It’s Free

By Marc Long

Define Free

Freeware• Freeware is computer software that is

available for use at no cost or for an optional fee.

• Proprietary freeware allows authors to contribute something for the benefit of the community, while at the same time allowing them to retain control of the source code, future direction of development and preserve its business potential.

Wikipedia

More or Less Free

Open Source Defined• Open source software is a way of developing software

in an open community.

General Public License• Defines the Open Source envirnonment

Shareware• Shareware can be downloaded from the Internet and

is often known as “try before you buy.” This software often has a trial period. If you like it, you are expected to register it and pay for it.

Wikipedia

SourceForge

SourceForge.net is a source code repository and acts as a centralized location for software developers to control and manage open source software development.

As of August 2008, SourceForge.net hosts more than 180,000 projects.

sourceforge.net attracted at least 28 million visitors annually.

Wikipedia

Downloading Free Software

Finding the right link takes time Watch out for the misleading links These links are there to get you off track

and have you buying something else.

Downloading/Installing

Download from kosher sites Check your download for viruses Install just what you want

• Avoid news letters

• Extra toolbars

• Watch for unknown services and startup programs. (Run … MsConfig)

Audio Audacity (Audio recording, editing, playback)

• http://audacity.sourceforge.net/download/

• Lame (Use Audacity to export MP3 files)• http://audacity.sourceforge.net/help/faq?s=install&item

=lame-mp3 CN Levelator (levels out volume inconsistencies)

• http://www.conversationsnetwork.org/levelator Itunes (Manage and play digital music)

• http://www.apple.com/itunes/ Videora (ipod converter)

• http://www.videora.com/en-us/Converter/iPod/

Image Editing Software Gimp (Generic paint/photo program)

• http://www.gimp.org/downloads/ Paint.Net (Generic paint/photo program)

• http://www.getpaint.net/download.html Autostitch (Glues similar pictures together)

• http://www.cs.ubc.ca/~mbrown/autostitch/autostitch.html

Picture Resizer (Resizes multiple images easily)• http://www.microsoft.com/windowsxp/Downloads/powe

rtoys/Xppowertoys.mspx

Screen Recording Jing (Video and audio screen recording) CamStudio 2.0 (Other versions are not free…

records screen and audio activity and produces a video file)• http://camstudio.org/ (midway down the page)• http://camstudio.en.softonic.com/

Hypersnap (Installed on district computers…records still images of your computer screen.)• http://www.hyperionics.com/

Video

Photo Story 3 (Story Telling with Digital Photos)• http://

www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?FamilyID=92755126-a008-49b3-b3f4-6f33852af9c1&DisplayLang=en

VLC Player (Cross Platform Media Player)• http://www.videolan.org/vlc/

Super (Video conversion software)• http://www.erightsoft.com/SUPER.html

Utilities

PC Inspector Smart Recovery (Recover deleted, corrupt, formatted, media)• http://www.snapfiles.com/get/smartrecovery.html

Password Safe (Store all your passwords in one place)• http://passwordsafe.sourceforge.net/

File Renamer Basic (File renaming software)• http://

www.sherrodcomputers.com/products_filerenamer.cfm

Publishing

MyPublisher (Software to create and print a photo album in a book format)• http://www.mypublisher.com/

Blurb (Software to Publish your Blog)• www.blurb.com

Web 2.0 Tools Second Life (Home ONLY …virtual worlds)

• http://secondlife.com/ Google Earth (Virtual Globe / Trip Planner)

• http://earth.google.com/ Skype (Voice Over IP – Communications Software)

• http://www.skype.com/intl/en/download/skype/windows/ Blogger (Create a free web log)

• https://www.blogger.com/start• http://longchronicle.blogspot.com/

Flickr (Home ONLY … Store photos online)• http://www.flickr.com/

Photobucket (Home ONLY …Store photos online)• http://photobucket.com/

Google Calendar, Reader, Docs, Photo, Web, etc.• http://www.google.com/reader

More Web 2.0 Tools

Twiddla (Whiteboarding tool)• http://www.twiddla.com

WetPaint (Create a Wiki)• http://www.wetpaint.com/

VoiceThread (Thread)• http://voicethread.com

• http://ed.voicethread.com

Calendar Stuff

Google / Outlook Calendar Synchronization• http://www.google.com/support/calendar/bin/

answer.py?answer=89955

 Google US Calendar Holidays• US32Holidays.ics

Calculators

Microsoft PowerCalc• http://www.microsoft.com/windowsxp/Downlo

ads/powertoys/Xppowertoys.mspx

Online Math Graphing Calculator• http://my.hrw.com/math06_07/nsmedia/tools/

Graph_Calculator/graphCalc.html

AntiVirus/AntiSypware

AVG (Free Antivirus software)• http://free.avg.com/ww.download-avg-anti-viru

s-free-edition

Spybot• http://majorgeeks.com/download2471.html

Adaware• http://majorgeeks.com/download.php?det

=5947

Other More Technical Resources

Speak Easy (Test your home upload and download speed)• http://www.speakeasy.net/speedtest/

VOIP Speed test• http://myspeed.visualware.com/voip/index.html

FTP Commander (FTP file transfer software)• http://www.tucows.com/preview/195124

Wireshark (Packet capture software)• http://www.wireshark.org/download.html