Free Windows Programs worth checking out

So I’ve been using Windows 7 for a while now, and completely love it. It does everything well. Multitasking, running for days on end without needing a reboot, recovering from video driver crashes without bringing down the system, I could go on and on. Anyway, I have found a few free programs that are worth checking out.  Most of these will work with most older versions of Windows too:

Chrome

This is my new favorite web browser.  Google released this browser a while back and it has really taken off in terms of the number of people now using it for their primary browser.  It goes off of the philosophy of ‘less is more.’  When you start it up, you don’t get a myriad of buttons to confuse you.  You just get the tab that you’re on currently (plus more tabs as you open them) forward, back, refresh, and a tools button.  That’s it.  More space is devoted to actually ‘showing’ the webpage, and less to features that 90% of people will never use.

And then there’s the speed.  Oh the glorious speed.  This browser loads so fast, if you blink, you’ll miss it.  It renders webpages fast, it loads Java-based sites super fast, it does everything fast.  That said, it is RAM happy, so if you don’t have plenty, it may not run that well, but in most machines built nowadays (and especially anything you get from UNI), plenty of RAM is installed right out of the box.  It will run on Windows XP, Vista, and 7.  (y0u have to have at least SP2 for Windows XP)  Get it here.

Notepad++

This is a nifty alternative to the standard “notepad” program that comes with all versions of windows.  It handles multiple tabs, a lot of web editing features, and plugins for even more capability.  Here is the direct download site.

Dropbox

This impressed me enough that I immediately emailed all of my friends, clients and co-workers so that they could check it out.  It is a tiny little program that installs on your machine, and then syncs back with Dropbox.com.  You get 2GB of storage, free.  The best thing, however, is that it operates just like a folder on your machine.  In fact, by default, it’s just a folder on your desktop.  Drag some files in, they sync automatically with Dropbox, done.  So, if you have Dropbox at work, and Dropbox at home, just drag some work that you need to take home into your Dropbox, and then when you get home, it will be synced there for you to continue working on.  When it’s time to take it back to work, just put it back in Dropbox, and when you get back, it’s there!  Super Easy.  Super Awesome.

It also allows you to access www.dropbox.com and download or upload any files, in case you are on a friends machine that doesn’t have Dropbox.  Also, at the time of this article, if you invite friends to Dropbox, you will get free space added to your account, up to 3.25GB total.

I’ve know one client who took a job in Dubai.  In order to be able to easily transfer pictures and stuff back and forth with his wife here in the States, they both installed Dropbox using the same account, now they can easily transfer files much more fluidly then trying to cram them into emails.

For those of you that need more space, Dropbox has a pay option where you can buy more space for a monthly or yearly rate.  Go check it out, it’s like having a little flash drive that’s ‘always on.’