The Editors' Choice List: Our Selection of the Best PC Freeware

Welcome to the editors' choice list, where you'll find the best freeware on our site. Many freeware products here are as good as or better than their commercial counterparts.

To get high onto this list a product must have done more than win a Gizmo's Freeware award; it must impress our editors with its usefulness and professionalism. Usually our top freeware picks must compete in a Darwinian struggle against many rival programs!

Our volunteer editors did the difficult work in their freeware reviews, choosing a broad selection of must have free programs, exquisitely rare freeware treasures, and "Gizmo's Freeware Top Picks".

We suggest you browse the whole list at your leisure as you may be surprised what freeware gems you will discover. The pathologically impatient can use the category index below.

Caution: Some of these recommendations involve risky tasks like cleaning the registry or installing touchy software that may conflict with your system, so be sure to make restore points or image/backup first.

Security & Privacy: Sandboxie - Antivirus - Firewall - Antispyware - HIPS - Anonymous Surfing

Cleanup & Tune: PC Tuneup - Disk Defrag - File Cleaner - Eraser - Uninstaller - Startup Manager

Disk & File: Drive Imaging - Backup Program - Folder Sync - Zip Utility - File Manager - Partition Manager

System Tools & Desktop: Software Update Monitor - Screen Capture Utility - Screen Information Utility

Multimedia: Media Player - CD & DVD Burner - Audio & Video Conversion - Music Player - MP3 Tagger...

Image Tools: Image Viewer - Image Editor - High Dynamic Range (HDR) Software - Photo Organizer

Home & Office: Office Suite - Software Suite - PDF Writer - PDF Reader - PDF Tools - Finance Software

Internet Tools: Web Browser - Email Client - BitTorrent Client - Download Manager - Remote Access

Still Reading?  Jump to Games, Lists, Tutorials, & More | Jump to Related Top Pick Lists

5 Basic Safe Computing Steps

• OpenDNS: "After only a quick registration and configuration change, it considerably improves your pro-active protection against drive by malware. It's an excellent first line of defense" (review).
• WOT: Fast ratings about possible malicious websites, multiple categories of ratings, and provides reports with user comments and more information. Uses a fantastic warning or blocking screen to empower users to avoid potentially bad websites without filter 'censorship' (review).
• Secunia PSI: Scans for insecure software and helps you quickly update risky products like browsers, PDF readers, Sun Java, office software, email software, media players, instant messengers, download managers, P2P clients, etc. (review). You should also allow Windows to automatically update with its latest patches, for Windows itself often has security flaws (learn more).
• Secure Your PC: Consider using a limited rights option, rather than a normal full administrator account, to block the majority of malware from getting a foothold.
• Security Advice Wizard: Get personalized results from our security team.

Browser Protection Utility

• Sandboxie: "Creates a special sandbox environment on your PC [either for web browsing or any program]. So that within the virtual sandbox provided by Sandboxie the vital portions of your PC are totally isolated... If set correctly, any spyware, Trojans, keyloggers or other malware products that 'infect' your PC while browsing will be eliminated. It can cause problems on some PCs so backup before installing."

Antivirus Software (Using more than one real-time antivirus can cause conflicts, consume system resources heavily, and even reduce protection, so we recommend one antivirus for real-time protection.)

• Avira AntiVir Personal Edition: "My top pick if you're looking for the best protection against virus, spyware and rootkit threats. AntiVir is very light on resources and the detection rate of malware is outstanding, better than almost every other antivirus according to tests."
• Microsoft Security Essentials: "By far the best choice for average users because of the minimal user interaction required and clean interface. The detection rates are very good, in particular the detection of zero-day threats and rootkits. Even more impressive, it has very few false positives and is light on resources."

Firewall (Many people just use windows firewall for sanity's sake, but in any case only install 1 software firewall.)

• Comodo Internet Security: The security effectiveness of the firewall and application monitor (Defense+ HIPS) exceeds the performance of many commercial products. On the minus side, it's rather talkative and this may alarm or annoy users. It has adjustable protection if you think it requires too much user involvement. The antivirus component is optional and not recommended.
• Online Armor Free: A solid contender in proactive protection, with a novel Run Safer feature that allows the added protection of a limited user account without the annoyances. If you can handle the ads and installation nags, it functions similar to Comodo with a few extra user friendly features.

Adware/Spyware/Scumware Remover (Choose at least one for regular malware scanning and removal.)

• SuperAntiSpyware: "Top of the list once again in detection and removal of malware, with a fairly lightweight download and simple installation."
• MalwareBytes Anti-Malware: Tied for second and recommended by our security wizard.
• a-squared Free: Tied for second and highest as a Trojan Scanner/Trojan Remover.

Intrusion Prevention and Detection Utility (HIPS Software)

• ThreatFire: "It has now bounced back to the top of the pile and is far less capable of causing system problems. It provides behavioral based detection and runs from the box without the need for additional configuration. Be aware that automatic updates are not provided with the free version if you elect to “opt out” of the ThreatFire Community."

Anonymous Surfing Service

• OperaTor: "A portable version of Opera with a well integrated Tor engine that uses the free Tor network. It is small and relatively fast, but not open source."
• JonDo (alternatively, if this site is down try here): "It's more flexible by allowing the user to configure it for their choice of browser. Vidalia is a close next pick and it generally feels faster, but it may not have the same level of anonymizing as JonDo."
   

Related Top Picks: Roboform, LastPass

All-in-one PC Tune-up Utility

• Ashampoo WinOptimizer 2010: "It's very easy to use and has a sleek interface. Allows one-click cleaning for disk, privacy and registry cleaning tasks, and has an excellent tweaking tool."

Disk Defragmenter

• Auslogics Disk Defrag: "The latest release is way ahead of the competition. I found the defragmentation time to be incredibly fast, and for the first time in a while, the long process of defragmenting my hard drive was shrunk to minutes."

File Cleaner

• CCleaner: It's very effective in removing unused or temporary files, cookies, Recycle bin entries, history and cache files in many applications. Additionally, it can scan the Windows registry for issues, securely erase, manage the startup, uninstall software, clean system restore points, run automatically at startup, or run as a task with the /AUTO command argument.

Secure Erase Utility

• Eraser: Overwrites the data area with your choice of random data patterns, and also wipes data in the recycling bin, unused disk space, and a number of other places where data can secretly lurk. The newest v6.0 has a much cleaner interface and now unlocks files, replaces erased files with a file/folder of your choice, and includes 14 erase patterns.

Program Uninstaller

• Revo Uninstaller: "It is the only freeware product I know of that will make a decent job of cleaning up a failed install."
• ZSoft Uninstaller: "Monitors before and after an installation to most thoroughly remove files and registry entries."

Startup Manager

• Autoruns (also runs online): Besides startup/logon management, it also allows you to manage services, drivers, sidebar gadgets, scheduled tasks, image hijacks, Winlogin entries (that many other startup managers miss), and more, but use it carefully. Alternatively, average users could use Starter, CCleaner, Revo Uninstaller, etc.
   

Related Top Picks: CleanMem

Drive Imaging Software

• Macrium Reflect Free: "Easy to use and a fast way to create a disk image. Use it to return your PC to the exact state it had been in at the moment a disk image was created, thus saving maybe a day's work reinstalling and configuring all the programs."
• Acronis True Image: "Always the top choice if you can get it for free, perhaps during one of the many promotions, or with a Seagate or Maxtor disk - it's in their Disk Tools software, a 153 MB file that you must download from the Seagate website."

Backup Software

• GFI Backup (Home Edition): "Has easy to use wizards and supports numerous backup locations. You will find GFI's similar to Titan Backup, with some nice extras."

Folder Synchronization Utility ("Synchronization utilities are important in helping you keep identical versions of your files or folders, say, on both your home computer and office computer.")

• PureSync: "Over all I was very pleased with its numerous features and ease of use, and heartily recommend it to the average user. It has a good preview of what files are going to be copied, updated, or deleted when performing a sync job. Supports scheduling and auto syncing."

File Archiver/Zip Utility

• 7-Zip: "Easy to install, gives meaningful error messages, capable of uncompressing from multiple embedded files."

File Manager

• xplorer² lite: "It offers more functionality than Windows Explorer, but with an interface sufficiently similar to Explorer that most users will find it easy to learn and use."

Partition Manager

• EASEUS Partition Master (Home Edition): "Intuitive and user-friendly interface, features include resize, move, copy, create, delete, hide, unhide, convert, explore and format partitions with a single step."
   

Related Top Picks: SpaceSniffer, PC INSPECTOR File Recovery, TrueCrypt, Skydrive

Software Update Monitor

• Software Update Monitor (SUMo) (choose the  download link): "Perhaps the best software update monitor for expert users. It's faster than Secunia's PSI and easily adds portable software. It's not restricted to any one download site. However, it doesn't provide direct download links."

Screen Capture Utility

• PicPick: "User friendly, captures full screen, active window, object, rectangular, fixed or freehand region. Supports auto-scroll, dual monitors, sound effect and multiple formats. An image editor is included, plus extra features such as color picker, screen ruler, protractor, cross hair and whiteboard."

System Information Utility

• System Information for Windows (SIW): "My current favorite for home use. It displays many detailed specs such as CPU, memory, devices, installed programs, processes, services, network, and page file usage."
   

Related Top Picks: TCPOptimizer, System Explorer, ArsClip

Related Top Picks (Desktop & GUI): Dexpot, Launchy..., Copernic Desktop Search

CD / DVD Burning Software

• ImgBurn: "Most powerful burning application with advanced features, support for every modern optical disc from CD to Blu-Ray, more than 10 image formats, authoring rewritable discs, etc."
• BurnAware Free: "Most suited for average users who want a full feature set without the complications that advanced options bring."

Media Player

• The KM Player: "Easy to use and install, awesome playback, and no need for extra codec packs, making it easy to use for those with less experience. Other features include setting multifarious audio and video effects, slow down or increase playback speed with regular tone, etc."

Music Player and Organizer

• Jaangle (formerly Teen Spirit): Intuitive and user-friendly interface for playing music, excellent library for music managing, interesting download capabilities of artist photos/bios, song lyrics, etc.
• AIMP 2: Excellent features for organizing and playing music, comes with all necessary tools for building a music library (tag, rip, convert, record, access radio), and has a visually stunning design.

MP3 Tag Editor

• TagScanner: "Supports basic and extended tags, complete with Music Renamer and Tag Processor. It allows you to preview tag information and cover art from online databases like freedb or Amazon. But if you prefer a more normal user interface then Mp3tag is a good alternative. "

Audio & Video Format Conversion

• iWisoft Free Video Converter: "Simple polished interface, file and preset editing allowed, good device presets. It even has a few pleasant surprises, such as a basic editing suite built in. In short, this program is an outstanding choice for almost any device conversion."

CD Ripper

• Exact Audio Copy: "Rips CD imperfections and scratches with ease. But use CDex if you need to convert to many types of formats."

CD & DVD Emulation Software

• Gizmo Drive: "Support up to 26 virtual drives, create ISO image, burn ISO files or folders to recordable disks, complete with Gizmo Manager and Image Wizard to perform tasks."

Media Editing (Audio Editing, Video Editor)

• Audacity: "Interface is easy to use, easily applies noise profiles, capable of saving in multiple compressed formats."
• Avidemux: "Supports many file types including AVI, DVD compatible MPEG files, MP4 and ASF. It's simple and easy to use, with well documented tutorials."

Internet Media Viewing/Capturing (Online TV Viewer, Streaming Media Recorder)

• JLC's Internet TV Viewer: "A simple, but effective TV streams viewer that doesn't have much overhead."
• CamStudio: "My personal favorite for on-screen media capture and recording because the output is in the more widely used AVI and FLV formats."
   

Related Top Pick: IsoBuster, DVD Profiler

Digital Image Viewer

• XnView: "Fast, lots of features, very manageable, many plug-ins, supports nearly any OS."
• IrfanView: "This product is first-class and a real winner. It's amazingly capable and fast at displaying images."
• FastStone Image Viewer: "Superb interface, good functionality, excellent batch processing options, GPS location in Google Earth."

Digital Image Editor

• LightBox Image Editor: "My top pick for basic image editing because it has an attractive user interface and it's simple and straight forward to use."
• Paint.net: "It's a very good choice for mid-level photo retouching because of its excellent design and attractive interface. It also has options and tools comparable to commercial software, but it requires you to install Microsoft .NET Framework 2.0 or newer."

High Dynamic Range (HDR) Software

• Qtpfsgui: "Comes out slightly ahead of the several HDR software packages. It has great tone-mapping and aligning facilities, allows 8, 16 and 32 bit channels and two means of manually manipulating the image."

Digital Photo Organizer

• Picasa 3: "Simply sensational editing features that provide you with every function amateur photographers need."
   

For Screen Capture see System Tools.

Related Top Picks: Project Dogwaffle, Noiseware Community Edition..., Microsoft ICE...

Office Suite

• OpenOffice 3: "Covers the basics of office document creation: word processing, spreadsheets, presentations, graphics, a desktop database. It allows you to save your documents in many choices of file formats so you'll have no problem exchanging documents with MS Office."

PDF Viewers and More (Non-Adobe PDF Reader, PDF Writer, PDF Tool)

• PDF-XChange Viewer: "Loads reasonably fast, can print PDFs, allows basic annotation without watermarking, good text clarity, allows you to fill and save Adobe PDF forms, extract text and images, magnify text, and export PDF pages or documents to BMP, JPEG, TIFF, PNG formats."
• Bullzip PDF Printer or PDFill Writer: "Both have more of the options I need and have worked flawless for me. All of the PDF writers in this review function by creating a pseudo printer on your system."
• PDFill PDF Tools: "Clean and nice user interface, includes most features such as merge, split, reorder, rotate, header and footer with page number, watermark, encrypt and decrypt, convert PDF to images or vice versa, convert PostScript to PDF."
   

Related Top Picks: LiberKey, Jarte, GnuCash, Palm Desktop..., PolyEdit Lite, Stickies

Web Browser

• Mozilla Firefox: "It browses a tad faster than IE, is very stable and more standards compliant. It has thousands of Add-Ons to enhance the program and is very secure."
• Opera: "Extremely fast at loading pages, loads of features. There's so much to like about it you could easily create a case that it's better than Firefox. Though, alas, there are not nearly as many widgets available as there are Firefox extensions."
• SRWare Iron: "Looks and acts almost exactly like Google Chrome, but without sending any information back to Google's servers. Amazingly fast at loading pages, minimalist interface, with impressive features such as an Incognito Mode for privacy."

Email Client

• Mozilla Thunderbird: "Customizable and expandable through add-ons, intuitive user interface."

Download Manager

• Gigaget: "The fastest by far to download files, monitor major browsers and clipboard, resume/pause download, import/export list, data transfer encryption, and classification of downloaded files."

BitTorrent Client ("Quickly became an important download format for its speed, efficiency, and cheapness in distributing content over the Internet.")

• µTorrent: "Small, efficient, many features, and excellent support. Tied for lowest memory use of all clients."

Remote Access Software ("Remotely administer another computer for off-site troubleshooting or for accessing your home PC while traveling.")

• UltraVNC: "Offers all the features you need, including auto-configuration, easy user interface, extensive hotkeys and embedded file transfer. Add to that the fact that it's free, secure, reliable and reasonably speedy and you have a winner. "
• LogMeIn: "Possibly the fastest most reliable remote control freeware available. It will even allow a PC to remotely control a Macintosh. Excellent tool for accessing home computer or friends/family computers from anywhere."
   

For Password Managers see Security & Privacy.

Related: KompoZer, HTML-Kit..., Fire FTP..., NetMeter, WireShark, Nmap..., NetworkStumbler, Pidgin

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Be sure to check out our Home Categories, Forum, and Gizmo's Feed. Or volunteer as a reviewer.

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best freeware, best free software, freeware downloads, must have free programs, top 64 freeware picks, best free programs for windows/XP/Vista/windows 7

Best freeware picks in the following categories: Security software, including antivirus software/antispyware/firewalls/HIPS/anonymous surfing. Cleaning software: pc tuneup/file cleaner/disk defragmenter/startup manager/program uninstaller. Disk & File software: drive imaging/encryption software/recovery software/partition software. System utilities: software update monitor/system information/screen capture. Multimedia software: media player/music player/MP3 Tag Editor/ripping software/CD & DVD burner. Image tools: digital image viewer/image editor. Home & office: office suite/office software/word processor/PDF viewer. Internet & email: web browser/email client/download manager/bitTorrent client/remote desktop software.