I was going to title this "Freeware for Dummies" but decided not to for two reasons. One, I did not want anyone to be offended, and two, because I didn't want to break any copyrights.
What is it? Dictionary.com Dictionary.com has four entries, none of which would be considered complete by most of the "freeware community". The most concise definition I have found is this one (from freewarearena.com)
"Simply put, freely available software that demands no fees, is not a trial, demo, nor does it contain any adware, spyware or any intrusive malware of any type."
Enough said?
Why use it? I have an aversion to paying hard earned cash for something that I can legally get for free. Sure I could go out and buy Frontpage, or search the warez sites for a cracked copy that doesn't contain a virus or worm but I find it is cheaper and less effort to surf over to one of my favorite freeware sites and try one of the programs listed there (I am presently using/trying "WYSIWYG Web Builder" from www.pablosoftwaresolutions.com). Another reason I use freeware is because some of is designed to be smaller and/or less resousce hungry. YMMV
Where to get it is the question that most people don't, but should, ask. They will simply search for freeware and whatever type of program they are looking for. If they get a program that contains a nasty then they get a bad attitude about freeware. So how does one find decent freeware? The same way you find anything, by researching it. I will admit that I was lucky, I dicovered newsgroups early in my online experience and stumbled across alt.comp.freeware, which is a great place to learn about and find freeware. They have a site www.pricelesswarehome.org that lists what they consider to be the best freeware available in various categories. One more recommendation before I end this lengthy (for me anyway) post. Do a search for "son of spy" , he has one of the best freeware sites out there.


TPW

Hey!

Thanks for explaining what freeware was. I kind of had an idea of what it was (free software), but I had no clue that freeware also meant software that was free of I'm glad to (now) know about that bit. ^_^

Also, thanks for giving us tips and sites instead of just explaining what freeware is and leaving it at that. They were very helpful. Now I shall go bookmark those sites... ^__^

Thanks again,
-- scryoko

P.S. I think "Freeware for Dummies" fits, really. But like you said, some people might get offended... (and of course the copyright matter.) But I'm not offended, but it really applies... well, to me anyway. lol. ^_^;;

Personally, I'm all about freeware. In any case, it is the proprietor's decision to allow a software program to be freeware, so I love grabbing all the good freeware I can get. However, I am in no way about getting "pirated freeware", the sort of software that's been cracked so it can be used freely and often unnoticed.

BTW, someone posted a link about the top freeware programs. I don't recall the link specifically (I'll post it in the shoutbox if I find it), but it has some really good stuff.

---

P.S. You should have went with Freeware for Dummies - I would have clicked on it, no doubt 'bout it!

I love freeware, it is awesome that there are so many free programs that in many cases work as well or better than software you pay for (especially antivirus/anti-spyware stuff!) So many great projects have been done open-source, you can get almost anything you want legally for free now.

Freeware I think is one of good option, but I think that the freeware Open-Source code, I think is the best in life, not only for the things that you can do with the program under de GPL, also that you can distribute the product in a safe form, and you do not have to make pirate copies that broke the law.

In my personal opinion there is a lot of programs very usefulls that are Freeware, OpenSouce code, but we have to be prevented because, a lot of this "Freeware" programs came with other programs like Ad-ons, Spyware, Malware, and other and in some cases, almost all, it results very dangeros for the computer. We have only take care of this and maybe take some time, to read the license that came with each software.

I want to give to know you a good Open Source Software called TIGHTVNC, this is good for remote control of the PC, I think is a good example of what I'm talking about, the freeware OpenSource code software is the best!

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We live in a world where everything you want, you pay it for. Open source is an idea of distributing software free of charge, that is, you can pay for support if you like, but the application is free in most cases. With that said, there is a list of the 46 best EVER freeware programs, I have used ma ...more