{"id":21811,"date":"2021-07-21T11:24:31","date_gmt":"2021-07-21T15:24:31","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.thundercloud.net\/infoave\/new\/?p=21811"},"modified":"2022-06-12T07:08:09","modified_gmt":"2022-06-12T11:08:09","slug":"the-cloudeight-freeware-hall-of-fame","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.thundercloud.net\/infoave\/new\/the-cloudeight-freeware-hall-of-fame\/","title":{"rendered":"The Cloudeight Freeware Hall of Fame"},"content":{"rendered":"

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The Cloudeight Freeware Hall of Fame<\/span><\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

We grew up with freeware. When we first jumped on the Web over two decades ago, almost all software was freeware. Things have changed. But we still use and love freeware \u2013 not just because it\u2019s free \u2013 but because it\u2019s good stuff. And you can\u2019t beat the price.<\/span><\/p>\n

And yes, we know — there’s a lot of good freeware that is not on this list, but we think it’s a good start.<\/span><\/p>\n

Here is our Cloudeight Freeware Hall of Fame<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

All the following programs work on Windows 8.1 and Windows 10 and should work well on Windows 11 too.<\/em><\/span><\/p>\n

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  1. Irfanview<\/strong> \u2013 A super-fast photo viewer and simple photo editor. Always one of the first things we install when we get a new computer. Sometimes, the developer plays games with the installer, but Irfanview always has an option to not install anything other than Irfanview. If this were any other program other than the best and fastest image viewer on the planet, it might not be on this list. Get more information about and \/or download Irfanview here.<\/a><\/span><\/li>\n
  2. MetaPad<\/strong> \u2013 It\u2019s an oldie but a goodie. This little text editor leaves NotePad in the dust, But the next version of Windows 10 (version 1809) promises to update Notepad for the first time in over a decade \u2013 and it looks like it\u2019s going to be good \u2013 but still not as good as MetaPad.\u00a0 You can get more information and download MetaPad here<\/span>.\u00a0<\/a> Hint: You don\u2019t want MetaPad LE \u2013 just Metapad.zip.<\/em><\/span><\/li>\n
  3. AbleWord<\/strong> \u2013 Another oldie – and still a goodie. If you need a word processor and don’t want to make Microsoft richer, this might be just what you’re looking for. The developers say “AbleWord (is) very simple to install and use, it is commonly used as a PDF Editor and also for converting PDF to Word\u00ae but of course it is also a splendid Word processor and supports most of Microsoft Word\u00ae features.\u00a0<\/em>” Learn more about and\/or download AbleWord here<\/a><\/span>.\u00a0<\/span><\/li>\n
  4. HiBitUninstaller<\/strong> \u2013 It’s an uninstaller on steroids. HiBit is a great uninstaller and a great startup manager, disk cleaner, services manager,\u00a0 browser extension manager, and a whole lot more. It\u2019s a Jack-of-all-trades that has mastered most of them. You can learn more about and\/or download Hibit Uninstaller here<\/a>.<\/span><\/span><\/li>\n
  5. Geek Uninstaller<\/strong> \u2013 Geek does one thing well. It\u2019s the fastest uninstaller around. It might not be the most thorough, but it’s fast. If you don\u2019t need all the features of HiBit and you don\u2019t want to pay for an uninstaller (or get a free one that is bundled with no-no ware), Geek Uninstaller (Free) should be on your PC. Nope, it\u2019s not as robust as paid programs like Revo Uninstaller, but it is more than good enough to be on this list. Learn more about Geek Uninstaller and\/or download the free version from here.<\/a><\/span><\/span><\/li>\n
  6. FastStone Capture<\/strong> (the last freeware version) \u2013 The last free version of FastStone is old and doesn\u2019t have the features of the paid version, but we\u2019ll stack the old, last free version of FastStone Capture up against any free screen capture tool around today. Read more about and\/or download the last free version of FastStone Capture (version 5.2) here.<\/a><\/span><\/span><\/li>\n
  7. 7-Zip<\/strong> \u2013 Windows users don\u2019t really need a zip utility unless they need to unzip RAR files and\/or need more flexibility working with compressed (zipped files). If we had to choose one zip utility for our computers, it\u2019s going to be 7-Zip. Visit the 7-Zip website for more information and to download it.<\/a><\/span> Note: There are separate versions for 32-bit and 64-bit computers.
    \n<\/em><\/span><\/li>\n
  8. AutoRuns<\/strong> \u2013 The all-time BEST Free startup manager \u2013 heck \u2013 it\u2019s the best darn startup manager free or not free. But, alas, it\u2019s not for beginners. But if you\u2019ve been around Windows a while and you know the ropes, there is no better startup manager anywhere. If you\u2019re not at least a moderately advanced Windows user, heed this warning: Be careful what you disable\/delete with AutoRuns. Learn more about and\/or get AutoRuns here.<\/a><\/span><\/span><\/li>\n
  9. Privacy Badger<\/strong> \u2013 Not exactly an application \u2013 it\u2019s an extension for Chrome, Edge, Firefox, and Opera. This extension is the Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF) product \u2013 an agency advocating for a free and unrestricted internet. Regardless of your political views, Privacy Badger is an excellent ad blocker, anti-tracker, and privacy extension. If you\u2019re looking for a very good and thoughtfully crafted extension to block ads and increase your privacy, we think you\u2019ll like Privacy Badger. A lot more information about Privacy Badger \u2013 and download links for Chrome, Edge, Firefox, and Opera can be found here<\/a>.<\/span><\/span><\/li>\n
  10. VLC Media Player<\/strong> \u2013 Without a doubt, VLC deserves a place on your computer. It\u2019s a master at playing all types of media files. VLC can play almost any time of audio and\/or video file natively. It also deserves to be installed on your PC. It\u2019s our default media player\u2026 if you try it, it will be yours too. Learn more about and\/or download VLC Media Player here.<\/a><\/span><\/span><\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

    Honorable Mention<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

    FastStone Image Viewer<\/strong> – We are dyed-in-the-wool Irfanview fans and have been since way back in 1998. And we’re not going to lie to you and tell you that we’re going to replace IrfanView with FastStone Image Viewer. But we are going to tell you that many of you will love the extra features of FastStone Image Viewer that are missing in Irfanview. FastStone Image Viewer is an image browser that instantly provides you with a \u201ccontact sheet\u201d of every image in a folder. It does a whole lot more than that too. Read more about and\/or download FastStone Image Viewer here.\u00a0<\/a><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

    Revo Uninstaller (Free version)<\/strong> – Every time we mention HiBit Uninstaller or Geek Uninstaller, we get a bunch of emails from Revo Uninstaller fans. The reason we don’t usually recommend Revo Uninstaller is that the freeware version has but a small number of the features of the full or Pro (paid) version. Often this leads the developer to push you to upgrade to the paid version. That being said, Revo Uninstaller does offer a free version. The page you download it from is confusing – so be wary. But see, we do listen to you, and we’re including Revo Uninstaller in this section. You can read more about and\/or download the free version of Revo Uninstaller from this page<\/a><\/span>.<\/span><\/p>\n

    Puran File Recovery<\/strong> – Puran File Recovery is an excellent and free file recovery program. It can recover deleted files from any storage media including hard drives, external drives, flash drives, camera cards, smartphones, etc.\u00a0 Puran File Recovery is easy to use, and it has a lot of options. It’s our number one choice for file recovery, and best of all it’s free.\u00a0 Read more about and\/or download Puran File Recovery.<\/span><\/a><\/span><\/p>\n

    Libre Office & Open Office. <\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

    Both of these free Office suites can handle almost any Microsoft Office document. They can also create documents that can be opened in Microsoft Office.<\/span><\/p>\n

    If you don\u2019t have extra money to spend on an office program, either of these will make a nifty addition to your freeware collection. Both are great.<\/span><\/p>\n

    Learn more about Libre Office here<\/span><\/a> \u2013 and more about Open Office here.<\/a><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

    CleanMgr+, BleachBit, and PrivaZer<\/strong> – Here are three free Windows cleanup programs we recommend. As many of you know, we are not fans of CCleaner and have never been. And now that CCleaner is owned by Avast, we can say we’ll never be fans of CCleaner. There are other excellent free clean-up tools available. CleanMgr+ is the simplest and easier to use, but the least thorough. BleachBit and PrivaZer both offer extensive cleanup and privacy optimization features. And you can read about all three (and\/or download them) here.<\/span><\/a><\/span><\/p>\n

    Your suggestions & comments are welcome!<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

    If you have any favorite freeware picks that you think every Windows user should have, please leave a comment.<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

        The Cloudeight Freeware Hall of Fame We grew up with freeware. When we first jumped on the Web over two decades ago, almost all software was freeware. Things have changed. But we still use and love freeware \u2013 not just because it\u2019s free \u2013 but because it\u2019s good stuff. And you can\u2019t beat the price. And\u2026 Read More »<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":13597,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[11],"tags":[4258],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.thundercloud.net\/infoave\/new\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/21811"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.thundercloud.net\/infoave\/new\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.thundercloud.net\/infoave\/new\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thundercloud.net\/infoave\/new\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thundercloud.net\/infoave\/new\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=21811"}],"version-history":[{"count":8,"href":"https:\/\/www.thundercloud.net\/infoave\/new\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/21811\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":23665,"href":"https:\/\/www.thundercloud.net\/infoave\/new\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/21811\/revisions\/23665"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thundercloud.net\/infoave\/new\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/13597"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.thundercloud.net\/infoave\/new\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=21811"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thundercloud.net\/infoave\/new\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=21811"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thundercloud.net\/infoave\/new\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=21811"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}