I reviewed hundreds of free software in 2009. I came across some really interesting software, that really amazed me. Some of them are quite elaborate in their functionality, and some of them are very simple that work in some innovative manner. You might not need to download and install all of them on your computer, but you would definitely love to read about them, and knowing that there are freeware to address this kind of functionality.
Here are the Best Free Software of 2009:
Free Software to Send and Receive Fax Online:
In 2009, I found many free software that can be used to send and receive fax online. You can even get free incoming fax number, and send free fax to many countries globally. I have compiled the list of such software in this article: How to Setup Virtual Fax Machine for Free.
Free Software to Remotely Connect to your Computer:
Most people have heard about GotoMyPC – the popular software to remotely connect to your PC. I found lot of free software that can be used to connect to your PC remotely. In fact, you can even get files remotely from your computer by sending an email, or even just a tweet! Here are my favorite 5 Free Software to Remotely Connect to Your Computer
Free Software to Get Mac Style toolbar on Windows:
When I saw Mac for the first time, only thing that impressed me was its toolbar. I was just amazed by the beautiful toolbar that Mac had, and wished for a long time that Windows had something similar, instead of the boring Start Menu. In 2009, I found 3 Free Software to Get Mac Style Toolbar on Windows: ObjectDock, RocketDock, and CircleDock. All these are really good.
Free Software to Backup Your Data Online:
I started 2009 by reviewing SpiderOak, a free service that provides 2GB of free space. I was really happy that I was able to find 2GB of free space online. Then I found SkyDrive that gave 25GB of free online space. Unbelievable. However, it did not end there. Then I found ADrive that gives 50GB of free online space. And finally, I ended the year with GoAruna – Unlimited Free Online Space. Love it!
My favorite online backup software: Mozy and DropBox. Check out Mozy vs. DropBox comparison.
Best Free Media Players
I reviewed tons of free media players in 2009. My favorites ones: Real Player, BS.Player, and Media Portal. If you are a big fan of YouTube, then you have to try Muziic. Most amazing thing about Muziic – it is developed by a 16 years old developer, and has features that beat the media players developed by big corporations.
If you like to watch Internet on your Computer, you can try JLC Internet TV. And to watch and download HD movies, Miro and Vuze are the best.
Interesting Free Image Manipulation Software
I came across many free image editing software, and some of them are really unique, and totally awesome. My favorite one – FotoMosaik-Edda. This software creates a photo mosaic out of the photos you provide, and mosaic is output in form of photo that you specify. Really amazing software that would have taken some serious logic to write out the algorithm for this. Apart from this, I found some cool software to convert your photos to paintings, convert your photos to sketches, and even convert your photos to text. Love them!
Free Twitter Software
I started using Twitter in 2009, and was amazed by the free to use Twitter API. Developers around the world have made thousands of free Twitter software using this API. Some of the interesting ones: Tweepular – best software to manage your Twitter followers. It can mass follow, mass unfollow, and do many other things. My favorite Twitter Client is TwitHive – a completely web based Twitter client that makes it extremely easy to follow Tweets from your favorite users. And then, I found many free websites to create free Twitter backgrounds.
Best Free Antivirus of 2009
I found lot of good free antivirus software in 2009. My favorites ones: Avast, AVG, and Microsoft Security Essentials. A special mention for Panda Cloud Antivirus – I believe this is a path breaking product in free antivirus arena. Everything is available in the cloud, and it has a very small footprint on your computer. That ensures it does not hogs your resources – the most common problem with Antivirus software.
Honorary Mentions:
Here are some honorary mentions – stand alone products that I fell in love with.
Celestia – An amazing software that gives you a virtual tour of stars and galaxies.
Picasa – This free software from Google has really advanced in its functionality, especially with its features to identify faces.
FlipBook Printer – A nice free software to create your own flipbooks. This one made me remember my childhood.
Fences – This is a nice free software to unclutter your desktop. Create virtual sections on your desktop, and group files and folders in that.
I know I have included lot of free software in the list above, but believe me, the original article had many more, and actually I had to remove many of them to make the article smaller. Bookmark this page, and read them at your leisure. You are sure to find many useful software, without spending a single penny.
I wish you and your families a very happy and fun filled New Year.