Advice Request Best Free Softwares for Windows

[jackuars]

Useful list, thank you!
For video recording, I'd suggest Apowersoft Online Screen Recorder, it's quite handy, straight-forward and does the job perfectly if you just want to video capture your screen without much settings to play around and yet still produce very good quality videos with amazing file sizes.

Am sure Apowersoft is a good software, however as in my first post, I am only including desktop softwares. Hope that's okay

For unknown reasons, this XMediaRecode locks up on my system when converting... it's been doing that for the past few years. So my vote is for Handbrake. My only complaint w/Handbrake is that it can't handle video passthrough.

Great list... I'm exploring a few things now...

I would add
Screen Capture: ShareX

ShareX is already there.
XMediaRecode is working fine on my system. Handbrake is another great choice, sadly I had to limit to one software/category

 

[SumTingWong]

You should add OBS for recording and streaming.

 

[jackuars]

Best burner isnt "Imgburn" ?

The Official ImgBurn Website

ImgBurn is a lightweight CD / DVD / HD DVD / Blu-ray burning application that everyone should have in their toolkit... and it's free!

www.imgburn.com

The choice was made after comparing ImgBurn, CDBurnerXP, Burnaware & cdrtfe

Also best desktop search isnt "everything" ?

voidtools

www.voidtools.com

UltraSearch has far advanced features than Everything. It's as fast as Everything, after the first scan. Hoping you would try it.

Best defrag defraggler ? Oh hell no. its slow sluggish and overall outdated... either windows defrag or auslogics free defrag.

I've just installed Disk Defrag, a great tool to make your PC run fast and smooth

Wondering how to defrag Windows computer? Download Disk Defrag Free: an expert-recommended tool that helps defragment hard drives the fast and smart way.

www.auslogics.com

Auslogics Free Defrag, the thought crossed my mind, but I'm trying to make the list as adware-free as possible. However since it has a portable version, am adding it to my list and replacing Defraggler

Download manager would be FDM ( Free download manager ) XDM is buggy. also doesnt catch as much media and more.

Free Download Manager - download everything from the internet

Use Free Download Manager to download movies, torrents and other files at top speed!

www.freedownloadmanager.org

XDM was buggy in the past, request you to try the latest version, it's much better. Also there is no comparison for the video download feature between XDM & FDM as XDM allows support for more websites and is only matched by maybe Eagleget or IDM.

Torrent client should be Qbittorrent for the network binding feature , faster devs , open source , and being not banned on plenty of tracker.

qBittorrent Official Website

qBittorrent Official Website

www.qbittorrent.org

qbitTorrent is a close runner-up, I mean extremely close. Lack of a good scheduler made it to be placed second

And feem seems to work only if the PC is also on WLAN ( cable same network doesnt work feem WANTS wlan )... Screenshot
Better alternative AirMore Web Free and if you dont make a account its 100% wlan/lan and no servers evolved works even with pcs on cable

Another great tool for data folder or whatever sharing between linux , windows , and mac is Nitroshare

NitroShare

nitroshare.net

Feem works well on WLAN also it's cross platform between PC & Mobile too, which is a great advantage. Can you try turning on the WiFi direct feature if it's still not working? Also the list includes only desktop softwares.

You should add OBS for recording and streaming.

Thanks will add this category

I was trying to download the Free version, but it seems that's no longer possible from their website.
On the other hand, Softpedia link is still working, but it looks like it hasn't been updated in 1 year

Free Desktop adblockers are very limited. AdFender recently became fully commercial, and StopAd is the best among the small lot

 

[AtlBo]

@jackuars, any possibility we could see a category for best free "Vector Image Creation Utility"? Inkscape is my vote for this category, but I realize it doesn't compete with straight editors very well in that category. Anyway, for pure vectoring Inkscape is great, especially the image tracing and other tools. Only free pure vectoring app I have run across and maybe my favorite app to work with overall...

Superb list once again.

 

[SumTingWong]

Please add Privacy Eraser with Wise Disk Cleaner for cleaning utilities. I am currently use these two and it is good.

Please add Shadow Defender for virtualization and Macrium Reflect Free backupper along with AOMEI free backupper because AOMEI and Macrium are great in free.

 

[blackice]

This is a great resource, thanks for putting it together. I’ve discovered a couple utilities I didn’t know about.

 

[jackuars]

This is a great resource, thanks for putting it together. I’ve discovered a couple utilities I didn’t know about.

Thanks

Please add Privacy Eraser with Wise Disk Cleaner for cleaning utilities. I am currently use these two and it is good.

Please add Shadow Defender for virtualization and Macrium Reflect Free backupper along with AOMEI free backupper because AOMEI and Macrium are great in free.

Shadow Defender - List only includes free utilities
As mentioned in my initial post, sadly I could only include only 1 software/category, to make the list look cleaner Your choices are well deserved though

@jackuars, any possibility we could see a category for best free "Vector Image Creation Utility"? Inkscape is my vote for this category, but I realize it doesn't compete with straight editors very well in that category. Anyway, for pure vectoring Inkscape is great, especially the image tracing and other tools. Only free pure vectoring app I have run across and maybe my favorite app to work with overall...

Superb list once again.

*Added

Replacing Filezilla with Cyberduck for FTP Client as FileZilla occasionally bundles software with it.

 

[BoraMurdar]

My 2 cents

CD-DVD Burner - cdrtfe

Anyburn

Driver Backup/Update - IOBit Driver Booster

I might suggest DriverPackSolution Online, but some things needs to be unticked if you don't want unnecessary software to be installed after initial driver scan.
IObit Driver Booster is bundled almost always with adware or with other products from IObit.

Disk Partitioning - AOMEI Partition Assistant Standard

Eassos Partition Guru or DiskGenius is probably most advanced free partitioning software with support of partition recovery, data recovery and backup.

E-Mail Client - eM Client

Why not Thunderbird? Last time I checked eM Client supported only small number of accounts in its free version.

Rescue Disk - Ultimate Boot CD

Maybe Hirens Boot PE?

Torrent Client - Tixati

qBittorent is the most advanced torrenting client. Regurarly maintained.

Uninstaller - IOBit Uninstaller

Again, because IObit...consider HiBitUninstaller and BCUninstaller

Virtual Drive - Winarchiver Virtual Drive

I'm in opinion that ImDisk is much more powerful than WinArchiver for a free software. Also ImgDrive another alternative which is zero-knowledge-to-use software.

With other options I strongly agree
Cheers!

 

[stefanos]

If you learn to use the iobit products you have not any problem. Iobit programs is more of 15 years in my systems. Never i had something bad. Revo uninstaller pro is one nice program but it destroyed my windows more of 5 times. iobit never. Driver booster the same. If If I see a driver for update, i install it without checking it. I absolutely trust the program. With ASC I delete everything that he finds me without checking it out. My own experience with iobit programs, which is many years .... Is it the most safe products I've used

 

[Bleak]

Am sure Apowersoft is a good software, however as in my first post, I am only including desktop softwares. Hope that's okay

Actually it is a desktop software, one just needs to download a launcher and that's it.
They also have a 'complete' desktop installer.

Apowersoft Online Screen Recorder - Free Web-based Screen recorder

Apowersoft Free Online Screen Recorder allows you to capture any screen activity with audio in one click and share your recording to the web immediately.

www.apowersoft.com

 

[jackuars]

My 2 cents

Anyburn

I might suggest DriverPackSolution Online, but some things needs to be unticked if you don't want unnecessary software to be installed after initial driver scan.
IObit Driver Booster is bundled almost always with adware or with other products from IObit.


Eassos Partition Guru or DiskGenius is probably most advanced free partitioning software with support of partition recovery, data recovery and backup.

Why not Thunderbird? Last time I checked eM Client supported only small number of accounts in its free version.

Maybe Hirens Boot PE?

qBittorent is the most advanced torrenting client. Regurarly maintained.

Again, because IObit...consider HiBitUninstaller and BCUninstaller

I'm in opinion that ImDisk is much more powerful than WinArchiver for a free software. Also ImgDrive another alternative which is zero-knowledge-to-use software.

With other options I strongly agree
Cheers!

Some excellent choices there. I will have to revisit my list. Obviously i need to do a comparison between the current products in list vs suggestions since it's been some time that I've used them

Actually it is a desktop software, one just needs to download a launcher and that's it.
They also have a 'complete' desktop installer.

Apowersoft Online Screen Recorder - Free Web-based Screen recorder

Apowersoft Free Online Screen Recorder allows you to capture any screen activity with audio in one click and share your recording to the web immediately.

www.apowersoft.com

It looks really good. Let me compare to with the current topper in the list which is another advanced screen recorder and editor.

 

[TairikuOkami]

Suggestions

• Bandwidth Meter - NetTraffic - essential network bandwidth monitor | Official Website (to replace NetWorx)
• Bootloader - Download EasyBCD 2.4.0.237 (no download on a homepage)
• Computer Management - NirLauncher - Collection of more than 200 portable utilities from NirSoft
• Disk Space Usage Antibody Software - WizTree finds the files and folders using the most disk space on your hard drive (TreeSize is broken)
• File/Folder Remover - LockHunter is a free 64/32 bit tool to delete files blocked by any processes (to replace Unlocker)
• File/Folder Remover - Wise Force Deleter - Unlock and Delete 'Access Denied' File or Folder (to replace Unlocker, POC)
• Network Settings Manager - NetSetMan - Your Network Settings Manager
• Radio - odio (only about 20,000 radio channels from all over the world, great for trucking)
• Startup Manager - Autoruns for Windows - Windows Sysinternals
• Task Manager - Nightly Builds - Process Hacker

Alternatives

• Disk Partitioning - Partition Magic Freeware to manage Disk Partitions
• File Recovery - Download DMDE Free Edition - DMDE (DM Disk Editor and Data Recovery Software) - How to recover lost or deleted files
• File Archiver - PeaZip free archiver utility, open extract RAR TAR ZIP files
• Image Viewer - XnView Software · XnView
• Software Updates Notifier? - SuMo Portable (it does not update, it merely informs about updates, a huge number of supported software, still)
• Software Updater - Patch My PC - Patch Management Made Easy
• Uninstaller - Geek Uninstaller - the best FREE uninstaller

For the record

UltraSearch (portable)
Wise Disk Cleaner (portable)
Wise Registry Cleaner (portable)

 

[Deletedmessiah]

Ant renamer(portable): http://antp.be/software/renamer
Haven't been updated since 2015 but works fine on Windows 10 1809
Double driver(portable): Download Double Driver - MajorGeeks
Driver backup and restore utility. For those who don't want to install driver updaters to backup. Abandonware which still works well. If someone has a replacement for it which isn't abandoned please recommend.
Hostsman(portable): http://www.abelhadigital.com/hostsman/
For adblocking with hosts.

 

[codswollip]

Online Radio - Radio Garden
Disk Space Usage - WinDirStat - Windows Directory Statistics
Markdown Notes Manager - QOwnNotes - cross-platform open source plain-text file notepad
Encrypted File Vaults - Cryptomator - Free Cloud Encryption

 

[Dhruv2193]

Best and one of the lightest, feature rich and free web browser- Slimjet for me.

 

[CyberTech]

Well i agree with BoraMurdar in my opinion,

Video chat? if you dont want Skype then what about Google Hangouts?

Video recording: OBS or X-Split

Torrent: well qbittorrent is the best client for Windows, also its useful program because they have search torrent which its built-in you can search in program and download it without the browser...

System Recovery: Shadow Defender or Rollback RX

PDF Reader: Sumatra PDF

Media Player: VLC or Media Player Classic

FTP Client: FileZilla

File Archiver: 7zip

Driver Backup/Update: Driverpack? i was worked at the computer shop for 3 years the program is great, no problem at all...


Great work bro, i bookmarked this


Edit:

The community/group chat: Discord

 

[Ink]

I would make 2 lists; strictly open-source software and another mixed freeware/proprietary.

 

[WinXPert]

Here is my list

Spoiler

Ad-blocker - Ublock Origin
Antivirus - 360 TS (Not presently installed)
CD-DVD Burner - DeepBurner
Copy utility - TeraCopy
Desktop Search - Everything
Disk/File Cleaner - CCleaner
Disk Defrag - Defragler
Disk Imaging - AOMEI Backupper Standard
Disk Partitioning - EaseUS Partition Manager
Download Manager - Xtreme Download Manager
File Archiver - 7zip
File Recovery - Recuva
Firewall - Comodo Firewall
Image Editor - Picasa
Image Viewer - FastStone Viewer
Media Player - XMPlay
Office Suite - WPS
PDF Reader - Foxit Reader
Registry Cleaner - CCleaner
Rescue Disk - Any Windows/Linux Live DVD
Sandboxing Software - Sandboxie Free
System Monitor - System Explorer
System Recovery - Toolwiz Time Freeze
Torrent Client - utorrent
Tune-up Suite - Glary Utilities Free
Video Editor - Wondershare Video Editor
Virtual Drive - Winarchiver Virtual Drive
Web Browser - Slimjet

 

[jackuars]

Well i agree with BoraMurdar in my opinion,

Video chat? if you dont want Skype then what about Google Hangouts?

Video recording: OBS or X-Split

Torrent: well qbittorrent is the best client for Windows, also its useful program because they have search torrent which its built-in you can search in program and download it without the browser...

System Recovery: Shadow Defender or Rollback RX

PDF Reader: Sumatra PDF

Media Player: VLC or Media Player Classic

FTP Client: FileZilla

File Archiver: 7zip

Driver Backup/Update: Driverpack? i was worked at the computer shop for 3 years the program is great, no problem at all...


Great work bro, i bookmarked this


Edit:

The community/group chat: Discord

Thanks for the suggestions. I will closely take a look at them.

Torrent client: qBittorrent was left in favor of Tixati because of lack of an advanced/multiple scheduler. I had given this request 3 years back but it's not yet been done. Am sure the others wanted this feature from the following threads and switched to alternate clients due to lack of it.

System recovery: Aren't they commercial softwares?

FTP Client: Filezilla was my #1 choice in 2014, however they started bundling adware every now and then.

Video recording: Added OBS as per your suggestion

Video chat: Google hangout is for browsers, so I wanted a good one that works as a desktop software.

 

[Deletedmessiah]

Free Screen Recorder
Free Video Cutter

Only free software in this thread, not trials