Top Free Dating Sites

Over the past several years, the online dating landscape has changed dramatically, and in a large part due to the proliferation of free dating sites for every region, area of interest, and type of relationship sought. These top free dating sites have been carefully chosen from the thousands of free dating sites current available. The number of members, features, what makes them different than everyone else and the target markets they serve have all been taken into account.

Free Word / Excel Password Recovery

Free Word password / Excel password recovery software

Forgotten your Microsoft Word password or Microsoft Excel password and can't open your file? Try Free Word / Excel Password Recovery Wizard before spending any money on commercial software.

Coming soon - updated version of Free Word / Excel Password Recovery Wizard with several new features, and also supporting Office 2007 password recovery.

Free Word / Excel Password Recovery Wizard offers the same functionality and performance as expensive commercial Word password / Excel password software, but is a completely free download. Unlike other supposedly "free" downloads, it is a full product, not a demo version or shareware. It contains no spyware or other malware.

We developed our own free password recovery package specifically to address the high cost of commercial password software.

Top Ten Google Search Tricks

The Top Ten Google Search Tricks You Need To Know

By Wendy Boswell, About.com

Filed In:

1. Web Search Engines
2. > Google Search Engine

Google is the most popular search engine on the Web, but most people don't realize how much more powerful they can make their Google searches with just a few simple tweaks.

1. Google Phrase Search

If you want Google to return your search as a complete phrase, in the exact order and proximity that you typed it in as, then you’ll need to surround it with quotes; i.e., “three blind mice.” Otherwise, Google will just locate these words either separately OR together.

Learn more about searching with quotation marks

2. Google Negative Search

Use the "-" symbol when you want Google to find pages that have one search word on them, but you need it to exclude other words commonly associated with that search word.

Learn more about searching with basic math

3. Google Order of Search

The order in which you type your search query actually does have an effect on your search results. For example, if you are looking for a great waffle recipe, you’ll want to type in “waffle recipe” rather than “recipe waffle”. It does make a difference.

4. Google Forced Search

Google automatically excludes common words like “where”, “how”, “and”, etc. because it tends to slow down your search. However, if you’re looking for something that actually needs those words included, you can “force” Google to include them by using our old friend the addition sign, i.e., Spiderman +3, or, you could use quotation marks: “Spiderman 3”.

5. Google Site Search

This is one of my most common Google searches. You can use Google to actually search within a site for content; for example, say you want to look inside of About Web Search for everything on “free movie downloads.” Here’s how you would frame your search at Google: site:websearch.about.com “free movie downloads”

Learn more about Google Site Search

6. Google Number Range Search

This is one of those “wow, I can do that?” kind of Google searches. Here’s how it works: just add two numbers, separated by two periods, with no spaces, into the search box along with your search terms. You can use this number range search to set ranges for everything from dates (Willie Mays 1950..1960) to weights (5000..10000 kg truck). However, be sure to specify a unit of measurement or some other indicator of what your number range represents.

Okay, so here’s one that you could try:

nintendo wii $100..$300

You’re asking Google to find all the Nintendo Wii’s within the price range of $100 to $300 here. Now, you can use pretty much any kind of numerical combination; the trick is the two periods in between the two numbers.

7. Google Define

Ever come across a word on the Web that you don’t know? Instead of reaching for that bulky dictionary, just type define (you can also use definition) word (insert your own word) and Google will come back with a host of definitions. I use this one all the time not only for definitions (mostly tech-related), but I’ve also found it’s a great way to find detailed articles that can explain not only the word you’re looking for, but the context in which it most commonly occurs. For instance, the buzz phrase “Web 2.0” using the Google syntax of define web 2.0 returns with some really interesting and practical stuff.

8. Google Calculator

Anything that helps with math-related stuff gets a vote in my book. Not only can you use Google to solve simple math problems, you can also use it to convert measurements. Here are a few examples of this; you can simply type these right into the Google search box:

• Half a quart in tablespoons
• 5 miles to kilometers
• sqrt(8912)

And so on. Google can also do much more complex problems and conversions; you can find out how to build your queries so Google knows what to do with them at the official Google Calculator help page, http://www.google.com/help/calculator.html.

Find out more about Google Calculator

9. Google Phonebook

Google has a gigantic phonebook directory, as well they should – their index is one of the largest, if not THE largest, on the Web. Here’s how you can use Google’s phonebook to find a phone number or address (United States only at the time of this writing):

• first name (or first initial), last name, city (state is optional)
• first name (or first initial), last name, state
• first name (or first initial), last name, area code
• first name (or first initial), last name, zip code
• phone number, including area code
• last name, city, state
• last name, zip code Don’t want your information in the Google phonebook? You’ll want to visit this page: Google Phonebook Name Removal (http://www.google.com/help/pbremoval.html).

Find out more about Google Phonebook

10. Google Spell Checker

For some strange reason, I have never been able to spell certain words without a spell check – and since we don’t always work within a medium that offers an automatic spell check on the Web (blogs, message boards, etc.), it’s so nice to have a built-in Google spell checker. Here’s how it works: you just type in the word you’re struggling with into Google’s search box, and Google will very politely come back with this phrase: “Did you mean…(correct spelling)?” This is probably one of the most useful Google inventions ever.

More About Google Search

Google Cheat SheetGoogle SearchGoogle Quiz

More About Google Search

Google PhonebookGoogle People SearchGoogle Spreadsheets

Learn More About Google

Google News AlertGoogle MapsGoogle Search Engine Optimization

The Best Free People Search Sites

Top 12 Free Online Dating Sites

Top 17 People Search Sites and Email Address DirectoriesTop 17 People Search Sites and Email Address Directories

Top 17 People Search Sites and Email Address Directories

Searching for people online? Looking for an email address? Look closer and find friends old and new as well as business contacts with these email address directories and people search engines. Here are your 17 best bets.

1. Pipl People Search - Free People Search Site

In real time, Pipl scours databases and directories such as ICQ, Amazon profiles, flickr or SEC records to find information and people web search engines do not see.

2. Wink People Search - Free People Search Site
Wink aggregates from both social networking sites and the web to find people's web presences — including ways to send them an email.
3. Intelius People Search - People Search Site
Accessing various public records, Intelius provides comprehensive email address search for the U.S. and can reveal the person behind an email address, too.
4. LinkedIn People Search - Free People Search Site
LinkedIn worldwide network of professionals can be searched by name, industry, company, region and more. Of course, LinkedIn offers means to get in touch.
5. Spock - Free People Search Site
Spock finds people not only by name and location but also by tags and, well, just about anything related to them.
6. my.email.address.is - Free People Search Site
My.email.address.is is a meta search engine for email addresses (and not just for mine). It scans the most popular email address directories including Yahoo! and AOL.
7. FreshAddress.com - Free People Search Site
FreshAddress.com links old and new email addresses, but its always up to date database can also be searched for other criteria.
8. Bigfoot Directory - Free People Search Site
Search Bigfoot's big email address directory.
9. MySpace.com Find a Friend - Free People Search Site
The space to meet friends on the web is heavily populated. The chances are good you will find and be able to contact lost friends through MySpace.com.
10. Facebook Friend Finder - Free People Search Site
You can find everybody on Facebook by college, company, school or name.

12. Reunion.com People Search - Free People Search Site
After registering yourself (which puts you in the directory), Reunion.com turns up comprehensive results that get you back in touch with people you knew. You can also search by school, for example, and find out who's looking for you.
13. Yahoo! People Search - Free People Search Site
Find people in Yahoo's large directory of email addresses based on name, location, old email address (!) or organization name...
14. ICQ White Pages - Free People Search Site
Search the directory of ICQ users with numerous criteria to find old and new friends, and their email addresses.
15. PeekYou People Search - Free People Search Site
You can search PeekYou's profiles for people (and a way to contact them) by name, company or school.
16. ZoomInfo.com People Search - Free People Search Site
Finding names on the web and connecting the dots with artificial intelligence and natural language interpretation, ZoomInfo.com has assembled a great profile for just about anybody on the net. It does not have email addresses or ways to contact for everybody, though.
17. Search the Usenet Addresses Database - Free People Search Site
If you know the person you are looking for has been online for some time, you can try searching this database of people who posted to Usenet from 1991 to 1996.

Top 9 Tips to Find Anybody's Email Address

You know how elusive email addresses are. Even if you once had a friend's address, you may not be able to locate or recall it now that you need it. Or maybe the address has changed. No matter whose email address you are looking for or how much you know about the person, here are eight strategies that you can use right now to help you find it. You'll look in new places and obvious but oft-overlooked corners.

Top 12 Free Email Programs for Windows

The best free email program for Windows? The single best email client that works for everybody? It does not exist. There are many, at least one of them perfect for you.
Of course, you will approach this list liberally and leisurely. You will peek at the descriptions, study the reviews, marvel at the screenshots, and try a few free clients. Identifying your perfect free email program will be a lot of fun!

1. Mozilla Thunderbird - Free Windows Email Program

Mozilla Thunderbird is a fully featured, secure and very functional email client and RSS feed reader. It lets you handle mail efficiently and with style, and Mozilla Thunderbird filters away junk mail too.


2. Windows Mail - Free Windows Email Program
"Windows Mail - Free Email Program"Heinz Tschabitscher
Windows Mail is a fun and functional email program that keeps you relatively safe with spam and phishing filters while offering fast search and enough room for creativity, maybe based on ready-made stationery. Advanced filters or sophisticated tools that help you manage — and reply to — lots of mail are missing from Windows Mail, though.

3. Eudora (Sponsored Mode) - Free Windows Email Program
"Eudora - Email Program"
Eudora is a classic, powerful, flexible and efficient email client that cans spam precisely, too, and shows nary a weakness. Leveraging the statistical spam filter to organize good mail would be nice, though.
4. Opera - Free Windows Email Program
"Opera - Free Email Program"Heinz Tschabitscher
The Opera email client is a slick and flexible interface that will satisfy almost all your email needs, and Opera integrates RSS feeds in this experience as well. Some may find the message editor lacking a bit in power, and the absence of support for encrypted email is unfortunate.
5. Mulberry - Free Windows Email Program
"Mulberry - Free Email Program"Heinz Tschabitscher
Mulberry is a powerful and incredibly versatile email client available for all the popular platforms. If there is something Mulberry lacks, it is simplicity.
6. Pegasus Mail - Free Windows Email Program
"Pegasus Mail - Free Email Program"Heinz Tschabitscher
Pegasus Mail is one of the most powerful, secure and generally best email programs available for Windows, but the interface could need some polishing to make its features more accessible.
7. IncrediMail - Free Windows Email Program
"IncrediMail - Free Email Program"Heinz Tschabitscher
IncrediMail is a fun and easy to use email client that adds spice to the messages you send while protecting you from spam, phishing and fraud attempts in a convenient manner. Unfortunately, IncrediMail lacks some productivity features if you have to deal with large amounts of mail.
8. Foxmail - Free Windows Email Program
"Foxmail - Free Email Program"Heinz Tschabitscher
Foxmail is a nice email client with lots of great features that make email easy and fun. Unfortunately, it doesn't support IMAP accounts and its message editor lacks basic text (re-)formatting tools.
9. DreamMail - Free Windows Email Program
"DreamMail - Free Email Program"Heinz Tschabitscher
DreamMail manages email and RSS feeds handily and handsomely with stationery, labels and related message search. Unfortunately, international language support is limited, DreamMail's spam filter seems ineffective, and IMAP accounts are not supported.
10. Alpine - Free Windows Email Program
"Alpine - Free Email Program"Heinz Tschabitscher
Alpine is powerful console email program that makes you use email productively with automation aplenty and nary a distraction.
11. Sylpheed - Free Windows Email Program
"Sylpheed - Free Email Program"Heinz Tschabitscher
Sylpheed is a surprisingly versatile email client. 'Surprisingly' because it has a friendly, easy to use interface to its many useful features.
12. i.Scribe - Free Windows Email Program
"Scribe - Email Program"Heinz Tschabitscher
InScribe and its free version, i.Scribe, are true little email program gems. They're small, fast, efficient and very usable. Unfortunately, they lack secure messaging, and the IMAP support in Scribe is not perfect.

Free Image Hosting Services

Better than attaching large images to your emails: put your pictures and icons and smileys on a free image hosting service once and include them inline in your messages quickly as often as you want.
Make sure you don't upload images you want to keep private, of course!

Free Email Services @ Sending Images Inline (7)

Top Free Image Hosting Services
Share images and insert them in your emails, too. Better than big attachments: upload your photos and signature images to a free image hosting service and send links or inline images via email. Of course, you can use these images in forums, auctions and elsewhere on the web as well. Here are my favorite free image hosting services for use with email.

4FreeImageHost.com
Register with 4FreeImageHost.com and upload pictures up to 750 KB in size. 4FreeImageHost.com supports JPEG, GIF and PNG images.

FreeImageHosting.Net
FreeImageHosting.Net stores JPEG, PNG, GIF and BMP images up to 3 MB for free and for use in your emails, forum posts, auctions, and more.

ImageCave
With a free ImageCave account comes a handy and simple way to host GIF and JPEG pictures up to 250 KB in size.

ImageShack
ImageShack hosts pictures up to some 1.5 MB for free and can resize them for easy including in emails, too. Supported image formats include JPEG, PNG, GIF; BMP, TIFF and SWF.

ImageVenue
ImageVenue holds your JPEG images up to 3 MB in size, and it can resize big pictures to reasonable dimensions at upload time, too.

pHosted.com
pHosted.com stores JPEG, GIF and PNG images up to 300 KB in size in a truly uncomplicated manner.

Photobucket
You have to register for a free account at Photobucket, but then you get tools for organizing and editing your images. Photobucket supports JPEG, GIF, PNG and BMP files up to 1 MB for free users.

Top 16 Free Email Services

If you are looking for a free email service, you can be picky. You'll be rewarded with plenty of storage, effective spam filtering, a fast interface, desktop email program access and more. Find the top 16 free email services to choose from reviewed here.

1. Gmail - Free Email Service

Heinz Tschabitscher

Gmail is the Google approach to email and chat. Practically unlimited free online storage allows you to collect all your messages, and Gmail's simple but very smart interface lets you find them precisely and see them in context without effort. POP and powerful IMAP access bring Gmail to any email program or device.
Gmail puts contextual advertising next to the emails you read.
Gmail Review | Gmail Resources | Gmail Screenshots | Gmail Tips

2. AIM Mail - Free Email Service

Heinz Tschabitscher

AIM Mail, AOL's free web-based email service, shines with unlimited online storage, very good spam protection and a rich, easy to use interface.
Unfortunately, AIM Mail lacks a bit in productivity (no labels, smart folders and message threading), but makes up for some of that with very functional IMAP (as well as POP) access.
AIM Mail Review | AIM Mail Tips

3. GMX Mail - Free Email Service

Heinz Tschabitscher

GMX Mail is a reliable email service filtered well of spam and viruses whose 5 GB of online storage you can use not only through a rich web interface but also via POP or IMAP from a desktop email program.
More and smarter ways to organize mail could be nice.
GMX Mail Review | GMX Mail Tips

4. Yahoo! Mail - Free Email Service

Heinz Tschabitscher

Yahoo! Mail is your ubiquitous email program on the web with unlimited storage and RSS news feeds, SMS texting and instant messaging to boot.
While Yahoo! Mail is generally a joy to use, free-form labelling and smart folders would be nice, and the spam filter could catch junk even more effectively.
Yahoo! Mail Review | Yahoo! Mail Resources | Yahoo! Mail Tips

5. Inbox.com - Free Email Service

Heinz Tschabitscher

Inbox.com not only gives you 5 GB to store your mail online but also a highly polished, fast and functional way to access it via either the web (including speedy search, free-form labels and reading mail by conversation) or through POP in your email program.
Unfortunately, IMAP access is not supported by Inbox.com, and its tools for organizing mail could be improved with smart or self-teaching folders.
Inbox.com Review | Inbox.com Tips

6. Gawab.com - Free Email Service

Heinz Tschabitscher

Gawab.com is a speedy, stable and very usable free email service with 2 GB online space, POP access and many a web-based goodie.
It's a pity Gawab.com lacks IMAP access and full message search.
Gawab.com Review

7. Zenbe - Free Email Service

Heinz Tschabitscher

Zenbe organizes your emails and attachments (from Zenbe and existing POP accounts) with labels and search — and integrates calendar, to-do list, Facebook updates, too.
With a focus on elegant simplicity, Zenbe provides many sweet shortcuts but also shows quirks and omissions in others. The spam filter is good but IMAP and POP access missing.
Zenbe Review

8. FastMail Guest Account - Free Email Service

Heinz Tschabitscher

FastMail is a great free email service with IMAP access, useful features, one of the best web-based email interfaces and few ads.
FastMail Review | FastMail Resources | FastMail Tips

9. Yahoo! Mail Classic - Free Email Service

Heinz Tschabitscher

Yahoo! Mail Classic is a comfortable, reliable and secure email service with unlimited storage. A pretty good spam filter keeps the junk out, and you can send rich emails using Yahoo! Mail's HTML editor.
Yahoo! Mail Classic Review | Yahoo! Mail Resources | Yahoo! Mail Classic Tips

10. Windows Live Hotmail - Free Email Service

Heinz Tschabitscher

Windows Live Hotmail is a free email service that gives you a 5 GB of online storage, fast search, solid security and an interface easy as a desktop email program.
When it comes to organizing mail, Windows Live Hotmail does not go beyond folders (to saved searches and tags, for example), its spam filter could be more effective, and POP or IMAP access are missing.
Windows Live Hotmail Review | Windows Live Hotmail Resources | Windows Live Hotmail Tips

Buddy sites for bloggers

3D travelling to anywhere in the world (incl. Vietnam)

Your Search Engine Internet directory, information, search engine, and web guide. Vacation travel airline reservations entertainment sightseeing highlights discounts tourism hotels restaurants airfair

5 Best Free Download Sites

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Download.com: A potpourri of games, utilities, and tools.

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DriversHQ.com: Driver updates and a freebie device that checks the current versions of your drivers.

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Nonags.com: Downloads that don't limit the number of days you can use them or nag you to buy upgraded versions.

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Tucows.com: Zippy downloads and thoughtful editorial selection.

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PCWorld.com/downloads: Okay, we're biased, but our own site offers over 7000 downloads for everything from business apps to screen savers.

Fantastic Freebies, Alphabetical Order

Fantastic Freebies, Alphabetical Order

• 30Boxes.com (service)
• 4Shared (service)
• AbiWord (download)
• Airport Security (service)
• AlfaClock (desktop)
• AppSnap (download)
• Audacity (download)
• Avira AntiVir PersonalEdition Classic (download)
• Awasu Personal Edition (download)
• BitDefender Online Scanner (service)
• Blist (service)
• Bluestring (service)
• Bug.gd (service)
• Buzzword.com (service)
• CCleaner (download)
• Clip2Net (service)
• CO2 Saver (download)
• Command & Conquer Gold (download)
• Comodo Firewall Pro (download)
• Disaffected (download)
• Discovery Earth Live (service)
• Dopplr (service)
• DropBoks (service)
• Dungeon Runners (download)
• Eusing Free Registry Cleaner (download)
• Excit (service)
• FeedDemon (download)
• Feedreader (download)
• Feedshow (service)
• Fixmymovie (service)
• Flightstats (service)
• flOw (download)
• Flypaper (service)
• FotoFlexer (service)
• Foxit Reader for Windows (download)
• Freeciv (download)
• FreeMind (download)
• FreeRange FreeReader (download)
• Gizmo (download)
• GreatNews (download)
• iDrive (service)
• iLike (service)
• iTunes Library Updater (download)
• Lala.com (service)
• Lightning (download)
• Little Fighter 2 (download)
• Make Me Sustainable (service)
• McAfee Rootkit Detective (download)
• MeeVee (service)
• Microsoft Office Live Small Business (service)
• Microsoft Office Live Workspace (service)
• Miro (download)
• MizPee (service)
• Moffsoft FreeCalc (download)
• MP3 Rocket (download)
• Openomy (service)
• Pbwiki (service)
• Photoscape (download)
• Phrasr (service)
• Pidgin (download)
• Pownce (service)
• RealWorld Cursor Editor (download)
• RocketDock (download)
• RSS Bandit (download)
• RSS Ticker (download)
• Scrybe (service)
• Secunia Personal Software Inspector (download)
• Shareaza (download)
• Slacker (service)
• SlickRun (download)
• Soundsnap (service)
• Spamfighter Pro (download)
• Splume (service)
• Spyware Doctor Starter Edition (download)
• StarOffice (download)
• Stellarium (download)
• SyncMyCal (download)
• Ta-da List (service)
• Talkshoe (service)
• TeeBeeDee (service)
• TerraServer (service)
• ThinkFree Online (service)
• ThreatFire Free (download)
• TimeBridge (service)
• Torrent Swapper (download)
• TrackMyShipments (service)
• TrueCrypt (download)
• URL Snooper (download)
• VirusTotal Uploader (download)
• Vista Start Menu (download)
• Voo2do.com (service)
• Wavosaur (download)
• WeFi (download)
• Winamp (download)
• WinCustomize (service)
• WindowBlinds (download)
• WinMatrix (service)
• Xplorer2 Lite (download)
• Yahoo Live (service)
• Zamzar (service)
• Zillow (service)
  
  

101 Fantastic Freebies, by Category Productivity

Fantastic Freebies, by Category

Productivity

• AbiWord (download)
• TrackMyShipments (service)
• Buzzword.com (service)
• ThinkFree Online (service)
• StarOffice (download)
• Foxit Reader for Windows (download)
• Microsoft Office Live Small Business (service)
• Blist (service)
• Moffsoft FreeCalc (download)

File Sharing and Storage

• 4Shared (service)
• Torrent Swapper (download)
• Shareaza (download)
• Microsoft Office Live Workspace (service)
• DropBoks (service)
• Openomy (service)
• MP3 Rocket (download)
• Bluestring (service)

Security

• VirusTotal Uploader (download)
• Avira AntiVir PersonalEdition Classic (download)
• Spyware Doctor Starter Edition (download)
• Comodo Firewall Pro (download)
• TrueCrypt (download)
• Secunia Personal Software Inspector (download)
• Spamfighter Pro (download)
• BitDefender Online Scanner (service)
• ThreatFire Free (download)
• McAfee Rootkit Detective (download)

Video and Photo

• Phrasr (service)
• Flypaper (service)
• Miro (download)
• Photoscape (download)
• URL Snooper (download)
• MeeVee (service)
• Yahoo Live (service)
• Fixmymovie (service)
• FotoFlexer (service)

System Backup and Utilities

• Zamzar (service)
• Bug.gd (service)
• Clip2Net (service)
• iDrive (service)
• CCleaner (download)
• AppSnap (download)
• Eusing Free Registry Cleaner (download)
• CO2 Saver (download)

Maps and Directions

• WeFi (download)
• Zillow (service)
• TerraServer (service)
• FreeMind (download)
• Discovery Earth Live (service)
• MizPee (service)
• Stellarium (download)
• Flightstats (service)

Communications

• Pownce (service)
• Pidgin (download)
• Pbwiki (service)
• Make Me Sustainable (service)
• Gizmo (download)
• Dopplr (service)
• Talkshoe (service)
• TeeBeeDee (service)

Time Management

• Voo2do.com (service)
• TimeBridge (service)
• 30Boxes.com (service)
• SyncMyCal (download)
• Lightning (download)
• Scrybe (service)
• Ta-da List (service)

Music

• Winamp (download)
• Audacity (download)
• iTunes Library Updater (download)
• Soundsnap (service)
• iLike (service)
• Slacker (service)
• Lala.com (service)
• Wavosaur (download)

Desktop Customization

• WinMatrix (service)
• WindowBlinds (download)
• WinCustomize (service)
• Vista Start Menu (download)
• RealWorld Cursor Editor (download)
• RocketDock (download)
• AlfaClock (desktop)
• SlickRun (download)
• Xplorer2 Lite (download)

News Readers

• FeedDemon (download)
• RSS Bandit (download)
• Feedreader (download)
• Awasu Personal Edition (download)
• GreatNews (download)
• FreeRange FreeReader (download)
• Feedshow (service)
• RSS Ticker (download)

Games

• Splume (service)
• Excit (service)
• Command & Conquer Gold (download)
• Airport Security (service)
• Dungeon Runners (download)
• Little Fighter 2 (download)
• Disaffected (download)
• Freeciv (download)
• flOw (download)

Best Download

FreeReader Brings the News to Your Mobile Device

With scores of free programs now available on the Web, an application has to have more than just good looks to get the nod for our favorite shareware product. Our winner brings your news to places other free news readers can't.

Click to view full-size image.

FreeRange FreeReader brings the speed and convenience of RSS feeds to a wide array of mobile phones. Install this clean and fast feed reader, and the fun little games on your phone will soon suffer from neglect as you instead go straight for all the latest news reports from your favorite sources.

You can set up everything through your phone, but the better bet is to create your account and feed subscriptions through the Web site on a PC. As with any good news reader, you can import or export OPML lists from other readers, though you're limited to ten subscriptions in the free version. You can also create custom feeds that track news on particular topics or that watch market activity for one or more stock symbols.

After a quick download to your phone, you'll be reading your news in no time in a customizable and well laid-out display. FreeReader starts with article headlines and summaries and downloads the full articles only when you choose, and a typical update for ten feeds is small (around 80KB). But remember to watch your data usage if you don't have an unlimited data plan for your phone.

101 Fantastic Freebies (2)

Whether you're partial to online services or to downloadable software, we have the Web's best free stuff and it'll keep you productive, secure, and entertained.

Best Web App
Slacker Works Hard to Find Music

image
Illustration: Zohar Lazar
Over the past year, music "taste sharing" sites have increased in visibility and popularity. They're not only a good way to get hip to new music, but they're good places to meet new people, too.

Despite its name, is no slouch. Rivals such as Last.fm and Pandora garner well-deserved praise, but don't compare to Slacker in ease of use. No matter what your music tastes may be, within about 30 seconds of first arriving at this Internet radio site you can be listening to your pick of a huge number of potential stations.

Click to view full-size image.

It gets even better. Slacker helpfully displays the full list of artists that play on any given station, but you don't have to stick with the list. If you start with one of the premade genre stations, you can toss bands you don't like from the lineup. Pick an artist station, which adds similar bands to an artist you search for, and you can also mix in your choice of crooners. You can choose favorite songs to hear them more often, and skip those you don't like (up to six songs per hour for the free level of use).

Add in more fine-tuning options for each station, such as whether to lean toward lesser-known music or top hits, plus a downloadable software player that can run without a browser, and you'll like this hard-working Slacker.

101 Fantastic Freebies

Whether you're partial to online services or to downloadable software, we have the Web's best free stuff and it'll keep you pro

Free. It's the magic word for an ever-expanding wealth of downloadable software and online services. Free doesn't necessarily mean good, however, and hunting for freebies can mean sifting through a lot of junk.

That's where we come in. We surfed, clicked, and installed to find sparkling free gems capable of planning your time, keeping you in touch, and tuning and securing your PC, not to mention glitzing up your desktop, helping you stay productive, and entertaining you with music, videos, photos, and games. We paid special attention to programs and services you may not have heard of before.

We also singled out two free offerings--one download and one online service--as the best of the bunch. We want to hear your picks for the best freebies, too, whether they appear in this article or not. Please let us know by joining our forum discussion.

more details at http://www.pcworld.com/article/143642/101_fantastic_freebies.html

The Web's Best Free Stuff

The Web's Best Free Stuff

File sharing & Storage:

FILE SHARING:

uTorrent: light and fast,

http://www.utorrent.com/

BitComet: New kid on the block,

http://www.bitcomet.com/

STORAGE:

WindowsLive SkyDrive: 5 GIG. of online storage

http://skydrive.live.com/

SECURITY:

F-Secure: Black Light , AntiRootkit

F-Secure: Online Scanner, You will find both on the same page of this site

http://www.f-secure.com/security_center/

Avast: AntiVirus with Shields

http://www.avast.com/eng/avast_4_home.html

AVG: AntiVirus, Very Popular with this Community

http://free.grisoft.com/

RunScanner: Start-Up Analyzer

http://www.runscanner.net/

Dial-A-Fix: Well worth a look. I believe you had an article about this, not to long ago.

http://wiki.djlizard.net/Dial-a-fix#Mirrors.2Fdownload_locations.2C_and_articles
System Backup and Utilities

Tweak-UI: customizing wizard for XP

http://www.microsoft.com/windowsxp/downloads/powertoys/xppowertoys.mspx

WinBubble: customizing wizard for Vista, all new.

http://www.snapfiles.com/get/winbubble.html

Windows Sysinternals: A collection of security utilities from MicrosoftTechNet.

http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/sysinternals/25e27bed-b251-4af4-b30a-c2a2a93a80d9.aspx
Music

Jango: Listen to any kind of music online anytime for free, You don't even have to register if you don't want to.

http://www.jango.com/users/6418129?l=0

MediaMonkey: A free music collection organizer. Everything from tags to converting to even IPods for free!

http://www.mediamonkey.com/.

So, PCW , this is what you missed and IMO are among the Best Freebies on the web. I hope you will check them out for your next freebie party.

FLASHORN.

Best Free* Stuff Online (*Get 'em While You Can!)

Great Web freebies aren't as plentiful as they were before the dot coms ran into financial trouble, but we found 50-plus useful gems that can help you at work, at home, or at play.

Everyone loves to get something for nothing. Nowhere is that concept more appealing than on the Web.

At PC World, we've spent years scouring the Web in search of the best free stuff the Internet has to offer. But lately, the job's been a little tougher. New sites distributing freebies aren't cropping up as rapidly as they once did, and old ones are dropping out at a breakneck pace (such as the free ISP service Freei.net, or General Magic's MyTalk voice-mail service). Some stuff that once was free is now offered only for a fee (like ThinkFree, a formerly free software suite that's similar to Microsoft Office). It's a changing Web out there, and it's hard to make a buck when you're giving away the goods for free (see "Free Stuff's Hidden Hitches").

For this sixth installment of our annual Free Stuff guide, we sifted through a lot of dreck to uncover our list of favorites. Forget about those worthless sites touting free postage and credit reports; we focused on sites offering something really useful, such as free Internet access, top-notch office suite software, and cheat codes for computer games to help you get higher scores--yeah, we know what's really important.

We've broken the sites into three categories: work, home, and play. You'll find stuff to save you money and time at home, to help you run your business or small office, and to help you kick back and enjoy your leisure time. We also rounded up some quick hits of the best sites for free file downloads, online privacy services, organizing tools, reference works, and music. As long as they're giving it away, why not take it?

Free Stuff@Work

Fax Facts

JConnect Free Many sites provide free phone numbers for incoming fax and voice messages, but J2 has been doing it the longest--for a fee--under its former name, JFax. Now the JConnect Free service does the same at no cost and asks for very little personal information in return: name, e-mail address, age, gender, and zip code. You'll get a unique phone number that forwards messages, in the form of well-compressed audio and image files, to your e-mail in-box. If you overuse the service, however, J2 may ask you to limit your usage, and the company may cancel the account if you don't--a prudent policy, and one that should ensure JConnect doesn't go the way of other failed free services (although JConnect doesn't define what it considers "overuse").
Site to Be Seen

Freeservers This domain-registration site will give you 20MB of Web site space free, as well as a host of terrific features (you don't actually need a domain to have a site hosted here). For instance, you can import or upload sites wholesale via FTP or a Web-based tool, or build new pages using easy-to-follow templates. Freeservers also processes e-mail sent to your domain (if you have one), either by forwarding it to the account you specify or by storing it in a Web-based mailbox at the Freeservers site. Its tools for analyzing your site's traffic are sterling: You can view daily or weekly breakdowns of the pages that surfers visit, the browsers they use for surfing, and the referral pages that send them to your site. Not bad, in exchange for letting the service display just one ad banner.
I Spy

Company Sleuth Whether you want to keep tabs on your competition or you simply want the lowdown on companies you invest in, Company Sleuth can help you keep track of what's going on. You sign up by entering the ticker symbols for the companies you want to watch, and the site will collect information on them--culling data from press releases, news sites, job listings, investor forums, and SEC documents, as well as Net domain and trademark registries. It can serve up the info in a neatly compiled page or e-mail a regular digest of what's new with a particular company. Even if the report is just a quote from someone bad-mouthing the firm in Yahoo's investor forums, you'll still wanna know about it.
Web Cop

NetWhistle How reliable is the company you pay to host your domain's Web site and e-mail? NetWhistle's PersonalWhistle will tell you. This free monitoring service pings your Web site at fixed intervals to see if it's up. It can also check e-mail boxes at the same intervals. If there's a problem, the service logs it and notifies you via e-mail (or by pager, if your paging company has an e-mail gateway); it also delivers a weekly report card. The service will monitor up to five URLs or e-mail boxes at specific intervals; to either monitor more addresses or monitor at more-frequent intervals, you'll have to pay.
Good-bye to Office

Software602 Want to break free of your Microsoft cage? Software602's free word processor and spreadsheet program, 602Pro PC Suite 2000, is comparable to Office and compatible with it as well--the suite handles Word 2000 documents with several layers of tracked and highlighted changes in them and Excel documents laden with statistical formulas. You may never have to call on Microsoft again. Software602 also throws in a decent photo-editing tool that supports over 15 graphics formats. The 14.5MB program has no ads and no subscription fee. The company hopes to make money by selling you feature upgrades such as a thesaurus, as well as LAN and fax software. But its free offering is excellent and stands alone.
City of Bytes

AppCity For companies looking to dive into the Web-based software phenomenon and throw away their shrink-wrapped boxes, AppCity is a great place to try out some online programs. Download its 9.09MB AppPlayer, and you'll be able to run programs from AppCity's site immediately. The site offers tools for expense and time tracking, sales force automation, and project management, as well as others to help you track employees and memberships. Better yet, the site's AppZapper lets you easily create a custom application using drag-and-drop features. Certainly, there are more-sophisticated programs available--but not ones that are free, customizable, and Web-based so that you can access them from any PC.
Internal Affairs

Intranets.com Corporate intranets are great for organizing internal communications and helping to keep your workforce well informed and up-to-date on company news. Intranets.com provides an intranet for free--complete with a calendar for scheduling group and personal appointments, and a file-sharing capability that tells you who was the last person to work on a document. After you set up an administrator's account for your password-protected site, you can add participants at will. Employees can post messages to your intranet's home page, participate in discussion groups in the threaded messaging forums, vote simultaneously on projects and ideas in the polling section, and even share internal instant-messaging services.

Free Stuff@Home

Surfer Sam

SurfSaver 2.2 Your browser has a File/Save option, but it's not ideal for trying to save online content to your hard drive to read offline--formats disappear, and text gets jumbled. That's where AskSam's SurfSaver 2.2 comes in. This 5.5MB download lets you save entire Web pages--including any linked pages connected to the page you're saving--in a single step. It retains the page formatting even when frames are involved so that you see the data exactly as it appeared online. It also creates a searchable offline archive of all the Web pages that you save, and lets you organize these pages by dragging them into separate subject folders. You can even annotate the saved pages with comments to highlight information that you want to stand out.
On Call

Net2Phone In the past year, countless freewheeling Net companies have turned coat and started charging for their one-time gratis services. Net2Phone, however, has gone the opposite route, turning its fee-based service into a free one. After installing the company's 860KB download, you can make free PC-to-phone and PC-to-PC domestic calls to anywhere in the United States. For PC-to-PC calls, the recipient must first download the Net2Phone program. Net2Phone also lets you send free voice-mail messages to anyone in the world via e-mail. The recipient receives brief instructions about downloading the software to hear your message. In addition, the site offers a free answering service in the United States and Canada that lets you hear incoming phone messages through your PC's speakers, and while you're still online. However, the feature uses your existing telephone line and your phone company's "forward on busy" answering service, so you'll have to pay your phone company for that extra service.
Personal Shopper

Copernic Shopper Want to save money when you shop? Copernic adapts its well-established search engine to its new program, Copernic Shopper (a 2.87MB download), to poll shopping-comparison sites in 13 categories. Enter the name of a product you want to buy, and Copernic Shopper searches dozens of different sources, serves up the best prices from various e-vendors, and lists the shipping costs and product availability. Click one of the results, and you'll arrive at the corresponding vendor's site where you can order the product online (Copernic accepts a commission from sites that offer a referral fee, but the company says this doesn't determine which vendors it includes in its service). Copernic Shopper also throws in a currency converter as well as a search-history function to save you from doing search replays, and it updates itself automatically to keep your results current.
Kill Bugs Dead

PC Pitstop; HouseCall; Security Check When it comes to virus protection, there is no better solution than installing a solid scanning program on your system and updating it regularly. But in the absence of such a program, these companies offer you a Web-based virus scanning tool for free. PC Pitstop, in addition to its virus scanner, offers a disk analyzer, an Internet connection monitor, a tool for analyzing your PC's configuration and making recommendations for better performance, and a diagnostic tool that tells you if unwanted ActiveX controls are lurking in your PC. HouseCall, Trend Micro's free online scanner, is easy to use and effective, and it will not only find viruses but also remove most of them. Symantec's Security Check finds viruses (but won't eliminate them), analyzes whether your PC is vulnerable to hacking, and tells you if your browser is feeding your personal information to Web sites.
Hands-Off Browsing

HandsFree Browser The problem with browsing the Net is the carpal contorting that clicking on hyperlinks demands. Edumedia's HandsFree Browser (a 2.47MB download) takes care of tedious click-work by using plug-in and voice-recognition technology (but it works only with Internet Explorer, not with Netscape). When you run the browser, it automatically checks all the links and forms on the current Web page, and jumps to a link when you say its name--just remember to enunciate. You can also fill in Web forms with such information as your name, address, and phone number using a single command.
Free ISPs

NetZero; BlueLight; Freedomlist Free Internet service providers are an endangered species, but they're great to use as a backup in case your paid provider goes down. While two other free ISPs keeled over as we were writing this, NetZero and BlueLight seem to be holding strong. And they can save you over $200 a year in access fees if you forgo a paid service altogether. Sure, you pay indirectly for these services by having to endure large ad frames placed on your screen while you're online. The companies also record your surfing history to serve you targeted ads, and they limit the amount of time you can be online (BlueLight locks you out after 25 hours a month, NetZero begins charging you after 40 hours). What's more, there's no guarantee these services won't go the way of other free ISPs. But if they do, you can always search for alternative free ISPs (and access a list comparing their features) at Freedomlist, which also keeps track of the latest ones to bite the dust.
Reference Guru

Atomica Ever find yourself without a dictionary when you need the definition of a word quickly? Atomica for Windows can deliver the meaning of a word appearing in any Windows program (e-mail, browser, word processor, or whatever). You simply hold the Alt key while clicking on a mystery word, and a definition pops up. The slight 945KB download is a subset of a larger knowledge bank from a company formerly known as GuruNet. The program draws on definitive Web sources, dictionaries, and encyclopedias from its server; the only drawback is that you have to be online to use it.

Free Stuff@Play

The Game's the Thing

MSN Gaming Zone; Heat.net; GoCheat; Pogo.com So you like to play games, do you? Well, of the many sites where you can face off against a live foe in Quake II or Jedi Knight, two stand out. MSN's Gaming Zone has 100 free or free-trial games that range from checkers and cards to wilder offerings like Magic & Mayhem and Monster Truck Madness. Heat.net has 115 online multiplayer games, including Warcraft II and Diablo. You do have to download game software, so during setup be sure to select only the games you want. While you're at it, check out GoCheat for workarounds to game rules. What's that you say? You like to play by the rules? Well, hard-core gamers know that cheat codes can help them gain unlimited lives, sneak around the interface the back way, and generally lord it over wimpy weekend gamers. GoCheat offers codes for PCs and game consoles and catalogs them in easy-to-navigate lists. For tamer games, Pogo.com offers card and board games, bingo, and casino games.

@ the Movies

AtomFilms; The Sync Got a couple of hours to spare--or just a couple of minutes? Take in a movie from the comfort of your office chair at AtomFilms or The Sync. Both showcase excellent shorts in RealVideo and Windows Media formats. AtomFilms boasts the winner of the 2000 Oscar for best live-action short film (My Mother Dreams the Satan's Disciples in New York), short works with cameos by Jennifer Aniston and George Clooney, and a series of stop-motion animation shorts from Aardman Studios (the team behind the Wallace and Gromit films and Chicken Run). The Sync's offerings are more self-consciously edgy, though it also provides full-length, must-see classics such as Nosferatu (1922), The Cabinet of Doctor Caligari (1919), and Reefer Madness (1936).

The Puzzlers

Yahoo Games: Crosswords; PuzzleDepot Okay, so you made short work of crossword puzzle editor Will Shortz's efforts in the New York Times during your coffee break. Now where will you turn for your puzzle challenges? Yahoo Games features daily stumpers that are archived for two weeks. And no pencil required. Oh, and if you need a helpful clue, PuzzleDepot's word pattern-matching tool can help you fill in the blanks. For those lazier days, the site also provides free online crosswords that aren't that tough to crack.

Ears to You

Artmuseum.net If the Net had been around a century ago, van Gogh might have made a fortune on EBay. Vince died in utter poverty, but you can still enrich yourself with this amazing virtual tour of his works, which actually lets you "walk into" 3D representations of two of his paintings. Presented by Intel and the Van Gogh Museum in Amsterdam, the tour includes a 3D stroll through the museum accompanied by an audio narrative and a spectacular zoom-in function that lets you see brushstrokes almost as clearly as if you were a nose-length from the actual painting. The program is 12MB and is best accessed using a broadband connection, since your computer has to connect with a server in Reykjavík, Iceland (don't ask), to produce the art. But even if you don't have a speedy connection, you can still visit the site's other great exhibits on Andy Warhol (parental discretion advised), and the Whitney Museum's fascinating retrospective of twentieth-century art and culture.

Junior Sings the Blues

Junior's Juke Joint A compendium of all things Delta (Mississippi, that is) and all things blues, this interesting site, run by a self-described redneck anthropologist, combs the Deep South to bring the fading culture of southern juke joints to the masses. Part VH1, part travelogue, and part Martha Stewart, Junior's Juke Joint attempts to preserve a lively and colorful roadhouse music tradition that is becoming nearly as rare as A&Ws and Dairy Queens. The 50-something "Junior" travels the American South in his 1983 Chrysler "bluesmobile" to bring you living history and colorful yarns about the people and cultures of the region. The site includes short stories, a write-up about each juke joint that Junior has visited, and tips for pulling off a successful pig roast (hint: It's best done while under the influence of moonshine). No sign yet, however, of the promised recipe for barbecued 'coon.

Watson on the Web

Crime Scene This site should come with an addiction warning because you're bound to return to it again and again--like a criminal to the scene of the crime. Satisfying the armchair detective in you, Crime Scene lets you follow the investigators of Yoknapatawpha County (the fictional setting of William Faulkner's books) as they troll through the unseemly underbelly of society to solve the mystery behind grisly murder cases. You can either participate as an observer for free--which means you can examine evidence such as crime scene photos, surveillance videos, interrogation transcripts and tapes, and lab reports--or for $5, you can sign up as a case detective and ask the investigators questions about niggling details or offer them your own ingenious theories about the crime. The site notifies you by e-mail when new evidence is available for viewing. Cases can string along for weeks, but it's fascinating to watch the evidence unfold.

5 Best Free Download Sites

1. Download.com: A potpourri of games, utilities, and tools.

2. DriversHQ.com: Driver updates and a freebie device that checks the current versions of your drivers.

3. Nonags.com: Downloads that don't limit the number of days you can use them or nag you to buy upgraded versions.

4. Tucows.com: Zippy downloads and thoughtful editorial selection.

5. PCWorld.com/downloads: Okay, we're biased, but our own site offers over 7000 downloads for everything from business apps to screen savers.

Free Stuff's Hidden Hitches

Caveat freeloader! The Web's wealth of free items has its share of catches. Here are a few things you should be aware of when grabbing the gratis goods:

Obtrusive ads: Many free sites and services support themselves by dishing up banner ads. Some do it more subtly than others, but you might not want to use a free program or service for your business if it covers your screen or e-mail correspondence with ads. (Some services offer ad-free versions, for which you pay.)

Annoying e-mail: Many sites automatically sign you up for e-mailed newsletters and product ads, or let "partners" bombard you with e-mail. Feel free to uncheck any default opt-in box for these "important messages."

No privacy: Free sites also make money by selling your personal information to advertisers. Look for a TRUSTe seal or a privacy policy if you're concerned about what will happen to your info. Don't provide any data you think the site has no need to know.

Massive downloads: Many free downloads are multimegabyte files that take a while to grab (especially over dial-up connections) and hog hard disk space. The best sites warn you about a file's size and transfer time before you click Download.

Disappearing sites: In these days of dot-com fallout, many free Web services are here today, gone tomorrow. You can't count on any service being around forever, so think twice before relying on any of them for crucial business or personal needs.

5 Best Free Privacy Services

1. Anonymizer.com: Proxy site that lets you anonymously surf URLs you type in.

2. Enonymous.com: Enonymous Advisor plug-in rates the privacy policy of the sites you visit.

3. HushMail.com: Easy-to-use, end-to-end, Web-based encryption.

4. PrivacyX.com: Offers a secure POP3 e-mail box for reading your encrypted correspondence.

5. ZoneAlarm.com: Robust firewall for Web connections and incoming e-mail.

5 Best Free Organizers

1. Planner.Excite.com: Syncs your schedule with Palm PDAs, Outlook, and select smart phones; can also send you reminders of events by e-mail and pager.

2. Delphi.com: Superb Web-based messaging service lets you hold public or password-protected threaded discussions.

3. Evite.com: Electronic invitations and event planning.

4. Palm.net: This organizer for your handheld also guides you to what's playing on TV, at the movie theater, or at the local stadium.

5. Visto.com: Calendar and task manager, online file storage, and a program to sync home, work, and Visto files.

5 Best Free Reference Sites

1. IMDb.com: Searchable Internet Movie Database cross-references stars, directors, script writers; throws in collections of quotations and a lot more.

2. Infoplease.com: An almanac, encyclopedia, dictionary, and atlas in one.

3. InfoSpace.com: White and yellow pages, business listings, and maps.

4. MapQuest.com: Reliable turn-by-turn driving directions and maps.

5. OneLook.com: Calls on dozens of dictionaries, glossaries, and specialized vocabulary lists across the Web, and serves up search-engine-style links, on one page.

5 Best Free Music Listening Sites

1. Echo.com: Interactive radio station lets you choose the music genres and vote on the playlist.

2. IUMA.com: Unsigned acts in spades...and in MP3 format.

3. Live365.com: Online broadcaster lets you search for acts through thousands of stations, or create your own station.

4. MP3.com: Eclectic mix of downloadable and broadcast tunes.

5. Sonicnet.com: Hip news and reviews, downloadable music, radio broadcasting, and videos on demand.

Best