Three Free Downloads You Can't Live Without

Sure, there are plenty of free software applications out there, but how many are *truly* useful? How many do you know of that can actually replace programs that you have to pay for?

You may already know about our Free Downloads section, but TechSoup just published an article on three free downloads you can't live without, which you can find here.

Have you found any free apps you just can't live without? If so, tell us about 'em. Is there something you're trying to do and you're wondering if there is a free software application that can help, post those comments here as well.

~Alexandra

Putty for using SSH to manage my Linux boxes.

Putty is in our Network Administration section of TechSoup's free downloads section You can also submit free downloads to downloads@techsoup.org

Thanks,

Susan

Not to turn this into a thread solely dedicated to PuTTY, but it is worth mentioning that a couple days ago the author released a new version (0.57) -- this version fixes two security vulnerabilities. So if you are a regular user of PuTTY, you should go grab the latest version from the download link.

As far as free downloads I can't live without, I'll share a few here:

- Microsoft RDP client: (formerly called Terminal Services Client) allows remote connection to servers running RDP

- UltraVNC: VNC is a remote control app that runs on just about any platform; UltraVNC is a tricked-out Windows version with useful additions like file transfer, client/server chat, etc...

- FileZilla: basically an FTP client with a lot of enhancements; the one I use most often is the file transfer over SSH

My vote is for the Organizaer's Collaberative Database. No smallorg can afford a legal copy of Raiser's Edge. Whoneeds it when the wonderful OCD program is available. And it was designed to be as "idiot-proof" as possible, for an office filled with volunteers who get 5 minutes of training.

-Lisa

So many free utilities...

I am going to stick with the fix-it geek tools.

Profile Wizard - Allows you to join a computer to a domain and migrate the user's entire profile in 1-2 minutes. Invaluable for that one specific purpose.

SpySweeper - Though I am a fan of Spybot Search and Destroy and Adaware, I find that they do about 80% of the job on really screwed up computers. Spysweeper removes 98% of the spyware I have run into, but it is only free for the first use... so I typically clean the machine off with that, then install the free tools. Is that cheating?

Bart's Boot CD - Sometimes you just can't fix Windows in windows. This CD is part of my bag of tricks. Though it is not strictly "free" exactly...

FastPush Takes VNC to the next level allowing you to push it out to all the clients on your network. Everyone gets the same user account, password, settings. So sweet.

Panda Online Virus Scan - Often I want a second opinion in the evaluation of the virus situation on a computer. This tool allows me to scan the computer without installing any software. Symantec and Mcafee have this also but for some reason I like the Panda one better.

Belarc - Though I am sure this is on the Techsoup free tools. I really like Belarc for grabbing the inventory off a pc and presenting it in a good interface.

Alright that is enough.

Cheers,
Russ

Great.
My Organization will certainly use it.
Thanks