Post by Yona Maro on Oct 1, 2005 1:04:32 GMT -5
There are a lot of great freeware products out there. Many are as good or even better than their commercial alternatives. This list features my personal pick of the "best of the best."
All these utilities in this list have been featured in past issues of of my free monthly newsletter "Support Alert" More freebies are featured in every new issue. If you are interested in great utilities and freeware you really should consider subscribing. It's free.
Last update: May 29, 2005
The Best Freeware List
1 Best Free Web Browser
Internet Explorer is a good browser but it has become such a target for malicious exploits that it is now a major security risk. Quite separately, the browser itself is now looking dated with most alternative products offering tabbed browsing and other productivity enhancements. There are several excellent alternatives but Mozilla Firefox is the stand-out pick. It's safer than Internet Explorer, so safe in fact that many users have reported no spyware infections since they started using the product. It's also browses faster than Internet Explorer and since the release of version 1.0, it's stable and reliable as well. It loads a little slower than IE but once running, it zips along at lightning speed. With tabbed browsing and more free extensions than you could ever want, it offers a major upgrade in your browsing experience. Unlike IE, it's also standards compliant. Firefox is now my everyday browser though occasionally I have to fire up IE to browse a site designed around IE's non-standard features. (4.7MB)
www.mozilla.org/products/firefox/
www.techsupportalert.com/firefox.htm <= Free Firefox migration guide
2 Best Free Anti-Virus Software Updated May 18, 2005
There are two equal recommendations in this category. First there is AVG Antivirus 7.0 Free Edition. This product has been continuously refined since it was first released in 1991 and now offers very impressive protection capabilities. Additionally, it's relatively small, light on resources, has regular automatic updates and handles email scanning. There is a free and a pro version, the only difference being that the free version has a few non-critical features disabled and has no direct technical support. Even so, it's an impressive package and offers the financially challenged a real alternative to the major anti-virus suites. Equally impressive is the free Avast! scanner though its funky media player style interface is not to everyone's taste. Avast! also required periodic re-registration while AVG does does not. (5MB)
free.grisoft.com
www.avast.com
www.techsupportalert.com/free-vs-paid-av.htm <= a review of the effectiveness of free security software
3 Best Free Adware/Spyware/Scumware Remover
I used to recommend SpyBot Search and Destroy but I'm afraid its detection rate has fallen off recently. I now recommend Microsoft's Antispyware program which is currently available as a free beta to users of Windows 2000 and later. It' s based on the Giant Antispyware product that Microsoft purchased late in 2004 and has impressive detection. It also has excellent real time protection against the current plague of browser hijackers, auto-dialers and other surreptitiously downloaded scumware products. Microsoft have announced that the product will remain free even when out of beta so it's a good long term choice. My second selection in this category is Ad-Aware SE. It's free too and works with all versions of Windows though the free version lacks the active protection offered by Giant. However you can add active protection by using SpywareBlaster (see next item) I use both Giant and Ad-Aware as they tend to find slightly different things. If possible, I suggest you use both as well.
www.microsoft.com/athome/security/spyware/software/default.mspx ( 6.4MB) www.lavasoftusa.com/software/adaware/ (1.7MB)
4 Best Free Browser Protection Utility Updated May 29, 2005
There's a scumware plague at the moment. All it takes is a visit to a pushy web site or a loaded shareware install and next minute your Internet Explorer homepage has been changed, your default search setting altered, unwanted ads pop up on your screen and worse. SpywareBlaster is not a system scanner rather it is monitor that's designed to prevent an initial infection. It provides active protection for Internet Explorer users against thousands of malevolent products that use ActiveX based exploits and offers defenses against hostile sites and unwanted cookies as well. SpywareBlaster can be used with Firefox but there's not much point as Firefox doesn't need to be protected against ActiveX exploits. SpywareBlaster is free but the automatic update service costs $9.95 annually. A companion program to SpywareBlaster is SpywareGuard. It is also a protective program that checks programs before they are run for malware signatures and also checks program behavior as well. However of late SpywareGuard seems to have been rather neglected with no new signature updates for more than a year so I can no longer give it my recommendation. SpywareBlaster though, is a terrific product and a must-have for Internet Explorer users who also use the free version of Ad-Aware. If you are using Microsoft Antispyware, Ad-Aware Pro or other anti-spyware utility with a real-time monitor, you don't need it.
www.javacoolsoftware.com/spywareblaster.html (2.2MB)
www.javacoolsoftware.com/spywareguard.html (1.96MB)
5 Best Free Firewall
Two things need to be said about firewalls. First, the number and quality of free products is remarkable. Second, no other single product category seems to cause as much angst to average users in their installation and day-day-use. That's why my choice for "best" goes to Kerio Personal Firewall, the product that seems to cause the fewest problems for users. Don't get me wrong, it is also an excellent firewall . More adventurous users and the technically inclined may however wish to consider ZoneAlarm and Sygate. The most technically advanced firewall of all is possibly the latest Tiny version. However it is so fiendishly difficult to install and setup that I can only recommend it to network specialists and masochists. Note: The free and paid versions of Kerio are the same. If you don't buy the product some advanced features are automatically turned off after 30 days.
www.kerio.com/kpf_home.html (7.3MB)
Source: techsupportalert.com
All these utilities in this list have been featured in past issues of of my free monthly newsletter "Support Alert" More freebies are featured in every new issue. If you are interested in great utilities and freeware you really should consider subscribing. It's free.
Last update: May 29, 2005
The Best Freeware List
1 Best Free Web Browser
Internet Explorer is a good browser but it has become such a target for malicious exploits that it is now a major security risk. Quite separately, the browser itself is now looking dated with most alternative products offering tabbed browsing and other productivity enhancements. There are several excellent alternatives but Mozilla Firefox is the stand-out pick. It's safer than Internet Explorer, so safe in fact that many users have reported no spyware infections since they started using the product. It's also browses faster than Internet Explorer and since the release of version 1.0, it's stable and reliable as well. It loads a little slower than IE but once running, it zips along at lightning speed. With tabbed browsing and more free extensions than you could ever want, it offers a major upgrade in your browsing experience. Unlike IE, it's also standards compliant. Firefox is now my everyday browser though occasionally I have to fire up IE to browse a site designed around IE's non-standard features. (4.7MB)
www.mozilla.org/products/firefox/
www.techsupportalert.com/firefox.htm <= Free Firefox migration guide
2 Best Free Anti-Virus Software Updated May 18, 2005
There are two equal recommendations in this category. First there is AVG Antivirus 7.0 Free Edition. This product has been continuously refined since it was first released in 1991 and now offers very impressive protection capabilities. Additionally, it's relatively small, light on resources, has regular automatic updates and handles email scanning. There is a free and a pro version, the only difference being that the free version has a few non-critical features disabled and has no direct technical support. Even so, it's an impressive package and offers the financially challenged a real alternative to the major anti-virus suites. Equally impressive is the free Avast! scanner though its funky media player style interface is not to everyone's taste. Avast! also required periodic re-registration while AVG does does not. (5MB)
free.grisoft.com
www.avast.com
www.techsupportalert.com/free-vs-paid-av.htm <= a review of the effectiveness of free security software
3 Best Free Adware/Spyware/Scumware Remover
I used to recommend SpyBot Search and Destroy but I'm afraid its detection rate has fallen off recently. I now recommend Microsoft's Antispyware program which is currently available as a free beta to users of Windows 2000 and later. It' s based on the Giant Antispyware product that Microsoft purchased late in 2004 and has impressive detection. It also has excellent real time protection against the current plague of browser hijackers, auto-dialers and other surreptitiously downloaded scumware products. Microsoft have announced that the product will remain free even when out of beta so it's a good long term choice. My second selection in this category is Ad-Aware SE. It's free too and works with all versions of Windows though the free version lacks the active protection offered by Giant. However you can add active protection by using SpywareBlaster (see next item) I use both Giant and Ad-Aware as they tend to find slightly different things. If possible, I suggest you use both as well.
www.microsoft.com/athome/security/spyware/software/default.mspx ( 6.4MB) www.lavasoftusa.com/software/adaware/ (1.7MB)
4 Best Free Browser Protection Utility Updated May 29, 2005
There's a scumware plague at the moment. All it takes is a visit to a pushy web site or a loaded shareware install and next minute your Internet Explorer homepage has been changed, your default search setting altered, unwanted ads pop up on your screen and worse. SpywareBlaster is not a system scanner rather it is monitor that's designed to prevent an initial infection. It provides active protection for Internet Explorer users against thousands of malevolent products that use ActiveX based exploits and offers defenses against hostile sites and unwanted cookies as well. SpywareBlaster can be used with Firefox but there's not much point as Firefox doesn't need to be protected against ActiveX exploits. SpywareBlaster is free but the automatic update service costs $9.95 annually. A companion program to SpywareBlaster is SpywareGuard. It is also a protective program that checks programs before they are run for malware signatures and also checks program behavior as well. However of late SpywareGuard seems to have been rather neglected with no new signature updates for more than a year so I can no longer give it my recommendation. SpywareBlaster though, is a terrific product and a must-have for Internet Explorer users who also use the free version of Ad-Aware. If you are using Microsoft Antispyware, Ad-Aware Pro or other anti-spyware utility with a real-time monitor, you don't need it.
www.javacoolsoftware.com/spywareblaster.html (2.2MB)
www.javacoolsoftware.com/spywareguard.html (1.96MB)
5 Best Free Firewall
Two things need to be said about firewalls. First, the number and quality of free products is remarkable. Second, no other single product category seems to cause as much angst to average users in their installation and day-day-use. That's why my choice for "best" goes to Kerio Personal Firewall, the product that seems to cause the fewest problems for users. Don't get me wrong, it is also an excellent firewall . More adventurous users and the technically inclined may however wish to consider ZoneAlarm and Sygate. The most technically advanced firewall of all is possibly the latest Tiny version. However it is so fiendishly difficult to install and setup that I can only recommend it to network specialists and masochists. Note: The free and paid versions of Kerio are the same. If you don't buy the product some advanced features are automatically turned off after 30 days.
www.kerio.com/kpf_home.html (7.3MB)
Source: techsupportalert.com
