5 Essential Free Applications For Windows 7

After our article on free products from Microsoft for Windows 7, we've compiled a list of five of the best applications for Windows 7 that you can get for zilch and you might be surprised to find some intriguing applications in there. And to make sure they work, we've installed and tested all of them.

Even if security on Windows 7 has been significantly improved, it is strongly advisable to equip your computer with at least a pair of anti malware applications like Lavasoft's Ad-Aware and Search and Destroy.

The free versions of both applications are quite basic but provide with a comprehensive set of features that's more than enough to keep hackers and malware abreast.

The usual precautions apply though; a security application is only as good as its last update. Always do a search for any new security software you are about to download as you might be in for a nasty surprise.

Windows Media Player 11 is a great media player but it is hopelessly limited in what it can do. Enter Videolan or as it is commonly known VLC.

This open source media player (or rather multi-layered, jack of all trade), currently in version 1.02, is one of the most respected and versatile video players around.

It can play broken files, audio, video and streaming content, audio and video CDs, DVDs and even videos in zipped files. For those looking for even more, VLC can also morph into a server for unicast or multicast streams.