Freeware is software that is available for use at no monetary cost or for an optional fee, [1] but usually (although not necessarily) closed source with one or more restricted usage rights. Freeware is in contrast to commercial software, which is typically sold for profit, but might be distributed for a business or commercial purpose in the aim to expand the marketshare of a "premium" product. Popular examples of closed-source freeware include Adobe Reader, Free Studio and Skype. This is a list of notable software packages that meet the freeware definition.
Shareware is a type of proprietary software that is initially shared by the owner for trial use at little or no cost. Often the software has limited functionality or incomplete documentation until the user sends payment to the software developer. Shareware is often offered as a download from a website. Shareware differs from freeware, which is fully-featured software distributed at no cost to the user but without source code being made available; and free and open-source software, in which the source code is freely available for anyone to inspect and alter.
CutePDF is a proprietary Portable Document Format converter and editor for Microsoft Windows developed by Acro Software. CutePDF Writer can create PDF files, and CutePDF Form Filler can edit simple PDF forms so that they can be sent without using more expensive PDF authoring software.
Miro was an audio, video player and Internet television application developed by the Participatory Culture Foundation. It runs on Microsoft Windows, macOS, FreeBSD and Linux and supports most known video file formats. It offers both audio and video, some in HD quality.
jv16 PowerTools, developed by Macecraft Software, is a utility software suite for the Microsoft Windows operating system designed to fix common Windows errors, clean old, unneeded junk from the system, and make computers start faster. jv16 PowerTools has been reviewed by Chip.de, PC World, Tech Advisor, Laptop Mag, Softpedia, and various tech sites and blogs.
K-Multimedia Player is an Adware-supported media player for Windows, android and iOS that can play most current audio and video formats, including VCD, DVD, AVI, MP4, MPG, DAT, OGM, VOB, MKV, Ogg, OGM, 3GP, MPEG-1/2/4, AAC, WMA 7/8, WMV, RealMedia, FLV, and QuickTime.
CCleaner, developed by Piriform Software, is a utility used to clean potentially unwanted files and invalid Windows Registry entries from a computer. It is one of the longest-established system cleaners, first launched in 2004. It was originally developed for Microsoft Windows only, but in 2012, a macOS version was released. An Android version was released in 2014.
Core FTP LE is a freeware secure FTP client for Windows, developed by CoreFTP.com. Features include FTP, SSL/TLS, SFTP via SSH, and HTTP/HTTPS support. Secure FTP clients encrypt account information and data transferred across the internet, protecting data from being seen, or sniffed across networks. Core FTP is a traditional FTP client with local files displayed on the left, remote files on the right.
doPDF is a Portable Document Format (PDF) printer developed by Softland, that allows any program that can print to create a PDF file. The resolution of the created PDF files can be set manually or done automatically. doPDF is freeware which displays advertisements.
Notable software applications that can access or manipulate disk image files are as follows, comparing their disk image handling features.
AndreaMosaic is freeware graphic art software developed and published by Andrea Denzler and that specializes in the creation of photographic mosaic images.
Microsoft Security Essentials (MSE) is a discontinued antivirus software (AV) product that provides protection against different types of malicious software, such as computer viruses, spyware, rootkits, and Trojan horses. Prior to version 4.5, MSE ran on Windows XP, Windows Vista, and Windows 7, but not on Windows 8 and later versions, which have built-in AV components known as Windows Defender. MSE 4.5 and later versions do not run on Windows XP. The license agreement allows home users and small businesses to install and use the product free of charge.
The K-Lite Codec Pack is a collection of audio and video codecs for Microsoft Windows DirectShow that enables an operating system and its software to play various audio and video formats generally not supported by the operating system itself. The K-Lite Codec Pack also includes several related tools, including Media Player Classic Home Cinema (MPC-HC), Media Info Lite, and Codec Tweak Tool.
UltimateDefrag is a retail file-system defragmentation utility made by DiskTrix. An older version of the program is available as the UltimateDefrag Freeware Edition.
AVG TuneUp, previously called AVG PC Tuneup, and TuneUp Utilities, is a utility software suite for Microsoft Windows designed to help manage, maintain, optimize, configure, and troubleshoot a computer system. It was produced and developed by TuneUp Software GmbH. TuneUp Software was headquartered in Darmstadt, Germany, and co-founded by Tibor Schiemann and Christoph Laumann in 1997. In 2011, AVG Technologies acquired TuneUp Software. AVG was then acquired by Avast in 2016 and became a part of larger company Gen Digital in 2022.
STDU Viewer is computer software, a compact viewer for many computer file formats: Portable Document Format (PDF), World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF), DjVu, comic book archive, FB2, ePUB, XML Paper Specification (XPS), Text Compression for Reader (TCR), Mobipocket (MOBI), AZW, multi-page TIFF, text file (TXT), PalmDoc (PDB), Windows Metafile (EMF), Windows Metafile (WMF), bitmap (BMP), Graphics Interchange Format (GIF), JPEG-JPG, Portable Network Graphics (PNG), Photoshop Document (PSD), PiCture eXchange (PCX-DCX). It works under Microsoft Windows, and is free for non-commercial use.
PrimoPDF is a freeware program that creates PDF files from printable documents on computers running Microsoft Windows. It works as a virtual printer. It does not present the user with advertisements, but does utilize the OpenCandy Adware program, and its terms of service say that it may use OpenCandy to recommend other software to the user. PrimoPDF is developed by the same company that develops the commercial Nitro PDF software. According to the download link on its Web site in February 2023, version 5.1.0.2 remained current.
Freemake Video Downloader is a crippleware download manager for Microsoft Windows, developed by Ellora Assets Corporation. It is proprietary software that can download online video and audio. Both HTTP and HTTPS protocols are supported. Users must purchase a premium upgrade to remove Freemake branding on videos and unlock the ability to download media longer than 3 minutes in length.
DAEMON Tools is a virtual drive and optical disc authoring program for Microsoft Windows and Mac OS.
Microsoft's Windows 8 operating system introduced an updated Start menu known as the "Start screen", which uses a full-screen design consisting of tiles to represent applications. This replaced the Windows desktop as the primary interface of the operating system. Additionally, the on-screen Start button was replaced by a hidden button in the corner of the screen; Microsoft explained that the Start button was removed because few people used it, noting the addition of "pinning" apps to the taskbar from Windows 7.
IObit Malware Fighter is an anti-malware and anti-virus program for the Microsoft Windows operating system. It is designed to remove and protect against malware, including, but not limited to Trojans, rootkits, and ransomware.