Introduction
CD Contents
(by file name)
abiword-setup-2.8.6.exe
aqualung-setup_0.9beta11.exe
audacity-win-unicode-1.3.14.exe
avidemux_2.5.6 _win32.exe
celestia-win32-1.6.1.exe
clamwin-0.97.3-setup.exe
FileZilla_3.5.2_win32-setup.exe
Firefox Setup 9.0.1.exe
gedit-setup-2.30.1-1.exe
gimp-2.6.11-i686-setup-1.exe
gnumeric-1.10.16-20110324.exe
Inkscape-0.48.2-1-win32.exe
kompozer-0.8b3.en-US.win32.exe
LibO_3.4.4_Win_x86 _install_multi.exe
PDFCreator
srware_iron_16.0.950.0.exe
stellarium-0.10.6.1.exe
SumatraPDF-1.9-install.exe
Thunderbird Setup 9.0.1.exe
vlc-1.1.11-win32.exe
We have created a Best of Free Windows Software CD of free, open source software for people on dial-up who are using Windows PCs, that we distribute for free.
We have put this collection of software together for a number of reasons:
- If you have a Windows PC then our free open source software CD will provide all the basic software you need, in addition to the Windows operating system, to get work done with your PC - no more paying for software!
- We have used all this software back when we used Windows and more recently on Linux, and want to share it with people who are still using Windows, particularly those on dial-up internet connections who find downloading large software packages difficult. The CD has more than 500 MB of software. We keep the applications up to date - these are the latest versions.
- We really support the developers of free open source software and want to do whatever we can to help spread and promote their great work.
- Everything on our Best of Free Windows Software CD is free open source software, licenced under free software licences, such as the GNU General Public Licence. It is completely legal to make copies and share them.
- In general free open source software works better than costly proprietary software. The software on our CD will save you many hundreds of dollars.
- We have personally tried all this software and we love it!
If you would like a free copy of the CD you can usually pick one up at the offices of National Capital FreeNet, Suite 302 Trailhead Building, 1960 Scott Street, Ottawa, Ontario K1Z 8L8, during office hours (M-F 9-4) or just drop us a note and we will be happy to get you one.
If you have a high-speed internet connection then you can download the applications listed here directly from the home websites.
Please don't feel that you have to install everything on the CD. We are big fans of keeping PCs, especially ones running Windows, as light as possible. Just install what you want to use. Once you are done with your CD, do pass it onto your friends!
Note that we also supply Linux CD/DVDs, too!
The remainder of this page will provide a description of what is on the CD, in alphabetical order by the file name. We have included links to our own reviews of the software and also links to the application's own home page so you can locate instructions and other documentation.
- File Name: abiword-setup-2.8.6.exe
- What it is: lightweight word processor
- Why you want it: A fully functional word processor for Windows systems that are RAM limited.
- How to install it: Click on the ".exe" file and follow the instructions.
- Caveats: For Windows 2000, XP, Vista and 7.
- Wikipedia page
- Application home website
- File Name: aqualung-setup_0.9beta11.exe
- What it is: lightweight music player
- Why you want it: Plays music on Windows systems that are RAM limited.
- How to install it: Click on the ".exe" file and follow the instructions.
- Caveats: Note this is a beta version. For Windows NT, 2000, XP, Vista and 7 only. There is a user guide available.
- Application home website
- File Name: audacity-win-unicode-1.3.14.exe
- What it is: audio recorder and editor
- Why you want it: It enables you to record any sound that can be fed into your sound card, as a digital file, microphone or analog input, edit and save in a wide variety of formats.
- How to install it: Click on the ".exe" file and follow the instructions.
- Caveats: Note this is a beta version. Only works if you have a sound card installed. Optimized for Windows XP, Vista and 7. There is a beginners user guide on FLOSS Manuals.
- Our review
- Wikipedia page
- Application home website
- File Name: avidemux_2.5.6_win32.exe
- What it is: video editor
- Why you want it: A simple linear editor that enables you to edit videos, splice clips together, add transitions and save as ".avi" or ".mpeg" files for uploading to You Tube or other video hosting services. Compared to more complex non-linear video editors that require high-powered computers to run, Avidemux will run on much older hardware.
- How to install it: Click on the ".exe" file and follow the instructions.
- Caveats: There is documentation available on how to use this application but it is a bit incomplete. There is a far better manual on FLOSS Manuals.
- Our review
- Wikipedia page
- Application home website
- File Name: celestia-win32-1.6.1.exe
- What it is: Space travel application
- Why you want it: Amazing graphics, explore the galaxy in the comfort of your own home.
- How to install it: Click on the ".exe" file and follow the instructions.
- Caveats: You need at least 512 MB of RAM and a graphics card or else it will run quite slowly.
- Our review
- Wikipedia page
- Application home website
- File Name: clamwin-0.97.3-setup.exe
- What it is: Anti-virus scanner
- Why you want it: Free software virus scanner.
- How to install it: Click on the ".exe" file and follow the instructions.
- Caveats: ClamWin is pretty good and improving all the time, but unless you are using MS Outlook it does not do e-mail scanning. It can be set to update itself daily and also to do a complete scan each day. We suggest that it be used as a secondary or back-up virus scanner, perhaps using a freeware scanner like AVG Free as your primary virus protection.
- Our reviews: 1 2 3
- Wikipedia page
- Application home website
- File Name: FileZilla_3.5.2_win32-setup.exe
- What it is: File Transfer Protocol (FTP) client
- Why you want it: If you design websites than this FTP client will enable you to upload them and manage your uploaded files.
- How to install it: Click on the ".exe" file and follow the instructions.
- Caveats: If you don't create websites then you won't need this. Windows XP and newer only are supported.
- Our review
- Wikipedia page
- Application home website
- File Name: Firefox Setup 9.0.1.exe
- What it is: internet browser
- Why you want it: The current version of one of the best browsers available. Provides far better security than using Internet Explorer, is W3C standard compliant and displays websites better.
- How to install it: Click on the ".exe" file and follow the instructions.
- Caveats: Windows XP and newer only are supported. There is a beginners user guide on FLOSS Manuals.
- Our review
- Wikipedia page
- Application home website
- File Name: gedit-setup-2.30.1-1.exe
- What it is: text editor
- Why you want it: This text editor is normally part of the Gnome desktop for Linux, but is now available for Windows as well. Out of the box it is very complete and ready to use and includes syntax highlighting for writing code and html, as well as built-in spell-checking. A very simple and easy to use application.
- How to install it: Click on the ".exe" file and follow the instructions.
- Caveats: None.
- Our review
- Wikipedia page
- Application home website
- File Name: gimp-2.6.11-i686-setup-1.exe
- What it is: image editor
- Why you want it: Great free image editing application, similar to Photoshop, but has many better features.
- How to install it: Click on the ".exe" file and follow the instructions.
- Caveats: GIMP requires Windows 2000 or newer; it will not work on Windows 9x/ME and NT 4. The interface is a bit different from Photoshop, but works well. They have a very complete user manual on-line.
- Our review
- Wikipedia page
- Application home website
- File Name: gnumeric-1.10.16-20110616.exe
- What it is: lightweight spreadsheet
- Why you want it: A fully functional spreadsheet for Windows systems that are RAM limited.
- How to install it: Click on the ".exe" file and follow the instructions.
- Caveats: For Windows 2000 and later.
- Wikipedia page
- Application home website
- File Name: Inkscape-0.48.2-1-win32.exe
- What it is: image creator
- Why you want it: Easy to use free vector graphics image creation application, similar to Adobe Illustrator, CorelDraw, or Xara X, using the W3C standard Scalable Vector Graphics (SVG) file format.
- How to install it: Click on the ".exe" file and follow the instructions.
- Caveats: None. They have very complete documentation and tutorials on-line and also at FLOSS Manuals.
- Our review
- Wikipedia page
- Application home website
- File Name: srware_iron_16.0.950.0.exe
- What it is: web browser
- Why you want it: Iron is based on the Chromium Project and is a very fast and stable browser. It is the same browser as Google Chrome, but with all the Google reporting and tracking features removed.
- How to install it: Click on the ".exe" file and follow the instructions.
- Caveats: None.
- Wikipedia page
- Application home website
- File Name: kompozer-0.8b3.en-US.win32.exe
- What it is: website designer
- Why you want it: This makes better standards-compliant web-pages than any other available application out there and is very easy to use for beginning web-page designers.
- How to install it: Click on the ".exe" file and follow the instructions.
- Caveats: Note this is a beta version.
- Our review and second review
- Wikipedia page
- Application home website
- File Name: LibO_3.4.4_Win_x86_install_multi.exe
- What it is: Complete office suite, including word processor and desktop publisher, spreadsheet, database, slide show, vector drawing application and math formula writer.
- Why you want it: Free complete office suite that is better than MS Office and is derived from OpenOffice.org. Has some unique features, such as it can save documents as PDFs. You can save in native open formats or in MS Office formats such as ".doc" and ".xls".
- How to install it: Click on the ".exe" file and follow the instructions.
- Caveats: If your PC doesn't make the minimum system requirements it is recommended you try AbiWord and Gnumeric instead as performance will be poor. The minimum system requirements are:
- Microsoft Windows 2000 (Service Pack 4 or higher), XP, Vista, or Windows 7
- Pentium-compatible PC (Pentium III, Athlon or more-recent system recommended)
- 256 Mb RAM (512 Mb RAM recommended)
- Up to 1.5 Gb available hard disk space
- 1024x768 resolution (higher resolution recommended), with at least 256 colours
- Wikipedia page
- Application home website
We do not recommend the adware PDFCreator as, since version 0.9.8, it has included a malware toolbar that highjacks your browser and SourceForge has denied there is a problem and refuses to fix it. For a PDF printer for Windows XP, Vista and 7 we recommend you download the freeware doPDF instead. It is just 4 MB and so can be easily downloaded by users on dial-up.
- File Name: stellarium-0.11.1.exe
- What it is: Desktop planetarium.
- Why you want it: Amazing graphics, better than almost all the commercial software available. Allows you to explore the night sky and plan your telescope viewing sessions.
- How to install it: Click on the ".exe" file and follow the instructions.
- Caveats: None.
- Our review
- Wikipedia page
- Application home website
- File Name: SumatraPDF-1.9-install.exe
- What it is: PDF reader.
- Why you want it: Extremely light weight and fast PDF reader. Unlike Adobe Reader, Sumatra opens in a fraction of a second, without having to wait for all the splash screens and credits to scroll by.
- How to install it: Click on the ".exe" file and follow the instructions.
- Caveats: None
- Our review.
- Wikipedia page
- Application home website
- File Name: Thunderbird Setup 9.0.1.exe
- What it is: E-mail client.
- Why you want it: Highly customizable e-mail application with many useful features, such as advanced search and tabbed e-mail. Much better usability and security than MS Outlook or Outlook Express.
- How to install it: Click on the ".exe" file and follow the instructions.
- Caveats: None. There is a beginners user guide on FLOSS Manuals
- Our review.
- Wikipedia page
- Application home website
- File Name: vlc-1.1.11-win32.exe
- What it is: Media player.
- Why you want it: VLC is the best media player available and will play pretty much every type of audio and movie file. It has a simple interface, useful features like a graphic equalizer and is very easy to use.
- How to install it: Click on the ".exe" file and follow the instructions.
- Caveats: None. There is a beginner's user guide on FLOSS Manuals.
- Our review.
- Wikipedia page
- Application home website
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