Freeware alternative list

[sanctified Veteran]

Updated by ultima 10/2/2005

Originally compiled by [sanctified], thanks to the Neowin members.

Items marked in red are new additions.

3D Graphics:

3Delight Free - http://www.3delight.com/index.htm

Anim8or - http://www.anim8or.com/

Aqsis - http://www.aqsis.com/

Blender - http://www.blender3d.org/

gmax - http://www.discreet.com/products/gmax/

Houdini (Free Edition) - http://www.sidefx.com/apprentice/index.html

Maya Personal Learning Ed. - http://www.alias.com/eng/products-services..._maya_ple.shtml

Now3D - http://digilander.libero.it/giulios/Eng/homepage.htm

OpenFX - http://www.openfx.org

SOFTIMAGE|XSI EXP - http://www.softimage.com/products/exp/v3/

Terragen - http://www.planetside.co.uk/terragen/

Toxic - http://www.toxicengine.org/

Wings 3D - http://www.wings3d.com/

Anti-Virus:

AntiVir - http://www.free-av.com/

Avast - http://www.avast.com/i_idt_1018.html

AVG - http://www.grisoft.com/

ClamWin - http://www.clamwin.com/

Anti Spyware:

Ad-aware - http://www.lavasoft.de/software/adaware/

Bazooka - http://www.kephyr.com/spywarescanner/index.html

Diet K - http://www.dietk.com/

SpyBot Search & Destroy - http://spybot.safer-networking.de/

SpywareBlaster - http://www.javacoolsoftware.com/spywareblaster.html

SpywareGuard - http://www.wilderssecurity.net/spywareguard.html

WinPatrol - http://www.winpatrol.com/

IRC Clients:

BersIRC - http://www.bersirc.com/

BitchX - http://bitchx.org/download.php

HydraIRC - http://www.hydrairc.com/

TinyIRC - http://www.tinyirc.net/

XChat - http://www.silverex.org/news/

Audio Players:

1by1 - http://www.rz.uni-frankfurt.de/~pesch

Billy - http://www.sheepfriends.com/?page=billy

CoolPlayer - http://coolplayer.sourceforge.net/

DeliPlayer. http://www.deliplayer.com/

Foobar 2000 - http://www.foobar2000.org/

iTunes - http://www.apple.com/itunes/

Jet Audio Basic - http://www.jetaudio.com/

Musik - http://musik.berlios.de/

QCD Player - http://www.quinnware.com/

Sonique - http://sonique.lycos.com/

Winamp - http://www.winamp.com/

XMPlay - http://www.un4seen.com/xmplay.html

Audio Tools:

Audacity - http://audacity.sourceforge.net/

CDex - http://cdexos.sourceforge.net/

dBpowerAMP Music Converter - http://www.dbpoweramp.com/dmc.htm

EAC - http://www.exactaudiocopy.de/

Encounter 2003 - http://www.waschbusch.com/

GermaniXEncoder - http://www.germanixsoft.de/

K-MP3 - http://www.katarncorp.com/

KraMixer - http://www.kramware.com/

MP3 Book Helper - http://mp3bookhelper.sourceforge.net/

MP3 Tag - http://www.mp3tag.de/

mp3DirectCut - http://www.rz.uni-frankfurt.de/~pesch/

MP3Gain - http://www.geocities.com/mp3gain/

mp3Trim - http://www.logiccell.com/~mp3trim/

MusicBrainz - http://musicbrainz.org/

Rarewares - http://rarewares.hydrogenaudio.org/

SoundEngine Free - http://www.cycleof5th.com/en/index.htm

TagScanner - http://xdev.narod.ru/tagscan_e.htm

The GodFather - http://users.otenet.gr/~jtcliper/tgf/

CD/DVD Burning:

Burn4Free - http://www.burn4free.com/

Burnatonce - http://www.burnatonce.com/

CDBurnerXP - http://hem.bredband.net/cdburnerxp/

CDRDAO - http://cdrdao.sourceforge.net/

CDR Tools Frontend - http://demosten.com/cdrfe/

Deepburner - http://www.deepburner.com/

DVD Decrypter: http://www.dvddecrypter.com/

Easy Burning, DropCD & Audio CD - http://www.paehl.de/cdr

Compression / Decompression:

7-zip - http://www.7-zip.org/

bzip2 - http://sources.redhat.com/bzip2/index.html

ExtractNow - http://www.extractnow.com/

FilZip - http://www.filzip.com/

IZArc - http://www.florida.plus.com/izarc/

QuickZip - http://www.quickzip.org/

TUGZip - http://www.tugzip.com/

UPX - http://upx.sourceforge.net/

Zip&Go - http://www.handybits.com/zipngo.htm

Zipgenius - http://www.zipgenius.it/

Defrag Software:

DIRMS & Buzzsaw - http://www.dirms.com/

OpenVMS - http://www.execsoft.com/freeware/freeware.asp

Desktop Enhancements:

AveDesk - http://www.aqua-soft.org/board/showthread.php?t=17372

CursorXP - http://www.stardock.com/products/cursorxp/download.html

Kapsules - http://kapsules.shellscape.org/

MobyDock - http://www.mobydock.com/

Panorama - http://www.ivory.org/panorama.html

Rainlendar - http://www.ipi.fi/~rainy/index.php?pn=proj...ject=rainlendar

Samurize - http://www.samurize.com/

tclock2 - http://home.inreach.com/2tone/tclock2/tclock2.htm

Weather Watcher - http://www.singerscreations.com/

Download managers:

Free Download Manager - http://www.freedownloadmanager.org/

Fresh Download - http://www.freshdevices.com/freshdown.html

Star Downloader - http://www.stardownloader.com/downloads.php

wackget - http://millweed.com/projects/wackget/

wget - http://xoomer.virgilio.it/hherold/

Encryption and data security:

Axcrypt - http://axcrypt.sourceforge.net/

Blowfish Advanced CS- http://web.bsn.ch/lasse/bfacs.htm

Eraser - http://www.heidi.ie/eraser/default.php

File Shredder - http://www.sys-shield.com/fileshredder.htm

KeePass - http://keepass.sourceforge.net/

GnuPG - http://www.gnupg.org/

PGP Freeware - http://www.pgp.com/products/freeware.html

WindowsCleaner - http://www.winnowsoft.com/internet-eraser.htm

File Managers:

2xExplorer - http://netez.com/2xExplorer/

A43 - http://www.shawneelink.net/~bgmiller/

ExplorerXP - http://www.explorerxp.com

Gyula's Navigator - http://www.wanari.com/

JExplorer - http://home.megapass.co.kr/~woosjung/

MeeSoft Commander - http://meesoft.logicnet.dk/

File repair and recovery:

PC Inspector File Recovery - http://www.pcinspector.de/file_recovery/UK/welcome.htm

Firewalls:

Kerio (Kerio Personal Firewall is FREE for home and personal use) - http://www.kerio.com/kpf_home.html

Outpost Firewall (version 1 is free) - http://www.agnitum.com/download/outpost1.html

Sygate (FREE for personal use) - http://smb.sygate.com/products/spf_standard.htm

Zonealarm Basic firewall - http://www.zonelabs.com/store/content/comp...reeDownload.jsp

FTP Clients:

CoreFTP - http://www.coreftp.com/

Filezilla - http://sourceforge.net/projects/filezilla

miFiles - http://www.simdata.com.au/mifiles.html

SmartFTP - http://www.smartftp.com/

FTP Servers:

FileZilla - http://filezilla.sourceforge.net/

Golden FTP Server - http://www.goldenftpserver.com

GuildFTPD - http://www.totalshareware.com/asp/detail_v...pplication=8334

Quick 'n Easy FTP Server - http://www.pablovandermeer.nl/ftp_server.html

SlimFTPd - http://www.whitsoftdev.com/slimftpd

WarFTPD - http://www.jgaa.com/

HTML Editors:

1st page 2000 - http://www.evrsoft.com/download.shtml

AceHTML - http://freeware.acehtml.com/download.html

Aracnophilia - http://www.arachnoid.com/arachnophilia/

HTML-Kit - http://www.chami.com/html-kit/

NVU - http://www.nvu.com/index.html

Selida - http://www.amaryllis.8m.com/

Trellian webPAGE - http://webpage.vendercom.com/

TSW WebCoder - http://www.tsware.net/

Image viewers:

Ahaview - http://www.aha-soft.com/ahaview/ahaviewfree.exe

Irfanview - http://www.irfanview.com/

Picasa - http://www.picasa.com/content/download.php

SlowView - http://www.slowview.at/

XNView - http://www.xnview.com/

Instant Messenger:

Gaim - http://gaim.sourceforge.net/

IM2: http://www.im2.com

Miranda IM - http://www.miranda-im.org/

Pandion - http://www.pandion.be/

PSI - http://psi.affinix.com/

SIM - http://sim-icq.sourceforge.net/

Trillian Basic - http://trillian.cc/downloads

Internet Explorer Front-Ends:

Avantbrowser - http://www.avantbrowser.com/

Maxthon - http://www.maxthon.com/

SlimBrowser - http://www.flashpeak.com/sbrowser/sbrowser.htm

Mail programs:

Foxmail - http://fox.foxmail.com.cn/english/

i.Scribe - http://www.memecode.com/

Mahogany Mail - http://mahogany.sourceforge.net/

Pegasus Mail - http://www.pmail.com/

PopTray - http://www.poptray.org/

Thunderbird - http://www.mozilla.org/projects/thunderbird/

Anti-spam programs:

K9 - http://www.keir.net/k9.html

MailWasher- http://www.mailwasher.net/

POPFile - http://popfile.sourceforge.net/

SpamBayes - http://spambayes.sourceforge.net/

Network Tools:

CMDTime NTP Utility - http://www.softshape.com/download/

Ethereal Protocol Analyzer - http://www.ethereal.com/

NetMeter - http://readerror.gmxhome.de/

NetProfiles - http://netprofiles.danielmilner.com/

NMap - http://www.insecure.org/nmap/

Ntop - http://www.ntop.org

PingPlotter - http://www.pingplotter.com

PuTTY - http://www.chiark.greenend.org.uk/~sgtatham/putty

RAS Graph & Stats - http://forum.flashfxp.com/showthread.php?s=&threadid=2400

RealVNC - http://www.realvnc.com/

TightVNC - http://www.tightvnc.org/

UltraVNC - http://ultravnc.sourceforge.net/

WinSCP - http://www.winscp.com/

Office Suite:

602PC Suite free edition - http://www.software602.com/products/pcs/download.html

AbiWord - http://www.abiword.com/

OpenOffice.org - http://www.openoffice.org/

Partition Managers:

Partition Resizer - http://zeleps.com/

Ranish Partition Manager - http://www.ranish.com/part/

TestDisk - http://www.cgsecurity.org/index.html?testdisk.html

PDF Utilities:

Free PDF - http://www.webxd.com/zipguy/frpdfdl.htm

Ghostscript/GSView - http://www.ghostscript.com/

PDF 995 - http://www.pdf995.com/

PDFCreator - http://sourceforge.net/projects/pdfcreator/

PrimoPDF - http://www.primopdf.com/

Photo manipulation and image design:

ColorPic - http://www.iconico.com/colorpic/

Paint .NET - http://www.eecs.wsu.edu/paint.net/

Pixia - http://www.ab.wakwak.com/~knight/

Pixie - http://www.nattyware.com/pixie.html

PhotoFiltre - http://www.photofiltre.com/

Sodiodi - http://www.sodipodi.com/

The Gimp - http://www.gimp.org/

Tuxpaint - http://www.newbreedsoftware.com/tuxpaint

Programming:

ActivePerl - http://www.activestate.com/Products/ActivePerl

Crimson Editor - http://www.crimsoneditor.com/

Context - http://www.context.cx/

Dev C++ - http://www.bloodshed.net/

Dev Pascal - http://www.bloodshed.net/

Digital Mars C++ - http://www.digitalmars.com/download/freecompiler.html

Eclipse - http://www.eclipse.org/

ExamDiff - http://www.prestosoft.com/ps.asp?page=edp_examdiff

Freepascal - http://www.freepascal.org/

JCreator LE - http://www.jcreator.com/download.htm

jEdit - http://www.jedit.org/

Notepad++ - http://notepad-plus.sourceforge.net/uk/site.htm

Notepad2 - http://www.flos-freeware.ch/

Pelles C - http://www.smorgasbordet.com/pellesc/index.htm

PHP Hypertext Parser - http://www.php.net/

PSPad - http://www.pspad.com/

Python - http://www.python.org/

Ruby - http://www.dm4lab.to/~usa/ruby/index_en.html

SharpDevelop - http://www.icsharpcode.net/opensource/sd/

Pop-up Blockers:

Google Toolbar - http://www.google.com/

NoAds - http://www.southbaypc.com/NoAds/

PopUp Stopper - http://www.panicware.com/product_psfree.html

Privoxy - http://www.privoxy.org/

Proxomitron - http://www.proxomitron.info/

RSS Readers:

Ablion - http://www.fileheaven.com/Abilon/download/14059.htm

RSSOwl - http://www.rssowl.org/

System Information and monitoring:

CPU-Z - http://www.cpuid.com/cpuz.php

Everest - http://www.lavalys.com/products/overview.p...ang=en&pageid=1

Gkrellm - http://bill.nalens.com/

Motherboard monitor - http://www.majorgeeks.com/download.php?det=311

SpeedFan - http://www.almico.com/speedfan.php

Sysmetrix - http://www.xymantix.com

WCPUID - http://hp.vector.co.jp/authors/VA002374/src/download.html

Video codecs :

DivX Codec - http://www.divx.com/divx/?src=toptab_divx_from_/index.php

FFDSHOW - http://sourceforge.net/projects/ffdshow

XviD - http://www.xvid.org/

Video players :

BsPlayer - http://www.bsplayer.org/

Crystal Player - http://www.crystalplayer.com/index.php?page=downloads

Cygwin MPlayer - http://armory.nicewarrior.org/projects/cygmp/

DivX Player - http://www.divx.com/

MaximusDVD - http://www.maximusdvd.com/

Media Player Classic - http://sourceforge.net/project/showfiles.php?group_id=82303

VideoLan - http://www.videolan.org/

Video tools:

DVD Shrink - http://www.dvdshrink.org/

DScaler - http://deinterlace.sourceforge.net/

FlasKMPEG - http://www.flaskmpeg.net

GSpot - http://www.headbands.com/gspot/

VirtualDub - http://www.virtualdub.org/

VirtualDubMod - http://sourceforge.net/project/showfiles.php?group_id=65889

Zwei-Stein Video Editor - http://www.thugsatbay.com/software/index.html

Web browsers:

Firefox - http://www.getfirefox.com

K-Meleon - http://kmeleon.sourceforge.net/

Mozilla - http://www.mozilla.org/

Netscape - http://channels.netscape.com/ns/browsers/default.jsp

Web servers:

Abyss - http://abyss.sourceforge.net/

Apache - http://httpd.apache.org/

Sambar - http://www.sambar.com/

Savant - http://savant.sourceforge.net/

SimpleServer:WWW - http://www.analogx.com/contents/download/network/sswww.htm

TinyWeb - http://www.ritlabs.com/tinyweb/index.html

Webcam Software:

booruWebCam - http://www.booru.net/

Pryme - http://www.hilo.dk/pryme/

Checksum Utilities:

fsum - http://www.slavasoft.com/fsum/

hksfv - http://www.big-o-software.com/products/hksfv/

md5sum - http://www.etree.org/md5com.html

md5summer - http://www.md5summer.org/

General Utilities And Other Applications:

AnalogX - http://www.analogx.com/

AppRocket - http://www.candylabs.com/approcket/

Celestia - http://www.shatters.net/celestia

CCleaner - http://www.ccleaner.com

Cygwin - http://www.cygwin.com

Dirkey - http://www.protonfx.com/dirkey/

EditPad Lite - http://www.editpadpro.com/editpadlite.html

HTTrack - http://www.httrack.com/

Inno Setup - http://www.jrsoftware.org/isinfo.php

Memtest-86 - http://www.memtest86.com

MWSnap - http://www.mirekw.com/winfreeware/mwsnap.html

NetTime - http://nettime.sourceforge.net

Nullsoft Installer - http://www.nullsoft.com/free/nsis

Peerguardian - http://xs.tech.nu/

QuickSFV - http://www.geocities.com/SiliconValley/Mouse/4668/

png2ico - http://winterdrache.de/freeware/png2ico

Stickies - http://finiteloop.org/~btaylor/software/stickies/

Sysinternals - http://www.sysinternals.com/

Toolbox - http://www.sil.org/computing/toolbox/

TuneXP - http://www.driverheaven.net/dforce/showdoc.php?doc=txp_about

Turbo Pad - http://turbopad.sourceforge.net/

Vim - http://vim.sourceforge.net

Edited February 10, 2005 by ultima

[Fotix]

In case anyone gives a damn (like i.e. me) the Net Transport site has a new website located here and the old listed site in this thread is dead:

http://www.xi-soft.com/

[leedogg]

Thanks for finally adding the app I mentioned redfx lol. sok SD I know u a busy guy ;)

[el22]

If your going to post huge lists like that, you might as well just go to www.webattack.com and click on freeware :\

www.snapfiles.com, actually

[brain_freeze]

PostCast Server is a free SMTP Server

http://www.postcastserver.com/

[krmathis]

PingPlotter are not freeware! ;)

Ping Plotter is developed under the trialware (or shareware) concept. You're probably familiar with this - you can try out the software for a limited time (30 days) after which you need to pay for it. It only costs $24.95 per computer to license (discounts are available for buying multiple licenses).

Please remove...

Solaris

[OrangeSoul]

One Request. in front of each, just state one line of its features and uniqueness, that would make choosing much easier

[Fili]

www.snapfiles.com, actually

Well, thank you for that smart ass, most people know it as webattack, I was aware of the name change.

[el22]

Well, thank you for that smart ass, most people know it as webattack, I was aware of the name change.

Errmm... :blink:

You are welcome... but I wasn't the smart ass who disrespected the work of all users who contributed to this thread, I was just pointing out a simple correction. If everybody treated others like you just did, this place would be much worse. Can't you keep it fair? :)

:rofl:

[mimeryme]

This is list is great. Thanks all.

[ooeeaa]

Is there a freeware alternative to Microsoft Publisher?

[Kasteo]

I think you forgot 1 great program...

Regcleaner

[ian]

WOW! You guys ROCK!! :D

[nuka_t]

Games

Gunbound-Gunbound.net

Americas Army-http://www.americasarmy.com/downloads/

[Nodiaque]

Instant Messenger:

- MSN Messenger

- ICQ

[Fili]

WindowsCleaner in Encryption and data security section is not freeware

[casanova]

i dont think its been mentioned but here is a fun one

evilyrics

http://www.evillabs.sk/evillyrics/

it searches for lyrics on songs in winamp, foobar etc....

really handy

[leedogg]

I was using both winrar and winzip...after trying IZarc from some of the reviews here, I uninstalled both rar & zip and this is now my default compression app. :cool: thanks guys.

[ferdalic]

Great list!

some additions:

VIDEO PLAYER: Zoom player standard ( http://www.inmatrix.com )

MAIL CLIENT: Foxmail ( http://fox.foxmail.com.cn/english.htm )

note: download the chinese v5b1 version and turn it into english by deleting chinese.lgb file

french and spanish versions here: http://foxmail.free.fr/www/home.php

INSTANT MESSENGER: Skype ( http://www.skype.com )

[Si Veteran]

Is there a freeware alternative to Microsoft Publisher?

You could try Openoffice writer, ok so it's not dtp but :p

[eversor]

Here is a free DTP Programm (for private use only)

RagTime Solo

http://www.ragtime-online.com/link.cgi?download_rts_program

[trigger_my_passion]

{Create tutorials and presentations} A good way to teach someone how to do something is by creating a visual, animated tutorial. Unfortunately, programs that do this can be costly. Wink can do it at no cost and it's good quality. It even has a couple of tutorials to show how it works. It can save the tutorial as a PDF or HTML file.

Wink is a Tutorial and Presentation creation software, primarily aimed at creating tutorials on how to use software (like a tutor for MS-Word/Excel etc). Using Wink you can capture screenshots of your software, use images that you already have, type-in explanations for each step, create a navigation sequence complete with buttons, delays, titles etc and create a highly effective tutorial for your users.

http://www.debugmode.com/wink/

[mm3h]

I wish I had a alternative to MS VM and Suns Java client :(

[nazgul]

{Create tutorials and presentations} A good way to teach someone how to do something is by creating a visual, animated tutorial. Unfortunately, programs that do this can be costly. Wink can do it at no cost and it's good quality. It even has a couple of tutorials to show how it works. It can save the tutorial as a PDF or HTML file.

Wink is a Tutorial and Presentation creation software, primarily aimed at creating tutorials on how to use software (like a tutor for MS-Word/Excel etc). Using Wink you can capture screenshots of your software, use images that you already have, type-in explanations for each step, create a navigation sequence complete with buttons, delays, titles etc and create a highly effective tutorial for your users.

http://www.debugmode.com/wink/

Wow, thanks dude, been lookin for something like that for a whuile :yes:

[trigger_my_passion]

MeazureTM 2.0

What are the dimensions of that image? How big is this window? Does this layout fit on an NTSC display? What color are these pixels? What does this icon look like close up? How can I capture an arbitrary portion of the screen? These are just a few of the questions that kept coming up as I developed applications and web pages. Various tools are available to answer some of these questions but I could not find any that answered them all or that had a usable interface. So I created Meazure, a program that measures, magnifies and captures the screen by providing a battery of features in a cohesive user interface. Even better, Meazure is free!

Features

Measure objects on the screen such as images, windows and icons

Capture arbitrary portions of the screen

Magnify the screen up to 32X magnification

Read the color of a screen pixel in RGB, hex RGB, CMY, CMYK, HSL, YCbCr, YIQ

Display rulers anywhere on the screen

Display a grid overlay on the screen with adjustable grid spacing

Measure using a number of units including pixels, points, twips, centimeters, or user-defined

Record measurements to an XML file for later playback or external processing

Calibrate screen resolution to provide accurate measurements

Save and restore measurement tool positions using Profiles

Use predefined Profiles for common screen and video sizes such as NTSC and PAL

Configure the user interface to show only the information you need

Many more features. See the detailed context-sensitive online help

http://www.cthing.com/Downloads.asp

could say this is an alternative to the commerical program @ http://www.bitsplash.com/exactmouse/

[Sparkler]

for programming

Borland C# Builder Personal