Introduction |
You have no doubt invested time, trouble and possibly money, in your "must have" software. This investment is largely protected when you move to Windows 7 / Vista 64 and, if not, there are many excellent freeware alternatives. (In addition, Windows 7 / Vista 64 continue the tradition of offering 32 bit compatibility mode.) Here are the top freeware picks for Windows 7 / Vista 64 in their various sections. Where a native 64 bit application is currently unavailable in an important category, a suitable 32 bit alternative is provided. |
Discussion | ||
BROWSER Although Windows 7 / Vista 64 include both the 32 and 64 bit versions of Internet Explorer, version 8 in the case of Windows 7, many prefer more secure products. The 32 bit versions of Firefox, Google Chrome,and Opera all work without a hitch under both operating systems. Apart from 64 bit Internet Explorer, the only other 64 bit browser currently available, and still under development, is an unofficial version of Firefox based on the Mozilla code. Various preview versions can be found here. I've found version 3.6.3 to be as stable as the 32 bit version. This version will import all of your bookmarks and history from 32 bit Firefox. All currently installed addons are checked for compatibility when 64 bit Firefox is started, and those that are known to work are loaded automatically. Although active development has been under way for some time these applications are not yet ready for daily use:
If you find these restrictions unacceptable, stick with a 32 bit browser. See:
EMAIL CLIENT Currently, the only released 64 bit email client is Windows Mail, included with Vista 64. Windows 7 does not include an email client. There is a development project for 64 bit Thunderbird 3, the latest build, 3.05, codenamed Shredder, is available here. Unfortunately, moving from your existing email client to 64 bit Thunderbird 3 can be quite a challenge. Users moving from Thunderbird 2 under Windows 7 / Vista 64 will need to use two third party freeware products, MozBackup and MailStore Home. Migration from Outlook is relatively simple under Vista 64 using the Thunderbird 3 import function. This approach doesn't work under Windows 7 due to changes in the registration of MAPI entries which no one appears to want to acknowledge or address. Thunderbird 2 users who are considering the switch should be aware that the popular Lightning addon is not supported. For the time being I would recommend that you stick with a 32 bit email client. For details refer to our review:
FTP CLIENT Following a comment from a reader I have been searching for free 64 bit FTP clients. So far, I have only managed to find one, Null FTP from Vision Works. The free version of Null FTP, a cut down version of the paid product, has the following limitations:
Whether or not you can live with the first two limitations depends largely on how much you rely on FTP in your day to day activities. The third restriction has no impact on the speed of Internet or local network FTP transfers so I am surprised that they even bother to mention it.
Overall, the product fails to match the top 32 bit selections in our review Best Free FTP Client. Unless you feel that a 64 bit FTP client is essential I suggest that you look there for the solution best suited to your needs.
FIREWALL Remember that you should never run two or more firewall products side-by-side. If you plan to switch to one of the products below, ensure that you disable Windows Firewall and any other firewall you have installed first. If all you need is a simple interface to the built-in Windows firewall, and aren't too fussy about appearance or features, the free version of Windows 7 Firewall Control is perhaps the answer. Despite the name both Windows 7 and Vista 64 are supported. Be warned that access has to be defined for each application using one of four modes; out only, in only, enable all, or disable all. I suspect for many this will not offer a fine enough degree of control.
When installing CIS, deselect the Install Antivirus option if you already have a suitable antivirus solution installed. If you are using an old version of the CFP or CIS you should upgrade to the latest version as this will increase stability and reduce memory footprint. Windows 7 users should ensure they install version 3.9.x or later.
ANTIVIRUS
From version 9, Avira also adds the facility to review suspect items at the end of a scan, rather than dealing with each item when detected. This leaves the user free to run a scan unattended at any time and simply deal with the results when appropriate. I do have criticisms. The large advert for the paid version which accompanies the updates, but it only takes a click to make it go away. In recent months many people have encountered problems with updates although this issue seems to have been resolved. You also need to periodically reregister.
Many of the protection mechanisms used by Avast rely on interactive Windows services. Support in Windows 7 / Vista 64 for interactive services is intended for use by legacy applications. This places restrictions on the information that can be sent to the user. Both Avira and Avast are hybrid 64 bit applications. Only the low level kernel mode drivers that interface with operating system are written in 64 bit code. You can have more than one AV product installed, but only one should be enabled for real-time scanning. The same applies to email scanning. If you are interested in alternatives to Avira and Avast, such as AVG Free,a-squared Free, or Microsoft Security Essentials, then refer to our review:
ANTISPYWARE
Ad-Aware 2008 includes heuristic detection and integrated real-time protection, although the latter is only for rogue processes in the free version. Real-time protection is implemented by a combination of an interactive Windows service and a 64 bit kernel mode device driver making Ad-Aware a hybrid 32/64 bit application. Support in Windows 7 / Vista 64 for interactive services is intended for use by legacy applications. This places restrictions on the information that can be sent to the user. As to real world effectiveness, Ad-Aware continues to maintain a reasonable detection rate but many threats go undetected. For full details of the testing carried out on these and other products in this category refer to our review: Best Free Adware/Spyware/Scumware Remover
SYSTEM TOOLS Although Windows 7 / Vista 64 have their own housekeeping tools for defragmenting the hard disk, removing junk files and various other tasks, there are 3rd party alternatives which perform better and offer additional features. There are few 64 bit tools but the ones available, added to the 32 bit versions that work under Windows 7 / Vista 64, are very good at what they do. Before you dig too deeply into this section you might want to read the great article: "How to make Vista run faster" The information contained in the article applies equally well to Windows 7.
ALL IN ONE
As this is a 32 bit program, you will notice that one or two of the modules are not fully working, the Uninstall Manager, for example, doesn't recognise 64 bit applications, and therefore cannot uninstall them.
DISK DEFRAGMENTER MyDefrag, by the author of JKDefrag, available in 32 and 64 bit versions, is novel in that it is a merely a defragmentation and file placement engine. The actions carried out by my MyDefrag are script driven, with a number of useful example scripts being included in the installation. The simple scripting language is well documented allowing scripts to be developed to suit any defragmentation/optimisation requirement. The scripting language includes a command that allows the files identified in the Windows Prefetch cache to be optimised. A script can be executed by double clicking on it in Explorer, passing it as a parameter to MyDefrag invoked via a shortcut or the appropriate task scheduler. MyDefrag requires administrator privilege and, if running from the Task Scheduler under Windows 7 or Vista, it is recommended that the SYSTEM account is used. If the MyDefrag GUI interface is set to be visible during script execution, the default, the rather poor disk map, familiar to JK Defrag users, is displayed. You can switch from this to a text based statistics/progress view, but presentation is equally unimpressive. All physical directory/file operations carried out by MyDefrag use the Windows Defragmentation API and can therefore be considered safe. The process can be interrupted at any time without risk of data loss or corruption. For those with unusual defragmentation and/or optimisation requirements MyDefrag offers unparalleled flexibility. Readers who merely want to defragment their disk(s) on a regularly basis should use one of the standard scripts provided with MyDefrag, I use Optimize Daily, to achieve excellent results. MyDefrag definitely deserves to replace JKDefrag as Gizmo's Top Pick.
In typical Piriform style, the Defraggler interface is clean, easy to follow, and therefore simple to use. Analysing a drive only takes a few seconds, performing a quick defragmentation typically takes less than ten minutes. Impressive. Unfortunately, Defraggler falls down by not optimising file placement or taking into account the results of 'ReadyBoot' (sic), and it doesn't have the flexibility of MyDefrag's scripting language. Conclusion: Use Defraggler day to day, and once a week run MyDefrag using Optimize Weekly. Together they do the job nicely. Readers who would prefer to consider 32 bit products should refer to our review: Keep in mind that 32 bit disk defragmentation tools will incur a performance hit by having to use the WOW64 (32 bit compatibility mode) interface. If you decide to use a third party disk defragmenter, other than MyDefrag, don't be tempted to disable the built in Windows 7 / Vista 64 disk defragmenter. If you do, you will greatly reduce the effectiveness of ReadyBoot (sic), the mechanism that monitors files accessed during the last 5 boots and creates a boot plan to reduce startup time. This boot plan is passed to the Windows disk defragmenter to allow the placement of files used during the boot process to be optimized.
DISK CLEANER
This is one of the first tools I recommend people install on a Windows PC, and regular use will go a long way to preventing the hard drive from becoming bogged down with unwanted junk. CCleaner has never dealt with purging Windows Restore Points, a major source of accumulated junk. The Disk Cleanup tool available in 32 bit Windows 7 / Vista allows you to do this but, under Windows 7 / Vista 64, although the option to perform this task still exists, it does not work correctly. My thanks go to Kristan Kenny for providing the solution to this problem. If you want to correct the Disk Cleanup shortcut in the Start menu, follow these steps:
If you've automated Disk Cleanup, the correct path to use in your script is: %WINDIR%\sysnative\cleanmgr.exe If you launch Disk Cleanup from another location in Windows, for instance by clicking the “Disk Cleanup” button in the properties window of a drive, the correct 64 bit version of Disk Cleanup is launched.
REGISTRY CLEANER I am not a fan of Registry cleaners. They have a nasty habit of removing things that are vital to the correct operation of commercial software.
Firstly, it allows you to backup the Registry before you start and there is also a restore option. Secondly, by default, it doesn't check Class Security Identifiers (CLSIDs) or other areas where most Registry tricks are played, although these can be included if required. Finally it divides redundant/invalid entries into two groups, 1) those you can remove safely, and 2) the rest which require closer examination before removing. I think it is fair to say that you are reasonably safe removing the entries in the first group although I would caution against removing those in the second group unless you have a good understanding of the Registry and how applications use it.
REGISTRY DEFRAGMENTER While a PC is in use there is a constant stream of data being added to and removed from the registry and over time this can cause the registry to become fragmented, there is also the problem of registry cleaners and program uninstalls producing gaps in the registry file. When this occurs, it does nothing to enhance the performance or reliability of the system, therefore, the occasional use of a registry defragmenter / optimiser is seen by some as a necessary part of the maintenance regime.
REGISTRY EDITOR 'User friendly' and 'registry editor' are not terms that I would think of putting together however it is possible to improve on the rather limited tools included with Windows 7 / Vista 64. Remember that using a registry editor is generally a last resort. You need to know what you are doing which includes creating a Restore Point before you start.
If you ever need to use a registry editor this is definitely the tool to use.
SYSINTERNALS SUITE No list of system tools would be complete without mentioning the excellent SysInternals Suite which is used to trouble shoot PCs worldwide. Although SysInternals is now part of Microsoft, the tools remain free and are regularly updated. Most of the SysInternals tools work correctly under Windows 7 / Vista 64. In particular, the three most widely used tools, Process Explorer, Process Monitor and Autoruns, extract and run 64 bit code. At present, Autologon doesn't work, but a suitable alternative can be found here. If you are looking for a utility that will create shortcuts to the most commonly used SysInternals tools, check out SysInternals Toolbox in our review :
SYSTEM INFORMATION UTILITY
SIW doesn't require installation so it can be run from a USB flash drive without problem. Advisory: SIW is bundled with OpenCandy. More information here. For a full guide to System Information Utilities: Best Free System Information Utility.
SYSTEM TOOLS/UTILITIES INCLUDED IN WINDOWS 7
To try out Resource Monitor, click on Start, type resource monitor into the search box, and then click on the Resource Monitor entry that appears under Programs. For an in depth look at Resource Monitor refer to our article: Windows 7 Resource Monitor: New & Improved My favourite new feature in Windows 7 is the Problem Steps Recorder. If you've ever tried to help a friend or family member over the phone, or via email, with a PC problem I'm sure you know how difficult and frustrating it can be. With the best will in the world things tend to get lost in translation. They miss out a piece of information relating to the problem, or you do regarding the solution. PSR overcomes this problem by allowing the steps needed to reproduce a problem, or to implement a fix, to be recorded and saved to a file. To start PSR, click on Start, type psr.exe into the search box, and then either click on the psr.exe entry that appears under Programs, or right click and choose Run as a administrator. Note you need to choose Run as administrator if any of the screens you wish to capture are running with administrator privilege.
The ZIP contains a MHT, mime encoded HTML, format document that includes the screen shots, any comments that were added, and a text based description of the actions that were carried out. This can be opened and edited in any version of Word from 2002 upwards. Alternatively, the file can be viewed using the free Word Viewer, Internet Explorer version 5 or higher, Firefox with the UnMHT extension installed and Opera version 9.0 or higher. PSR is not a ground breaking application, but it will help me to assist others much more quickly and efficiently.
TWEAKING TOOLS The majority of tools in this category are covered in: Best Free Vista Tweaks which includes details of compatibility with Vista 64. With the exception of Vista Logon Studio all the applications that work under Vista 64 will also work under Windows 7. An alternative to Vista Logon Studio for Windows 7 users is given below.
In order to use Iconoid to change the colour of text you must first turn off drop shadows for icon text. This must be done via Control Panel, System, Advanced System Settings, and then click on the Settings button under Performance. Right clicking on Computer, and then choosing Properties, will only change settings until you logoff or the PC is rebooted.
Windows 7 imposes a 256 Kb limit on the size of the JPEG image that can be used for the logon screen. If your image is larger than this, Logon Changer will give you the option to automatically resize and/or compress the image. Note that the original image is left untouched.
DATA/FILE/FOLDER TOOLS DATA RECOVERY / UNDELETE
Recuva is simple to use, effective, and can be used to recover lost items from the following:
FILE ARCHIVER/ZIP UTILITY 7-Zip and PeaZip are available as native 64 bit applications and contain all of the functionality of their 32 bit counterparts. Readers interested in a comparison of these products should refer to our review: Best Free File Archiver/Zip Utility FILE MANAGER If you spend more than a few minutes a day carrying out file management tasks the chances are that you will soon find Explorer really isn't up to the job. Until recently, overcoming this meant putting up with the limitations of a 32 bit freeware file manager, i.e. no context menu entries for 64 bit applications, or paying out for a commercial 64 bit file manager. Things are starting to improve, at least now there are two freeware 64 bit file managers to choose from. Double Commander, a long standing beta project based on the shareware Total Commander, is a dual pane file manager that provides a host of features out of the box:
Double Commander is a very capable file manager, don't let the 'beta' label put you off, I suspect it's just one of those projects that they don't seem to be quite able to put down and finish.
Some might find the interface a little clunky, the lack of breadcrumbs grates, but give it a try, you might find it grows on you.
FOLDER SYNCHRONIZATION UTILITY
In addition to the easy to use GUI, SyncToy can also be run from the command line to sync a chosen folder pair or, all folder pairs. SyncToy is a versatile utility that will satisfy all but the most demanding of users. It also runs very quickly despite being based on the .NET framework. The only major things it lacks are the ability to select files from a folder via a standard tree view, direct support for ftp, and a portable version. If you would prefer a non-Microsoft solution, or require features that SyncToy doesn't have, then refer to our review Best Free Folder Synchronization Utility. SECURE ERASE UTILITY
If Eraser goes beyond what you need, then refer to our review Best Free Secure Erase Utility for details of simpler, 32 bit alternatives, that work quite happily under Windows 7 / Vista 64. DESKTOP/OFFICE TOOLS CD/DVD BURNER Both CDBurnerXP and InfraRecorder are available as native 64 bit applications. I have successfully tested both under Windows 7 / Vista 64 and they satisfy my somewhat limited CD/DVD burning requirements. For an expert comparison of these products refer to our review Best Free CD / DVD Burning Software. DIGITAL IMAGE EDITOR This is not a field in which I can claim to have any expertise. I have tested the products identified to confirm that they work under Windows 7 / Vista 64. Readers who are interested in comparing product features should refer to our review: Best Free Digital Image Editor
An experimental 64 bit version of The GIMP is available although the installation routine stresses the fact that this version isn't suitable for day to day work.
DIGITAL IMAGE VIEWER The top picks in our review Best Free Digital Image Viewer, XnView and IrfanView, both 32 bit applications that include 64 bit shell extensions, run flawlessly under Windows 7 / Vista 64. I suggest that you refer to the review for an expert comparison of these products.
OFFICE SUITE Open Office covers just about all the bases, everything from a document writer to databases and spreadsheets, it handles files produced with Excel. Word and Powerpoint, and also there are numerous extensions available. All in all this is one of the best examples of freeware to be found! For those of you who need to be able to handle Office 2007 documents I suggest that you check out How do I open Microsoft Office 2007 files?
PDF READER
In use, the 64 bit version is quick and memory usage is on a par with Adobe Reader. Image quality, although not quite as good as Adobe's product, is still excellent. In fact, for documents that originally contained rasterised images, reproduction is actually far better. The portable 32 bit version is worthy of mention. It naturally lacks some features available in the full product but still produces high quality images making it ideal for a personal PC toolkit. If you want a feature rich 64 bit PDF viewer and are not prepared to wait for Adobe to play catch up, then I recommend you take a look at this product.
PDF WRITER BullZip, CuteWriter and doPDF all have 64 bit versions although BullZip and CuteWriter rely on the 32 bit version of GhostScript Lite. I have successfully tested all of these applications under Windows 7 / Vista 64 and suggest that interested readers refer to our review : to assist them in choosing the best product for their needs.
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Malwarebytes
Defraggler
CCleaner
Free Registry Defrag
Q-Dir
Paint.Net
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1.3.0.0 
Unrestricted Freeware 
XP, Vista 32/64, Windows 7 32/64
Portable version availableHave Your Say |
To make this category a success feedback from readers is essential. I cannot possibly cover everything, but if you have an idea for an area of software that should be covered, or if I have left out one of your favourites, then post a comment. There are five ways to send feedback: registered users can contact me directly here or in the forum under Contact Info. Registered users may also post in the forum. Anyone can post a comment at the bottom of this page. Finally, please help us by rating this review |
This category is maintained by volunteer editor Rik Mayell, a self confessed computer nut, who loves PCs, desktop or server, and thinks the Mac is cool, although doesn't own one. Becoming a Linux addict in his spare time.
Tags |
Freeware for 64 bit Windows 7, Freeware for 64 bit Windows Vista, 64 bit Windows freeware, Freeware for 64 bit Windows, 64 bit freeware |
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