As a professional Technology geek, I sometimes get my hands on the coolest tools and utilities. Mostly out of necessity, as I’m in a crunch and need to get something fixed. When I’m in the field, and need to find that cool little app that does just what I need, I also don’t have time to whip out my credit card and purchase what I need.
So, I turn to the Open-Source community, and thanks to the geniuses that make up this community, I am hardly ever disappointed. Find out the ten coolest (and FREE) apps you’re not using… but should!
What qualifies as one of the Ten coolest (and FREE) apps? First, in order to qualify as one of the ten coolest (and FREE) apps, there are criteria. These can’t be just any old applications off the street, they have to be able to meet a set of standards. Here are the criteria:
1. They have to be Free. Free means not having to purchase prior to download. However, Free doesn’t always mean no money. A good amount of time and effort went into making these applications for you and I to enjoy, so donations to the authors are highly encouraged. In other words, if you find an application that doesn’t charge you to use it, consider making a donation to the developer(s) as a means to enable them to continually improve the product, which will allow others to enjoy the software as well. Plus, it’s just good ju-ju!
2. They cannot be “trial-ware” or “nag-ware”. Shareware was really big in the 90′s. Try it before you buy it was the big mantra back then. Well, these ten coolest (and FREE) apps have to not have the shareware thing happening at all. No messages with how many days are left to try their product. No disabled features that get unlocked if you buy the product. None of that crapola. Zilch, nada, zip! Again, in order to have good karma come your way, you should donate to the software makers, but these software authors politely and rightfully ask for a donation; but do not disable any features in order to hold your software hostage until you pay for it.
3. They have to be easy to use. Now, I don’t necessarily mean brain-dead easy. I mean, still, in this day and age, there still has to be some sort of blip on the evolutionary radar to even use a computer, let alone the ten coolest (and FREE) apps that will make your life SO much easier. So, easy to use means that an average user can use these utilities if they read the how-to’s that come with them. OK, you’ve been warned! If you don’t read the how-to’s, and don’t donate to the software authors, and your PC starts spewing smoke, don’t come crying to me about the bad ju-ju. Good things come to those who do nice things for others (and who read the how-to’s that come with the software).
4. The apps are created by knowledgeable pros. There have been tons of stories of how this person or that created the coolest app or computer in their garage by not sleeping (or showering) for days, living on Doritos and Full Throttle. However, in order to make the cut, there has to be some sort of professionalism behind these apps. The biggest reason for that is that if I’m going to use an app at a client site that I am consulting for, it has to look good and work right. By using these apps myself, I am in a sense endorsing them. So, if my name is attached to something, it has to make me look good. So, even when it comes to software, production value counts. Some guy who’s “tinkering” by creating some utility that was written poorly can very well hose a PC. I’m just going to be sure it isn’t one of the one’s I happen to be working on.
5. The apps have to be useful. Just because an app is free, and is cool, doesn’t always mean it will do something useful. These aren’t flying toasters (dang I’m old!), or dancing aliens, these are useful applications that will speed up your PC, protect you from virus and malware, optimize your Internet bandwidth, and restore health to your hardware and hard drive. How’s that for useful?
And now for some disclaimer…
Well, now that you know what it took for these awesome application to make the grade, let’s list them for you now. But, before I do that, let me just give you a couple of disclaimers I have to. It wouldn’t be responsible of me to do otherwise.
Disclaimer
Neither, I, nor HelpfulAdvisor.com, or any person or organization affiliated with HelpfulAdvisor.com is responsible for the use of the software listed in this article. HelpfulAdvisor.com makes no warranties or guarantees of performance or improvement as a result of the use of these applications. HelpfulAdvisor.com does not support these applications, and any sort of support or assistance required, would be the responsibility of the user to obtain by whatever means made available by the software author. Using the software and applications listed in this article are solely at the discretion and responsibility of the individual user.
Ok, now that we got the legal stuff out of the way, here are the ten coolest (and FREE) apps you’re NOT using… but should!
On to the apps!
Please note that all software mentioned in this article can be downloaded for free by going to http://www.HelpfulAdvisor.com.
10. DriveImage XML by RunTime.org
What makes this application so cool is that it does the same thing that commercial software does, and does it very well! DriveImage XML is a drive imaging tool that takes a snapshot of your entire hard drive, and stores it for recovery any time you need it. This is powerful because taking a snapshot of your entire hard drive will enable you to restore your hard drive, operating system, settings, preferences, applications, everything, should you need to upgrade your hard drive, or replace a failed drive. Comparable commercial software runs anywhere from $100 to $1,000, and yet this product does it for free!
9. Ultimate Boot CD 4 Windows (UBCD4WIN) by Benjamin Burrows
Has there ever been a time when your Windows XP just blew up and you couldn’t boot into it? Or worse, has your hard drive become so infected by virus and malware that you couldn’t do anything once you did get in? Well, the Ultimate bood CD 4 Windows comes to the rescue, literally!
Back in the days of DOS and Windows 95/98, a boot diskette was a formidable weapon against computer crashes and virus infections. That was because back in the day (showing my age, AGAIN!) a diskette could contain the most essential bootup information in order for you to at least boot your PC and run an anti-virus, or perhaps access your drive to get data off, or to restore a backup from a system crash.
Nowadays, Windows XP uses an encrypted file system called NTFS. Long story short, there’s no way all the NTFS bootup information can fit on a diskette, let alone, not many PCs that have diskette drives anymore. So, UBCD4Win, solves all that and more by being a Swiss-Army Knife for your PC.
As it’s packed with features, essentially, you download this program, select the features you want the BootCD to have, and voila! By booting up from a boot CD, you can restore a drive image created by DriveImage XML (see number 10 above), or you can clean out pesky viruses, or you can do a variety of other things. To me, this is essential gear when working with PCs. Great job Benjamin and Team!
8. ClamWin Antivirus by ClamWin Pty Ltd.
This is one of those instances where Linux technology ends up helping the Windows users of the world. ClamWin Antivirus is an open-source anti virus that aims to be as comparable in features and reliability as any commercial product. And, in my opinion, they come very, very close.
It’s based on the ClamAV engine that was developed for Linux servers and desktops, and is ported into a Windows compatible GUI. It has great features like virus pattern updates that you can schedule either hourly, daily or weekly. You can schedule scans of specific directories or whole drives. You can right-click and scan individual files, and best of all, it integrates right into MS Outlook.
Aside from Outlook virus scanning, the only thing I can see this application lacking is the real-time virus scanning feature that most commercial products have. Of course, real-time scanning can be a resource hog, so this may be a blessing iin disguise. I’ve found ClamAV to be able to handle most threats out there, and does a very good job. And, if there’s a sticky virus that you just can’t get of, well then the Ultimate BootCD 4 Windows (see number 9 above) may be your next option.
7. Smart Defrag by IOBit
Although Windows comes with a defragmentation utlity, there certainly is room for improvement. Enter Smart Defrag. This utility literally goes where Windows Defrag has never gone before. Ok, I went over the top on that. But here’s the thing. Smart Defrag is easy to use. It’s also schedule capable, where you can set what time and day to run the defrag. To be fair, this can be done with Windows Defrag IF you use Windows Scheduler with it. In the case of Smart Defrag, it’s all self-contained, eliminating the need to use two separate programs.
Now, are you ready for the best feature Smart Defrag has that Windows Defrag doesn’t? There has to be something that gets this utility on the list, right? Ok, here it is. This defrag utility can be set to run in the background. That’s right. When you’re doing your regular work on your computer, this utility will be working along with you in the background. Plus, the software has a threshold that will stop the defrag if it starts using too much of your PC’s resources. This is great because then you’ll always be sure that your defrag is not going to slow down your PC.
Always having a defragmented disk is extremely valuable to your PC, as it speeds up access to your programs, and eases strain on your hard disk. This is the defrag utility that you can’t beat for the price.
6. Tune XP by DriverHeaven
Did you know that Windows XP has several hidden settings that could actually speed up your PC? In fact, the default installation settings can actually be slowing down your PC, even after a fresh install!
Well, now you can harness the hidden powers of WIndows XP and give your PC the speed boost it deserves. Best of all, you can give it that boost without buying a single piece of hardware or a stick of RAM. Although this utility is powerful, it is a bit advanced, so it is highly recommended you read the help file before using.
5. 7-Zip by 7-Zip.org
This is another one of those great utilities that replaces what already comes with Windows XP. Windows comes with a file compression and archiving utility called WinZip. However, 7-Zip does a few things better than WinZip. For one, 7-Zip compresses files much smaller than WinZip, making for smaller archive (.zip) files.
For two, 7-Zip supports more types of archive types than WinZip. This is especially useful when downloading from the Internet, only to find that the compressed file you just downloaded isn’t recognized by WinZip. Therefore, having this utility can ensure that whatever you download can be uncompressed and useful for you.
4. Cobian Backup by Luis Cobian
Have you tried to use the NT Backup that comes with Windows? Yeah, so have I. It’s pretty fussy to say the least. Well, your backup troubles are over. Cobian Backup is fast, easy to use, and extremely flexible.
Imagine a backup utility that will compress your backup file into one large file, or several smaller ones. Imagine a backup utility that will automatically store your backup file to any drive you select, or better yet, will upload your file via Internet FTP to an off-site server of your choosing. Imagine a backup utility that you can schedule or initiate right on the spot.
Cobian Backup is so flexible and versatile, you would be amazed that it can be offered as donation-ware. However, by going to Luis Cobian’s website, it appears his next version isn’t going to be open-source. Therefore, you’d better grab Black Moon while you can.
3. Firefox Web Browser by Mozilla
In my arsenal, this is considered essential gear. That’s because Firefox allows for safer browsing of the Internet without being acosted by all the pop-ups, automated Active-X downloads that spy on you and your PC, or other forms of malware that come in via your regular Internet Exporer browser.
Anyone who surfs the net can appreciate pop-up free, malware free surfing. Firefox also has many add-ons that make an already poweful browser even more beastly. There are download accelerators, proxies, YouTube extensions, and all kinds of stuff to make your Internet time as cool as it ever was.
If you need to keep Internet Explorer because some sites absolutely require you use that browser, at least download and use Firefox for the other times you don’t need IE. You’ll find that you’re spending a lot less time herding cats by way of malware and mailicous Active-X on your browser. And that, my dear reader, spells more fun for you on the Internet; which is how it should be.
2. Free Download Manager by FreeDownloadManager.org
This is what’s called a download accelerator. A download acclerator does just that, speed up your downloads. The concept is cool because you can queue up your downloads, and when they are downloading, they will download faster using this technology than say, a standard download from your browser. This is because your browser initiates a single session for the download of your selected item. However, a download accelerator will initiate multiple sessions at a single time and download your file across multiple sessions. Therefore, your download will happen faster and increase your bandwidth for the download.
Free Download Manager does this very well, and has tons of cool features. It even offers BitTorrent support for download of torrent files, and allows you some very powerful management of your downloads. This tool can integrate with Windows, and is compatible with Firefox and Internet Explorer. I can’t live without this app, and I think after using it a couple of times, you won’t be able to either.
And now for the number 1 Coolest (and FREE) app you’re NOT using…
1. CCleaner by Piriform, LTD.
This utility used to be called CrapCleaner, but has since toned down it’s title to be just CCleaner. Perhaps it was a politically correct thing to do, who knows. All I know is this tool works! The basic premise is that this tool goes in and finds all the little files that get left behind by Windows, and other apps you’re using on a daily or even irregular basis.
Junk files can add up. When they add up, they rob your PC of valuable hard drive space, and what’s worse, it can rob your PC of performance. By running CCleaner at least on a weekly basis, you can clean out all those junk files and free up space. When you run this utility in conjunction with SmartDegrag by IOBit (number 7 on our list), you are keeping your PC tuned up and ready for action.
We’re not done yet. CCleaner also has a neat feature that allows you to clean your computer’s registry. A clean registry is the second half to a fast running PC. When software gets installed in Windows, stuff gets written in the registry. However, when software gets uninstalled, the entries in the registry don’t always get removed. Call it sloppy or lazy programming, or just a way of life in the Windows world. Either way, a bloated registry makes for a slow running PC. CCleaner help you keep that in check.
CCleaner also has other cool stuff like a startup manager, that helps you manage your programs that launch at startup. Which, you guessed it, will eat away at your system resources and slow down your PC, unless you pare down the apps you don’t have to have at the time of Windows startup.
All in all, CCleaner is one of the most useful utilities for cleaning out junk files, clearing out your web browser cache, emptying your recycle bin, and allowing your PC to reclaim space that is otherwise taken up by “stuff” that only serves to slow down your machine. Because this tool is so easy to use, and so powerful, it has earned our number one spot on our list.
One Final Thought
Although the software on our list is open source, or doesn’t cost anything to obtain, these applications cost time and money to develop and make available to the public. These applications are in many cases supported by donations of any amount the user deems fair for use of the product. If you download and find any of these applications useful, please consider a donation to the developer(s). You can do so by going to their respective websites and clicking on a donation link that is usually prominently displayed on their sties.
All software in this article can be downloaded for free by going to http://www.HelpfulAdvisor.com
Jay Medina
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