This is a topic a lot of people ask about so here is a list of free to use programs for windows that can replace your other more expensive programs.
ALL OF THESE PROGRAMS ARE FREE
Antivirus:
avast! Antivirus – I have used avast for 2 years now and it works BETTER than the antivirus programs I have used in the past. It does not hog resources like Norton does and it actively scans network traffic and emails.
General Tools:
OpenOffice – Open office is a project that is now being supported by Sun Microsystems. The OpenOffice project is a collection that can replace the Microsoft Office package. All of the OpenOffice programs that have Microsoft Counterparts allow you to save in the Microsoft format so they can be opened on OpenOffice and Microsoft Office.
Adware Tools:
AdAware – AdAware is a program that will scan your computer for spyware and will remove everything it finds. It works very well and I have personally used it for many years. Zip / Compression Tools: Winace XAcePlus – XAcePlus can Zip / Unzip ACE, ARJ, CAB, LHA, LZH, JAR, RAR, ZIP, and SFX Files.
Image Editing Tools:
GIMP – I have been using GIMP for my image editing for quite some time … It does have a learning curve just like Photoshop and its not going to have all the functions that Photoshop does even it comes pretty close and considering its free there is really no question for most people.
Networking Tools:
LogMeIn – I use logmein everyday for work. LogMeIn is a completely automatically configured remote desktop application (does not require ANY router configuration, no need to open and ports) which allows you to control any computer the software is installed on from any other computer that has internet explorer (The computer you connect to is the only computer that needs the logmein software running on it). This is probably the best program listed in this whole post!
Hamachi – This software is made by the same company as LogMeIn. It is a automatically configured VPN program that allows you to create a network and then allow any computers that install the program to connect to it (with different security options). Any computers connected to the network (even if they are in different countries) will be able to access the folders on the other computers on the network as if they were within the same LAN.
Temperature Monitoring
MBM – This software will monitor all aspects of your computer including hard drive temperature, processor temperature, fan speeds, hard drive speeds and more.