That's free as in free beer, as in no cost. At least for personal use. Many of them are also free as in free speech, as in open-source software. (Turns out different people mean different things by "free software.")
Cross-platform --- Mac OS X only --- Windows only
OK, I admit it. I am kind of a freeware junkie. For some reason, I have a sort of obsession with tracking down promising freeware, testing it, weeding out the losers, and touting the gems.
Before we get started, I want to extend my gratitude to the authors of all the programs listed below. Thanks to their expertise and generosity, the terrific programs below exist and are available free of charge, at least for personal use. Cheers!
My top recommendations are listed at the top of each section below, but other than that, the order in which programs are listed doesn't mean much. Very similar applications are grouped together in each section.
| XnView | An incredible image viewing and adjustment tool that can read about 400 different image types and write about 50. Crop, adjust color & brightness, resize, create slideshows, convert images, etc. Convenient viewer; includes file browser. (Windows version is somewhat more full-featured than OS X version. In OS X, X11 is required.) |
| Firefox | A streamlined internet browser with tabbed browsing; lots of add-ons freely available. Touted by many as a more secure alternative to IE. Highly customizable! |
| GIMP
(Windows app) (Mac app) GIMPshop for Mac GIMPshop for Windows |
Gnu Image Manipulation Program. Incredible application "for such tasks as photo retouching, image composition and image authoring." Full-featured photo & graphics program, which can give Photoshop a run for its money. (Mac version requires X11; Windows version requires GTK+.) Users who are used to Photoshop may want to try GIMPshop -- GIMP hacked to conform to Photoshop's layout and naming conventions. |
| Audacity | Audio editor. Convert audio files; cut, paste, mix audio; fade in or out, etc. |
| Xplanet
(OSXplanet) |
Renders (and updates frequently) a lovely view of earth (or another solar system body) onto your desktop, with your choice of vantage point, map projection, lighting for the current time of day, current satellite cloud map, etc. For Windows, I recommend the frontend xPlanetControl. |
| TightVNC | "Virtual Network Computing" enables you to view and remotely control the desktop of one computer from a different computer elsewhere, even from a different operating system. There are many VNC servers and viewers out there, but the "Tight" in TightVNC really sets this one apart -- efficient compression of network traffic and images means much less lag! VNC is not inherently secure; unless you're using VNC entirely within a secure network, you should tunnel your VNC session through a Secure SHell (SSH) connection. This requires separate SSH and VNC servers on one side, and SSH and VNC clients on the other. On Windows: install Cygwin, including openssh, to create an SSH server (excellent instructions here), or SSH Secure Shell or Putty for an SSH client. The TightVNC program does not run on OS X, but the standalone Java TightVNC Viewer does! Other OS X options inlcude OSXvnc (server) and Chicken of the VNC (client). |
| MP3Gain MacMP3Gain |
Analyzes MP3 audio files to determine how loud they sound, and can (losslessly!) adjust the gain of individual files or groups of files to make them all sound equally loud. Goes beyond peak normalization. |
| Quicksilver | It slices! It dices! Absolutely first on my list of must-have OS X software, Quicksilver is an application launcher and so much more. Press a hotkey combination, start typing the name of any application you want to run, and after only a few letters Quicksilver has found a match. Hit Return to launch it! But that's barely scratching the surface. To get a real sense of this application, and how its power will change your life, see these tutorials. |
| Desktop Manager | Another real winner. Multiple Desktops for OS X! Keep the clutter down by dividing up your gajillion open windows between several different virtual desktops. Desktop Manager isn't perfect -- it claims to be only alpha-quality -- but in my experience, it works very well and is very stable! Do not fail to check out all the available "Switch Transitions" -- The coolness factor of the Cube transition when switching between desktops is reason enough to use this program. |
| iTerm | A great replacement for OS X's built-in Terminal. Use tabs to manage multiple terminals; easily customize transparency and colors; drag-and-drop files or folders on iTerm to enter their path; Command-click to open URLs in your default browser; and more. |
| Cyberduck | An FTP and SFTP browser with a drag-and-drop interface. Supports direct editing of remote files using any one of several supported text editors (including the free editors SubEthaEdit, TextWrangler, and Smultron in this list). |
| TextWrangler | A free slimmed-down version of Bare Bones Software's flagship editor, BBEdit (NOT free), TextWrangler is still a very full-featured text editor. Supports opening multiple files in a single window, search-and-replace (including regular expressions) for multiple files at a time, syntax highlighting, command line use, and rather a lot more. Includes (S)FTP connection capability for editing remote files! |
| Smultron | A well-designed text editor and programmer's editor built for OS X, including support for multiple open documents, html preview, code snippets pane, syntax highlighting, command line, etc. |
| SubEthaEdit | SubEthaEdit's claim to fame is its collaborative editing mode, in which multiple authors can simultaneously view and author a text document in realtime across a network. It's also a very straightforward and useful text editor and programmer's editor for solo use. Very versatile syntax highlighting capabilities. Regrettably, it lacks support for opening multiple documents in a single window (i.e. tabs). |
| Growl | A global notification system for OS X; applications send notifications to Growl, which then displays an attractive message on your screen. Multiple message "themes" are available; Growl can be configured to use different themes for notifications from different applications, and the specifics of each theme can be customized. A growing number of apps are designed to work with Growl, including Quicksilver, Cyberduck, Gee, and GmailStatus. |
| XLaunch-O-Matic | Enables you to open any document type in an X11 application by double-clicking on the document icon in the Finder. For example, I use it to configure .PS files to open automatically in GV when double-clicked. |
| Pester | A countdown timer application. Pester can run multiple concurrent timers with custom notifications and can be set for a time interval (hours, minutes, or seconds) or a specific date & time. Remaining time shows on the dock icon. One drawback: countdown interval can be specified in hours or minutes or seconds, not combinations thereof (e.g. 3 minutes 30 seconds doesn't work). |
| Tea Timer | A simple countdown timer program. Specify a time interval or a time of day, in hours, minutes, and seconds. The alarm is a notification that "Your tea is ready!" accompanied by the chimes and likeness of Big Ben at Westminster. Remaining time can show in the dock icon or a small floating window. Not as versatile as Pester, but a better choice for a simple tea timer; I appreciate the option to close the application automatically upon acknowledgement of the alarm. |
| MenuMeters | A set of performance monitors for your Menubar. Display CPU activity, disk activity, memory allocation, and/or network traffic meters in your choice of several styles and formats. Each also provides quick specs and links to related system utilities (e.g. Activity Monitor or Network Preferences) in a drop-down menu. The meters themselves use very little system resources. |
| MenuCalendarClock | An easy way to extend the usefulness of the time & date section of the OS X Menubar. I use it to display the date in addition to time and day of week; the drop-down calendar pane is also handy. Highly customizable. Also interfaces with iCal, but I've never used that feature. Some advanced features require paid registration, but the basic features are plenty for my needs. |
Longhand| A snazzy calculator application. Instead of trying to copy the look and operation of a handheld calculator, Longhand succeeds in being a calculator program that's clever, easy to use, and powerful. Type in your equation or expression (instead of pecking at calculator buttons), and the result is dynamically calculated as you type. Supports a whole library of built-in functions. | |
| Tinkertool | Gives you access to a range of additional preferences in OS X, on a per-user basis. For example, get new options for the position/appearance of the Dock, or show hidden files in the Finder. |
| SnapNDrag | A screenshot utility, similar in capabilities to Apple's Grab application shipped with OS X. A few plusses: instead of saving the screenshot, you can drag the preview to another application to paste it there. Also, choose your filetype for saving: png, tiff, or jpeg (with adjustable quality setting). |
| GmailStatus Gee |
A couple of Gmail notifiers that live in the Menubar. |
| Jiggler | Jiggles your mouse every once in a while (if you haven't done anything yourself lately) to keep your computer from falling asleep. I plan to use it when giving PowerPoint presentations, so the screensaver doesn't come up at every pause. Easier than adjusting the preference pane all the time. |
| Blue Coconut | "Shared Music" in iTunes allows you to play files that are shared by other computers on the local network. However, iTunes provides no way to actually copy these remote tunes to your computer. Blue Coconut provides this copying capability for Shared Music. (Remember: don't steal music.) |
| Maxthon | A customizable, tabbed internet browser that uses the Internet Explorer engine. Supports mouse gestures, text drag-and-drop navigation, Ad Hunter banner and pop-up blocker, privacy protection features, and a whole host of 3rd-party plugins and skins. Nearly all pages which load in IE will load in Maxthon! |
| CutePDF Writer | A utility for "printing" any type of document to PDF instead of hardcopy! Creates a virtual printer that can be selected for printing, like any other printer. Requires a PS2PDF converter (like Ghostscript), available on the same page if you don't have one installed already. An alternate utility with the same features is Redmon+Ghostscript, but it's more difficult to configure, as detailed here. (I also seem to get better quality images from CutePDF.) |
| FilZip | A very nice zip/unzip program. Skip WinZip, and download FilZip instead! Tackles several different archive file types, including .zip, gzip (.gz), .tar, and cabinet (.cab). Drag & drop capable, good file browser, creates self-unpacking .EXE archives, and more. |
| IZArc | Another zip/unzip program. Not as handy as FilZip (although it tries to be), but it does handle additional filetypes, including 7-zip (.7z) and bzip2 (.bz2). I use FilZip as my default compression utility, but I keep IZArc on hand in case of filetypes that FilZip can't handle. |
| EditPad Lite | A great replacement for Notepad. Supports tabs for multiple open documents, search-and-replace for multiple documents at a time, Windows/Unix/Mac style ends-of-line, block indenting, unlimited undo/redo and more. |
| Crimson Editor | An excellent programmer's editor for Windows. Includes tabs for multiple documents, syntax highlighting for various programming languages, a file browser pane, a shell pane, macros, column-mode editing, and more. |
| Wildcard Renamer | A no-nonsense utility that does only one thing, but does it very well: renames files. Use wildcards to match the files to be renamed, add an incrementing counter to the output filenames, move files to another directory. See how files will be renamed before you push go, or undo if you make a mistake. |
| AutoHotKey | A macro and hotkey utility. Automate a task by scripting a sequence of mouse/keyboard strokes; program hotkeys for almost anything on your computer; autmatically substitute text for an abbreviation; convert your script into an EXE file so anybody can run it. This is surprisingly powerful software. |
| Daemon Tools | Mounts CD or DVD images as media in one or more virtual DVD/CD-ROM drives, allowing you to 1) run CD-required software without the disc physically in the drive and 2) test image files before burning them. Can emulate or handle many types of copy protection. |
| DiscDump & Frontend | An easy way to create .ISO images of CDs. Requires an ASPI layer driver for your CD-ROM drive, which is lacking in recent Windows versions. ForceASPI is a good tool for installing and uninstalling this driver, which should not adversely affect your system or other software. (It has worked great for me in WinXP.) |
| CDBurnerXP Pro | A CD and DVD burning suite. Also allows creation of .ISO images of selected data or music on your harddrive. No direct disc-to-disc copying, however. |
| CDCheck | Utility for file comparison and recovery, checksum creation and checking, and readability and error checking. Great for all local drives and removable media. Free registration required for personal use. |
| FreeRip | Rips audio CD tracks to MP3, Wav, or Ogg Vorbis formats. Connects to freedb CD database to get album and song titles. Also converts between MP3, Wav, and Ogg Vorbis files. |
| dbPowerAmp Music Converter | An excellent audio file converter with codecs available for almost every format. Also rips CD audio to file. |
| myTunes Redux | Fulfills a similar function in Windows to that of Blue Coconut in OS X -- copying iTunes "Shared Music" to your computer. (This is one application I haven't tried myself, though.) |
| SSH Secure Shell | An SSH (secure telnet) and SFTP (secure file transfer) client for connecting to remote servers. |
| Star Downloader Free | A download manager that supports queueing, scheduling, pausing and resuming downloads. Can be integrated with IE or Firefox as the default download method for specified filetypes. Can speed up downloads by simultaneously downloading multiple pieces of a file. (A free version is available in addition to a for-purchase version with extra features.) |
| Ad-Aware SE Personal | Scans your computer to detect and remove spyware and adware. Update definition file occasionally to keep current. Helps protect your privacy, and gets rid of registry entries and programs which can slow your system down. |
| Spybot Search & Destroy | Another spyware and adware detection/removal program. (I use both Ad-Aware and Spybot regularly.) Again, use online update to keep your detection current. |
| Virtual Desktop Manager | One of the "PowerToys" released by Microsoft, this utility allows you to create four separate, switchable desktop spaces in Windows XP. Handy for managing lots of open windows at once. (Not nearly so slick and seamless as Desktop Manager for Mac, but often useful nonetheless.) |
| DirGraph | Provides a graphical representation of disk space usage, to show you just what's taking up all those gigabytes. |
| TreeSize | Another disk usage display, this time in a directory-tree format. |
| Directory Lister | Gives a complete, customizable, listing of all files, subdirectories, nested files, and their attributes, in the selected folder/drive of your choice. Results can be saved as a text file, or a nicely formatted HTML listing |
| EasyCleaner | A utility for cleaning leftover junk out of the Windows registry and your harddrive, to improve performance. Finds and optionally deletes invalid/outdated registry entries; locates duplicate and unnecessary (temporary) files; locates invalid shortcuts; can also manage programs launching at Windows startup, Windows' add/remove software listing, IE's temporary internet files. Finally, can display your disk space usage. |
| ClipCache (v1.41) | The last free version of an excellent clipboard manager. Stores all your recently cut/copied text as well as the locations of recently cut/copied files and images. Very customizable. |
| FontList | Creates an HTML file that shows all the fonts on your computer, each spelling out the sample text of your choice. |
| The Font Thing | A font management/preview program that displays your sample text in all of your fonts. Font families can also be chosen (e.g. sans serif, symbol, monospace) to help narrow your list as desired. |
| Cygwin | A Linux/Unix-like environment for Windows. Makes many Linux command-line tools available, and allows you to build Linux applications from source and run them on a Windows machine. Cygwin/X can be installed within Cygwin to provide X Window functionality and programs. |
| Exifer | Lets you edit and manage the metadata in digital images: EXIF and IPTC data in JPG or TIFF files. I frequently use this to correct date & time of photos I took when my camera clock was set to the wrong day or time. Also, you can edit the EXIF thumbnail of a JPG image: update it to the current state of the full image (e.g. after cropping or other editing), or remove the thumbnail altogether. |
| EVE | "Embedded Vector Editor." This tiny little app (74Kb!) is a vector graphics editor. Use it to create all kinds of graphics which can then be exported via the clipboard to other applications or filetypes. Not the easiest drawing program to use, but very versatile. EVE Web Edition is a variant that lets you export SVG (Scalable Vector Graphics) files, a standard for vector graphics on the web, viewable and interactive with Adobe's SVG Viewer plugin. |
| Eyedropper | Provides a little zoom window that moves with the mouse to read pixel color values and coordinates. Multiple color value formats, web-safe and grayscale values corresponding to the current color, screen capturing, and more. |
| WPanorama | A viewer for large panoramic images, WPanorama can scroll long images horizontally or vertically. 360 degree images can be continuously rotated in one direction, while non-360 images will scroll back and forth. Includes the main program as well as a screensaver mode; lots of panoramas are available from the author's website. |
| @icon sushi | Converts images to/from ICO icon format; extracts icons from EXE and DLL files; saves multiple-icon files with a collection of different sizes and color depths. Also allows you to edit the transparency mask of icons. |
| SnIco Edit | An icon editor. Import images or create your icon from scratch! Supports a range of icon sizes and all color depths. |
| IconS | This unforunate name (try finding it via Google!) is short for IconSearch. Searches for icons in ICO, EXE, DLL, and other files, and can extract them to ICO, BMP, GIF, or JPG. Recursive search means you can find all the icons on your computer pretty easily. |