There are a number of free software applications that you can download for office productivity, Internet, multimedia, drawing, Windows utilities, etc. However, if you’re not familiar with open source software and don’t know which program is the best out of the myriad of choices, it might be helpful to read about it first. There are a number of free software applications that you can download for office productivity, Internet, multimedia, drawing, Windows utilities, etc. However, some of them may contain junkware like bundled apps or annoying toolbars. If you’re not familiar with open source software and don’t want to deal with any potential junkware issues when downloading these applications, it might be helpful to read about it first before making a decision.

I’ve found a couple of websites that I visit often when looking for safe and clean freeware apps to download. ..

Gizmo’s Freeware Reviews

Gizmo’s Freeware Review site is one of the best resources for finding great freeware apps. They have a huge list of programs, each with detailed reviews and testing to ensure that they work as intended. This makes Gizmo’s site one of the most popular resources for finding free software. ..

You can navigate directly to a category across the top of the page like Windows, Mac, Linux, iPhone/iPad, etc. Previously, they only covered Windows and Mac, but recently they have expanded to cover all the most popular operating systems. ..

Best Freeware Lists: -The best freeware lists are usually organized by category, such as software for windows, software for mac, or software for linux. -You can also scroll down and click on the panels: Best Freeware Lists, Freeware Categories and Security Wizard. I would highly recommend going through the security wizard because it gives you a list of security software tailored to your operating system, your expertise level with computers and your exposure to risky online activities. The wizard will also tell you how to make sure your PC isn’t already infected and will give you suggestions for how to protect yourself in the future from malware, spyware and viruses.

The website has a blog with a large number of articles on a variety of technical topics. Many of the articles are linked from the review pages, providing an in-depth understanding of the subject. ..

Ninite

Ninite is a program that lets you download multiple freeware apps at once and install them without having to click Next, Next, Next!

Just select the apps that you want to install and click the Get Installer button.

Secondly, the app is constantly up-to-date with the latest security patches. This means that your data and files are always at risk if something goes wrong with the app or if a hacker gains access to your computer.

If you delete the installer, you’ll have to run it every time you want to install a new freeware program. And if you already have the latest version of a freeware program installed, the installer will just skip that program. So using the installer is like having a free program that will update all your programs automatically too! ..

I really appreciate that this software will install the 64-bit version of the software if I’m running on a 64-bit operating system. This program is simply amazing and will save me a lot of time.

NirSoft

One of their latest tools is called NirSoft Script Analyzer. It’s a really nifty little tool that can help you analyze and understand your scripts. It’s really helpful for understanding how your scripts are performing and how they might be improved. If you’re looking for a tool to help you analyze your scripts, NirSoft Script Analyzer is definitely worth checking out.

There are a number of utilities that can help you with a variety of tasks. Here are a few examples:

  1. Caffeine: This utility can help you control the volume of your computer from the wheel of your mouse.
  2. Password manager: This utility can store passwords in different formats, including text, images, and PDFs.
  3. Browser cache cleaner: This utility can clean up your browser’s cache to make it faster and more efficient.
  4. Mouse wheel tool: This tool can be used to control the volume of your computer from the wheel of your mouse.

PortableApps

You got a USB stick right? So why not installed PortableApps on there! It’s all your freeware apps stored on a USB stick that you can use anywhere on any machine. They have up to 300 legal versions of apps that have been retrofitted to run portably on a USB stick.

The apps are updated often and there are no ads, no spyware, no adware, no time limits, etc. It’s just plain free and it can prove very handy if you happen to travel a lot. What’s really awesome is that you can throw the whole thing in a Dropbox folder and run everything straight from there! You don’t even have to worry about carrying a flash drive with you.

FileHippo

FileHippo is a great site for finding older versions of programs. I use it more than anything else to download older versions of programs. It’s not often, but there are times when I don’t want the latest version of a program. Maybe because it can’t run on an older system or because it has a bug that is causing problems on my system, so the only option is to download an earlier version.

The site has been struggling recently because some programs, but not all, now come with a FileHippo proprietary downloader rather than the direct download of the program. This bundling tries to install adware on your system, so you have to be careful to uncheck it when installing the program. I could only find this with a couple of programs, so the vast majority still link directly to the program files, but because of this new behavior and too many ads on the site, I can’t recommend it overwhelmingly.

Mentionable Sites

I visit a few other sites, but they generally lack in detail and no real reviews. Still, you won’t find spyware or malware on these sites.

MajorGeeks is a great site for tech tools. They have a lot of great tools that are hard to find anywhere else.

SnapFiles is a good, clean site with minimal ads and clear categories for freeware, shareware, and other software. I usually turn to user ratings and comments to determine the worthiness of the software. ..

The FileForum BetaNews is a website where you can find the latest freeware apps. You can usually find them here first before they reach other download sites. It’s not clear how they do it, but you’ll find the newest software here.

Sites to Avoid

I used to recommend these sites because they were reliable and had good downloads. But now I’m not so sure. I think they’re just making money off of you, and not providing anything of value.

CNET is a website that makes you go through several screens trying to get you to install junkware before you can install the actual app you wanted to download. For me, it’s easy to avoid all of the junk, but a lot of people will end up with adware on their computer and have no idea why. Unfortunately, sites like Download.com, which is the same as CNET, show up high in the search results, which makes them harder to avoid. Most anything on CNET you’ll be able to find on one of the sites I mentioned above. Enjoy!