Areca Backup Software - 100% Free - Get a lot of questions asking about good backup software. The primary issue I have with a lot of them (including the one Windows comes with) is that it puts your data in proprietary format that ONLY that backup software can read. Don't have access to that software anymore? You don't have a backup then. Enter Areca. It keeps your data in its original format using open source compression methods, meaning nearly anything out there can read your backup. This is for doing backups to another hard drive, another computer on your network or over FTP. It doesn't do CD/DVD backup (see our Home & Office section for that).

KeePass Password Safe - 100% Free - We're all tired of having to remember tons of different passwords for too many different websites and applications. And the password requirements some of them have make the password impossible to remember without writing it down somewhere which completely invalidates the security of password protection. There's also the danger of password reuse. KeePass is a very easy to use password manager that keeps your passwords organized and protected with encryption. You just have to remember one master password to have access to all of them. Since you only have to remember one password from then on, it's advised to make that one password more complex than usual (several words interspersed with numbers or symbols). This also lets you create more complex passwords for sites like financial institutions since you no longer have to remember it or write it down somewhere unsafe.

7zip File Archive Software - 100% Free - Software that can open almost any archive format out there (zip, rar, tar, gz, even ISO images). Can create archive files in both zip and its own 7z format which can create even smaller files than zip. It's evolved far beyond it's original "7 file format" support to include over 25 different archive formats and it's always growing.

PDFCreator - 100% Free - This program does exactly what its title says. Lets you make a PDF file from nearly any application you might need to. It does this by creating a virtual printer that you just send a document to like you would your normal printer. The result, instead of a physically printed page, is a PDF file on your computer! As an example of its utility, I've personally found this tool very useful for "printing" out receipts from things I purchase online. Instead of having to keep a paper copy (which usually doesn't print well directly from the web), I just keep a folder of receipts in My Documents all in PDF form!

Personal Software Inspector - 100% Free & Commercial - This software allows you to scan for security updates not just for Microsoft Windows, but for almost any program you have installed on your computer. As an example, Adobe Flash & Acrobat Reader are other very common vectors for malware to infect your computer, but they only sporadically notify you of available updates. It also gives you links to go right to download the updates for your software!

Truecrypt Data Encryption - 100% Free - Concerned about the data on your laptop if it gets lost or stolen? Need to keep confidential data protected on your home PC? Truecrypt is a surprisingly easy tool to use that makes it nearly impossible for anyone to read the data on your hard drive. I say nearly because its one major weakpoint, your password, can always be broken through brute-force guessing unless you make it sufficiently hard to guess. Like KeePass above, the best password includes several words interspersed with numbers or symbols. It also provides a means to hide data even if you are forced to give up your password (see recent news concerning electronic devices & border crossing laws). If you run a business and use a laptop you carry with you to store important, private data, I highly recommend using some means of encrypting your data (as well as backing it up!).

Auslogic Disk Defrag - Limited Free & Commercial Use - The new hard drive defragmentation tools that Windows Vista & 7 come with are very minimal on giving feedback as to how long they're going to take or what they're even doing. Auslogic makes a great defrag utility that's free for home users, is much faster and shows you exactly what it's doing. The "Defrag & Optimize" feature takes longer to run than a standard defrag, but it's a good thing to do occasionally since it prevents future fragmentation by consolidating all the data into one place and removing holes left behind by a regular defrag. See the Features page for more info.