10 Must-Have Free Software Tools

Over the years, I have seen a lot of free software downloads.  With most of them, after 2 minutes I find out they weren't worth downloading or the free version is so devoid of features that I can't even check it out on a trial version. 

However, the 10 free gems below are programs I use every day and couldn't live without.  Every one of them is an important part of my daily routine.

Search Engine Optimization 

Firefox - You have probably heard of Firefox already, but do you use it?  Firefox is a web browser alternative to Internet explorer.  It's more computer-friendly than IE, so not as prone to errors and crashes.  For some websites, I still prefer IE, but for all of my SEO and blogging efforts, I use Firefox exclusively.  Part of the reason is because of the next two downloads which are free Firefox add-ons.

Nodofollow Plugin - This nifty little program is an add-on to Firefox and will allow you to right-click on any link on a page, and all of the links will then be displayed as either blue (dofollow) or pink (nodofollow).  A dofollow link will help your website's SEO efforts because the Google robots will recognize the links and go to your website.  Nodofollow links will not help your website's ranking.  You can use this tool to analyze if a particular blog or forum allows dofollow banklinking.

Live PageRank Plugin - Another Firefox add-on, this program will automatically display a website's pagerank and Alexa rank in the lower-right corner of your Firefox browser.

spyglass - I just discovered this excellent SEO tool - Thanks Fred Doleac!  Spyglass allows you to analyze any website or keyword to discover why it ranks where it ranks, what backlinks point to the site or are associated with the keyword, and more.  This is a powerful way to figure out why certain sites are ranking high.  It even will tell you how much PR Google Juice you are getting from each link to your site!

Computer Performance and Efficiency

Glary Utilities - This utility program will speed up, fix, maintain, and protect your computer.  Quickly analyzes your computer for errors, unnecessary temp files, and other problems that will bog down your system if not repaired.

Auglostics - Auglostics is a disk defragmentor program, an alternative to the Windows version.  Auglostics does a much better job than the Windows version and is 10 times faster.  Enough said.

Malwarebytes - This is a spyware elimination program and is one of the best on the market.  I also use Ad-Aware, and between these two and Glary, I believe I am spyware free most of the time.

For best computer performance, you should run these programs a minimum of once per week, along with clearing your browser's cache.

Productivity

Digsby - Centralize all of your IM and social bookmarking profiles into one handy application with this Free Software Download.

pdffactory - Create a PDF of any file or screen shot.  pdffactory will appear as a printer when you choose to print a document or website screen shot.

Truecrypt - This is perhaps the best free software download of the bunch.  Trycrypt allows you to create an encrypted drive on your computer so that no one can read your files unless they know your password.  You don't have to password protect any of the individual files because the entire drive is encrypted.  If you have a lot of sensitive data on your computer like I do, this program is critical to keeping your client's information safe.