Best Free Vista 64 bit Software

Vista 64 isn't the easiest OS to find good free applications for.   In fact, most people I know have paid for at least one piece of software to either protect, optimize, or enhance the functionality of their PC. There are many reasons for this ranging from the mistaken idea that “ Paid for is best “ to just not knowing where to look, or  being put off by having never heard of the tool, or the company that has produced it. The good news is that there are in many cases excellent freeware alternatives, and at the very least, there is little or no need to pay for the software that is used on a daily basis !

 Here are the top freeware picks for Vista 64 in their various sections.

 FIREWALL

 There aren't many free firewalls for Vista 64, but it is possible to have control of both inbound and outbound traffic without spending any money. If all you need is a simple two way firewall and aren't too fussy about appearance or features, the free version of Vista Firewall Control is perhaps the answer.

Homepage - http://sphinx-soft.com/

 If on the other hand, you are looking for a free firewall with extra peace of mind in the form of HIPS, Comodo Firewall Pro (CFP ) is an excellent choice ! CFP when first installed can be rather intrusive, but things do settle down as the program learns more about the system, also it is necessary to change mode when installing new software and when dealing with reports. This is a small price to pay when you consider that CFP is one of the most effective firewalls on the market, free or otherwise.  Full instructions for use and detailed explanations covering all aspects of the firewall and the Defence + feature are available from the " Miscellaneous" tab, or in PDF form from the Comodo website.

 Homepage - http://www.personalfirewall.comodo.com/

ANTIVIRUS

 With its ease of use, fast scanning and excellent detection rates, my first choice is Avira Antivir Personal Edition.   Although it lacks some of the features which can be found in other AV's, the absence of email scanning for example, is made up for by the speed in which the Real-time protection leaps to your defence when any threats are detected.   Avira protects against Viruses, Worms, Trojans, Rootkits and dialers.

My only criticism is the large advert for the paid version which accompanies the updates, but it only takes a mouse click to make it go away.

 Homepage - http://www.free-av.com/

If you require an antivirus with extra features, such as email scanning and antispyware .   Avast 4 may be what you're looking for.   The detection rates are good, but it can be rather slow and the appearance isn't to everyones liking.   It does however,  solve the problem of finding an alternative to Vista's own Windows Defender , which has perhaps more critics than fans.

 Homepage - http://www.avast.com/eng/avast-free-home-antivirus-antispyware.html

 ANTISPYWARE

There are  some very good  on-demand  scanners  available free of charge,  which will not  conflict with real-time protection.   Perhaps the best of these,  is Superantispyware(SAS)  which in addition to detecting malware that other products miss and being able to remove rogue applications, also has the ability to repair some of the damage that can be caused by Malware.    

 Homepage - http://www.superantispyware.com/index.html

 Malwarebytes is also worth considering because of its fast scanning and general ease of use, not forgetting of course its ability to remove malware.

 Homepage - http://www.malwarebytes.org/index.php

 The latest offering from Lavasoft in the form of Ad-aware 2008,  is one of my personal favourites,  because it finds the majority of low risk “ Privacy Objects “ which can in time slow your system down if left unchecked, with this in mind it could also be classed as one of the system maintenance tools.

 Homepage - http://lavasoft.com/products/ad_aware_free.php

Although Vista has its own housekeeping tools for defragmenting the harddrive and removing junk files , there are 3rd party alternatives which perform better and offer additional features.  There are far fewer tools with 64bit support than there are for the 32bit platform, but the ones I've listed below are very good at what they do.

 DISK DEFRAGMENTER

 JK Defrag finds many fragmented files, even if used immediately after the Windows version, it optimises as well and does so in considerably less time and if that wasn't enough, there is also an indication of progress in percentage terms. JK Defrag can be run on demand from the desktop or USB stick, there is a command line version and also a screen saver version which works when the system is idle.

Homepage - http://www.kessels.com/JkDefrag/

 DISK CLEANER

Although CCleaner scans for both junk files and registry errors, the former is the main thrust of the application because the registry cleaning component is quite mild. There are some additional features as well including cookie management and secure file erasing.   This is one of the first tools I install on my Windows PC's, and regular use will go a long way toward preventing the harddrive from becoming bogged down with unwanted junk that the Windows tool either ignores or holds on to for a number of days.

 Homepage - http://www.ccleaner.com/

 REGISTRY CLEANER

Finding a specific Reg Cleaner free of charge for V64 is no easy task .   People on more than one Vista forum have recommended Wise Registry Cleaner 3 (WRC3), and  after testing it myself, I've found it to be both fast and powerful. It found numerous entries which were split into two groups, 1) those you can remove safely, and 2) the rest which require closer examination before removing. I have gone only as far as fixing the first group and as a result have noticed an increase in performance with no ill effects!

 Homepage - http://www.wisecleaner.com/index.html

 REGISTRY DEFRAGMENTER

While a PC is in use there is a constant stream of data being added to and removed from the registry, and over time this can cause the registry to become fragmented, there is also the problem of registry cleaners and program uninstalls producing gaps in the registry file.   When this occurs,  it does nothing to enhance the performance or reliability of the system,  therefore the occasional use of a registry defragmenter / optimiser is seen by some as a necessary part of the maintenance regime.

 Free Registry Defrag V2.35. is a fast,  reliable and free tool which is capable of compacting and defragmenting the registry.   If used when the level of fragmentation is in excess of 10% the results are noticeable.

 Homepage - http://www.registry-clean.net/free-registry-defrag.htm

 In addition to what I think of as the essentials (above) there are many other free applications which are very good and can be used on V64.  The list is by no means exhaustive, but it should give an indication of what is available.

OFFICE SUITE

 Open Office covers just about all the bases,  everything from a document writer to databases and spreadsheets,  it handles files produced with Word and Powerpoint,  and also there are numerous extensions available.  All in all this is one of the best examples of freeware to be found !

 Homepage - http://www.openoffice.org/index.html

 If all you need is a fast loading document writer that supports the following document types, Open Office, Microsoft, RTF, HTML web pages and more besides.   AbiWord Word Processor is an excellent choice.

 Homepage - http://www.abisource.com/

 PDF READER

 Foxit Reader is quick to  load, very light on resources and there are more than enough features to satisfy the needs of most people

 Homepage - http://www.foxitsoftware.com/

 MORE TO FOLLOW !