FREE Essential Must Have Programs for Your Computer PC

We are living in a world full of choices. And when it comes to computer softwares, the choices are endless. And if you are not a computer genius like me, you need some guidence on what you really need. In this hub, I will share free softwares that I always have on my computers. These are the anti-virus software, anti-spyware software, compression software, and video player I have used for years.

I have listed the link to the pages where you can download the softwares after my short descriptions, so you can try them right away. I've done this for your convenience and for mine, since I always download them first when I format my computer.

Before you read on, I want you to know that there are many software that do the same jobs as the ones I introduce here. These are just my preferences. Please feel free to leave comments and let me know about other wonderful FREE software!

This is the compression software that I used for almost 10 years. It has a cute design, and it does its job really well: compressing and uncompressing files. Recently, Altools, the maker of Alzip, has updated the software, and it can uncompress big files faster than ever. On my computer, it uncompresses zipped files over 1GB consisting of thousands of images in matter of seconds. Altools have other programs other than Alzip which I don't use, but feel free to look them over on their website!

This is a must-have software I fell in love with. I came to know about this software in the PC Magazine which rated it very high. This software cleans your PC of any junks that it has accumulated over time. When I first used this software, I was amazed how faster my computer became. It had cleaned over 10GB of junks out of my computer. Now I run this software once or twice a week, and every time it removes a couple of GB, even when I don't have anything in the recycle bin (Every Time you run the software, it empties the recycle bin as well, but you can set this to not do that if you want it to). Also, this software features a registry cleaning tool as well which I highly recommend.

***** To all guys: This is a perfect software to erase traces of the websites, videos, and audios you've been to, watched, and listened to!

• piriform.com/ccleaner

If you want to download CCleaner, copy and paste the web address above. HubPages somehow determined the website as an affiliate or promotional link and doesn't allow me to put a hyperlink to the webpage.

I am the type of person who goes with what Microsoft has to offer. I've used Microsoft Windows as my operating system  as long as I used computers, and I think that Microsoft knows what softwares work best with its operating system. So if there's is a software made by Microsoft that does one job, I usually go with that program for the job. But when it comes to playing video files (.avi and .mkv files being the most I watch) I choose GOM PLAYER rather than Windows Media Player. I like it better than WMP because it does its job really well, playing video files. It is simple and easy to use, and when I need new codecs for a file, it automatically searches the codec and directs me there. So give it a try!

You may already heard of this software since it is so popular in its field. I used this software since spywares became one of my computer security concerns, and it does its job really well. There is a Pro version which you have to pay for, but I think FREE version does what you only need to get the job done. But I am not the one to judge what's good and bad about the Pro version, so use your own judgement, but I have only used the FREE version since I've first used the software, and never had problems with spywares. Use this software regularly with CCLEANER (remember to run registry cleaning tool as well), and you'll have no problem with junks in your computer.

 If you use Microsoft Windows as your operating system as myself, I think this is what you only need to protect your PC from viruses. I have used paid Norton Internet Security and McAfee, but they interfered with my computing experience too much, meaning they ask for so many permissions before I can perform my daily computing tasks. Also, I felt that the softwares slowed my computer down, especially while booting up (This may only be my feeling, but I really felt that my computer got slower!). So when Microsoft introduced this free software, as long as you are using a legal copy of Microsoft Windows, I quickly switched to this although my internet service provider, Comcast, offers the full version McAfee for free. Use this software with CCLEANER, AD-AWARE FREE, and you will have what you really need to keep your computer safe and clean.