- SOFTWARE SOURCES - Without software, your $2,000 computer is just an expensive boat anchor! Software Sources | Specialty Software | "Must Have" Software | My Favorite Freeware | Stand-Alone Freeware | Other Handy Tools | Fonts, Themes, Wallpaper & Screensavers | Clip Art, Photos, CD Covers | Sounds | MP3 Music | MIDI Music | Peer-to-Peer File Sharing Computer utilities, help and other support info are in our Computers and Technology section Order FREE Update CDs from Microsoft ~ Saves download time! ~ - Order the Windows XP Service Pack 2 Update CD - Order the MS Office Update CD PROTECT YOUR PC AND YOUR PRIVACY! Learn how to guard against computer viruses, hackers and internet fraud FREE Security and Privacy Software!

SOFTWARE SOURCES

I don't like paying for software any more than you, so sites specializing in "Freeware" get top billing here. "Shareware only" sites are listed at the bottom. Those which handle both are listed in the middle.

TERMS YOU'LL SEE: Freeware is (duh) absolutely FREE! Shareware requires the user to pay a (usually modest) registration fee. Nagware keeps working, but displays "reminder" messages until you pay a registration fee. Adware is freeware supported by on-screen advertising. Demoware or Trialware has limited functionality or stops working after a trial period unless you register (buy) the software. SpyWare won't actually be labeled as such. SpyWare is often disguised as a handy, "free" utility, but it can spy on your Web-surfing habits or even personal information on your PC! (Gator and CometCursor are examples.) CLICK HERE to learn how to remove and avoid SpyWare!

Freeware-Only Sites

Freeware Home - FREE Windows software with quality ratings! FreewareWeb - lots of great FREEware, many with "screen shot" preview pictures! WinSite Freeware - FREE software from WinSite Freeware Downloads - a modest collection of FREE Windows software with quality ratings Grey Olltwit's Freeware - a nice collection of FREE games, utilities, and mre! Freeware Files Only Freeware Freeware Stop Freeware Filez Completely FREE Software - This site offers free software, but they now require a paid membership SourceForge - the world's largest Open Source software development website Look for more FREEWARE elsewhere on this page!

Freeware/Shareware Sites

Freeware Gold! - a list of sites devoted to Freeware and Shareware Dave Central - by Dave Franklin: Hunter-Gatherer of Freeware, Shareware and Demoware TuCows - software for every platform! (Click here for Pennsylvania mirror site) NoNags - Freeware, Shareware listed by category and user ratings IT Pro Downloads - Freeware, Shareware - File descriptions show user rating and whether software is freeware or shareware 32bit.com - 32-bit Windows software c|net's Downloads.com - Freeware and Shareware - File descriptions show popularity rating and whether software is freeware or shareware ZDNet Downloads - Freeware and Shareware for Windows, CE, Mac, and Palm - Detailed file descriptions, showing user rating and whether software is freeware or shareware PCWorld Downloads - Shareware, demoware, some Freeware WinSite - Shareware/Trialware with some Freeware - Large Windows archive, but offers little info on files Shareware Place - Shareware downloads and links to othershareware sites. MAC software, too!

SPECIALTY SOFTWARE

Sites supporting special interests and alternative operating systems

PowerPoint Viewer - View presentations and slide shows created by Microsoft's popular PowerPoint program. Games Domain - Reviews, downloads & more MacDownload.com - Software for Mac users Cult of Macintosh - One of the best resources for Mac enthusiasts PDA Central - from TuCows - software for your hand held Personal Digital Assistant, including: Windows CE, Palm OS, Newton, EPOC, and Psion PalmPilotArchives - fo Palm Pilot users

"MUST HAVE" SOFTWARE

Life on the Internet is a lot more fun when you have the right tools. These "MUST HAVE" software packages and browser plug-ins and tools will make your Web surfing much more enjoyable and they're all FREE!

Internet Explorer - Microsoft's Web browser Netscape Navigator - The Web browser Bill Gates loves to hate Microsoft NetMeeting - This is REALLY cool! Widely used by businesses to collaborate over the Internet, NetMeeting is a great tool for everybody! It allows you to TALK to others over the Internet and, with the addition of an inexpensive video camera, it also enables you to see each other, too! Draw interactive pictures or maps! Share files! Control applications on another person's PC, even if you don't have the application on yours! Windows Media Player - Multimedia player, also receives audio & video Internet broadcasts! RealPlayer - Receive audio and video over the internet! (NOTE: Be sure to download the free, Basic version.) Apple QuickTime - Multimedia player (Great MIDI sound!) Shockwave - Macromedia's popular animation and multimedia player Adobe Acrobat Reader - Document reader for ".pdf" files

MY FAVORITE FREEWARE

My personal favorites! In my humble opinion, these are some of the best and most useful programs and utilities you'll find anywhere and they're all FREE!

ePrompter - If you have multiple Web-based e-mail accounts, you know checking all of them is a hassle. ePrompter is a text-only e-mail account manager that monitors up to 16 e-mail accounts. Note Tab Lite - A great replacement for Microsoft's NotePad utility, this text editor has powerful features, can handle extremely large text files and supports multiple open documents. (Be sure to download the free, "Note Tab Lite" version.) IrfanView - This very handy utility will display and convert to/from just about any graphics file format you can think of! Very cool! Atomic Time - This small utility automatically sets your system clock! (This feature is built into Windows XP) Arachnophilia - The HTML editor I used to create QikLinx. Arachnophilia is careware. The author asks that in exchange for free use of the program, you perform some act of kindness for someone else. Great idea! For Windows 95/98/NT. 123Free Solitare - Want a really great solitare game? The freeware version has 12 variations of Solitare with nice graphics and sound. (NOTE: Be sure to download the freeware version near the bottom of the page!) For Windows95/98/NT. Kyodai Mahjongg (Oriental Solitare) - A challenging solitare board game! Good graphics and MIDI sound. (NOTE: Kyodai Mahjongg is now shareware, but version 1.21 is still free.) For Windows95/98/NT.

STAND-ALONE FREEWARE

These programs are FREE, require no installation and supposedly make no system or registry changes! (NOTE: Always check the program website and documentation to verify this.) If you use a company PC, public PC or (for whatever reason) don't want to install new software, these programs are for you. Many can even be run directly from a diskette!

X-Cleaner - (FREE edition) Performs cookie cleaning, Internet cache cleaning, scans for many popular spy software packages and performs permanent file shredding! Small enough to fit on a diskette! Convert - How fast is 65 MPH, measured in Knots? This handy unit conversion calculator will provide the answer to that and just about any other kind of conversion you can imagine! Area, Volume, Temperature, Force, Distance, it has it all covered! (By the way, the answer is 56.48346 Knots.) DaysEase - a small, versatile calendar program One Page Calendar - a tiny calendar generator by Kent Briggs WinStars - a nice astronomy program Lens - a handy screen magnifier

OTHER HANDY TOOLS

Save Any File - This online utility (no download or installation), will save a local copy of any file off the Internet, including, but not limited to: html, gif, jpeg, zip, swf, mp3, ram, etc. (Courtesy, RJL Software) Yahoo! Companion - If you have a free Yahoo! e-mail account, you need Yahoo! Companion. This browser plug-in alerts you to new mail and provides easy access to your My Yahoo! pages. It takes only seconds to download and installs itself instantly! Google Toolbar - increases your ability to find information from anywhere on the web and takes only seconds to install. Also has a built-in pop-up blocker! AOL Instant Messenger - Tells you when your friends are on line and provides private, instant messages Yahoo! Messenger - Similar to AOL Instant Messenger (above) MSN Messenger - Yep. Microsoft has one, too! WinZip - A "shareware" tool to create and extract compressed ".zip" files PKZip - A "shareware" tool to create and extract compressed ".zip" files Expander Freeware - Freeware file extraction tools from Aladdin Systems: Aladdin Expander (Windows), StuffIt (Mac), and UnStuff/PC (DOS) PowerArchiver - A "shareware" tool to create and extract compressed files, including ZIP, ARJ, ARC, ACE, LHA, CAB, TAR, GZ, ZOO, XXE and UUE formats

FONTS, THEMES, WALLPAPER and SCREENSAVERS For Your PC

Fonts - Get fanciful with your text!

1001 Free Fonts - FREE fonts and links to other free stuff! FontFiles.com - FREE fonts Fonts-Now! - "the web's biggest FREE fonts site" The Fontpool - over 1,000 TrueType fonts Fontage - Indexed TrueType fonts Famous Fonts - a collection of fonts used on TV shows, advertising, movies, music albums, etc.

Wallpaper

Digital Blasphemy - No, it's not a religious site. Artist Ryan Bliss creates digital worlds out of his own imagination using high-end graphics software, and then makes them available as awesome "wallpaper" for your computer. Mac Desktops - These Mac desktop images also work on PCs!

Windows Themes - upholstery for your PC!

Tucows Themes - free desktop themes, screensavers, icons, cursors and fonts Themez.com ThemeWorld Yahoo! Search - for Desktop Themes EZthemes - a list of theme sites Desktop Themes WebRing - another list of theme sites

Screen Savers

Screensaver.com - Aw, you guessed it... Screensavers! Screen Saver Previewer - See what they look like before downloading!

CLIP ART, PHOTOS, CD COVERS

Clip Art

Royalty Free Art - a great source for royalty free buttons, backgrounds, bullets, photos, fine art, clip art, icons, screensavers, and more! ClipArt.com - one of the best lists of Clip Art sites AAAClipArt.com - "Your Only Stop For Free Clip Art" Barry's Clip Art Server - thousands of images, all free! ArtToday.com - 185,000 free images or subscribe to access over 1.2 million! Disney Clip Art - If you're a Disney fan, you won't want to miss this site!

Photos and Images

Yahoo! News Image Gallery - images from the headlines News Image Gallery - images from the headlines Time Magazine Picture Collection - Very cool Time Magazine Covers - Life Magazine Covers - Ansel Adams Photos - a large, royalty free collection of stunning B&W photos by renouned photographer, Ansel Adams, taken under contract to the U.S. Dept. of the Interior U.S. Army Images - U.S. Army photo gallery U.S. Navy Images - Recent photos of U.S. Navy activity

CD Cover Art

CDcovers.cc - World's largest cover archive CoverTarget

SOUNDS - sound effects, etc.

SoundCentral - "Free WAV, MIDI, keyboard samples, audio programs for all platforms" WavCentral - Audio, Multimedia, Sound Database WAV Place - more WAV files!

MP3 MUSIC - Software and Files

MP3 (short for MPEG-3, an acronym for Moving Pictures Expert Group - layer 3), is a highly compressed media file format (roughly 1 Megebyte per minute of music) which lets you download, copy, record, and play CD-quality music on your PC or portable MP3 devices! MP3 could someday replace CDs. This is really HOT, folks! You've got to try it!

MP3.com - "The Ultimate MP3 Resource" DMusic - "The independent digital music community" CNET Music Center - MP3 resources mpeg3.com - Another great MP3 resource

MP3 Software - NOTE: "Ripper" software will copy your audio CDs to MP3 format, players will (duh) play MP3 files.

MusicMatch - I believe this is the best MP3/CD player on the planet! The FREEWARE version will do just about everything you want, but the paid version (under $30) will also print your CD case labels and much more! Try it now! RealJukebox - "RealJukebox Basic" is the FREEWARE version of this widely used player/ripper! It also makes a great audio CD player for your PC! WinAmp - The mother of all MP3 players is once again FREEWARE, and is still going strong! It also plays CD, WMA, Audiosoft, Mjuice, MOD, WAV and other audio formats. Sonique - a great FREEWARE player with a beautiful (although somewhat unusual), hi-tech user interface available. It also plays MP2, WAV, MOD, XM, IT, S3M, and CD audio and all MS Windows Media audio formats.

FREE and LEGAL MP3 Sources! Music of all genres from mostly unknown, unsigned artists!

MP3.com - "The Ultimate MP3 Resource" DMusic - "The independent digital music community" SoundClick - peoplesound - from the UK

Public, Web-based MP3 Searches

AudioPhilez - MP3 music file search AltaVista MP3 Search - audio file search Lycos Music Search - Search for MP3 and sound files Audiofind - search for streaming music sources!

MIDI MUSIC

MIDI (Musical Instrument Digital Interface) files are the computer equivalent of the old "player piano" music rolls. These files are very small (In fact, you can fit dozens of songs on a single diskette!) and, therefore, have very short download times, but they can produce beautiful music on your computer!

MIDI Tutorials - articles about MIDI and related subjects MidiFarm - sofware, information and a vast archive of over 12,000 MIDI files! Ultimate MIDI - "The Ultimate MIDI Page" CPR's MIDI Archives - another extensive collection MIDI City - Links to lots of other MIDI sites MidiMaven - "The Net's MIDI Resource" Casa de MIDI - Free, original midi files composed by Chuck Okada. Classical MIDI Archives - Bach would have loved this! Beatles' MIDI Music - Wanna' Hold My Hand? Paul's Midi Place - Comtemporary Christian Music files Rich's Music Page - More Comtemporary Christian Music files Partners in Rhyme - Royalty-free MIDI files The Music Hall - Lots of additional MIDI files!

PEER-TO-PEER FILE SHARING SOFTWARE

NOTE: Unauthorized sharing of copyrighted material is illegal!

KaZaA - claimed to be the world's most downloaded software application WinMX - This "peer-to-peer" file sharing system lets you exchange music with others NeoNapster - similar to the old Napster and Morpheus, except with no ads, banners, or popups FurthurNet - for the sharing of legal, live-music from an approved band list, including AC/DC, Crosby, Stills, Nash and Young, Dave Matthews Band, Pearl Jam, U2 and more!