Top 5 2006 used freeware

Now that I'm getting better of a cold plus stomach sickness combo, I've got in mind some posts, and this is the first one, the five freeware tools I've most used this year (and why).

  • Firefox: Despite the 2.0 security flaws, I still prefer it to IE7, mostly thanks to the extensions/add-ons system (everymonth I add new ones which optimize even more my browsing experience).
  • VLC Media Player: Before discovering this media player, I was using ZoomPlayer and/or Media Player Classic (IMHO, Windows Media Player is s**t). VLC is updated almost weekly, doesn't hangs, has some cool options, lots of parameters (deinterlacing modes, audio output mode,...) and works fine with all file types (MOV and WMV had problems under ZoomPlayer).
  • Secway's Simp-Lite MSN: A tool to encrypt instant messaging communications (supports all IM clients). The Lite/free version allows one protocol encryption (MSN for example).
  • ImgBurn 2.x: The Nero killer. Before this tool, I was using Nero 6.x because of it's ease and fast Data DVD burning. Since the 2.0 version of ImgBurn, I can do the same and more advanced tasts (like building an ISO file without burning it) in seconds. Lots of advanced configuration options too :)
  • VNC: VNC. Simple and fast. While there are others with more options (FTP file transfer from the Viewer, advanced logging...), I like the original one because of it's ease of use. I use it to manage my storage server (at home) and to my family and some friend's PCs when they have problems (kinda like Windows Remote Assist/Desktop).
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