November 10th, 2009
Seven great (and free!) applications for Windows 7
An OS isn’t much without software to take advantage of it. If you’ve just got yourself a copy of Windows 7 (by paying full price for it or by being canny) then you’ll be looking for cool, useful, and above all, compatible software to install. Look for further!
Here’s a top 7 list of what I consider to be Windows 7 “must have” software. Not only are these applications compatible with Microsoft’s newest OS, but there’s also all free!
Web Browser: Mozilla Firefox
Regular readers will know that Firefox isn’t my personal favorite browser (it’s Google Chrome) but that doesn’t prevent me from wholeheartedly recommending Firefox to others.
Why? Because it’s a darn good browser. It’s fast, it’s robust, it’s reliable and if it doesn’t do something you want it to do, chances are there’s an add-on for that.
And what better time to recommend Firefox, given that this month sees it celebrate its fifth birthday!
>> Learn more <<
Media Player: VideoLAN VLC Player
There’s nothing more annoying than coming across a video of sound file and not being able to play it without messing about with codecs. Rather than stick with the built-in Windows Media Player I prefer to download and install something a little more versatile, like VLC Player.
VLC media player is a highly portable media player capable of reading most audio and video formats (MPEG-2, MPEG-4, H.264, DivX, MPEG-1, mp3, ogg, aac …) as well as DVDs, Audio CDs VCDs, plus it offers support for a variety of streaming protocols.
VLC Player is a great bit of kit that I can’t recommend highly enough.
>> Learn more <<
Email Client: Mozilla Thunderbird
Windows 7 doesn’t come with a built-in email client. Microsoft does make available a free email client called Windows Live Mail, which you have to download. But since you’re having to download an application, you might as well download something more versatile.
Thunderbird, by the makers of Firefox, is a fully-featured desktop email client that offers a whole raft of tools to help you control your inbox.
>> Learn more <<
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Adrian is a technology journalist and author who has devoted over a decade to helping users get the most from technology. He also runs a popular blog called The PC Doctor. See his full profile and disclosure of his industry affiliations
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| 11/10/09
