![]() ![]() This caused AVG Free to quickly lose favor with users and the once ubiquitous freeware slipped into near oblivion. However, about 4 or 5 years ago, AVG went down a destructive path, with the free antivirus becoming overly bloated and impacting heavily on system resources. Back in the day, every single client’s machine I worked on had AVG Free installed, as if it was mandatory or something… do you remember? *I’ve deliberately omitted AVG here, even though it was once the most popular free antivirus solution. ![]() Either way, these two are top of the free antivirus pops in my book. However, the latest couple of releases have left me less than enamored and I’m currently using and recommending Avira.Īvira has always excelled in terms of detection rates and now the company has finally abolished the Ask Toolbar and incessant nag screen, it’s a pretty easy recommendation. I have been a long time Avast user myself and it has never let me down. I honestly find it difficult to pick between these two stalwart antivirus solutions which have both been providing free protection for so many years – Avira since 1999 and Avast since 2001. #2 All Time Best Freeware – Avast & Avira I firmly believe that if everyone utilized Sandboxie, we’d pretty much put computer repair shops out of business – certainly as far as cleaning up malware infected machines is concerned anyway. If you don’t know what Sandboxie does, check this article out: Sandboxie: Why everyone should be using it. Since then, Sandboxie has held a permanent place on every machine I’ve owned, and I’ve written about and recommended Sandboxie many times. I openly admit, it took some time before I fully comprehended Sandboxie’s true value myself. In those days, terms such as “sandboxing” and “virtual environment” were practically unheard of. I was first introduced to this outstanding freeware not long after its initial release back in 2004 by the inimitable “Gizmo” Richards who continued to discuss and promote Sandboxie in his regular freeware newsletters. In my younger years, I thought oldies reminiscing about the ‘good old days’ was pretty boring, but now I have reached oldie status myself, I find I am doing the exact same thing… funny how that works.Īnyway, I thought it might be fun to take a look at some of the best freeware over the past decade or so and compile a list of my all time top 10 titles… so, here goes:Ĭriteria includes: Longevity (or withstanding the test of time), popularity, overall impact, and continuing support/development. It’s rare to come across a new freeware today which offers anything substantially different or over and above already established titles. These days, however, it seems every freeware category has been well and truly catered for and innovation has all but slowed to a crawl. I’ve been writing about freeware now for more than a decade, starting out working freelance when the likes of Clif Sipe and Ian “Gizmo” Richards ruled the roost, until around 7 years ago when I hooked up full time with Dave here at DCT.īack in the day, with new products constantly hitting the market place, there was always plenty to discuss and writing about freeware was a real buzz. ![]()
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