Top FREE Software Picks of 2005

Top FREE Software Picks of 2005
Edited from an article in PC World
http://www.pcworld.com/reviews/article/0,aid,124089,00.asp

Cutting Back on JavaScript: JavaScript is a mystery ingredient in many a Web page–and in some of them, it helps evildoers exploit your data. Firefox/Mozilla extension NoScript plugs directly into your browser, where it lets you decide which sites you’ll allow to run JavaScript.
Price: Free
Link:
http://www.pcworld.com/downloads/file_description/0,fid,30814,tk,srx,00.asp

Making Web Sites Easier to Read:
Here is a teeny add-in that makes IE’s font rendering more to my liking. EasyRead plops a plus sign and a minus sign into IE’s toolbar to let me resize text on the fly.
Price: Free
Link:
http://www.pcworld.com/downloads/file_description/0,fid,25561,tk,srx,00.asp

Plays Almost Everything: My other favorite game is “Let’s see if the VLC media player can play this mysterious video file.” More often than not, it does. Sure, you probably have QuickTime and Real players to handle those formats–but for anything else, try VLC.
Price: Free
Link:
http://www.pcworld.com/downloads/file_description/0,fid,26092,tk,srx,00.asp

It’s a Small World After All: When I run across an intriguing phrase in a foreign language, I can’t get it translated until I know its language of origin. Polyglot 3000 identifies text snippets–even those in character-based languages–to tell you which dictionary to check or which language pack to install.
Price: Free, if you need Tech Support, it’ll cost you $5
Link:
http://www.pcworld.com/downloads/file_description/0,fid,25779,tk,srx,00.asp

EasyRead
Price: Free
Link:
http://www.pcworld.com/downloads/file_description/0,fid,25561,tk,srx,00.asp

Hey PC, What’s for Dinner?
RecipeSource is an excellent place to find and plan your next meal.
Price: Free
Link:
http://www.recipesource.com/

More Freeware Hints and tips can be found at HighlyRecommended
Price: Free
Link:
http://home.comcast.net/~bob3160TheForum/HighlyRecommended.index.html]HighlyRecommended


Nice listing, Bob. I’m sure some of those could help make life easier for many on here. :slight_smile: