Protect Your Virtual Freedoms!

 Alternatives and Free Software

 Antivirus Software

• Avast! - This is free antivirus software, better than Norton.
• AVG - This is free antivirus software, better than Norton. This is my personal favorite, and can be used along with Norton safely as they don't conflict (in my experience, your experience may vary).
• AntiVir - This is free for personal use antivirus software, better than Norton. It has a version for Linux too!
• Antirootkit - This is site with excellent explainations and utilities to find rootkits.
• SysInternals - This is a site with excellent freeware utilities, including one to assist in finding rootkits.

 Spyware Cleaners & Privacy Software

• Spybot - This is free spyware removal software. Use with Ad-Aware.
• Ad-Aware - This is free adware removal software. Use with Spybot.
• Spywareblaster - This is free security and privacy software. Use with Spybot and Adaware.
• XP-Antispy - This is free privacy (from Micro$oft) software for Windows XP.
• TOR - This is a free program which helps protect your personal information on the internet. It is supported by the EFF. You can get an overview of what it does here.
• HijackThis - This is one of the many excellent free utilities for download at this link!

 Firewall Software

• Sygate Personal Firewall - This is an excellent firewall program, much better than the built in XP firewall, and it's free. UPDATE: Watch this software - Sygate was bought out by Symantec recently!
• Zonealarm Firewall - This is an excellent firewall program, much better than the built in XP firewall, and it's free. Before you use this software, you should read this article here.
• Kerio Personal Firewall - Free for personal use.
• Outpost Free Firewall - Free for personal use. Offers very detailed settings.

 Office Suites & Software

• OpenOffice.org - This is an excellent alternative for an office suite. OpenOffice has been doing a great job keeping up with compatible formats for M$ office, and it's free.
• CutePDF Writer - This is an excellent free alternative for Adobe software. It coverts several different file formats to PDF. Much better alternative than shelling out lots of $ for Adobe software.
• Eazyoffice - This is an excellent alternative for an office suite. Easyoffice has been doing a great job keeping up with compatible formats for M$ office, and it's free for personal use.

 Desktop Publishing Software

• PagePlus SE - This is free desktop publishing software, better than M$ Publisher.

 3D Modeling & Animation Software

• 3DPlus - This is free 3D modeling software. Use it to enhance presentations and websites.

 Mail and News Client Software

• Private Idaho - This is an excellent and free email and newsgroups client which makes it easy for you to keep your privacy! It simplifies using email with PGP.
• Thunderbird - This is an excellent and free email and newsgroups replacement for Outhouse Distress!
• Eudora - This is free email and personal contact software, much better than Outlook, and it can import you Outlook data too.
• Mailwasher - This is an excellent and free email anti spam software! Works with almost any email client program.
• OEQuoteFix - If you absolutely insist on using Outhouse Distress, this software makes it almost tolerable as a news and mail client. Like I said, almost.

 Browser & Web Server Software

• Firefox - This is a fantastic and free browser, good replacement for Internet Exploder.
• Apache - This is free webserver software, better than M$ IIS.
• Google Toolbar - This is free toolbar with lots of handy features like a pop-up blocker and web search. If you absolutely insist on using Internet Exploder, this toolbar makes it almost tolerable. Like I said, almost.
• Opera - This is a fantastic and free browser, more secure than Internet Exploder.

 Mail & News Server Software

• Hamster - This is a free newsgroup and email server software.
• Argosoft - This is free SMTP mail server software. It can be used along with Hamster to post to usenet anonymously.

 System Info Software

• Everest Home Edition - This is a free system info tool. It takes hardware and software inventory, lists product ID/serial number/install codes for installed software, has diagnostics and more.
• Aida32 - This is the predecessor to Everest. Support for this software has ceased, but it is still an excellent tool.
• Belarc Advisor - This is another excellent system info tool and my personal favorite.

 Text & Script Editors

• EditPad Lite - This is a free text editor. It is a great replacement for Windows notepad with it's good search and replace and tabbed interface features.
• VBSEditor - This is a free script editor. It works great for vbscript, java, and any other scripting language.

 HTML Editors

• WebPlus - This is free web site design and publishing software.
• CSELite - This is a free HTML validator and editor. It has lots of handy features for coding HTML. I used it to create this page.
• Selida - This is a free WYSIWYG html editor.It has some nice features.
• EGG - Easy Gallery Generator. This is some of my favorite webpage software! It will take a directory full of pictures and automate the process of generating a webpage gallery of them ready to publish to your website.

 Graphics Software

• PhotoPlus - This is free image and photo editing software.
• DrawPlus - This is a free Graphics design and vector drawing software.
• GIMPshop - This is a free open source graphics editor modeled after Photoshop. It has some nice features.
• Imageforge - This is a free graphics editor program. Very powerful!
• Picasa - This is good photo management software with digital photo editing and correcting features.
• Preclick Silver - This is a free photo organizing software.

 Network Utilities

• Formine Netsend - This is a free network notifier. It is a handy tool for admins to use to send a message to all users on a network.
• VNC - This is a free network remote control tool. It works great, is easy to setup and administer, and has very little bandwidth overhead. It is also cross platform!
• RocketTime - This is a free time update tool. It synchronizes your computer's clock with an atomic clock.

 Free CRM Software

• vTiger - This is a free CRM suite. I use it at work on a Windows machine, and I love it. I found it very easy to setup and start using right away. Another great thing about it is it is cross platform.
• SugarCRM - This is a free open source CRM suite. It is very scalable to fit the needs of any organization, and it is also cross-platform.

 Other Misc. Freeware

• XNote Stopwatch - This is a free stopwatch utility.
• MakeDocW - This is a free text to palm file conversion utility (txt to prc). I use this software to convert notes, white papers, ebooks, reports, and more from text file format to palm file format so they can travel with me in my palm pilot.
• Goldwave - This is an excellent free audio file editing utility.
• ResHacker - This is a free program to crack open and read dll and exe files with.
• GoogleEarth - This is a free program with satelite images of the entire earth not more than 3 yrs old.
• CDburnerXP Pro - This is a free program for burning CDs and DVDs on Windows XP.

 Other Freeware Sites

• GnuWin Project - This is a huge effort to supply free software for Windows! It's a perfect solution for those of you who are not ready to make the jump to a different OS.
• KMFMS - This site is an excellent resource for alternative software to M$ products.
• Freeware4U - This site is an excellent resource for freeware (free of spy or adware) software.
• Freeware Arena - This site is another excellent resource for freeware (free of spy or adware) software.
• The Open CD - This site is another excellent resource for freeware software.
• Snapfiles - This site is another resource for freeware software.
• - The free site!

The list above is really just a sampling of the free and/or alternative software available. The GNU software is governed by the General Public License (GPL) which you can read here. I highly recommend reading it, as it will be a pleasure to read, unlike the M$ EULA. By reading it, you will see that the software was made for the benefit of the open source community. We should reward these developers with our support for their efforts and by using their products. Also, please spread the word of their superior products. Now for the disclaimer, use this software at your own risk. I use alot of it and have never had any problems, but anything can happen.