CompTIA Online Training

Still Awesome After All These Years: 8 Excellent Free Downloads

July 17, 2011 by admin

Wine gets better with age. Men get more distinguished looking (or so my wife tells me). Even some cars seem to improve as time passes (I’m looking at you, 1965 Mustang). But there’s nothing glamorous about old software apps, which just get less and less useful the older they get–right?

Best Comptia A+ Training | Comptia A+ Certification 2000+ Exams at Examkingdom.com

PC World — Wine gets better with age. Men get more distinguished looking (or so my wife tells me). Even some cars seem to improve as time passes (I’m looking at you, 1965 Mustang). But there’s nothing glamorous about old software apps, which just get less and less useful the older they get–right?

Free Downloads to Boost Your Productivity
Slideshow: 10 Great Free Desktop Productivity Tools that aren’t OpenOffice.org

Not always. Some programs are like garden perennials, returning each year with fresh blooms and stronger stems. Think of some of the world’s best productivity tools and system utilities, and I’ll wager that some of them were “planted” at least five years ago–decades in computer years.

Let’s look at eight of these blossoming apps, all of which are more awesome than ever, and all of which are, amazingly, free.

CCleaner

Perhaps no program has evolved more over the years than Piriform’s CCleaner, which began life in 2003 as “Crap Cleaner.” True to its name, the tool scours your PC for unwanted crud that accumulates in Windows’ arteries: temp files, Registry fragments, log files, browser cookies, and so on. Then, with one click, it clears all that stuff away. No wonder CCleaner remains one of the most popular system-optimization tools ever.

OpenOffice.org

Speaking of popular, who doesn’t have mad love for OpenOffice.org? This open-source office suite gives Microsoft (MSFT) Office a run for the money–but it doesn’t cost you a dime. Stocked with a word processor, a spreadsheet, a database, a presentation manager, and a drawing program, OpenOffice has matured nicely over the years, spiffing up its interface while adding full file compatibility with its Microsoft Office counterparts. Sometimes I still think it’s too good to be true.

Stickies

OpenOffice is a big program. Zhorn Software’s Stickies is tiny by comparison, but no less valuable. This to-do list manager takes the form of sticky notes, which you “paste” to your desktop instead of to your actual desk. And unlike the Sticky Notes program built into Windows 7, Stickies is actually useful (sorry, Microsoft). You can assign timers, add checkboxes to your lists, and even set up recurring notes that pop up at designated intervals (such as every three months). Author Tom Revell is now on version 7 of Stickies, and the program just keeps getting better.

RoboForm

Same goes for Siber Systems’ RoboForm, one of the oldest apps in the group. Debuting in 1999, RoboForm stores your passwords and login IDs, making it easier for you to sign into various websites. It also keeps track of your personal information (name, address, phone number, and more), pasting everything into Web forms with one click. You can use RoboForm to store secure notes, generate secure passwords, and make your entire online experience more secure. The free version, available only for personal and nonprofit use, stores your information for up to 10 Web sites. Beyond that, you’ll need a RoboForm subscription ($20 per year).

Comments |0|