Genuine free software (not illegal or pirated copies) comes in two categories: trialware and freeware. With trialware, the period of free use expires after 30 days or so. The main purpose of trialware is to get you to buy the paid version once you've had the chance to assess the product.

The second category - which this article is all about - is known as freeware. Freeware is software that is both free and completely legal to download. It is often created as a hobby, by a programmer who doesn't need (or doesn't want) to charge for it. Sometimes it is even created by a whole team of people, as with Mozilla, makers of the fabulous Firefox browser, Open Office and many other wonderful things.

But why do programmers go to all the trouble and expense of creating free software, producing a website and allowing anyone to download the program completely free of charge?

HIDDEN STRINGS

Mozilla software and the various others I will be recommending in this article have no strings attached. They are the genuine article. But some free software does, and the strings may be hidden. In particular, free programs sometimes include spyware, so after downloading and running one, you might find that your browser gets redirected, your home page changed, or unwanted pop-ups keep appearing all the time. With some free software there is no spyware, but during installation you have to be careful not to accidentally agree to change your toolbar or to install additional items on your computer that you don't actually want. Always read the prompts carefully before clicking the 'OK' button!

Some free software is full of ads which are intentionally quite obstructive and annoying. The programmer earns a bit of money from the ads, and states that if you register the program you can make the ads go away. Registration often costs just a few dollars, and if you like the program it may be well worth the cost.

ANTI-VIRUS FREE DOWNLOADS

Free downloads of anti-virus products? Surely they can't be as reliable as paid programs? With free stuff, where's the guarantee? If this is what you think, you couldn't be further from the truth. Some free anti-virus programs are actually better than paid products. I'm not going to name any names of paid programs which did not compare so well in tests - but rest assured, it's true.

Two really outstanding free anti-virus downloads are Avast and Avira (to get the download links see my website address at the end of this article). They both have excellent reviews, and provide first-rate protection. Many people feel they have overtaken AVG Free Antivirus, which used to be top of the charts. Anti-virus products are very expensive to produce, and if you're wondering how the makers manage to survive by providing them free, it's because they also produce complete commercial internet security packages, which give broader protection than just antivirus. People who like the free antivirus often invest in an annual subscription to the full security suite.

OTHER FREE INTERNET SECURITY DOWNLOADS

For enhanced firewall protection, it's hard to beat free ZoneAlarm. Many people who get this as a free download and use it together with one of the top free antivirus programs, feel that they have complete protection. But even the best anti-virus can sometimes fail when it comes to spyware and Trojans. I've already mentioned some of the harm that spyware can do. Free Ad-Aware from Lavasoft, and free Spywareblaster are top-rated free anti-spyware programs. Spywareblaster doesn't just remove spyware, it also prevents it from being installed on your computer.

Trojans are just as sinister as viruses and spyware. They are small programs that masquerade as something useful, but in fact exist to steal information from your computer. Malwarebytes Anti-Malware is recommended by many as supreme in Trojan detection and removal. With the free version you have to update it manually every time you use it, but the paid version (which does not cost a lot) keeps itself automatically updated.

FREE MEDIA PLAYERS

The other day I tried to play a short video using Windows Media Player, only to find that WMP rejected it as having an 'unknown codec'. Surely a video is a video is a video...? What the h... is a codec anyway? The video was in a perfectly normal format, so there wasn't anything I could do to make it playable.

I had heard that free VLC Media Player could play absolutely any audio or video format, and can even repair failed downloads, so I decided to download it. Lo and behold, it was not only incredibly easy to use, but played my video without a hitch. Guess what I'll be using in future instead of Windows Media Player? VLC gets a 10/10 rating from quite a lot of reviewers on the internet, and that's rare. It can also convert files into different formats, and there's a Macintosh version too.

Another top-rated free media player is free Jet Audio. This program plays your music files and you can also use it for CD ripping and burning, recording, and converting music files to different formats. Other Jet Audio features include an equalizer, ability to download YouTube videos, synchronized lyric (karaoke), and tag editing (artist, album, track title etc.)

Sculptris is a free digital sculpture 3D modeling, powerful and extremely easy to use. It provides a digital modeling experience which is very similar to creating a real models out of clay, then virtual clay just materialize out of thin air and can be quickly formed, prodded, cut, edit and added. In practice, very nice effect, allowing your 3D creations grow organically, on-the-fly idea (s) come to you.
Sculptris unlike other 3D modeling programs previously on this blog, that the interface is extremely easy to use and has a relatively small learning curve. Mouse driven sculpture works very well (see video above), and modeling is symmetrical on the fly you are on one side of the object gets the emulated with another (simple and brilliant device that is an extremely useful).
Sculptris provides a variety of materials to choose from and in addition to the funds to make provides powerful painting/drawing/texturing tools that can be used to finesse your model after they are created.
Despite trying and even written some software 3D modeling, I tend to avoid addressing these because I am no expert on digital artist that sort of thing but fifteen minutes playing with Sculptris, and it was clear to me that this is a very special program that does something really good and deserve to be written.
Here are some notes on this program:
Unlimited clay: note that you don't have to worry about polygons or staring at frame views and stretching polygons.Symmetry: reductions of at least half of each eye, ear, hands, feet, etc., you're instantly would have a copy on the other side of your creation.Usability: stylish, sparse interface is un-intimidating and intuitively. after a few hours is all you need to know this software.Sensitivity: pill gives you great control over molding and brush (Note: I haven't tested it myself, as I don't have a Tablet).
Verdict: excellent program not only not surprisingly easy to use interface, but as a free alternative for digital sculpting software such as Zbrush and Mudbox 2009, this is clearly one of the best even if you're just curious about the 3D modeling or digital sculpture, I recommend that you give it a spin, you'll be on your way and produce remarkable creations in minutes.
On the other hand, I really can't speak for the usefulness of these new 3D games and projects and it seems that the model should be established to size and is not expected to scale up or down (Please fix/confirmation of this in the comments if you know).
This is the tool that actually inspire you and promote your creativity rather than restrict and limit the. Kudos to the developer for a great job!
Testing version: Alpha 5
Compatibility: Windows XP, Vista, Windows 7.
Go to homepage programme download latest version (approx 3.1 megs).