What We Do (And What We Can Do For You) The Free Software Store reviews terrific new freeware, shareware and (occasionally) trialware every 7 days. Each week we select a category and pick the 6 best programs that we can find in it. Then we explain what the software does, why it does it; any important issues you should look out for; and why we believe the programs we've selected are the best in that area. We also provide links for the software so that you can obtain it direct from the manufacturer's site. This ensures you not only get the latest version, but also that it's malware-free and you know who to turn to if you need support. And just in case none of the six programs we select meets your precise needs, we also provide links so that you can browse dozens (often hundreds) more programs in the same category. So if you're looking for really great software and don't have either the time or the inclination to evaluate hundreds of options, we'll save you time. Lots of it. And since we mostly review freeware and shareware, we'll save you money too. How cool is that?!?

Other Great Free Software Resources Tucows C/Net's Download.Com Jumbo Shareware Library Nonags WinPlanet Freeware Files File Hippo ZDNet Downloads Google Pack Completely Free Software Freeware Home Softpedia

Podcatchers 8th October 2008: If you like to download radio programs or TV shows but would prefer to pull them down to your PC rather than into an iPod or some other type of portable media player, then you'll need a podcatcher to do it. Podcatchers are a relatively new class of software (the first one was only invented in 2004!) and they're really specialised forms of RSS news readers. But if you don't want to buy a commercial software product to handle your podcast downloads, this week we've found 4 completely free podcatchers that will do the job for you on Windows, Mac or Linux. They include the two free podcatchers that are justifiably Top Of The Pops with all hardcore podcast fans at the moment, along with another one that runs exclusively on Linux and a fourth that could have a big future in front of it if it keeps on being developed. This is down from our usual 6 top selections, but that's only because this category is so small (there are probably only 20 dedicated podcatchers in existence). In other news... Thankyou to the people who've been emailing us about their software recently (and sorry for the delay in replying to you - we've been snowed under). But over the next week we'll be introducing a new section on our site to cover you. And we hope you - and all our other readers - will genuinely enjoy it. Stay tuned for more soon!

News Readers 1st October 2008: Are you a news junkie? If you are then you'll need a good news reader to sustain your habit - and this week we've found six particularly cool ones. They include a news reader that happily runs on Windows, Mac and Linux; two others that run purely online (so it doesn't matter what operating system you use); a nifty news reader from Russia with an inbuilt blog client that allows you to post directly from your newsreader to your Wordpress, Delicious, Blogger or LiveJournal blog (just perfect for any news hound who also wants to a greyhound in the posting stakes!); and others that can either be drop-dead simple to use right up to powerhouses that can easily push you into information overload (in terms of the number of feeds they can handle, at any rate). We also have a little bit of common sense advice about how to manage your news reader experience and - as always - links that will let you find out more about the topic and/or turn up many, many more newsreaders if none of our six top picks meet your needs. So what's happening in the world right now? Better get a news reader and find out!

Memory Optimisers 25th September 2008: If your computer keeps locking up and/or crashing because you keep running out of RAM - or if you're forced to reboot several times a day because your system steadily slows down to a crawl - then a memory optimiser (also sometimes known as a memory manager) may help you defer or avoid the need to get some extra RAM chips installed on your PC. Memory optimisers can provide some real benefits if you're running a pre-XP machine by allowing you to see how much of your RAM is being used and then letting you free up RAM by reclaiming unused and/or locked parts of it. They can also help provide you with valuable breathing space if a RAM-hogging program threatens to push you over the edge into crashland. However - if you're using XP, Vista or higher - a memory manager will offer you far less benefits than a RAM upgrade will. This week we've dug up six completely free memory optimisers (including a past favourite that does a lot more besides just freeing up your RAM). We also explain the pros and cons of memory management and why some people think this class of software is just a load of bunk. It certainly isn't. But it's not for everyone either! In other news...... If you're running an older version of Spybot Search & Destroy (which we reviewed in Adware and Spyware Blasters) you might want to upgrade to the latest version 1.6 which was released in June this year. Spybot S&D are so pleased with their latest version that they've decided they're no longer going to support earlier releases.

Image Viewers 18th September 2008: If you have a lot of images on your hard drive, you have two choices: either grit your teeth and struggle on with the lamentable image viewing tools that Microsoft provide with Windows, or download an install a truly industrial-strength image viewer. If you prefer the latter course - and what sane person wouldn't?!? - this week we've rounded up 6 of the very best free image viewers available on the Net to make your life a little easier. They include some that run using databases; some that run without using databases at all; an award-winning dynamo that runs on Windows, Linux and Mac; and a power-packed combination image viewer and photo editing package from South Korea that's well worth taking a look at if your main interest is managing (and playing with) your digital photos. We also explain the principal difference between the two classes of image viewers (ie database or non-database driven) and give you a few tips on how to decide which one is right for you. And then - as usual - we show you where to find bucketloads more if our six best-of-breed selections don't meet your needs. In other news.... Exit Reality launched a new browser plug-in yesterday that promises it will let you browse the Net in 3D. And if you find that a difficult idea to visualise (we don't blame you!) you can read what News Ltd said about it and view a screenshot by clicking here. The software only runs in Windows and early reactions to the concept have been mixed. But if you want to try it out yourself, you can download a copy of the software from Exit Reality's website

First Person Shooter Games 11th September 2008: After months and months of reviewing "serious" software, we're taking a little bit of a break this week with 7 terrific First-Person Shooter Games that can give you endless hours of pulse-pounding excitement if you're a games fan. They include 5 big online multi-player games that cover the latest incarnation of Wolfenstein 3D to some games produced by the US Army and Navy (no, we're not making this up), along with two classic-style single-person FPS games for those who prefer to have some blammo with their ammo in private (and this includes an increasingly rare version of the original release of Doom complete with 9 frustrating levels of shoot-em-up action). We also briefly outline the history of first person shooter games; take a quick look at two controversial health issues that may attach to this class of software; and show you where to get bucketloads more free games if these ones whet your appetite. So get your trigger finger ready....

PDF Creators 4th September 2008: PDF once used to be a niche file format. But these days it's the world's default document exchange standard and nearly everyone needs to create PDFs at some time. But if this applies to you and you don't have US$299 to US$699 to buy a copy of Adobe Acrobat, don't worry! We've found a range of completely free PDF Creators that will let you churn out PDFs in the blink of an eye. They include two very simple ones that can have you productive in minutes; one with slightly more advanced features; and another with features that rival Acrobat itself. And while Mac OS X users have been able to create PDFs ever since 10.3 (ooooh... those smarties!) we've found a neat Mac utility that extends this basic power in several useful ways. Then just to round things off we've also dug up a new add-on for Microsoft Office 2007 which brings PDF printing capabilities to Office apps too. Last of all, we've got some quick advice about PDF viruses (yes, they can be infected!) and show you where to get a cheap copy of Adobe Acrobat if you simply must buy one. In other news... Google stunned ther world this week by releasing its own browser: Google Chrome. So we've updated our reviews of Web Browsers to include a quick overview of its main features and our initial reactions to it (along a quick summary of commentators' views). And if you want to try out Chrome yourself, we also show you where to get it.

Disk Defragmenters 28th August 2008: Defragmenting your hard disk is a chore that most people avoid until system slowdowns and/or crashes mean they have no other choice. Why? Because it takes so long! But it doesn't have to be this way - and this week we've found 5 completely free disk defragmenters that can greatly speed up the process (including two that will let you just defrag the worst parts of your hard drive rather than the whole lot, and one really great utility that defrags parts of your PC most others can't reach). We also provide 7 handy tips that will soup up your disk defragmentation speeds even if you choose to stay with the default defragger that Microsoft include with Windows. You deserve to have a faster PC (heck! we all deserve to have a faster PC!). So defrag your hard drive and get one today.

Welcome To Our New Version 3.0 Site! 21st August 2008: Hello everyone! It's taken us 8 months to get here, but we're very pleased to unveil the latest version of our site for you today. As we promised we'd do, we've made navigation a whole lot easier and we've also added a new Google Custom Search facility to our site to make finding what you're looking for much easier too. We'll likely still have some fine-tuning to do over the next fortnight (and if you find a bug or broken link, please email us about it). But from this point forward - now that we've attended to the basics - we'll also be moving to weekly updates. Which means that we'll have something new (and - we hope - pretty cool) for you every 7 days from now on. So thankyou for your wonderful patience and support while we've worked our way to this point. And see you again on August 28th!

Computer Cleaning Software 14th August 2008: Short on disk space? System slowing down? Then chances are your computer's hard drive is slowly filling up with electronic junk. In that case you can either go through you PC and delete these junk files by hand. Or you can install a computer cleaner and flush it out in the blink of an eye, freeing up valuable hard disk space and putting some oomph back into your PC's performance as you do so. There are a lot of commercial cleaners on the market and between them they offer a mind-boggling array of features. But we've found six terrific freeware cleaners (including one for Mac OS X) that really give the commercial cleaners a run for their money!

Video Capture Software 20th July 2008: Need to make a movie of what's on your screen? If you've got a touch of the Hollywoods (or even a mild case of the Bollywoods) then you'll need a video capture program to cure what ails you. We've found six great video capture programs that range from drop-dead simple up to power levels that rival some of the leading commercial products (including one very novel cross-platform video capture tool that runs through the Net and instantly puts your completed videos online. Result? All you need to email to your friends and contacts is a URL rather than a bulky AVI file). We had a lot of fun doing this and we hope you have as much fun with the products. As usual, they're all 100% free.

Screen Capture Software 17th July 2008: Need to take a copy of what's on your screen? If you need to go beyond Print Screen we've found six of the best screen capture programs out there - including one that will let you capture screenshots from videos; one that will let you capture entire web pages with just one click (including the parts that scroll below your browser's viewing area); and even one for Mac OS X that improves on the inbuilt screen capture that comes with all Macs. Any one of these programs can make your life much, much easier if you need to do lots of screen captures. And every single one of them is completely free.

Screen Savers 12th July 2008: Don't want to get creative? If you're bored with your existing screen saver but don't want to create your own (and hey! that's a legitimate position too) then there are bucketloads of sites that offer all sorts of beautiful, imaginative and fun screen savers for free. Unfortunately though, there are also a lot of sites out there that will infect your computer with adware, spyware or viruses if you download a screen saver from them. So we put on our boiler suit to go out and find 8 trustworthy sites that between them will let you choose from 2,000+ of the best screensavers available - risk free!

Screen Saver Makers 20th June 2008: Want to get creative? If you're bored with your existing screen saver and want to create your own - or even just a slideshow of your own digital photos to display on your monitor - a screen saver maker will let you do that, and also let you distribute your screen saver to others. We've found five completely free screen saver makers including one that will let you build screen savers for both Windows and Mac; one that will create a slideshow from an image directory on your hard drive; and three that will also create Flash screen savers! We've also found one that you can trial for free and only need to pay a $30 licence fee for if you want to go fully commercial.

Password Managers 16th June 2008: Drowning in passwords? A good password manager will let you store all your usernames, passwords, credit card details and other sensitive information in one place with rock-solid security. And a really good one will also remember your details when you surf to sites that need passwords and will auto-complete login boxes and/or order forms for you too (even when a site's cookie has been erased off your machine). There are bucketloads of password managers out there ranging from barely adequate to brilliant - but we've found six of the best (including ones that run on Mac and Linux as well as Windows). As usual, they're all completely free.

Address Books 10th June 2008: Fed up with Outlook's address book? A good address book allows you to keep the phone, fax, email and other details of all your contacts and look them up quickly and easily. A really good one will also let you print out your lists and/or send individual or bulk emails; provides password protection for your files; and can be easily ported from one PC to another (eg: your office PC to your laptop and vice-versa). There are hundreds of address book applications out there but we've found 6 real beauties in this field including one that runs on Windows or Mac; two that are LAN-enabled; and two that integrate live maps from Google Maps, Mapquest or Yahoo! Maps. Best of all, each one is completely free.

Text Editors 3rd June 2008: Need to cut code or modify b-i-g files? Text Editors allow you to modify program source code or other documents that are sensitive to the invisible ASCII characters that most word processors insert into files to control formatting. Advanced text editors are also able to open huge files that are bigger than your computer's memory and (very often) are able to open any type of file too - including hex, binary and Unicode files. Professional programmers need a good text editor and can get significant productivity gains from using one. But they're pretty essential for ordinary people as well! We've rounded up five of the best to choose from - and they're all completely free.

Instant Messaging 14th March 2008: Want to chat with friends? Instant messengers allow you to do it through your computer in real time - and these days (depending on the instant messaging software you use) you can do it with text, voice or even video. IM products are drop-dead easy to use and they're all free - but unfortunately, they're also proprietary. This means that in order to chat with other people you'll need to either ensure that all your friends use the same instant messenger or download two (maybe even three) to cover most of the market. Fortunately we've rounded up all the major ones on a single page.

Firewalls 27th February 2008: Feeling secure with your anti-virus software, adware and spyware blasters? Don't be too smug! If you connect to the Net with anything other than dial-up (eg: cable, DSL etc) then you'll need a firewall if you want to be absolutely sure your PC won't be hijacked or your keystrokes logged. Firewalls didn't even exist in 1988 when the first internet-borne worm alerted the world to the fact that there was no protection against this type of security threat (well, not at that time anyway). So don't wait for something similar to happen to you! Here are 4 completely free, top-notch firewalls that you can install today.

HTML Editors 26th February 2008: If you want to build web pages you can do it in a text editor if you're really, really keen. But a good HTML Editor will usually make the process much faster and easier. Right now there are more than 300 HTML editors available worldwide and they range in price from zero up to US$399. We've picked six completely free ones that cover the range from absolute beginner right up to a couple that can give DreamWeaver a run for its money. And we've also found an up-and-coming beauty that not only runs on Windows but Mac and Linux as well! Sorry this took awhile, gang, but it's a b-i-g field...

Adware and Spyware Blasters 12th February 2008: Adware and spyware blasters are now as essential a safety tool as a good anti-virus program. And while some commercial anti-virus programs will also scan for adware, spyware and other malware, we've found that dedicated adware and spyware blasters often do a better job. Why? Perhaps because they focus more narrowly and deeply on what's become a very wide field. Happily, the best in the field are completely free and we've listed them here (again, all for Windows - sorry Mac and Linux fans!). And for the second time we also advise you about a scam that's now become quite common in the world of adware and spyware blasters so you can give it a wide berth.