by Jonathan Dale, Fiberlink 

And the best part…It’s FREE!  

Who doesn’t like to hear those words? Well, I guess it really depends on what we are talking about. If it’s your neighbors trash, that’s not really good. If it’s a free hammer when you are about to build a shed in the backyard, that’s pretty helpful. How about when it saves you time or money in doing your day-to-day job? In the world of software applications, IT support staffs seem to have their favorites.  They’re not just for fun and games, there are some serious cost and time savers. 

The desktop manager at my company has a bunch of favorites he was willing to share with me.  I think you will find these useful if you are not already using them. 

• 7-zip:  A great alternative to WinZip, it is based on open source code which is totally free to use.
• Malware Bytes:  This manager uses the free version for anti-malware (i.e. software that was loaded unknowingly). The website also offers a support forum which is very active. NOTE: There are also paid versions which unlock advanced capabilities which he has not used yet.
• Primo PDF: This is a great alternative for most users. Outside of legal, marketing, and technical publications, everyone gets the free version. 
• Damn Small Linix or DSL: which is a small bootable environment that has a tiny core of command line tools to assist with many day-to-day operations.  DSL is a community project that has grown in time to be much more than what I have already mentioned;, it is definitely worth a look.
• AIK: As written by Microsoft, “The Windows® Automated Installation Kit (Windows AIK) is a set of tools and documentation that support the configuration and deployment of Windows® operating systems.“ This is what’s needed to migrate to Windows 7.
• Image X: Another tool from Microsoft which allows for capturing, deploying and modifying images for post-Windows XP OSs.  Image X is a shift in the paradigm for imaging.   It’s a file-based imaging tool in contrast to Norton Ghost, which is a sector-based imaging tool. 

He states that some of the apps are for his team’s own productivity, while others just save the company money. “No need to have everyone purchase Adobe Acrobat when Primo is a fine PDF alternative for ninety percent of the user base.” He claims it saves the company money but, I personally think it just keeps more money in his budget to spend on cooler things. You know, like compressed air and screen wipes.  

I’m sure you have a list of free applications that personally save you time and money. If you have a couple you want to share, please leave a comment. I would love to know what apps you find most useful.

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