10 Unknown Windows Freeware Apps You Should Know About

10 unknown Windows freeware applications any geek should at least know about.

Becauset the site was hammered by digg, and issues with the hoster, here is a reprint of the original article:

There are dozens of well known freeware applications out there. From web browsers to word processors to anti-viruses, there is freeware everywhere. Take a look at these 10 great Windows freeware applications you have probably either never heard of or never fully looked into.

Most of the freeware apps listed are for Windows. Linux users have no need to worry because a list for Linux will be published soon.

1. Circumventor

This freeware will turn any Windows XP or 2000 PC with an Internet connection into a CGI proxy you can use at work to bypass web filters. Sure, regular web proxies will do the same thing, but isn't it cooler to have your own personal proxy that is ad free?

2. Belarc Advisor

This handy tool will search a computer for installed software and license keys and generate results as a HTML file. It's handy for recovering lost software licenses and Windows license keys.

3. Xpize

Windows XP GUI enhancer. It changes Window's normal, boring icons into something worth looking at.

4. ISO Recorder

ISO Recorder is a light weight power toy for Windows XP, Server 2003, and Vista that let lets you easily mount ISO images to CDs and DVDs. With ISO recorder, mounting an ISO file is as easy as right clicking and choosing "Copy image to CD." A 64-bit version of this program is available.

5 IrfanView

Compact and fast image viewer and basic editor that works with most versions of Windows. It offers features that will please both novice users and geeks, including support for just about any file format out there, mutli language support, playing multimedia files, cutting and cropping, basic photo enhancement options, and more.

6. Windows Unattended Edition

This Windows modification makes an admin's job easier. With the program, you can create a customized Windows CD that already has many updates, optimizations, and useful software on it. Though it's in Spanish, it's easy enough to figure out how it works.

7.Hamachi

Hamachi lets you create your own virtual network of computers without actually having to network them together. It basically creates a LAN with other computers over the Internet. Hamachi is available for Windows, Linux, and Mac.

8. BeamFile

With this freeware application, you can easily send files up to 5 GB in size to friends and family.

9. CamStudio

CamStudio is a feature-full program that lets you record videos of applications on your computer. It's great for making demonstration videos and even lets you add screen captions, include yourself in the video, and convert the AVI files it generates into smaller SWF (flash) files!

10. Abiword

Many people know about this tiny little word processor, but its other open source brother, Open Office, takes the spotlight too often. Abiword is very small and light, making it perfect for systems that can't handle the bloatedness of Open Office. Abiword is available for many operating systems, including Windows, Linux, and Mac.

A few of the programs, like Hamachi, that are on the list are good programs that I have used, others sound intersting. There were some addiontal programs that were mentioned in the digg comments that I want to quote also, becuase them mention some programs that may be of use:

Junction
http://www.sysinternals.com/Utilities/Junction.html
Lets you create what Microsoft calls junctions, and what the *nix world calls symbolic links.

Unlocker
http://ccollomb.free.fr/unlocker/
When you try to delete a file, and Windows so rudely tells you it's being used by another program, this little app jumps in and frees the file from any resources that are using it.

Placebar Editor
http://www.maddogsw.com/placesbar/
Lets you edit the "placebar" in the open/save dialog window. Great for adding commonly used folders and drives right on the left hand side of the open/save window

Media Player Classic.
Hands down the best lightweight player for Windows. Plays everything
http://sourceforge.net/projects/guliverkli/

WinDirStat:
A bizzare little app at first that visually breaks down the contents of your hard drive into coloured blocks, with sizes relative the file sizes. But it's the perfect app to figure out what is taking up all that space on your new 200GB+ hard drive.
http://windirstat.sourceforge.net/

CDisplay:
Normally for comic books, it makes a great slideshow viewer for pictures.
http://www.geocities.com/davidayton/CDisplay

1) MPUI or rulesPlayer
2) XnView
3) Ant Renamer
4) XMPlay
5) Foxit Reader
6) AutoRuns and other SysInterals apps.
7) ExplorerXP
8) nLite + XPize for uA XP
9) TrueCrypt
10) Portable Gaim / Portable Skype
11) DM2
12) 7zip
13) µTorrent
14) KeePass
15) Portable DeepBurner
+) Firefox or Opera duh ;)

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