Freeware and Open Source Tools and Applications for Windows

Pranav Prakash has posted a list of 100 freeware and open source tools and applications for Windows. Alphabetized and categorized under uses, Prakash claims these work as good as commercial counterparts without the cost. Links are included for each and Prakash invites any other suggestions from readers in the know. Here is just a sampling of his list:

Audio

Audacity: Free, open source software for recording and editing sounds. You can use Audacity to:

Record live audio.
Convert tapes and records into digital recordings or CDs.
Edit Ogg Vorbis, MP3, WAV or AIFF sound files.
Cut, copy, splice or mix sounds together.
Change the speed or pitch of a recording.
And more! See the complete list of features.

CD-DVD

CDBurnerXP: CDBurnerXP is a free application to burn CDs and DVDs, including Blu-Ray and HD-DVDs. It also includes the feature to burn and create ISOs, as well as a multilingual interface. It does not include adware or similar malicious components.

Development

Aptana: The Aptana IDE is a free, open-source, cross-platform, JavaScript-focused development environment for building Ajax applications. It features code assist on JavaScript, HTML, and CSS languages, FTP/SFTP support and a JavaScript debugger to troubleshoot your code.

Education

Celestia: The free space simulation that lets you explore our universe in three dimensions. Unlike most planetarium software, Celestia doesn't confine you to the surface of the Earth. You can travel throughout the solar system, to any of over 100,000 stars, or even beyond the galaxy. All movement in Celestia is seamless; the exponential zoom feature lets you explore space across a huge range of scales, from galaxy clusters down to spacecraft only a few meters across. A 'point-and-goto' interface makes it simple to navigate through the universe to the object you want to visit. Celestia is expandable. Celestia comes with a large catalog of stars, galaxies, planets, moons, asteroids, comets, and spacecraft. If that's not enough, you can download dozens of easy to install add-ons with more objects.

File Management

7-Zip: 7-Zip is a file archiver with a high compression ratio. Packing formats supported: 7z, ZIP, GZIP, BZIP2 and TAR. Unpacking formats supported: 7z, ZIP, GZIP, BZIP2, TAR, RAR, CAB, ISO, ARJ, LZH, CHM, MSI, WIM, Z, CPIO, RPM, DEB, NSIS etc.

Graphics

Blender: Blender is an integrated suite of tools enabling the creation of a broad range of 3D content. Aimed world-wide at media professionals and artists, Blender can be used to create 3D visualizations, stills as well as broadcast and cinema quality video, while the incorporation of a real-time 3D engine allows for the creation of 3D interactive content for stand-alone playback.

Internet

Digsby: Digsby is a multiprotocol IM client that lets you chat with all your friends on AIM, MSN, Yahoo, ICQ, Google Talk, and Jabber with one simple to manage buddy list. It also acts as a email notification tool that alerts you of new email and lets you perform actions such as 'Delete' or 'Report Spam' with just one click. It is also a social networking tool that alerts you of events like new messages and gives you a live Newsfeed of what your friends are up to.

Office

Open Office: OpenOffice is a complete suite with :

a word processor (Writer)
a spreadsheet (Calc)
a module to create a multimedia presentation (Impress)
a database manager (Base)
a draw module
module to write mathematics formula (Math).

Security

AVG Antivirus: AVG Free provides you with basic antivirus and antispyware protection for Windows and is available to download for free.

System Utilities

CCleaner: CCleaner is a system optimization, privacy and cleaning tool. It removes unused files from your system - allowing Windows to run faster and freeing up valuable hard disk space. It also cleans traces of your online activities such as your Internet history. Additionally it contains a fully featured registry cleaner.

Video

GordianKnot: Gordian Knot started out as a simple bitrate calculator for DivX encoding but has evolved to become an integrated package or tool for the entire process of DivX/XviD encoding.

More Information

100 great Freeware/Open Source Tools and Applications for Windows - Prakash's blog entry

Free and Open Source Software Must-haves for Windows [...read more...]

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