Freeware File Transfer Protocol (FTP) Programs:

FTP programs, known as File Transfer Protocol software, allow users to upload (upload means "away from the user's computer to another place") and download (download means "to the user's computer from somewhere else") numerous files to web hosting servers where web pages and websites are stored. When someone uses a web page authoring tool on their computer, they have to transfer that file to space on a web hosting site, like FatCow.com, where their domain and space is. FatCow.com has been one of my favorite web hosting companies in recent times.

This requires an FTP program, the FTP url (like ftp.somewebsite.com) the FTP username (like joeblowftp) of the account, and the FTP password (like joeblowsftppassword) for the account. Once the program has this information, users can drag and drop, cut and paste, or select and click their files onto the root or sub-directories of their hosted space so that these files are accessible to everyone in the world.

		FileZilla Great Freeware FTP file transfer program, easy to use, scalable, batch uploads, downloads, fast, good layout, standard in this type of program. Has been around for quite a while as well. Qiuckly log on to a list of FTP locations and upload/download as fast as your connection will allow.
		FireFTP This is an add-on FTP program for the Mozilla Firefox web browser. It'sa really nice feature to add to the web browser because the FTP program is just a click away in the "tools" menu and it opens itself in a new browser window, ready to transfer files. Very simple and elegant, good for any Firefox user.
		CoffeCup FTP Freeware FTP program from the CoffeeCup design suite. Nicely designed, simple to use program that is part of their mission at CoffeeCup to help people make great websites without having to go broke.
		GoFTP A freeware FTP program that declares itself as the fastest FTP program available with some of the easiest and most streamlined design features on the market. Nice layout, similar to FileZilla with a number of menu options. Really seems anxious to get connected as it tries every time you type a letter in the FTP username and password fields.
		AceFTP
		WinSCP This is an open source freeware SFTP client and FTP client for Windows. Legacy SCP protocol is also supported. Its main function is safe copying of files between a local and a remote computer. Nice layout and graphics are good. Functions well.
		SmartFTP This is a versatile and diversely useful freeware FTP program and a fast way to transfer files from your computer to a website hosting space. Has a number of extra features that make it a great product to try out for its flexibility in style and layout.

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Freeware Anti-Virus | Anti-Malware | Anti-Spyware | Firewall | Registry Cleaners and System Protection Programs:

The world of the internet has grown more complicated as more and new terms come out for the defenses and the intruders in the software world. There are anti-virus programs, anti-malware, anti-adware, anti-spyware, anti-hijacker and there are firewalls, worms, trojan horses and other nasty bits of code lurking in seemingly safe programs and in email attachments.

Running a file that is not from a trusted source, no matter what your protection level, can always be risky. But, with a decent level of protection from a few of the programs below, your system can stay clean and healthy indefinitely. However, there is always at least some degree of risk because there are always vulnerabilities in any system.

Caution: Be very wary of accidentally installing two AntiVirus programs at once. I recommend that one be installed only after another is removed first and I found this tricky with some sticky programs that are reluctant to leave my system when asked to nicely. While some of these programs can (or at least claim to) run at the same time, others seem to cause incompatibilities and system hang-ups. I made this mistake by installing Secure IT AntiVirus while still running AVG AntiVirus (like an idiot) and it seems to have caused some problems with my system that have required me to try and remove both programs.

		Avira AntiVirus This is a light impact freeware AntiVirus program that I'm currently trying out. It comes recommended for its simplicity, small size, and relatively small footprint on the system its running on.
		Malewarebytes Anti-Malware This is a freeware program, the lesser version from the pay version, that detects and removes malware from your system alongside an antivirus program such as any of the others listed here.
		Returnil System Safe AntiVirus and Anti-Malware A freeware antivirus and protection against malware program that includes a system restore feature that guarantees no matter what happens in terms of intruders messing up your data, it is always ready to be brought back as fresh and clean as it was before an infection.
		Microsoft Security Essentials This is a basic protection program that protects against malware such as spyware and viruses and is designed specifically (and only) for the Microsoft Operating systems, such as XP, Vista, and 7. Gets good to great reviews and should work seamlessly with any Microsoft O.S.
		AVG AntiVirus Freeware lower-end version available that works great to keep your computer safe from infection by unwanted viruses. Not as powerful as the pay-for version called "Internet Security" but one of the best options in the freeware anti-virus market. Been around for a long time and I've used it for years without a problem.
		PC Tools AntiVirus Freeware antivirus program that provides realtime anti-malware protection against the latest viruses, worms and trojan horse files with speedy updates through IntelliGuard real-time virus scan and threat deletion abilities.
		Panda Cloud AntiVirus This is a cloud computing freeware AntiVirus program, and it's the first cloud antivirus that works against viruses, rootkits, spyware, and adware. Cloud computing refers to the remote network doing most of the processing of data and storage of files, which reduces the strain and storage space needed on the user's individual computer system.
		Secure IT AntiVirus Freeware antivirus program that I am currently trying out as additional protection. Alternatives and new programs are always a good idea so as not to allow a single entity to have monopolistic control in a market or sector. This program comes highly recommended but I did have some difficulties in uninstalling it completely and cleanly, which was a bit annoying as it seemed to be incompatible with AVG already installed.
		AdAware A program that is freeware and which protects against a wide array of threats like viruses, spyware, trojans, rootkits, hijackers, keyloggers and other nasty forms of intrusion onto your system.
		Spybot - Search and Destroy A program that scans for hijackers, malware, and spyware and attempts to both clean the system of these malicious intruders as well as prepares to help defend against further infections through a process called "immunization" that uses browsers to block the code from ever getting onto one's system in the first place.
		Avast AntiVirus Freeware antivirus software program that I am currently testing. It's always good to do a little research when downloading new software to make sure it is generally reputable and stable for your operating system. Seems to work well and has a stable and reasonable approach to which files pose threats. Some program are over-zealous to call files a threat, in my opinion, and this can greatly hamper performance or just be outright annoying.
		Comodo FireWall and AntiVirus This is both a freeware Firewall and AntiVirus program that specializes in making the registry portion of your system more safe by utilizing a sandbox, which protects current data from untested changes, and it uses a least permitted or likely user method to determine access to one's system files for changes by various programs.
		EScan AntiVirus Freeware AntiVirus program that is supposed to be capable of working with other AntiVirus programs at once. I will test drive it further and see how it holds up to those claims.

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Freeware Web Design | Website Related Programs:

Web design and related programs serve to create web pages on the user's computer by providing some combination of HTML script authoring and a WYSIWYG or "What You See Is What You Get" editing environments. The code can be created in any text editor but formatting and color-coding are very helpful, especially in JAVA language (a more basic version of C++ that can be inserted right into web pages and run in the web browser) rich pages or pages that use a lot of complicated tables that are embedded. The following programs are some of the better freeware software titles available:

		Aptana Studio Freeware web page authoring studio that focuses on Javascript and other aspects of the design process that create a rich web experience environment with good CSS authoring ability.
		BlueFish Editor Perhaps not the easiest to install because of all the different versions needed and the runtime environment required prior to installing the actual editor, but once gotten through, this is an interesting and worthwhile editor to have on hand. With a simple layout, it is easy to use and contains nice graphics.
		Coffee Cup Editor Freeware web design program that I have just taken a quick look at and it looks straightforward and simple to use so far.

		Komodo Edit Freeware web design program that allows for in-depth use of HTML editor and focuses on the coding side of the creation process with sprawling editor windows.
		StatCounter (this is a website offering a free service, not a client-side program) This is a great freeware visitor tracking program on a website that offers free tracking of who, when, where from, and with what search terms and search engines your web pages are found. Tracks hits over time with options for invisible or public viewing.

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Freeware Graphic Design | Graphics Related Programs:

Graphic design programs come in a great variety of formats and work on a number of different types of graphics. Ultimately, however, all graphics are either Raster based or Vector based.

Raster graphics are pixel-based arrays of dots of color that get choppy and blurry, at some point, when you zoom in far enough on them or look at them closely enough. Digital photos, for example, are raster-based graphical images that have a finite resolution determined by the Megapixel number of the camera's capture ability. One megapixel, for instance, refers to one million pixels of information and therefore a ten megapixel camera can, at maximum, capture an image with ten million pixels of total (length times width) size. Raster graphics are saved as JPEGs, GIFs, TIFFs, and BMP image extensions, for instance.

Vector graphics, whether in 2D or 3D, are based not on pixels but on mathematical points and vector graphics, because of this, can be enlarged or shrunk indefinitely without any loss of quality. There are 3D rendering programs that are based on wiremesh forms, essentially three-dimensional vector forms. All vector graphics editors can export to or be saved as raster images though few raster images can easily be made into vector, though some do exist that attempt to go in that direction.

Open Office Draw (links to product information page) Works a lot like a set of stand-alone Microsoft Word drawing tools that are vector-based and simple. You can easily make flow charts, draw simple boxes, lines, etc. for use in Writer documents or for export to image files.

		Serif Draw Plus A colorful and creative program that allows the user to draw with brilliant vector tools all geard towards making a novel image creation process easy and fun. The colors available in swatches along the border is a nice feature that adds to the aesthetic. You do have to register the product, but the process is simple.
		Terragen This is a landscape rendering program that can make photo-realistic mountains, plains, and trees. It has a beautiful output array in the samples pages. The unregistered version is limited to 1280x960 but you can still make some really impressive scenes to get a taste of the program.
		IcoFX Freeware Icon creation program that allows you to take a larger image and shrink it into a standard icon quickly and effortlessly. Useful for making desktop icons or web address URL icons.

		SmoothDraw A freeware graphics program that allows pen graphical tablet users to draw smooth, beautiful lines and images. Much of the sample material is anime in style. Very elegant layout and beautiful graphic icons. The results of the tools is superb, especially for a free program.
		InsightPoint Draw interesting and clear graphical presentations for the web in this interesting and elegantly crafted graphics program that makes easy what is often so difficult to achieve in many paint type programs.
		Google Sketchup Design buildings or woodworking projects in this elegant and easy to use computer aided design program.
		Paint.NET Freeware graphic painting program similar to Adobe Photoshop or Jasc PaintShop Pro or Corel Draw.

Inkscape Freeware vector graphics design program that allows you to create scalable, infinitely so, graphics that are based on lines and points rather than pixels. Like Adobe Illustrator or Corel Draw or Xara.

		Amabilis 3D Crafter This is a 3D rendering and animation program that can create stunning, production-quality outputs.
		Blender Freeware graphic 3D rendering program that can make beautiful graphics. A higher-level graphics program, requires knowledge of 3D wireframe environment. Online tutorial WIKI is here.

		Easy Thumbnails A program that runs batch processes on many files to make thumbnail images effortlessly and all at once with built-in alteration tools like contrast and brightness adjustments that can be run on all the images. Great way to save many tedious hours in creating thumbnail images across hundreds of pictures.
		GIMP Freeware graphics editor and the standard for the GNU Open-Source library.

		PickPic Freeware screen image capture, basic free version is given for personal use only. Must buy upgrade for commercial or for-profit use.
		DAZ Studio 3D Standard Edition This is a freeware standard edition of the DAZ3D rendering environment. It allows you to make characters and objects for three dimensional scenes and comes with a number of freely included packages of human forms and parts. Very good program with well developed features that are compatible with Bryce.
		Bryce 3D This is a freeware version of the stunning Bryce landscape rendering 3D program that is both easy to use and capable of making ultra-photo realistic scenes of mountains, terrain, water, sky, and forest from Earth and anywhere else you can imagine. Integrates with DAZ Studio 3D. Bryce is an award winning, fun, feature-packed 3D modeling and animation package designed to allow new users to quickly create and render stunning 3D environments.
		Sweet Home 3D This is a freeware home building program in 3D format that allows a lot of flexibility and a nice, intricate objects database.
		DWG TrueView Freeware software for viewing and converting 3d AutoCAD files. Autodesk DWG TrueView software is a free* stand-alone DWG viewer with DWG TrueConvert software included. Built on the same viewing engine as AutoCAD software, DWG TrueView enables you to view the latest DWG and DXF files, just as you would in AutoCAD.
		Sculptris A simple yet very functional and elegant freeware 3D object creation program that makes you the sculptor of a three-dimensional object using novel ways to manipulate the object's surface and overall form.
		ArtWeaver Freeware graphic design program that paints in a novel, easy way. Artweaver allows you to paint creatively with the help of a huge range of painting tools. You can create sketches from photos or just experiment with colors.
		Vue9 Pioneer 3D Landscapes Render gorgeous landscapes with many features and abilities in this high-end freeware program from Cornucopia 3D. With this software you can create terrains, make trees, and chose the best vantage point and render hyper-realistic images of your landscapes in moody atmospheres.
		AnyCAD
		ChaosPro Fractal Generator Freeware program that creates beautiful fractal graphical patterns. ChaosPro is a real time freeware fractal generator for MS Windows with support for many different fractal types (2D and 3D), true color support, animation support. Due to its integrated compiler it is quite fast even if you write your own formulas within ChaosPro.

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Freeware Audio and Sound | Music Editing | Music Creation | Audio Related Programs:

		MP3 Editor For Free This is a simple, fully functional MP3 editor in which you can cut, paste, and manipulate the waveform graphic that represents the music file. You can load music CD tracks to edit them. Its powerful recorder control would help you record any sound from your microphone or streaming audio on the Internet.
		Audacity Audacity is freeware, open source program used in order to record and edit sounds. It allows one to record live audio, it can convert tapes and records into digital recordings or CDs, edit Ogg Vorbis, MP3, WAV or AIFF sound files. You also can cut, copy, splice or mix sounds together with Audacity. Built-in effects are given to remove static, hiss, hum or other constant background noises.
		Power Sound Editor Free This is a freeware visual audio editing and recording program which includes many advanced and powerful features with audio information. You can use this software to record your own music, voice, or other audio files, edit it, mix it with other audio or musical parts, add effects like Reverb, Chorus, and Echo, and burn it on a CD, post it on the World Wide Web or e-mail it.
		Wavosaur A freeware sound editor, audio editor, wav editor software for editing, processing and recording sounds, wav and mp3 files. This program has all the features to edit audio (cut, copy, paste, etc.) produce music loops, analyze, record, batch convert. Wavosaur supports VST plugins, ASIO driver, multichannel wav files, real time processing.
		Traverso DAW This is a freeware multitrack capable editor with a great deal of functionality. Traverso DAW is a GPL licensed, cross platform multitrack audio recording and editing suite, with a simple to understand User Interface. It’s suited for both the professional and home user, who needs a robust and solid DAW.
		Jokosher Audio freeware program that is a multi-track studio used to create and manage music. With it you can create and record music, podcasts and more, all from an integrated simple environment.
		LMMS, Linux Multimedia Studio, works fine for Windows. Very elegant and easy to use track and sound creation freeware program. LMMS is a free cross-platform alternative to pay programs like FL Studio, which allow you to produce music with your computer. This includes the creation of melodies and beats, the synthesis and mixing of sounds, and arranging of samples. You can have fun with your MIDI-keyboard and much more; all in a user-friendly and modern interface.
		Dark Wave Studio by Experimental Scene and Daniel Werner DarkWave Studio is a free, open source, Digital Audio Workstation for Windows. Featuring a modular Virtual Studio, Pattern Editor, Sequence Editor and Multitrack Hard Disk Recorder.
		Bandz Pro Play musical instruments with the mouse at the computer with this freeware instrument simulation software. Very clean and elegant graphics for the musical instruments available to play.
		Jam Studio (online) This is an online freeware music creation studio that can be used to compose complex music. Quite advanced features. create music beats - free online music mixing & songwriting tool - quickly create backing tracks, karaoke songs, soundtracks & demo songs.
		Roc Music Creator by Aviary (online) This is a sweet freeware online music creation tool that is really nice looking and functional with tons of sounds. Use Aviary's music creator to simulate dozens of musical instruments including piano, guitars and drums. Create music loops and patterns. After just trying this for a few seconds, it is absolutely the most bad-ass music creator online as I made advanced drum and bass instantly.
		jBeepMaker Really simple yet really wonderful beep sound making program. Has simple inputs but allows for greatly complex outputs given possible range of entries.

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Freeware Suite | Package | Collections Programs:

This category of freeware software programs is meant for those programs that are a collection or a package or a suite that can not otherwise easily be categorized. Most of the programs under each of these headings will also be listed in other categories where appropriate.

Open Office Freeware version of something like a Microsoft Office Suite without the pricetag and with constant updates to improve the software. Works great, it's all I use now for writing letters or books. Has a really good layout in terms of menu options, etc. Comes standard with Open Office versions of Writer (Text editor like MS Word), Dbase (Database like MS Access), Calc (Spreadsheet like MS Excel), Impress (Like MS Powerpoint presentation maker), Draw (MS Word-like graphics editor), and Math (to do math calculations). A Support Page is here for links to tutorials for the Open Office Suite of programs. Also, here is a website offering tutorials in Open Office programs. (go to the Open Office Suite Product Description Page)   Open Office Writer (links to product information page) A program that works as well as Microsoft Word and has a simple, easy to use layout. I've been using it instead of MS Word versions now for years. It's great for making any kind of text document.   Open Office Calc (links to product information page) Works just like Microsoft Spreadsheet using an array of tabs and boxes in a chart format to make lists and use formulas to do accounting or sorting in rows or columns.   Open Office Draw (links to product information page) Works a lot like a set of stand-alone Microsoft Word drawing tools that are vector-based and simple. You can easily make flow charts, draw simple boxes, lines, etc. for use in Writer documents or for export to image files.   Open Office Dbase (links to product information page) Like Microsoft Access, this is a program that allows you to make custom databases. Haven't used it much so only know that it is a freeware version of the similar MS program.   Open Office Math (links to product information page) A program that allows you to write mathematical formulas and do calculations in an easy to use, wide open screen format. Allows exporting of mathematical notation that is otherwise nearly impossible to write on the screen, like powers and roots, etc.   Open Office Impress (links to product information page) A program that makes presentations in slide-show format much like Microsoft Powerpoint does. Will export files in similar formats and makes similar presentations in a quality format.

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Aviary Online Tools Suite Aviary online tools is a beautifully designed and implemented set of tools for creating music and images. It includes the following list of online tools that allow users to work without having to download any programs. You do have to create a simple acount to save and use all of the features.   Aviary Phoenix Freeware online image editor.   Aviary Talon Freeware online Screen Capture with Mozllla Firefox Browser Addon or extension capability.   Aviary Raven Freeware online Vector Image editor.   Aviary Peacock Freeware online Image Effects editor.   Aviary Toucan Freeware online Color Swatch grabber and editor.   Aviary Falcon Freeware online Image Markup editor to capture images and web pages from your browser as a Mozilla Firefox extension.   Aviary Roc Freeware online Music Creation editor. Beautiful and simple layout with lots of options but does have some limits that can be overcome by exporting smaller files into another specialized track audio editor.   Aviary Myna Freeare online Audio editing multi-track processing program.

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Freeware Word Processor | Writing Related Programs:

Open Office Writer (links to product information page) A program that works as well as Microsoft Word and has a simple, easy to use layout. I've been using it instead of MS Word versions now for years. It's great for making any kind of text document.

AbiWord A super-slim freeware program that rivals Open Office's Writer and contains great and easy to see and use buttons for formatting and file menu options. Takes up little to no space on the computer's hard disk or memory. Has one of the smallest footprints of any word processing program.

		TinySpell This is a very useful and simple freeware program that alerts you each time you write a word that is not spelled correctly or is not recognized by the program anywhere you write on the computer. Also, a tiny "ding" sound plays and a small box with options for the word's spelling come up on the screen next to the current cursor location.
		Celtx Freeware move script and storyboarding editor, lower-end version but works great at formatting a screenplay and I've used it for years now on my own projects. Keeps track of everything from a spec. script to a shooting script with camera and light positions to characters and scenes.
		Notepad++ A hugely upgraded freeware version of the Notepad writing program that comes with Windows, this is a very versatile and useful piece of software. There are loads of additional buttons and features like plugin support, tabbed editing, drag and drop, split screen editing, synchronized scrolling, spell checker (via an included plugin), find and replace over multiple documents, file comparison, zooming and much more.

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Freeware Spreadsheet Programs: