It’s no secret: Money is tight everywhere!  That’s why I’ve decided to post this top 10 blog.  A lot of these are my personal preferences, so feel free to comment if you know of a better alternative to anything I have listed here!  The following 10 programs are in no specific order…

1.  AVG Free Edition
AVG is an awesome FREE antivirus program for your computer.  Yes they do have paid versions, but who wants to pay for software that you can have for free?  Grisoft is a tried and true company, they’ve been around for years, and they’ve been a major competitor in the antivirus realm, even in the days where an antivirus other than Norton was hard to come by.

2. Malwarebytes Anti-Malware
Malwarebytes has thankfully provided us with a great tool for keeping our Windows Computers fresh and clean.  And all for the low-low price of “free.” I use and recommend this product daily, and will continue to do so.  They offer a paid version as well, and honestly, if you have the extra cash I almost recommend it too!  (Simply because of the real-time protection it offers)  However, you can get plenty done with the free version.

3. CCleaner
CCleaner has always been my “cleanup crew” software.  I run it after I cleanup up a bad virus or malware infection.  It’s great for obliterating temporary files, and does an excellent job of cleaning up the registry.  You can also run this if your computer is running low on disk space to get rid of un-needed files.

4. Foxit Reader
Foxit Reader is a free PDF reading software.  It’s blazing fast compared to it’s Adobe counterpart, and comes without all of the system bloat.  The interface is very familiar, and easy to use.  I recommend to everyone, but it is especially handy on slower computers that have issues booting Adobe Reader in a timely fashion.

5. Firefox Web Browser
The days of using Internet Explorer for your primary browser are long gone.  Firefox is a safer, faster, and more extensible option.

6. Open Office
Honestly, why drop $200 for Microsoft Office, when you can get a free software suite that is almost exactly the same, and even has the capabilities to save documents and worksheets in Microsoft compatible formats.  The only thing you may miss is Microsoft Access, but the average computer user doesn’t use that anyway!

7. WinRAR
In my opinion, WinRAR is #1 in free file compression.  Opens Zips and Rars and so much more.  Simple to use!

8. Handbrake
I’ve mentioned Handbrake before in my post about video encoding on your Mac, but that doesn’t mean Windows users are left in the dark.  Handbrake can be used to rip DVDs, and even convert current video files on your computer, all for free.

9. VLC Media Player
Probably the number one application for video playback.  This program is tried and true, and I highly recommend for every computer.  Oh, not to mention you’ll need this for your Handbrake install, as Handbrake uses some of the components of VLC.

10. The Gimp
The Gimp is a ridiculously powerful image editing software.  It has many of the features of Adobe Photoshop, at a fraction of the cost (is free a fraction?).  At the end of the day, your computer needs an image editor right?