1. Best free software downloads for your laptop: Desktop messengers
For those that don’t want to constantly send emails back and forth, there are plenty of desktop messaging apps that will make collaborating much easier, whether it be working on a group project or in most cases just general chit-chat.
We like Fleep and MatterMost which provide a free version.
For a more information see: Seven of the best messaging and ChatOps apps for work
2. Best free software downloads for your laptop: VPN
Not just for browsing with autonomy, VPNs can access country-specific content. We think CyberGhost’s free service is one worth checking out.
Another VPN service that allows users free access is Browsec. It is praised for its speed and lack of ads.
Here’s a list of the best VPNs on the market 2016.
3. Best free software downloads for your laptop: Media Player
We all want a laptop that can play good quality videos and audio files, but if the pre-installed service on your laptop is not up to par, there are some great downloads out there that provide crisp audio and visual experiences. Here’s a few we like:
VLC Media Player, GOM Media Player and Pot Player.
4. Best free software downloads for your laptop: Firewalls
There are countless options to choose from when considering firewall protection. Should you invest in an external firewall, stick with internal or take the plunge with both? We like these ones:
pfSense (open source), Comodo and ZoneAlarm.
For more information see: Which firewall is suitable for you?
5. Best free software downloads for your laptop: Email client
Mailbird is a free desktop email client for Windows and with Mozilla Firefox’s Thunderbird no longer being supported, it’s probably one of the best.
Mailbird supports Facebook, Dropbox, Google Calendar, Evernote, Google Docs apps as well as three separate email accounts, pretty good for a free service.
A useful alternative to Mailbird is eM Client, a service that’s been around for ten years. It supports Gmail, Exchange, iCloud and Outlook and also includes an integrated chat app.
6. Best free software downloads for your laptop: Internet security
Before you do anything else with your business-focused laptop, you need to secure your machine and your data. It won’t by any means solve everything, but ensure you have a robust internet security suite on your system. We like this free trial of Kaspersky Internet Security.
Alternatively, Qihoo 360 is a great (and totally free) option that provides great protection and an overall good performance. Download Qihoo 360 here.
7. Best free software downloads for your laptop: Office 2016
You may legitimately choose to use Google Docs as your office suite, and we can sincerely recommend you check out our page of Google Docs tips should you so decide. But if you wish to stay within Microsoft’s world of productivity, you have a choice: subscribe to the online tools, or buy the desktop software. There is much to be said for both, but we recommend at least trying this trial of Microsoft Office 2016. It is free, after all.
If you are looking for an alternative to Office 2016, LibreOffice is a great option.
8. Best free software downloads for your laptop: Speed up your PC
Even the most powerful laptop gets the blues, and you want to keep things humming along nicely. It is a moot point as to how much of an impact optimiser software can have, but it makes sense to have a decluttering influence in your software arsenal. Advanced SystemCare from iObit is one such – you can download it here.
CCleaner is a great alternative to SystemCare. This free download will clean up your PC making its response time faster and the system run smoother. Download CCleaner for free here.
9. Best free software downloads for your laptop: Make calls for free
Communication is key to everything in the business world. If you need to video call, chat or voice call anyone and everyone, Skype is your friend. There are other great options these days, of course, including Google Hangouts. But we recommend installing the free Skype desktop client today.
10. Best free software downloads for your laptop: Keeping accounts
Business is business, and the bottom line is the bottom line. But you need to know exactly what that is. There are myriad free accountancy packages – but we like Accountz (download it here).
11. Best free software downloads for your laptop: Laptop, tablet, phone
These days it is most unlikely that you will work from just one device. You need to be able to synch and share files and data across multiple pieces of hardware. SHAREit allows you to do this – it lets you easily share files between Windows PCs and laptops, as well as Android phones and tablets, and iOS devices such as an iPhone or iPad. Download SHAREit here.
Send Anywhere is another file sharing download that allows users to share any type and size of file across Andriod, iOs and desktop. It utilizes p2p networking in order to bypass cloud storage which increases speed and security.
12. Best free software downloads for your laptop: Free conference calling
Skype is good for peer-to-peer and some group chatting, but where Skype falls down TeamSpeak stands up. Chat online in your own teleconference with this industrial-strength VoIP application. For free. Download TeamSpeak here.
An easy to use alternative is Join.me. This free conference calling download offers free online meetings for both personal and commercial use. Download Join.me for free here.
13. Best free software downloads for your laptop: Get creative
In a creative business, or just the creative one in the team? It is likely that you will need something more flexible than Microsoft Word. Perhaps Adobe’s InDesign is overkill, but you can find out for free. Download InDesign here.
A worthy free alternative is Paint.net, users can edit images, add special effects and support a number of layers. Download Paint.net here.
14. Best free software downloads for your laptop: Make a movie
Everyone is an auteur these days, as our smartphones make for powerful video cameras. But creating high-class video content is an important part of many businesses. Making all of that footage look professional can be a challenge. Cyberlink PowerDirector meets that challenge. Create video masterpieces from your footage with Cyberlink PowerDirector (free download here).
A great alternative to Cyberlink PowerDirector is Lightworks – a completely free editing suite – Download Lightworks here.
15. Best free software downloads for your laptop: Synchronisation and backup tools
SugarSync Free
This excellent software does double duty as a synchronisation tool and as an automated backup program. Exceedingly simple to use, it offers 2GB of free online backup space, takes up little RAM and few system resources, and works with Macs as well as PCs. All that, and it’s free.
Simply install the software on your computers and indicate which folders to synchronise. SugarSync Free then works in the background. If the computer to which you wish to sync is not online, the files will sync to it when it returns. In addition to syncing the files, SugarSync Free backs them up online.
You can do a lot more, too, such as sharing files and folders with other people. The software also keeps older versions of your file online so that you can revert to any of them.
The free edition of the software will synchronise only two computers, and it has a limit of 2GB of online storage space. For-pay versions let you synchronise among multiple PCs and offer faster upload speeds.
Download SugarSync Free | Price: Free
Windows Live Sync
What if you want to synchronise your laptop with more than one other desktop or laptop, but you don’t want to spend the money that SugarSync charges for it? Give the free Windows Live Sync a try. With this tool, you can sync folders on as many computers as you want, and you don’t have to pay a penny. Keep in mind, however, that this software doesn’t include online backup; it only synchronises folders from computer to computer.
Using Windows Live Sync is even easier than working with SugarSync Free. The method of adding and removing folders is more straightforward. Since you manage everything from a website, you can set up your synchronisation options in a single step rather than multiple ones.
Like SugarSync, Windows Live Sync works with Macs as well as PCs. However, I have been unable to get the software to work with Snow Leopard, the newest version of Mac OS X. If you want to synchronise with a Snow Leopard Mac, you may run into problems.
Download Windows Live Sync | Price: FreeXmarks
Here’s a common problem for laptop owners who also have another machine: How do you keep your Favorites and bookmarks synchronised among all your computers? Let’s say that you browse the web on your laptop, adding a few bookmarks and deleting a few. The next day you use your desktop, but of course it doesn’t have the latest bookmark changes you made. Trying to make the corresponding additions and deletions on the desktop’s web browser can be time consuming, and that’s assuming you even remember them all.
Xmarks solves the problem neatly. It synchronises the bookmarks on multiple PCs, and better yet, it does so between browsers as well: With its help, you can keep Internet Explorer bookmarks on one PC synchronised with Firefox bookmarks on another. The tool even works on multiple operating systems, including Windows, Mac, and Linux.
The software used to be known as Foxmarks. Since then, its creators have updated it with additional features, including the ability to offer information about sites when you conduct searches. The extras are useful, but you’ll really want this software for its synchronisation of the bookmarks on all your PCs.
Download Xmarks | Price: Free
16. Best free software downloads for your laptop: Battery tools
BattCursor
You have work to do, but you know that your battery is starting to run out. So you keep checking the laptop’s battery icon to see how much power is left and every time you check, you waste precious time. Sound familiar?
This clever, free program shows your laptop’s remaining battery life on your mouse cursor. The app can display the information on your desktop, as well.
You can have the cursor text’s color and transparency level change, depending on the power level. For example, you can set the program to keep the text transparent in cases when your laptop is connected to a power source, but visible if the portable is unplugged and below a certain power level. BattCursor has a lot of extras, too, such as ways to improve your notebook’s battery life.
Download BattCursor | Price: Free
BatteryBar
Want to check battery life, but don’t like the idea of having your mouse pointer display the text? Here’s another alternative. BatteryBar shows, on your taskbar, exactly how much juice you’ve already used and how much you have left. You can set the app to display remaining battery life either as a percentage or as an amount of time.
Hover your mouse over BatteryBar, and you’ll see even more information, including the total battery capacity, the discharge rate, the battery wear, and how much total capacity your battery has in terms of time per full charge.
When you first run the program, it won’t appear to work. You’ll need to configure your taskbar to display it. Right click the taskbar, and select Toolbars, Taskbar. Once you do that, the program will appear.
Download BatteryBar | Price: Free
17. Best free software downloads for your laptop: Networking tools
Hotspot Shield
When you use your laptop to connect to a hotspot at a public location such as a coffee shop or airport, you put yourself at risk. Hackers may be able to sniff your data packets, invade your PC and steal your username and password when you log in to websites.
Here’s a freebie that promises to keep you safe by encrypting your connection when you’re at a hotspot so that no one else can read the information you send. The program is extremely easy to use. Install it and it logs you in to a virtual private network (VPN) that performs the encryption.
A few installation notes: If you don’t want various toolbars to install too, make sure to uncheck the boxes next to the toolbar items during installation. And if you don’t want your home page and search engine to be changed, uncheck those options as well.
Download Hotspot Shield | Price: Free
WeFi
If you’re a laptop owner and a fan of social networking, you can combine the two with WeFi. Not only does this program find hotspots so that you can connect to them, but it also finds people to whom you can connect as well. After you install WeFi, the app lists nearby hotspots along with information about each, such as the signal strength and whether the hotspot is encrypted. To connect to one, double click it. You can also go to a web page that displays a map of where you are and shows nearby hotspots.
To see people who are connected to hotspots near you, click the People tab. You can then see more information about any of them, and get in touch with them via the software.
WeFi also includes a feature that will warn you away from suspicious web pages. If you prefer, however, you can turn it off during the installation process: Uncheck the box next to Include Wi-Fi Secure Browsing.
Note that this program will make WeFi Search your home page, establish WeFi Search as your default search, and install a toolbar. If you prefer that it not do that, during the installation process select Custom and uncheck the boxes for Toolbar, Make WeFi Search my default search engine, and Make WeFi Search my homepage. Also, during installation, WeFi will ask you to install a variety of additional software. To be safe, uncheck the boxes next to those items.
Download WeFi | Price: Free
18. Best free software downloads for your laptop: USB stick tools
PortableApps
If your laptop or netbook has only a modest hard drive, you may not be able to fit all of your applications on it. Microsoft Office, for example, can occupy plenty of hard disk space and leave you little room for anything else.
With PortableApps, you won’t have that problem. In this download you get a full suite of free applications, including OpenOffice.org, which has a word processor, a spreadsheet, a presentation program, a database, and a drawing program. You’ll also find an antivirus utility, a slimmed down version of Firefox, and more. In addition to the applications, you get backup software, plus a menu that makes accessing all of the programs easy.
The Light version takes up just 150MB installed, and the more full featured Standard version consumes 355MB. You can install the software on your laptop or netbook of course, but to save space you can install the programs on a USB drive and even run them from there. You can store your data on the USB drive as well. No matter how little storage space your laptop or netbook has, you’ll be set.
Download PortableApps | Price: Free
TrueCrypt
USB drives are a great way to carry work with you when you travel. They’re light, they’re cheap, and they have enough capacity to handle large image files, hefty documents, and entire presentations. But you can easily lose or misplace them, a serious problem if your files are personal or sensitive.
The free TrueCrypt does an excellent job of keeping your files safe from prying eyes, even if your USB drive falls into the wrong hands. You get a choice of many different encryption algorithms, including the powerful 256-bit AES and 448-bit Blowfish methods. The program will not just encrypt the files and folders, but also hide them so that no one but you knows that they are there.
This isn’t the most intuitive of programs to work with, so take some time to read the manual and be sure to use the program’s built-in wizards.
Download TrueCrypt | Price: Free
USBDriveFresher
The more you use a USB drive, the more it becomes cluttered with excess files. For example, your drive may have old Thumbs.db files, which Windows uses to display thumbnails of pictures, but if you don’t keep the pictures themselves on the drives any longer, there’s no point to retaining the .db files. You may also notice odd file names that start with underscores, and other weird bits and pieces that serve no apparent purpose.
USBDriveFresher is a simple little program that automatically cleans the clutter for you. Run it, and it sweeps out unnecessary files so that the drive contains only the items you want. You can have the program do its work automatically whenever you plug in a USB drive, or else manually run the app. You can also customise which files it should clean.
Download USBDriveFresher | Price: Free
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