Top 50 free PC tools

Not long ago it was reasonably safe to find new websites, download interesting software from them and install it on your computer.

But now the added risk of spyware, malicious software and fake websites gives real cause for concern. Although there is still plenty of good software out there, it can be hard to know who to trust.

For this reason, we have used our expertise to provide you with our pick of the very best free tools out there. On the following pages we will list 50 of the best free tools for your computer, organised by category.

Alongside each you will find an explanation of what it does and, crucially, where to find a safe, free download.

Audio, video and photo software

Audacity
Buying music online can be easy but many of your favourite tracks may not be available online. Rare albums, bootlegs and old 78s can be particularly hard to find online ­ so why not simply copy them to your computer? There are many commercial programs to help with this but Audacity is just as good and completely free. Plug in your turntable, hit Record in Audacity and you will have those rare songs digitised in no time at all.

The Gimp
Yes, it has a thoroughly silly name. Nonetheless, this free image editor (the GNU Image Manipulation Program, to use its full name) includes many of the features you’d expect to find only in professional programs costing hundreds of pounds. It is not as easy to use as Paint.net but if you want to learn advanced editing techniques this is a great way to start without breaking the bank.

K-Lite Codec Pack
Codecs are tiny bits of software that enable your computer to play a particular type of media file. Most of the time you won’t need to know about them, but if you find a file that won’t play then it can be surprisingly hard to discover which one you’re missing. The K-Lite Codec Pack is a great solution to this. It includes dozens of free codecs, all wrapped up neatly in a single package. Install this and you should be able to play just about any file.

Mediamonkey
It’s easy to keep a few folders full of music in order, but if you have a large music collection on your PC it can become hard to find the tracks you’re looking for. Mediamonkey is a handy tool that can be used to catalogue just about any type of music file, whether you use something common like MP3 or more esoteric file types such as FLAC. It can also synchronise music files with an iPod or other portable players.

Paint.net
Most of us use our computers to edit digital photos from time to time, but photo-editing software can cost a fortune and the Paint program included with Windows is just too basic. Paint.net is a fantastic upgrade. It is a photo and image-editing program that includes all the artistic tools that most of us will ever need and it is free to download.

Picasa
Digital cameras make it easy and inexpensive to snap hundreds of photos, but organising all those shots can be a pain. There are many paid-for programs to keep your collection in order, but Google’s Picasa is a great free alternative. It also includes editing tools such as a red-eye removal function, making it a handy program for those new to digital photography.

Screenshot Captor
If you’re trying to describe a problem on your computer, or explain how to use a program, a picture is worth a thousand words. This handy tool can quickly and easily grab whatever is on the screen and save it as an image file that you can share with friends or even send to our No Problem pages for advice (email noproblem@computeractive.co.uk). You can capture single windows, remove the cursor or even add special effects to the finished image.

VLC
Windows XP and some versions of Vista don’t include the software needed to play video DVD discs. If you want to play DVDs without spending any money, then VLC media player is ideal.

It will play almost any kind of video or audio file you throw at it, so it’s a great program to have installed in case you can’t open a file.

Wavosaur
After creating audio files with a recording program such as Audacity you may find the results need cleaning up. Audacity can help with this to some extent, but Wavosaur is more powerful. It’s designed to edit standard WAV audio files, and can even use audio effect plug-ins designed for expensive recording studio software ­ but, of course, it’s free to download.