It’s nice to see that some in the online world work on a Saturday after a holiday. Randall Kennedy, from InfoWorld has given a round up of established utilities that are free, and are old enough to be useful over a wide variety of Windows operating systems, but enough up to date that they will be useful with new machines sporting Windows 7.
Unlike the lists many have made in the last two weeks, I happen to agree with all the choices made, and find nothing I know of in each case that is superior providing the same functionality, and being free.
The list is quick and easy, I’ll repeat it here, with links to the downloads, but for all the details, the InfoWorld article should be read.
•
SysInternals Suite – the gem of the guys that knew as much as anyone at Microsoft about the important parts of the Windows operating systems. Microsoft bought them out – a wise choice.
HWiNFO32 – tells you much about your running Windows system, and is easier to use than a few other programs, such as Belarc advisor.
Crap Cleaner – though now politely referred to as CCleaner, we still know what the first letter stands for. It clears out all manner of crud and detritus that builds by the running of Windows. I run this on a monthly basis, it’s like spring cleaning 12 times per year, and significantly easier.
Recuva – though I object to the lunacy of the name, the point is, it works well and is free. made by the same people that do CCleaner. (Not everyone gets that to know what it does you have to speak like you’re from Brooklyn.)
Filezilla – though I prefer a paid alternative here, as said above, there is not a better free FTP client.
Virtual Clone Drive – though there was little use for this before the free Windows 7 betas, there will always be a use for this for many who do more than the average person, so having this on hand, incase you’re told you might need it is a good idea. Think like a Boy Scout.
Defraggler – oops, I said I agreed with the choices as I overlooked this. I have never used this, but it constantly gets good reviews. If, you aren’t keen on a part of it, there is also the Auslogics Defragger, which I do use, and will include the link for.
ImgBurn – I sometimes get snobby with utilities, and I’ll admit I use Nero and Ashampoo Burn 2010 programs, but I have use ImgBurn several times (usually on customer machines where nothing else was available, but after the use, decided that it works quite well) It is the best of what is free, and that is not a slap. If you can get Ashampoo Burn for free sometime, however, it is easier for the novice to use.
7-Zip – This is a great free archive program. Unless you must send things in RAR format you will never need WinRAR, because this will decode RAR files, just not make them. You can use the 7z format for very small archives which are never much, if any, larger than RAR archives. The author is about to release another version, so keep an eye out for an update. Until then the current non-beta works without incident.
VirtualBox – makes it unnecessary for many to worry about the bug-ridden programs from Microsoft that profess to do the same thing. This works better, and is much less restrictive.
•
•
If you are configuring a Windows 7 machine just bought, or changed from an older OS, it is still possible to make a very fine working machine without any paid software other than Windows. If you do your choosing wisely, you will absolutely not feel one pang of envy, as the free stuff is that good.
For other choice stuff, try FreewareGenius and ShellCity as jumping off points.
§
Quote of the day:
Things are only impossible until they’re not.
– Jean-Luc Picard
(we should listen to the man, he just got his O.B.E. from the Queen)
⌘
⌘