When it comes to free software, the open-source community certainly has a monopoly on high-minded posturing and puffy rhetoric. Just take a look at the Philosophy page of the GNU operating system's website:
"Free software is a matter of liberty, not price. To understand the concept, you should think of free as in free speech, not as in free beer. Free software is a matter of the users' freedom to run, copy, distribute, study, change and improve the software. More precisely, it means that the program's users have the four essential freedoms."
But when it comes to free software, those free-loving, free-wheeling open sourcers have an unlikely challenger: Microsoft. Yes, you heard us right, Microsoft: the ice to Fedora's fire; the night to Ubuntu's day.
But as unlikely as it may seem, Redmond actually has a thriving – though largely unsung – library of free applications available to download. And we're not just talking about freeware cobbled together in bedrooms by people who don't get out much.
We're talking well-engineered, high-quality programs written by the same people who created Windows and all the rest. It's stuff we're sure that Microsoft would love to charge for, but with uncharacteristic benevolence, it's chosen to give it away.
The only difficulty is finding the stuff : it's hidden here and there in and around Microsoft's sprawling website. We've played detective and tracked down the best free Microsoft apps.
Our travels through the world of Microsoft freebies started by looking for utilities. Could we find 15 worth including on our list? Half an hour later, with a shortlist of 40, we realised that finding enough wasn't going to be an issue – the real problem would be deciding what to leave out.
Sysinternals produces some of the best Windows tools around. With more than 70 utilities on offer, we could fill our pages with nothing else, but that would make for an unimaginative selection. We picked just two, then, but take a look at the site to see what else is available.
Microsoft's Research Labs, technical blogs and Download Centre also proved fertile, revealing everything from simple utilities to an app that used to sell for £360 but can now be yours for nothing. Sounds like a good deal to us.
1. RichCopy
This handy file transfer tool is multi-threaded, copying several files in parallel for improved performance. Versatile file filters let you customise exactly what is copied, while you can also pause and resume operations, which is useful if your network connection goes down.
2. Scalable Fabric
Install Scalable Fabric and any windows you minimise simply shrink to thumbnail size and slide to the side of the desktop. This helps program content to stay more visible, which means that it's easier to pick out the window you need. Restoring windows is as easy as dragging the thumbnail towards the screen centre.
3. Debugging Tools for Windows
What's causing your blue-screen crashes? If Windows won't tell you, just install the debugging tools and open the crash dump file. Within a minute or two you'll often get your answer. Browse the Ask the Performance Team blog for more advanced debugging tips.
Download Debugging Tools for Windows
4. Insomnia
It's annoying when your Windows 7 PC goes to sleep while you're downloading a big file, running a backup or doing something else important, but there's an easy solution – just run Insomnia. It'll disable sleep mode for the moment, allowing your tasks to go ahead without interruption. To get back to normal, all you have to do is close the program. Easy.
5. Process Monitor
Process Monitor logs all your PC's file and Registry activity, making it easy to identify over-active processes that might be hogging your system's resources. It's also good at diagnosing odd application behaviour in general, and can be handy when you're on a malware-hunting expedition.
6. Virtual PC
Virtual PC makes it easy to run different versions of Windows on your own desktop. It's the central technology behind Windows 7's XP Mode, which allows the new OS to launch old software that would otherwise be unable to run on your updated system.
7. Learning Content Development System
LCDS is a powerful tool for creating what Microsoft call 'e-learning content': Silverlight-based online courses that feature quizzes, games, assessments, animations and other interactive features.
You work with pre-defined forms, so no programming skills are required in order to create good looking, impressive content.
8. Microsoft Baseline Security Analyzer
Let MBSA scan your PC for a couple of minutes and you'll get a detailed report on all of its security holes, including missing system patches, user account or password issues, problematic Internet Explorer and Microsoft Office security settings and a whole lot more.
9. Process Explorer
A Task Manager on steroids, Process Explorer displays in-depth information on every process your PC is running right now. You can use it to spot big resource hogs, diagnose memory leaks or find out which process has opened a particular file.
It's also handy for pausing badly behaved programs that grab all your CPU time, closing them down safely when all else fails and generally troubleshooting all kinds of other odd Windows behaviour.
10. Truespace
This fully featured 3D authoring package contains everything that you need to build 3D models, add textures and lighting effects, render the models and even create cinema quality animations.
It used to cost around £360, but then Microsoft bought the technology for Virtual Earth and now it's available for free. Pretty impressive, huh?
11. Expression Encoder 3.0
Expression Encoder is targeted at web developers who want to "publish rich media experiences with Microsoft Silverlight", but in reality this is an excellent tool for anyone who wants to play around with video.
Essentially, it's a grown-up version of Media Encoder: you can import clips, carry out basic cut editing, crop or deinterlace them, add visual or audio overlays and then encode the finished results to WMV files with complete control over all the video settings (bit rate, size, aspect ratio, encoding method and more).
Extras include a powerful screen capture tool that will record whatever's going on in the window or region you specify. There are a few limitations with this free version (no H.264 output, and it's WMV-only), but it's still a capable program in its own right, and one that will never time out. It's well worth a look.
12. Windows Automated Installation Kit for Windows 7
The Windows Automated Installation Kit (WAIK) is an advanced tool that can create a custom Windows 7 set-up disc with your own settings, device drivers and other tweaks.
If you're looking after several Windows 7 PCs then this can save a great deal of time, as every time you reinstall Windows 7 it'll have the default settings and files you need ready and waiting.
Download Windows Automated Installation Kit
13. Windows SteadyState
Are your kids always breaking the PC? Then you may need Windows SteadyState. With this clever tool you first take a snapshot of a PC the way you'd like it. Then, no matter what any users happen to do – delete something important, install malware, or just poke around in the Control Panel – any changes will be reversed on rebooting, and everything will be back to the way it should be. This app works with XP and Vista.
Your comments (12) Click to add a new comment
tt3045
January 5th 2011
12. The link Download Office Compatibility Pack actually leads to Download Desktops v1.02. Please have this corrected.
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davele
December 11th 2010
11. Way to misread an article!, fellow commenters.
Please sit with your English Teacher & read this article together. It is not an attack on open source apps. Nor is it comparing the pro's & con's of O/S's.
You will find the introductory thust of this article is stating. "Hey most people think Microsoft will only talk to you thru your credit card. And it you want something free your better look elsewhere (hence reference to Open Source vendors).
He has trawled the MS site & discovered some really cool applications, there are more but these are some of his favorites.
His comment on code quality is merely stating that these apps aren't just unsupported sample code written by some MS employee in their spare time. They were an investment Microsoft has made. It is a tested & supported app/solution that Microsoft is giving away for free.
It doesn't imply that an individual can't develop quality code in their garage. But only that this code is from MSFT & not released independantly by someone who is currently their employee.
Of course if you don't run Windows, it is unlikely that this post & these Windows apps will be relevant to you. :-)
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paulus
November 2nd 2010
10. You know...you just can't give it away!
The author of this article for those who can read English and not just machine code, stated that the software was free...not open source. And please don't assume that everyone who likes free software also likes to turn a bowler hat into a Fedora. Sometimes people just like software that allows them to carry out a task that is important to them in a way that is economically low (or no) risk.
There are also lots of people who like to have software for free that may have little use now, but using it offers possibilities for them later.
Yes, indeed, there really are people out there who don't want to build, rebuild or hack or deconstruct their OS. They bought their PC or Mac they way it is because they deigned that it could be useful to them the way it is.
I am an avid user of all the major operating systems (yes, even WarpOS)and have found that all my years of experience with these systems boils down to one thing...user preference. Of course we change our minds and we develop more technical confidence and needs, but we must remember that for some people what they have now and what they have in 5 years could be the same thing because it fits them. There is no greater personalisation of an OS than that!
Finally I'd say that Microsoft Sharepoint Designer is a great candidate for this list as is the new Online Web Apps...
Peace to all.
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franknbeans
October 1st 2010
9. And one more thing.
where is the source code for this "open source" software?
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franknbeans
October 1st 2010
8. >We're talking well-engineered, high-quality programs written by the same people who created Windows and all the rest.
Implying that Linux, the OS that runs the majority of supercomputers, is low quality and that Microsoft is the ONLY company with people who can write code...
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usmanakhtar
July 7th 2010
7. But when it comes to free software, those free-loving, free-wheeling open sourcers have an unlikely challenger.
http://www.zevera.com/
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grumpybob
March 21st 2010
6. @serendipity
Virtually every Linux user who knocks Windows has tried using Windows. Virtually every Windows user who knocks Linux has not tried Linux recently. I'm no geek, but I do know that being popular with 'the masses' is no recommendation. Look at the results of elections... I have many friends who simply won't even try Linux. Does being a geek mean having an open mind and trying new things? If so perhaps I am a geek after all.
There's some interesting stuff here, so I'll probably reboot into Windows to try it. Yes, I do use Windows, just not all the time.
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noizepol
February 15th 2010
5. @drchaos Actually I can't see ANY software listed here to fix OS problems. What are you refering to exactly?
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drchaos
February 11th 2010
4. I like how such a large selection of the listed software comprises of tools to fix the OS problems. What a joke. And btw... learn what open source is, its a lot more than "free software"
-Jim
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gamasensei
January 25th 2010
3. These apps are free but not open-source. But Linux Distributions are!
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serendipity
January 25th 2010
2. @indianart
But then again Fedora and Unbuntu are both available for zilch but largely ignored by the masses who prefer to buy overpriced Apple Macs with OSX or Windows. I've nothing against Linux by the way but perhaps being popular with Geeks isn't everything in the real world. Its just a thought, feel free to disagree :-)
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indianart
January 24th 2010
1. "Microsoft: the ice to Fedora's fire; the night to Ubuntu's day."
Shows Fedora & Ubuntu have so much value, it is being compared to an OS which costs $$$$$.
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