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A Few of My Favorite (Free) Things

Inspired by a conversation at work today about free (as in beer) software, here’s a quick list of some of my favorite apps. I use Windows, so many of these will be Windows-only.

FileZilla; open-source, easy to use, FTP client; even runs off a USB drive

TwhirlAdobe AIR-based Twitter client. Supports multiple accounts, skins, multiple link-shortening services, etc.

KeePass – Password safe. Folder, search, password generation (with random inputs). Open-source, speedy, runs on USB drives.

Notepad++ – Enhanced text editor with support for syntax coloring for dozens of languages and plug-ins. Fast cross-file searching make this a must-have for troubleshooting via log file.

CDBurnerXP – Free CD/DVD burning software. Doesn’t automate, but is incredibly lightweight when compared to the bloatware that Roxio has become.

VirtualBox – Open-source virtualization software. Easy-to-use, let’s me safely build sandbox environments to trash.

Handbrake – DVD to MPEG-4 converter, which now accepts file (such as AVI) as inputs. Perfect for encoding video for my iPod/phone.

Synctoy – Synchronization tool from Microsoft. Echos, copies, moves, and synchronizes folders or entire drives. I use it for easily backing up my music collection to an external hard drive.

7-Zip – free WinZip replacement.

CutePDF – Free PDF creation. Adds itself as a printer on your system.

Evernote – Cloud-based note taking; works especially well with a smart phone.

VLC – Plays pretty much any video format you throw at it.

Now, if I could find a free replacement for Dreamweaver, I’d be all set.