Freeware Alternatives for Windows
Web Browsers
- Firefox - A popular exstensible alternative to Internet Explorer
- K-Meleon - A highly-configurable Gecko-based (like Firefox) Web browser specifically for Windows
- Opera - The original tabbed (multi-windowed) Web browser
- Off By One - A very lightweight script-free Web browser; Stores all info in memory; Uses no disk cache
Email Clients
- Thunderbird - A popular exstensible alternative to Outlook Express
- Pegasus (now donationware) - A fully-functional email client
- Calypso/Courier - A configurable and capable email client that uses Internet Explorer to render HTML (HTML capability can be turned off)
- Ultrafunk Popcorn - A very lightweight text-only email client; Can be used to browse new email headers without downloading message bodies; Unwanted messages (spam) can be deleted without message contents ever touching the hard drive
Multi-Protocol Instant Messengers
- Miranda IM - Handles AIM, Gadu-Gadu, IAX, ICQ, IRC, Jabber, MSN, Netsend, Tlen, Yahoo, and others
Office Software
- OpenOffice - A complete office suite; Handles MS Word, MS Excel, and MS PowerPoint documents, as well as its own formats
- AbiWord - A fully-functional, lightweight word processor; Handles MS Word documents
- Gnumeric - A lightweight spreadsheet program
- Jarte - A fully-functional, lightweight word processor that uses the existing MS WordPad to render text; Tabbed interface
Media Players
- Winamp - A popular MP3 player
- 1by1 - A very lightweight MP3 player that plays from a Windows Explorer-like file-manager window; No playlists or libraries are necessary; Can use some Winamp plugins for content other than MP3s
Text Editors
File Managers
- DoubleExplore - An application that opens two Windows Explorer file-manager windows side-by-side or one over the other
- explorer2 lite - A straightforward double-paned file manager
Image Viewers
- IrfanView - A popular, simple, and versatile image viewer/editor/format converter
PDF Readers
Archivers/File-Compression Utilities
- 7-Zip - A file compression utility that handles most archive formats, as well as its own (.7z)
Security
Registry Cleaners
- BeClean - Removes extraneous files and shortcuts from the registry, Internet Explorer cache and history folders, Start Menu, Desktop, and from any other folder the user wishes to keep clean
Hard-to-Find Older Popular Software Titles...
Older Software
And for those who'd like to do without Windows altogether...
The Linux Operating System
The FreeBSD Operating System
The OpenSolaris Operating System
The DOS Operating System
Free Reference Sites...
Dictionaries, Encyclopedias, and Other Informational Sites
- Dictionary.com - Gives access to multiple free online dictionaries
- Wikipedia - A publicly-maintained (and very current) encyclopedia
- How Stuff Works - Short, illustrated, animated, page-by-page explanations of how just about anything works
- Beliefnet - A site for religious/spiritual news and interviews, as well as information about various world religions
- ReligiousTolerance.org - A site detailing many world religions and various sects and denominations thereof
Mind's Witness / [email protected] / Revised January 29, 2009
http://www.geocities.com/mindswitness/index.html