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t’s becoming a mobile world, but we haven’t fully abandoned the stationary
computer. The real work (and a lot of the play) of computing requires a full
personal-computer system. To get the most out of that, you need software.
Software can be expensive, but you can save money by being smart about what
you really need. Free programs have been a mainstay of the desktop experience
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make money by adopting ad-based models, donation-ware models, and
shareware/freemium models that charge for extra features.
Something to always watch out for with free software is crapware installers. To
make ends meet, many creators of otherwise great free software—or the services
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the installation routine obfuscates the steps, so you provide the unwanted
program tacit permission to be installed. For more about how to spot and avoid
this problem, check out the Uninstaller section below.
Pro tip: Download desktop software only from the maker of the software. It’s
not foolproof, but it is safer. That’s why one of the criteria for inclusion in this
story is that the program must be available directly from its maker.
Here’s the full list of criteria:
- The software must be available directly from the developer/creator/original
publisher.
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we’ve included web-based apps that are as good or better than some
downloadable programs.
- If the software is on a tiered sales model, the free version cannot be
trialware—it has to have a free-for-life option.
- Preferably, the software has had an update in the last year or two (at most).
- The program should have little or no advertising to support it. Some
freemium software depends on showing ads to exist, though; we’ll include
some programs if they don’t suck.
- Software for productivity is what this list is about; there are plenty of other
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