Helpdesk Challenge – the best free software and tools
Why pay at all when there’s perfectly good free software you can use on your PC? We round up some of the best free software and tools that you can download without spending a dime.
Soluto – free software to keep your PC running smoothly
Soluto can help diagnose problems on your PC
It’s a familiar story – you switch your PC on, only for it to buzz and whir for endless minutes while it’s booting up and loading startup programs. What’s making your PC so slow? Soluto will tell you, and it will tell you in jargon-free, easy-to-understand terms.
You can install Soluto onto up to five PCs for free, and in return, it will diagnose what’s running well and not-so-well on your computer.
It will guide you through which startup programs you can safely block, analyse what’s going on with your PC and base its prognosis on a vast online database, and even speed up your web browsing. It opens its findings in a web browser, and requires the latest versions of Chrome, Firefox or Internet Explorer to run.
Best of all is its friendly approach and tech-free tone of voice.
Pixlr – edit photos online for free
Pixlr is a great free photo-editing tool
Not software, but a free online tool that makes it a breeze to edit digital photos. Why pay for a Photoshop license when Pixlr lets you crop, re-size, adjust levels, tones and more?
If you have an older PC and find that memory-intensive photo-editing software causes it to slow down, then Pixlr is a great alternative to try out. Just head to the Pixlr website and open some photo files to give it a try. There’s even a basic mode for beginners.
Read our review of Pixlr photo-editing
Free security software – a safe PC with no annual fee
Free security software like Microsoft Security Essentials can keep your PC safe
Keeping your PC safe from threats is no small task, but that doesn’t mean you have to pay through the nose to fight off malware attacks.
There are plenty of credible free security software suites, such as Windows Security Essentials, which works a treat on Windows 7 PCs, and free offerings from well-known brands like Avira and AVG.
You won’t get all the bells and whistles of paid-for security suites, but you won’t get an annual renewal notice either.
Read our reviews of the best free security software programs
VLC Media Player – play any video file
VLC Media player can play most video files for free
If you’re a Windows 7 user, then watching digital videos is usually no problem, even if they’re obscure file types like. MKV files.
Anyone with an older Windows operating system may not have such an easy time of things. VLC Media Player is a free download that leaves you with a piece of software that can handle almost any digital video file.
It won’t cost you a thing to pop VLC’s distinctive traffic cone logo on your desktop.
Free online cloud storage – back up your files online
Cloud storage services like SkyDrive usually have a free storage allowance
Cloud storage can give you peace of mind over your most important files. With your files saved to the web, you don’t need to worry about losing data to a broken laptop or lost hard drive.
For a large amount of storage, you’ll have to pay, but most of the popular cloud storage services like Dropbox, Google Drive and Microsoft SkyDrive offer a free storage allowance of between 2GB and 7GB.
With Dropbox, you can upgrade your free storage allowance to as much as 18GB by recommending the service to others.
Read our reviews of the best cloud storage services
What free software or tools do you use on your PC? Share your tips with us in the comments box below.
- Make your PC run faster – top tips for a smoother start up
- Using the Windows Reliability Monitor - keep your PC running smoothly
- Which? Computing trial – free magazine and Helpdesk access
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julie
I use Avast free edition on my pc and have done for years. I have never had a problem with viruses.
Steve Ellis
I don’t use Office Tools very often so instead of paying for MS Office I use open source Libre Office and it can easily be set up to automatically generate .doc and .xls files which is all I need.
Steve Ellis
Another very useful free tool which I use all the time in LogMeIn Free… brilliant for looking after friends’ and families’ machines remotely, even the free version allows you to monitor windows updates on their machines. I also use other free stuff like Avast AV on my Mac and Skype, Firefox, Chrome, VLC etc etc….
Cassuki
I use the free version of PasswordSafe – with a memory like mine, I can’t do without it!
Tonybeau
I used AVG for years and was pleased with it until they started hijacking your homepage without your consent. Read articles on the internet about “AVG hijacked my homepage”. Uninstalling the program is not as easy as you think, it still seems to insist on you using AVG Safesearch” when you think you have uninstalled it.
Neil
Have you tried uninstalling with RevoUninstaller and letting it scan for more deeply buried items?
stan
how do you get rid of AVG? I have tried to uninstall it with little sucess. If you know how send a note …thanks
Tonybeau
I can’t remember all the details, I looked up various websites to get advice, you have to mess around in the registry as well so be careful. It took me several days and trials to eventually get rid of it – never again. I don’t know how it infected me, I was not using AVG on the computer at the time, I think it must have been included in some legitimate update that I had. You will see on the forums that AVG puts the blame on the users.
Frank
I have tried to make my laptop work properly!! In the last couple of weeks, l keep getting a message–NOT RESPONDING.It works so slowly. Does anyone think l’ve got a virus?
Alan
I have found the free version of IOBit Advanced systemCare most helpful in improving the performance of computers. Your laptop might be trying to run too many programmes at once or you might not have enough memory.
dave
go on google type in norton power eraser and down load it.
if it is a virus that will get rid of it and also norton 360 free for 90 days it has clean up tools
Francis
Spybot anti-virus does it well for me
PAC
How about some Apple News
Jeremy
Does Which check the License Agreements for software recommended here? This is an extract from Soluto’s agreement. “You hereby agree to indemnify, defend and hold Soluto, its owners, officers, directors, employees, contractors, licensees, licensors, partners, affiliates, assigns, agents, subsidiaries or related companies harmless from and against any and all liabilities, claims, costs, including reasonable attorneys’ fees, incurred as a result of or in connection with any demand, claims, action, suit, or loss arising as a result of (a) your use of Soluto’s Site, Software or Services; (b) any breach of these Terms by You or any other user of the Service …”. So if another user of Soluto incurs legal costs for Soluto, would this agreement make every user liable?
David
It is rare that anything is given totally free, money has to be made somewhere along the line. I am always very cautious and as you have pointed out read the small print.
Grahamsk
I have been trying to down load Malewarebytes Free and can only manage to get free trial period about 30 days. Is that normal or am I doing something wrong
David
Forget malwarebytes, download Microsoft Security Essentials.
apm-designs
Was wondering if which have ever done a test on Comodo antivirus. It too is free which also includes security features such as a firewall.
Alan
I would not recommend Microsoft’s SkyDrive if you have windowsXP. SkyDrive doesn’t have a XP client.
Ken
I downloaded Soluto, one of your recommended applications. In the background, and unknown to me, it also loaded fbDownloader Search. I couldn’t use Soluto on my XP computer so I uninstalled it. But I am unable to get rid of fbDownloader which is making itself my defualt browser search engine. I have tried Internet>Tools>Advanced>Reset to no avail. How do I get rid of fbDownload?
Rich Parris
Hi Ken – have you tried uninstalling it via the Control Panel? In XP, go to Control Panel > Add or Remove Programs > Change or Remove Programs, then look for this fbDownloader and uninstall it there
What happened when you attempted to run Soluto on your XP computer? I have run it one myself, and it’s best if you’re also running Google Chrome. It opens a new Chrome Window to show you the Soluto findings. It hung on the first attempt to do this, but pressing refresh kicked it into gear!
ICT :(
Does anyone know of a free web monitoring software to log sites visited?
Judyb
I have windows XP and I can not down load the year 2000 Microsoft word will it be out of date , it is an old desktop ,but it was deleted by somebody trying to sort my PC out !