft Word too expensive?
AbiWord is my favorite replacement for Word. It’s lightweight (meaning
it runs quickly) and includes pretty much every feature that I use
regularly in a word processor, plus it can save files in formats that
you can exchange with Word and WordPerfect users, plus open any of
their files, too.
5. OpenOffice
http://www.openoffice.org/
Replaces Microsoft Excel and Microsoft PowerPoint
If you want to replace the rest of the Office suite, your best bet is
OpenOffice. It includes very nice replacements for Excel and PowerPoint
(and workable replacements for Access and other Office elements). In
fact, I actually prefer their Excel and PowerPoint replacements to the
real thing.
6. ClamWin
http://www.clamwin.com/
Replaces Norton AntiVirus or McAfee
ClamWin is a slick anti-virus software that’s quite easy to manage and
is unobtrusive while keep your system free of viruses. That’s pretty
much all I want from a package, so why pay money for McAfee to keep
bugging me all the time?
7. Gaim
http://gaim.sourceforge.net/
Replaces AIM, Windows Messenger, etc.
This is a very clean instant messaging program that allows you to be on
AOL Instant Messenger, Windows (MSN) Messenger, and Yahoo Messenger
simultaneously with one program. There are other free packages that do
this, but Gaim is stable and clean and simple.
8. BitTorrent
http://www.bittorrent.com/
Original but essential
From their website, “BitTorrent is a peer-assisted, digital content
delivery platform that provides the fastest, most efficient means of
distributing, discovering, and consuming large, high-quality files on
the Web. Our mission is simple: to deliver the content that entertains
and informs the digital world.” In other words, BitTorrent allows you
to download large media files and also use your bandwidth to help
others download these files. Search for media files you want and
download ‘em.
9. GIMPShop
http://www.gimpshop.net/
Replaces Adobe Photoshop
This is a version of the GNU Image Manipulation Program that does a
pretty solid job of imitating Adobe Photoshop - a regular user of
Photoshop (like me) can adapt to it quite quickly. It’s very richly
featured and runs quite well - in fact, I see no reason to ever go
back, even if Photoshop were free.
10. Gnucleus
http://www.gnucleus.com/Gnucleus/
Replaces LimeWire, BearShare, etc.
Sure, LimeWire and BearShare are free, but why not just get the same
basic software without all of the spyware? Gnucleus is pretty much
identical to those software packages - but without all that extra junk
that slows down your computer.
11. VLC Media Player
http://www.videolan.org/vlc/
Replaces Windows Media Player, Quicktime, RealPlayer, etc.
If you get tired of having tons of media players on your computer, get
this package that runs pretty much every media type you’ll run across
without breaking a sweat.
12. Juice
http://juicereceiver.sourceforge.net/
Unique but essential
Juice lets you effortlessly subscribe to podcasts, organize them, and listen to them at your convenience. In conjunction with PodNova, I find it easier to use Juice to organize podcasts than using iTunes itself.
13. Audacity
http://audacity.sourceforge.net/
Unique but essential (for some)
If you’re interested in recording your own podcast (or just want to
make your own voice recordings for whatever reason), Audacity and a
microphone are pretty much all you need to get the job done. I’m not
much for podcasting (let’s just say I don’t have a radio voice), but I
use Audacity for other voice recording purposes.
14. RSSOwl
http://www.rssowl.org/
Unique but essential
RSSOwl is one of many open source RSS readers. In other words, it
enables you to use one program to keep track of the content of a lot of
different blogs; if you read a lot of blogs, it’s the only way to keep
tabs on all of them without devoting hours jumping from site to site.
If you have a laptop, it’s preferable to using sites like Bloglines,
but if you’re on a desktop, a web-based feed manager might be better.
15. Filezilla
http://filezilla.sourceforge.net/
Replaces WinFTP
Many people occasionally have a need to FTP files to other computers;
if you ever have the need to transfer files in such a fashion,
FileZilla will do the job slickly and quickly.
16. Keynote
http://www.tranglos.com/free/keynote.html
Unique but essential
Keynote is basically designed specifically for the task of taking notes
on a laptop. If you ever find yourself in a meeting or a presentation
with your laptop open and want to jot down notes and organize them just
a bit, Keynote is unquestionably the program for you. It’s not good at
quality word processing, but that’s not the point. In my professional
work, I find myself using Keynote almost as often as any other utility.
17. MusikCube
http://www.musikcube.com/
Replaces iTunes
If you’re not already committed to downloaded music from the iTunes
Music Store, then MusikCube is the best choice available for a music
organizer and player. It organizes your mp3s, makes it really easy and
really fast to find them, and allows you to make some incredibly clever
smart playlists.
18. Handbrake
http://handbrake.m0k.org/
Unique but essential
Handbrake enables you to stick a DVD in your DVD drive and have the
contents of that film stored to your hard drive in a form that can be
read by pretty much any media player. I often use it to put a few
movies on my laptop for travel purposes, so I don’t have to worry about
keeping track of DVDs while on the road.
19. X-Chat 2
http://www.silverex.org/
Replaces mIRC
X-Chat is a free IRC client. For those unfamiliar with IRC, it’s a
place for technical people (and, as my wife loves to point out, nerds)
to meet and discuss topics in an open environment. I often find it very
useful when piecing through difficult technical issues.
20. KeePass
http://keepass.sourceforge.net/
Unique but essential
KeePass is a program that securely stores and manages the abundance of
passwords we all use on a daily basis. I have literally hundreds of
usernames and passwords spread out all over the place; KeePass keeps
them all for me and keeps them safe.
21. TrueCrypt
http://www.truecrypt.org/
Unique but essential
TrueCrypt enables you to convert a memory stick into a strongly
encrypted data storage device, meaning that you can store personal data
on it without worrying about losing it and having personal information
get out and about. I use it to keep some of my most personal data off
of my laptop and strongly secured, just in case.
22. PDFCreator
http://sourceforge.net/projects/pdfcreator/
Replaces Adobe Acrobat
PDFCreator creates a virtual printer on your computer that, if you
print a document to it from any program, creates a PDF of that document
that can be read on any computer with Acrobat Reader on it. After
installing PDFCreator, all you have to do is print like normal and out
comes a PDF!
23. Freemind
http://freemind.sourceforge.net/
Unique but Essential
Freemind is a “mind mapping” software program. In essence, it enables
you to brainstorm and link together ideas quickly, creating “maps” of
concepts similar to what you might do on a whiteboard. I find it
incredibly useful when putting together ideas for new posts or planning
small projects or assembling the backbone of a writing project.
24. NASA Worldwind
http://worldwind.arc.nasa.gov/
Replaces Google Earth
WorldWind is very similar to Google Earth in that it allows you to
browse the globe. While it isn’t strong for creating maps (but why not
just use Google Maps for that?), it is utterly incredible for viewing three-dimensional landscapes of any place on earth.
25. Notepad2
http://www.flos-freeware.ch/notepad2.html
Replaces Notepad
Notepad2 is a replacement for the traditional Windows Notepad that just
adds a few sweet little features: multiple documents; line, word, and
character counts; and some highlighting of tags. In fact, I’m using
Notepad2 as I draft this post (after using Freemind to organize it).
26. HealthMonitor
http://healthmonitor.zucchetti.com/
Unique but useful
HealthMonitor enables you to keep an eye on the health of your
computer. It identifies slowdowns and other system issues quickly and
lets you know (for example, it gives a popup if your system memory gets
to a certain percentage of fullness, or if your hard drive has only 10
GB free). This can keep you out of trouble and also give you clues to
problems your machine might be having.
27. Workrave
http://www.workrave.org/
Unique but useful
Sometimes late into a writing session, my wrists get sore from too much
repetitive movement. Workrave basically jumps in before this happens
and locks down the computer for a while, preventing me from working too
much and causing repetitive stress injury. Since I’ve started using it,
it hasn’t significantly hurt my productivity at all and my wrists are
thanking me!
28. GanttPV
http://www.pureviolet.net/ganttpv/
Replaces Microsoft Project
If you do any project management (or have a need to dip your toes in
the water), GanttPV does a brilliant job of managing the task quickly,
easily, and freely. If you need to move to MS Project later, you can
export from GanttPV to Project, but once you start digging into
GanttPV, you’ll likely have no reason to use Project.
29. GnuCash
http://www.gnucash.org/
Replaces Microsoft Money or Quicken
GnuCash is a slimmed-down version of the bloated Microsoft Money and
Quicken packages, but it contains all of the features I want for
managing my money. The interfaces are incredibly simple - it functions
much like a checkbook ledger on your computer - but there’s a lot of
meat hidden throughout the software.
30. True Combat: Elite
http://www.truecombatelite.net/
Replaces Quake IV, Halo, etc.
After all this downloading, you’re going to need to blow off a little
steam, and I’ve yet to find a more enjoyable free game than this one.
It’s basically a third person combat game, but the graphics are
spectacular and the game is quite engrossing.
If you’ve downloaded and installed all of these, you’ve got access
to all the productivity software you’ll likely need, clean and open and
best of all free.
