June 25th, 2009
ZDNet Readers' Choice: Top 25 free, lightweight apps
In February, I asked ZDNet readers for the free, lightweight applications they simply can’t live without. After tallying the suggestions in the comments and via e-mail — and there were an awful lot of good suggestions, believe me — here are the 25 most popular.
Editor’s note: Don’t see a download for your operating system? Use the official site link.
1.) VLC
By far the most recommended application, VLC is the Swiss Army knife of media players: it will play pretty much any file type you throw at it, as well as rip CDs and DVDs, convert video files to iPod-friendly formats and stream media to other computers.
[ZDNet download: Windows] [ZDNet download: Mac] [official site]
2.) FoxIt Reader
FoxIt Reader is a small, fast PDF reader that conveniently replaces Adobe Reader on Windows, Windows Mobile, Linux and more. There are no splash windows at startup, and the app features annotation as well as PDF-to-text conversion.
[ZDNet download: Windows] [ZDNet download: Windows Mobile] [official site]
3.) Pidgin & Adium
Pidgin and Adium are fraternal twin brother instant messaging clients on separate platforms: Pidgin for Windows (Mac, Ubuntu, etc.), Adium for Mac. ZDNet readers love their multi-protocol nature (AIM, Yahoo!, gTalk, ICQ, etc.) and light, ad-free footprint.
[ZDNet download: Windows: Pidgin] [official site: Pidgin] [ZDNet download: Mac: Adium] [official site: Adium]
4.) IrfanView
IrfanView is a lightweight image viewer, editor and processor that can batch edit photos with lightning speed and a plethora of keyboard shortcuts.
[ZDNet download: Windows] [official site]
5.) Firefox
Bar none ZDNet readers’ favorite web browser, the unparalleled versatility and speed of Mozilla’s Firefox browser gets better with each release.
[ZDNet download: Windows] [ZDNet download: Mac] [official site]
Andrew J. Nusca is an associate editor for ZDNet and SmartPlanet.
See his full profile and disclosure of his industry affiliations.
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| 06/26/09
