Top 10 Freeware Applications for your Home Computer
1. 7-ZIP 4.57 (840.23kb)
Publisher: 7-ZIP Software
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7-ZIP is a freeware compression program that is both compact and powerful reducing most file sizes between 2–10% more than other compression programs but has been known to compress up to 40 percent more, although this high compression can drain system resources and take a while longer than most. It also supports most known compression types including: RAR, CAB, ISO, ARJ, LZH, CHM, MSI, WIM, Z, CPIO, RPM, DEB and NSIS. For ZIP and GZIP.
From personal experience the built-in compression utility of the Windows operating system is good for normal .zip compression files, however doesn't really have the ability or ease-of-use of some of its more advanced counterparts. For such a small file size (840kb) this freeware is hard to resist.
Download Here: 7-Zip
2. VLC Media Player 0.8.6h (8.96MB)
Publisher: VideoLAN Project
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VLC Media Player is a one-stop shop for all your video file playing needs supporting: MPEG-1, MPEG-2, MPEG-4, DivX, MP3, and OGG, as well as for DVDs, VCDs, and various streaming protocols. It may not be as glamorous as Windows Media player, Quick Time or some of its more ‘flashier' counterparts, but it will certainly do the job.
VLC has a Skin function where you can change the colours etc to make it more sophisticated looking, however we have found that by doing this, you get a few unwanted glitches when it comes to loading DVDs and VCD files. However in its normal mode, you shouldn't have any issues.
Download Here: VLC Media Player
3. Foxit PDF Reader 2.3 (2.55MB)
Publisher: Foxit Software
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Foxit PDF Reader is a lightweight freeware version of its Adobe counterpart that still has all the functionality and ease of use that you would require. Foxit allows you to highlight and type text, make notes, draw graphics and then save or print the annotated document. Due to its small size, this program boasts a quick load time, much faster than that of the Adobe versions in which you could watch a movie in the time it takes to load. Highly recommended.
Download Here: Foxit PDF Reader
