Yep... there is a viable free substitute for windows for the adventurous.

Linux has been around for quite a number of years but it has not been until recently that some of the development teams have started building distro's for the average end user. You will not only get the operating system but a heap of free software as well that comes packaged with the distro (linux distribution). Add on software for linux is both numerous and free.

The safest option to try is one of the live distributions that runs from a CD. You will not have to uninstall Windows and nothing will be written to your hard drive. This means that you can play around with Linux and after you are finished just shut down your PC, pop out the disc and your computer is back to normal.




KNOPPIX

We recommend Knoppix as the most full featured and easy to use live distribution. Simply download the file and burn it to CD. Leave the CD in your drive and reboot your system when you are ready to play with it.

Get Knoppix HERE (choose a http mirror nearest you if you are unsure)




Are you ready to wipe Windows forever ?

Then we have two different Linux distro's that have been voted by the Dudeworld crew as the easiest to install and use on a daily basis.




UBUNTU

Taking the internet community by storm when it was first released, Ubuntu has gained a major following around the world with both first time linux users and hard core geeks as well. It is well supported by a community forum base found on their site.

In fact, Dudeworld was primarily built on a laptop running Ubuntu (screenshot with custom wallpaper follows!!)

Get Ubuntu HERE

PCLOS

This distro is also kick arse. You can download it as a live CD or a desktop installation so it is easy to try it out before you install it for good.

Get PCLOS HERE




Would you like to stick with Windows ? No problem, read on.....




GRAPHICS

The best free heavyweight image editor is the GIMP.

Dudeworld was also exclusively built on the Gimp, every image on this site was processed by it and I'm a huge fan.

Touted as being as powerful as the mega dollar Photoshop this graphics editor has a huge reputation to live up to and it does it with ease. It really is hard to believe something this good is free. Hugely powerful it has more features than you can poke a stick at and even out performs Photoshop in a couple of key areas. It is well worth your time and effort to learn to use this program.

Get The GIMP HERE




The best free lightweight image editor is IRFANVIEW.

Irfanview is a lightweight but powerful graphics editor that keeps things simple, making it easy to use. IrfanView is a very fast, small, compact and innovative FREEWARE (for non-commercial use) graphic viewer for Windows 9x/ME/NT/2000/XP/2003/Vista.

Irfanview simply excells for small, quick, basic photo editing, crop and chop or resizing... pound for pound its very hard to beat this program for speed on the basics.

Get IRFANVIEW HERE




The best free photo organiser is PICASA.

-Locate and organise all the photos on your computer.
-Edit and add effects to your photos with a few simple clicks.
-Share your photos with others through email, prints and on the web: it’s fast, easy and free.

Like everything that comes from the Google labs, Picasa is easy to use and very slick.

Get PICASA HERE




The best free screenshot capture utility is MWSNAP.

MWSnap is a small yet powerful Windows program for snapping (capturing) images from selected parts of the screen.

Current version is capable of capturing the whole desktop, a highlighted window, an active menu, a control, or a fixed or free rectangular part of the screen. MWSnap handles 5 most popular graphics formats and contains several graphical tools: a zoom, a ruler, a color picker and a window spy. It can be also used as a fast picture viewer or converter.

MWSnap does not require installation and does not need any special dlls, drivers or system files which can mess up your system.

Get MWSNAP HERE




VIDEO AND BURNING TOOLS


Here is a small but powerful collection of video tools to both back up DVD's, burn and transcode video files from one format to another, allowing you to view them on portable devices.

DVD DECRYPTER

A wonderful free tool used to rip a DVD to your hard drive. It will also remove copy protection and make the DVD files region free. Development on this software ceased in 2005, however it still works extremely well on anything you want to throw at it.

Get DVD Decrypter HERE




DVD SHRINK

After you have ripped your dvd to your hard drive you will need to shrink it enough to fit onto a regular blank dvd disc. DVD Shrink is what you need.

Get DVD Shrink HERE (small text link at top of page)




CDBurnerXP

Kickarse free CD/DVD burning program that will burn most anything you care to throw at it.

Get CDBurnerXP HERE




SUPER

Super is a stupendously powerful video transcoder program. It can convert almost any video file format to any other video file format, including resizing, video and audio quality and a whole host of other options. Brilliant.

Get SUPER HERE (small text link at bottom of page)




ANTIVIRUS


Opinion among the Dudeworld crew is split down the middle on this category with both AVG free edition and AVAST antivirus slugging it out for top honors.


AVAST

An awesome free antivirus with a sexy boot time scan option to combat hardened filth virii

Get Avast HERE




AVG

An old time favorite, AVG free edition continues to shine for the home user.

Its not an antivirus and its not a firewall... its a bit of both and then some, its WINPATROL

Winpatrol is like a virtual guard dog that patrols your computer and literally barks, if it sees something suspicious. It alerts you whenever a program attempts to install something, tries to set itself to run on startup, There’s a more advanced version you can buy, but the free version is very, very good.

Firefox is a fully featured, heavyweight internet browser that features many free add on modules to increase functionality. Like what? you ask ... well how about the ability to save youtube videos to your hard drive for one!!

Get Firefox HERE




OPERA

Opera prides itself on being lightweight, functional and fast. Opera will render any given web page faster than any other mainstream browser. Period.

Get Opera HERE




OFFICE SUITE

Want an alternative to the expensive MS office suite ?

Then Open Office is for you. This is the office suite that comes standard in the majority of Linux distributions and for a reason. It is a full, feature rich office suite that is capable of reading, writing and saving MS office files ensuring compatibility with your workplace, colleagues and friends.

Get Open Office HERE




FIREWALLS

If you're worried about your system security then you need a firewall. Good ones will stop both inbound intrusions and outbound unauthorized files in the event you inadvertently pick up a virus or trojan.

The crew like a couple of the free firewalls and they're listed below.


COMODO

It's Free. Forever. No Catch. No Kidding.

Get Comodo HERE




ZONEALARM

Old faithful... its been around for years, does a solid job and its still free.

Get Zonealarm HERE




COMPRESSION UTILITY

7-ZIP is a free winzip equivalent that will unzip a multitude of files types including .rar

Get 7-Zip HERE




FTP UTILITY

FileZilla Client is a fast and reliable cross-platform FTP, FTPS and SFTP client with lots of useful features and an intuitive interface.

Among others, the features of FileZilla include the following:


* Easy to use
* Supports FTP, FTP over SSL/TLS (FTPS) and SSH File Transfer Protocol (SFTP)
* Cross-platform. Runs on Windows, Linux, *BSD, OSX and more
* Available in many languages
* Supports resume and transfer of large files >4GB
* Powerful Site Manager and transfer queue
* Drag & drop support
* Configurable Speed limits
* Filename filters
* Network configuration wizard
* Remote file editing
* Keep-alive
* FTP-Proxy support

Get FILEZILLA HERE




MEDIA PLAYER

VLC has no peers here. It can play everything Windows media player can't.

Get VLC HERE




ADWARE / SPYWARE KILLERS

Alot of malicious websites store adware or spyware on your PC without you even knowing it. Kill them off with these great utilities.


ADAWARE

With the ability to scan your RAM, Registry, hard drives, and external storage devices for known data-mining, advertising, and tracking components, Ad-Aware 2007 easily can clean your system, allowing you to maintain a higher degree of privacy while you surf the Web.

Get AdAware HERE




SPYBOT search and destroy

Spybot - Search & Destroy detects and removes spyware, a relatively new kind of threat not yet covered by common anti-virus applications. Spyware silently tracks your surfing behavior to create a marketing profile for you that is transmitted without your knowledge to the compilers and sold to advertising companies.

Get Spybot HERE




HIJACK THIS

HijackThis examines certain key areas of the Registry and Hard Drive and lists their contents. These are areas which are used by both legitimate programmers and hijackers. This application allows the user to remove malicious entries in the registry.

Get Hijack This HERE




Who said there's nothing decent left for free on the net ?


If you have any suggestions yourself for decent freeware you would like to share then please email me at:

dudeworld@gmail.com