freeware

We've had several requests lately for tools and utilities to help protect computers from various internet nasties, so started looking for tools to help you out. Our most important consideration is that these tools should be free, and if possible, open source. There should be no need in this day and age to spend any extra money to keep your PC secure.

So, I started putting together this list, and got a bit carried away. It ended up turning into a recommended list of free (mostly open-source) tools to do almost all of the essential tasks most people require of their computer.

Almost all of the programs mentioned below are free open source software, though some are free versions of larger commercial products. Also note that this article is primarily aimed at Windows PC users, but almost all of these tools are also available on OSX and Linux.