Until you’ve owned a computer and been on the Internet for a while you may not be aware of the fact that you can outfit your shiny new toy (or, in some cases, run of the mill, almost over the hill) machine with free software that works as good as, if not better than, commercial applications.

Here’s the list of my Top Ten:

General Use:

1. Firefox Web Browser — Without a doubt this is the application I use most often on a daily basis. This browser allows you to set up a browser the way you want and I’d be willing to bet no two people use it the same way. It’s excellent at keeping your computer secure. Firefox allows multiple tabs in the same window (so no more multiple windows like you had with other browsers). I hesitated to start using this browser as most of the people I have worked with in the past use Internet Explorer (IE), but once I started using Firefox, IE seemed so … yucky…. Firefox 2 lets you install add-ons which are easy to install and for the most part can be done directly from the add-on page at the Firefox website.

2. Launchy — This is a great program if you go in and out of programs a lot. Launchy allows you to run things using the keyboard instead of a mouse. Just hold down the ALT and space bar to bring up the Launchy window, start typing the name of the program, and Launchy brings up a list matching programs you can select to run from with the up and down arrow keys. You can see a video demo on the SMARTcut® Geek site.

3. Instant Memory Cleaner — Windows programmers are notorious for not completely cleaning up after their programs close. This tends to leave your memory fragmented and full of stuff you don’t need running. If these program pieces are not cleared out, your system will run slower. Instant Memory Cleaner runs in the background (showing an icon in the system tray) and periodically scrubs your memory. You can also run it by opening the icon in the tray at the bottom right of the screen if you suspect it needs to be run. This is an easy install and does an excellent job of freeing up your memory.

Security:

4. AVG — There are a host of people that want control of your computer and identity for a number of nefarious reasons. There’s also a bunch of schmucks that will open any email with attachments from Nigeria or Russia to see who is writing them. You can’t protect someone from themselves but AVG goes a long way towards doing that. It has a scheduled scanning option, a daily update routine, and it’s more reliable than almost any other anti-virus program out there. I used to use N****n anti-virus but switched over to this because the first kept locking up my machine or took too long to do scans on anything. I’ve had no problems with this – ever….

5. Spybot Search and Destroy — My great-grandfather used to wear a belt and suspenders. I’m like him in a couple of ways in that I run two ad blocking software programs on occasion. I immunize my system with Spybot and have it run in the background and then periodically I run AdAware as insurance.

6. AdAware — If I had to run just one anti-spyware program, it would be SpyBot. AdAware is a good program however, and is very close, in my mind, to being Spybot’s equal.

Applications:

7. Open Office — If you work with anyone in an office today, chances are they have or use Microsoft Office. I have used Office in the past but find that its bloated feature list costs a lot in terms of performance. I have recently started using Open Office and find it to be a well designed program suite. It gives you the ability to open most Office documents (even Microsoft Word has some challenges between its various versions) and is speedier than Office. It comes with a database, spreadsheet program, word processor, slide presentation program, and drawing program. There exists a large base of established users and a good community where you can get support.

8. Google Apps (Google Mail and Google Reader) — I mentioned before that I live in my browser during a work day. Google Mail and Google Reader are two programs that allow me to stay in contact with business associates and clients. I switched over from Outlook to Thunderbird and then to Google mail as Outlook kept locking up at critical times, and Thunderbird was not fast enough on searches. Google mail allows you to tag and sort email, retrieve email from other accounts you might have (like AOL, your internet provider’s email, your web site, and so on). What is especially nice is the spam filtering capabilities it has. Drawing on a large community of users, Google has been
able to keep up with most of the spammers’ tactics and sticks spam in a separate folder so you don’t have to deal with it but can check it for real mail that was accidentally filtered out. Google reader allows me to keep up with the flood of blogs and informational websites that I deal with. Google Reader allows me to scan headlines and then zero in on specific articles I want to read. The best thing about both of these programs is that they are stored elsewhere but available from any Internet connected computer.

9. Cute PDF — I can’t tell you how many times I get a message saying someone can’t open an attachment someone sent them. Adobe has a format that anyone can read no matter what operating system they are using. CutePDF is a  small program that acts like a printer and takes output from almost any program and prints it to a PDF on your computer that you can share.

10. jkDefrag — A hard drive is a lot like a garage. Things get put into it and moved around without any rhyme or reason. JkDefrag is a program that works like a spring cleanup and puts files into shelves and boxes so you can find them and get to them more readily. It has a nice layout that shows you what it’s moving and where. This also provides a status of how long it has left to run. Defragmentation is not a quick process but it noticeably speeds up your computer.

So that’s my 10 “must-haves” for daily computing. There are a number of other freeware programs I have come to rely on and I’ll share reviews of them on the website at SMARTcut® Geek. If you have some that you rely on let me know what they are, maybe I’ll add
them to this list!