Enhance your Windows experience with the best free Windows software on the Internet, as chosen by the staff and readers of Top-Windows-Tutorials.com

Our readers have been enjoying the best free Windows software recommendations in our monthly top-windows-tutorials newsletter for several years. Once we reached 12 issues, we decided to organise all our favourite free software packages onto this page, ordered by category, so that new visitors to our site could quickly see which programs we love to use at Top-Windows-Tutorials.com! Of course, for more top software recommendations, visit the rest of our site and see what other software we cover in our tutorials. Now, on with the recommendations!

Don't forget, you can also tell us about your favorite free software too! Simply fill out this form. Your submission could help thousands of fellow computer users!

Desktop Enhancements

Google Desktop (TWT Newsletter Issue 30)

Bring the power of Google search and handy desktop widgets to your Windows PC with Google Desktop. View our Google Desktop tutorials here.

Launchy (TWT Newsletter Issue 5)

Launchy makes launching your favourite programs quick and easy, no more trawling through the start menu!

Stardock Fences (TWT Newsletter Issue 22)

Reorganise and tidy up your desktop with this fantastic utility (downloads via Stardock Impulse). You can view our Stardock Fences tutorials by clicking here.

Add any number of desktop enhancements with the superb Yahoo Widget Engine, all for free! Click here to view our Yahoo Widgets tutorials

Instant Messaging and Social Networking

Digsby (TWT Newsletter Issue 10)

Recommendation withdrawn - Software now bundles malware.

Fishbowl (TWT Newsletter Issue 31)

Get Facebook on your desktop with this cool utility from Microsoft.

Pidgin (TWT Newsletter Issue 20)

A light-weight, fast and versatile multi-protocol instant messaging program. Supports the OTR plugin for super-private conversations! View our Pidgin tutorials by clicking here.

Trillian (TWT Newsletter Issue 2)

A superb multi-protocol instant messaging program with a huge following on the internet.

Xfire (TWT Newsletter Issue 8)

An instant messenger for gamers that lets you see what games your friends are playing, take screen shots and videos of your gaming sessions and even chat from within your games.

Media Players

VLC Media Player (TWT Newsletter Issue 16)

A super powerful free media player that even supports playing DVD's. Our tutorials for VLC can be found here.

Winamp (TWT Newsletter Issue 7)

Play, sync and organize your MP3 and Video collection in this popular Windows Media Player alternative.

Multimedia Applications

Adobe Acrobat Reader (TWT Newsletter Issue 15)

The leading PDF document reader from the people who created the format.

Discover fantastic video content on the web and browse and organise your media collection with this fantastic free Home Theatre PC application.

CutePDF Writer (TWT Newsletter Issue 13)

Print from any application directly to a PDF file, which can then be archived to your PC or e-mailed anywhere. A great utility for saving on paper!

Foxit PDF Reader (TWT Newsletter Issue 15)

A super fast PDF reader. Great for older laptops or tablets.

Paint.NET (TWT Newsletter Issue 6)

Become a photo pro with this fully featured free art package, amazing!

Online Utilities

McAfee SiteAdvisor (TWT Newsletter Issue 9)

Tell the top sites from the crooks with this handy browser plug-in that helps keep you safe online.

Mozilla Firefox (TWT Newsletter Issue 14)

Browse more safely using this excellent Internet Explorer replacement.

Mozilla Thunderbird (TWT Newsletter Issue 23)

Take control of your e-mail inbox with this excellent E-mail, RSS and Usenet newsgroup reader.

Showcase for Firefox (TWT Newsletter Issue 19)

Managing your browser tabs has never been easier, thanks to this handy add-on.

Stardock Impulse (TWT Newsletter Issue 18)

A great new way to download all kinds of software. No worrying about losing your CD keys, or invasive DRM preventing you from reinstalling your games on a new PC, try Impulse today! You can also view our Impulse tutorials by clicking here.

Privacy and Security

Truecrypt (TWT Newsletter Issue 11)

Protect your private data from theft and keep your computer secure with this amazing free whole-disk encryption package. Our site features extensive Truecrypt tutorials, click here to view them.

Roboform (TWT Newsletter Issue 6)

Keep your passwords safe and secure and automatically fill in forms on the web with this handy little tool (free for the first 20 passwords you store, paid for after that).

Productivity/Office Tools

EssentialPIM (TWT Newsletter Issue 21)

Manage your contacts and appointments with this fast, versatile PIM (personal information manager).

A completely free, Microsoft Office compatible office suite, amazing! Don't forget we offer a fantastic 16 lesson training course for OpenOffice.org Writer, click here to find out more.

a fantastic, powerful utility that can compare two different text files or two folders side by side. You can then easily see any differences between the files and use the mouse and cursor keys to merge changes.

Need a Winmerge plugin for OpenOffice.org files? You can download that here.

System Tools

7-Zip (TWT Newsletter Issue 3)

Work easily with Zip, Rar and 7-Zip files with this completely free archiving tool. View our 7-zip tutorials by clicking here

Autopatcher (discontinued) (TWT Newsletter Issue 1)

Autopatcher allowed users to download Windows updates onto a CD or DVD and use them on multiple PC's without an internet connection. Autopatcher is now discontinued thanks to Microsoft, for a similar free utility, see the Do-it-yourself Service Pack/Offline Update Maker from Torsten Wittock.

Manage start up programs and services with this powerful tool. You can view our Autoruns tutorial by clicking here.

HashOnClick (TWT Newsletter Issue 24)

Verify files on your computer quickly and easily with this handy windows explorer plug-in.

InfraRecorder (TWT Newsletter Issue 17)

Burn CD's, DVD's and CD/DVD image files for free with this superb utility. Need help using InfraRecorder? Tutorials are available here.

Input Director (TWT Newsletter Issue 32)

Control multiple PC's from one keyboard and mouse with this handy desk-space saving utility.

MozBackup (TWT Newsletter Issue 25)

Backup your Thunderbird and Firefox profile data with this handy utility.

VirtualBox (TWT Newsletter Issue 27)

Run legacy windows software easily with this powerful virtualization tool.

Know about some great free Windows software? Share it with us

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