Gimpshop

Open Source software has never been known for its photo processing prowess. Until now, that is. Gimpshop is an exceedingly powerful Photoshop lookalike that has far more features than you, or most people you know, will ever use. If you're looking to do something as simple as touch up photos, or something far more sophisticated, like work in multiple layers, it has the tools you need.

Version: 2.2.4
Price: Free
Operating Systems: Windows XP

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Gimpshop

FoxyTunes introduces a toolbar for controlling a multitude of media players including windows Media Player, winAmp, and iTunes from within the browser. Foxy indeed.

-- Erik Larkin

Version: 1.9
Price: Free
Operating Systems: Windows 2000, Windows XP

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FoxyTunes (for IE)

FileZilla

FTP lives! This file transfer protocol may seem old-fashioned and ancient, but the truth is, it's often the simplest way to transfer files between PCs, or between a PC and a server. It's especially useful for transferring large files, because ISPs often block email attachments over a certain size. And it's great for transferring groups of files. FileZilla has just about every FTP feature you need. It's a breeze to set up and edit new FTP connections.

-- Preston Gralla

Version: 2.2.32
Price: Free
Operating Systems: Windows NT, Windows 2000, Windows XP

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FileZilla

No one is going to argue with the aesthetic and therapeutic effects of huge balls of fire accompanied by a satisfying blow to the eardrums. But explosions are so...impersonal. If the reason you're turning to ammunitional therapy involves a single person--that brown-noser who got your job--that's when you want a game that gives killing a more personal touch, something like Frantic Killer. The instructions for Frantic Killer are short and to the point: "Shoot in the head. Shoot the Grenade. Don't Waste bullets." Ah, the sheer essence of all the very best games.

-- Ron White

Price: Free
Operating Systems: Windows XP

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Frantic Killer

Fly Guy is another game with a character who soars without need for balloons, planes, or feathers. Yet it and Cloud could hardly be more different from each other. If Cloud is New Age, then Fly Guy is old age, and I mean that in the best way. Defying today's 3D photorealistic games, Fly Guy consists of black-and-white line drawings that look as if they had been done by James Thurber.

-- Ron White

Price: Free
Operating Systems: Windows 2000, Windows XP

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Fly Guy

File Shredder

To protect your privacy, when you delete a file, you'd like it to stay deleted. That's what this freebie does. It rewrites any file or folder with a random series of binary data --- and does it multiple times. You have a choice of five different shredding algorithms. It's as easy a program to use as you can imagine. Just choose your files, tell the program to shred them, and they'll be gone forever.

-- Preston Gralla

Version: 1.2
Price: Free
Operating Systems: Windows NT, Windows 2000, Windows XP, Windows Vista

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File Shredder

ZipGenius 6 Standard can create archives in a few other formats as well (including .zip and .tar), and will extract a variety of others like .rar or .ace, plus .iso and .nrg disc images. Support for .arj, .arc, or .lzh archive extraction requires external programs. ZipGenius 6 Standard offers support for CryptoZIP 2.0, AES-128, BlowFish-128, and TwoFish encryption.

-- Danny Allen

Version: 6.0.2.106
Price: Free
Operating Systems: Windows 95, Windows 98, Windows 2000, Windows Me, Windows XP

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ZipGenius 6 Standard Edition

Comodo Firewall Pro

ZoneAlarm may be extremely popular, but that doesn't necessarily mean that it's the best firewall you can find. Many people believe that Comdo Firewall Pro takes that prize, largely because it was rated as the top firewall by the independent testing site Matousec.

-- Preston Gralla

Version: 2.4
Price: Free
Operating Systems: Windows 2000, Windows XP

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Comodo Firewall Pro

No one puts End User License Agreements at the top of their reading list. Failing to read these, though, can results in privacy risks, unwanted software, and other nasty surprises. You should always read EULAs from end to end, but EULAlyzer makes it easier to home in on the important parts. To start, click the plus-sign button in EULAlyzer and drag it to the text requiring analysis. You'll see the text appear in the program's window. When you click "analyze," EULAlyzer searches the document for what it calls "words of interest" (reminiscent of a "person of interest" in a police investigation). EULAlyzer than assigns its Interest Rating to the program. You can then search the entire EULA for keywords--"trial," for instance--and pull up further data on the product.

Version: 1.1
Price: Free
Operating Systems: Windows XP

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EULAlyzer

AVG Anti-Rootkit

The free AVG Anti-Root is designed to protect you. It does one thing, and one thing alone: finds and kills rootkits. Run it and it scans your PC, sniffing them out. When it finds any, it removes them. Note that it doesn't work with Windows Vista.

-- Preston Gralla

Version: 1.1.0.42
Price: Free
Operating Systems: Windows XP

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AVG Anti-Rootkit

In this side-scroller, you pilot a fight plane headed in one direction that encounters enemy planes of all sizes going the other way. You shoot. They shoot back. Sounds pretty conventional. What makes it outstanding is the artwork that constructs everything out of the simple shape of kids' virtual blocks. Each time you destroy an enemy aircraft, it falls apart. Any parts that you can scoop up become part of your airplane -- no mater how unaerodynamic it may appear -- and adds to your firepower.

-- Ron White

Price: Free
Operating Systems: Windows XP

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Tumiki Fighters

This program isn't fancy--but it is quick and easy to use. Drag and drop a folder onto the program's work area, wait a few seconds (or more, if the folder's loaded with files) and you'll see a list of duplicate files. In a folder with 500 files, it took 30 seconds to find 20 exact duplicates--the same file with different names. It's also safe (and for experienced users, inconvenient) because the program doesn't delete the dups. It just opens Windows Explorer so you can do the rest of the job yourself. There's no installation--just unzip the download file and click to run it.

-- Steve Bass

Price: Free
Operating Systems: Windows XP

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Find Duplicates.NET

Plasma Pong

It's such a cliche, but I've got to say it: This is Pong on acid. George Mason University student Steve Taylor put his higher math skills to work when he crafted this stunning freebie, which graphically simulates plasma that sprays, sloshes, and oozes across the Pong playing field.

-- Leigh Anne Jones

Version: 1.3b
Price: Free
Operating Systems: Windows XP, Windows Vista

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Plasma Pong

If you play a lot of video and use Windows Media Player, you've likely come across a number of files that you can't play--you're told you need to find a codec to handle them. Good luck finding that codec, or discovering one you don't have to pay for. Instead, try VLC Media Player. It plays pretty much every media type you can imagine--and no doubt many you haven't imagined. Not only will it play audio and video formats, but it will also play DVDs, VCDs, and many streaming protocols.

-- Preston Gralla

Price: Free
Operating Systems: Windows XP

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VLC Media Player

What's the best way to integrate RSS feeds and the Web? Don't use a separate RSS reader. That's the secret behind Sage, which integrates directly into Firefox (but not Internet Explorer). Using it is simple: Click the Sage icon in your toolbar, and Sage drops down on the left. Whenever you visit a page that has an RSS feed, you click the Discover Feeds button to add the feed. The rest of the Firefox window then becomes your reader. You can organize your folders, search through feeds, import and export feeds lists--pretty much do anything you want.

-- Preston Gralla

Version: 1.3.1
Price: Free
Operating Systems: Windows XP

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Sage