Best Free Softwares for Windows

There are thousands of well known softwares for Windows. Most of them are paid products. You may get confused while selecting the best suited software for you (as each of them claim to be THE BEST in their categories) and invest hundred dollars into something that was not worth a penny. So why don't I give you a deal that will help you in finding the best that too for free. Yes, today I am going to tell you about the best free softwares for Windows.

• Best Antivirus
• Best Archiving Tool
• Best Audio Player
• Best Video Player
• Best office tools
• Best Graphics/ Photo Editing Tool
• Best 3d Modeling Tools
• Best Note taking tools
• Best Web Browser
• Best Instant Messenger
• Best Email Client
• Best p2p File Sharing Tool
• Best FTP/SFTP

Desktop

Best Antivirus

1. Avira Anti-virus Software

If you have read our previous article on guide to the best free anti-virus software for Windows, you know everything about it already, right? So why don't you try for Avira Antivir yourself?

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2. ClamWin

Open Source Anti-Virus. Very good at detecting viruses. Can be plugged into MailServer for e-mail protection. I will prefer to keep it for a second choice. Stil Clamwin is a reliable guard nevertheless.

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Best Archiving Tool

3. 7-Zip

7-Zip is a file archiver that does everything that a file archiver can do. If you read our detailed comparison 15 best archiving tools you will understand why we have preferred it to others.

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Best MP3 and Audio Tools

4. Media Monkey

The best sound of music for Windows is Winamp, Media monkey. If you read our detailed review of the particular software, you will be downloading it with relief. With its specialized auto-dj options and the

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5. MP3 Gain

Easy to use MP3 manipulation tool for Windows. adjusts sound levels on MP3's so they are all the same

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[Note: Audacity is the best Sound Recording tool. If you wanna record voice or sound then this is the best.]

Best Video Software

6. VLC Media Player

VLC needs no mention. Its one of the best players ever. Plays more video files than most players: Quicktime, AVI, DIVX, OGG, and more. Pretty good interface.

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7. GOM Player

GOM Video Player was my personal favorite and is too. If you haven't heard of it, here is a chance.

So decide yourself. Which way do you want to go?

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Best Word Processing/ Office Tools

8. OpenOffice.org

Big, full featured suite of tools for word processing and spreadsheets. Compatible with and a free replacement for Microsoft Word documents. Also supports OpenDocument Format.

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9. AbiWord

A word processor. Leaner and quicker than OpenOffice. Compatible with Microsoft Word documents and OpenDocument Format.

Best Graphics / Photo Editing Tool

10. GIMP

Photo editing application that rivals Photoshop in features.
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11. Paint.NET

Graphics editor with a very nice interface.
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12. Inkscape

Vector graphics application.
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Best 3d Modeling Tools

13. Google SketchUp7

Google Sketch up 7 is a wonderful solution to 3d modeling field. Though the pro version comes with an expensive payment, the initial version, which is quite good, is impressive enough. Read our review to know more about it.

14. Blender

Powerful 3D Modeling software.
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Note Taking

15. Freemind

An innovative application for note taking and outlining. Takes time to get used to, but some people swear by it.

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16. Keynote

Open Source note tak ing application, very good. I use this myself extensively
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Internet

Best Web Browser

17. Mozilla Firefox

The premier free, open-source browser. Tabs, pop-up blocking, themes, and extensions. Considered by many to be the world's best browser.We had done our own test too to confirm on this issue.

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18. Google Chrome

I will keep Google Chrome above Opera or any other web browser such as Maxthon etc because it has come a long way though we have seen it being launched this year only. We can expect more from chromium in years to come.

IM - Instant Messaging

19. Pidgin

Connect to multiple IM accounts simultaneously in a single app, including: AOL IM, MSN, and Jabber. I don't believe in too many softwares but AIO. Anyway, you can read our article on the best web messenger of recent times.

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Best E-mail

20. Mozilla Thunderbird

Powerful spam filtering, solid interface, and all the features you need.

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Best P2P File Sharing Tools

21. Cabos

A simple, easy to use filesharing program. Gnutella network.
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22. Gnucleus

A very good Gnutella search and download filesharing program.
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23. Azureus

A powerful, but complicated BitTorrent client. So many features you'll lose your mind.
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Best FTP / SFTP Tool

24. Filezilla

Excellent FTP program. Try it.

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While rambling on and on about these software I knew that there are so many categories that are being missed and it will take a humongous effort to jot all of them down into one. So, I promise to come up with one for developers and another for gamers in the next edition. Stay hooked and enjoy the free service.

[source: opensourcewindows.org]