Microsoft Windows Process Tamer

It's really frustrating when your computer grinds to a halt because a routine maintenance process is hogging all your resources. Process Tamer is a small system tray utility that monitors the cpu usage, reducing the priority of processes overloading your cpu temporarily. Available for Windows XP/Vista/7. See: http://www.donationcoder.com

FREE Disk Drive Backup Image Utility

Recovering your data from a damaged hard disk can be a race against the clock before it completely fails. DataRescue DD is a FREE utility which allows you to make a disk image of the problematic drive. You then can run time consuming recovery tools against the backup image. Available for Windows & OS X. See: http://www.datarescue.com/photorescue/v3/drdd.htm

How To Get An App Refund From Apple

Here's how I got a refund from Apple when I accidentally bought a £9.99 iPad app:

1. If you can pause the download and delete the app immediately (do not run it)
2. Wait for Apple to email your receipt and copy the order number.
3. Go to http://www.apple.com/support/itunes/ww/
4. Pick your country, Contact Support, Contact iTunes Store support, Purchases, Billing & Redemption, Apple ID account billing, Email.
5. This is what I wrote: 'After making some app purchases, I was swiping across to see the carousel at top of app store and by accident hit 'show all' and tapped an icon where my fingers were, thinking I was still swiping. The app has not been downloaded. Please can I have a refund. Apologies.'

FREE Mobile Device Management (MDM)

The Meraki Systems Manager lets you manage mobile devices, Macs, and PCs via the cloud for FREE. Deploy applications, set restrictions, monitor, and diagnose your devices. Works with iOS, Android, OS X, Windows & Kindle Fire, see: http://www.meraki.com/

FREE Web Development Tutorials

w3schools.com offers FREE tutorials in all web development technologies for beginners and experts. topics include HTML / CSS, JavaScript, jQuery, AJAX, PHP, SQL, ASP, XML, .NET and many more. There is also a certification program offering online exams  for $95 in core topics. See: http://www.w3schools.com/

FREE Online Icon Collection

The Open Icon Gallery is a FREE online collection of over 10,000 icons that can be used for commercial and non-commercial projects, royalty free. Icons are available in various sizes and file formats, including PNG, ICO & SVG. See: http://openiconlibrary.sourceforge.net/

Export & Download Tweets

twDocs is a FREE web service that  lets you save Twitter tweets and direct messages as a PDF, DOC, XML, CSV, TXT, XLS or HTML file. Easy to use, just select an export option and the number of tweets, download link then lasts for 5 minutes. See: http://twdocs.com/

Giveaway Of The Day

Giveaway of the Day does exactly what it is says, offers a FREE download for a licensed software product for that day. Every day the offer the changes, so check the site daily. Normally for non-commercial use, see: http://www.giveawayoftheday.com/

File Compression Made Easy

I recently needed to extract the files from hundreds of zip files and 7-Zip handled the task in seconds. It's FREE for commercial use, handles a wide range of compression formats. Available for Windows, with unofficial packages for Mac OS X and Linux. See: http://www.7-zip.org/

Reduce The Size Of PDF Files

PDF Compressor is a FREE utility for compressing Adobe PDF files without loss of quality, which then be emailed or uploaded into cloud storage more easily. Features customizable compression settings and batch processing to shrink hundreds of files in one step. FREE for non-commercial use, $29.95 for a commercial license. See: http://www.pdfcompressor.org/

FREE Kaspersky Pure 3.0 Six Month License

As part of a Infosecurity Europe 2013 promotion, Kaspersky are offering a fully functional, 6 month, Kaspersky PURE 3.0 licence. Offer ends 12 May 2013 (please note that activation codes are valid for 30 days) See: http://promo.kaspersky.com/infosec2013

FREE Peer-To-Peer File Transfer Service

JustBeamIt is a FREE service that lets you securely send a file up 2GB directly to another person's computer or Android phone by selecting the file and then sending them a link which lasts for 10 minutes. You have to leave the browser page open while the transfer is in progress, but you know instantly when the other person gets the file. See: http://www.justbeamit.com/

FREE Avatar For Your Digital Life

A Gravatar is a Globally Recognized Avatar, an image that represents you online that appears next to your name when you interact with websites, blogs and web forums. It's also FREE, see: http://en.gravatar.com/

FREE Cloud Based Collaboration Systems - updated

	FREE for up to 5 users with 1GB storage. See: http://www.podio.com
	FREE for up to 50 users with unlimited storage. See: http://www.socialcast.com
	FREE for up to 20 users with 5 workspaces with 20MB storage each. See: http://pbworks.com
	Enterprise Social Network, the Basic Network is FREE. See: http://www.yammer.com/
	Google Sites via Google Apps. FREE for up to 10 users with 5GB storage. See: http://www.google.com/a
	Dispatch is a FREE collaboration system that works with your existing cloud storage like Dropbox, Google Drive, Box, and Evernote. You can invite anyone to Dispatch by simply sharing a file. See: https://dispatch.io/
	FREE for up to 5 projects and includes 100MB of file storage. See: https://tracky.com/

Programming Languages For Kids

Teaching kids programming languages and concepts is one of the most beneficial skills they could learn in the 21st century. To get good at any skill, you have to put in the hours, but these tools put the fun into it.

	Scratch is a FREE programming language that makes it easy to create your own interactive stories, animations, games, music and share your creations on the web. Available for Windows, Mac OS X & Linux, see http://scratch.mit.edu/
	Greenfoot is a FREE visual and interactive environment that teaches you to program in Java and allows you to publish your work both on and offline. Available for Windows, Mac OS X, Linux or as a Java app, see http://www.greenfoot.org/

FREE Social Media Management

The FREE version of HootSuite gives you a web dashboard to manage up to 5 social media profiles. Features include message scheduling, RSS feeds and HootSuite apps to increase functionality. Mobile apps are also available for Android, iPhone & iPad. See: http://hootsuite.com/

FREE Lego Digital Designer CAD Software

Whether you are designing a Lego Mindstorms robot or just want to play around with every Lego brick ever made without the mess, the FREE Lego Digital Designer is CAD software for Lego. Automatically creates step by step build instructions for your completed designs, so you or someone else can build it with real bricks. Available for Windows & Mac OS X, see: http://ldd.lego.com/

FREE PC Audit

The FREE Belarc Advisor creates a detailed report of your installed software and product keys, hardware, network inventory, missing Microsoft hotfixes, anti-virus status, and security benchmarks. Displays the results as a local HTML file in your web browser. Non-commericial use only, for all versions of Windows. See: http://www.belarc.com/free_download.html

FREE Unlimited Online Photo & Video Hosting

meJuba is a completely FREE online photo and video hosting, sharing and management service. Features include unlimited storage (up to 1GB per upload), all files are stored in their original formats (no scaling) and folder uploads. See: http://www.mejuba.com

Update or Install Software Quickly & Easily

Every week there tends to be a software update for your computer which prompts you to install a toolbar you don't want or need. Ninite provides update patches and installers for Kaseya, GFI and Dell Kace management solutions and automatically says "No" to toolbars and other junk. You can download individual installers for nearly 100 applications for FREE, or purchase the Ninite Updater for $9.99/year. Available for Windows and Ubuntu, see: http://ninite.com/

FREE Centralized IT Management

Kaseya have replaced their SaaS Foundation FREE cloud based IT management solution for up to 10 seats with a large selection of FREE Tools. Includes features such as remote control, audit, monitoring and patch status. Works with Windows, Linux, OSX, Android, iOS and Blackberry. See: http://www.kaseya.co.uk/solutions/free-tools.aspx

Gifting Apple Apps to iPad & iPhone Users

You can now gift paid apps to friends and family, which is handy if they cannot buy apps themselves (or you left it too late to buy them a present). Recently I gifted someone a couple of iPad apps from my iPhone, by selecting the app in the store, selecting the send icon, then selecting Gift. They receive an email with a redemption code, which automatically installs if double-clicked in the Apple mail client. Much easier than an iTunes card and they don't have to go searching for the apps. Doesn't work with free apps, only paid apps.

Access Your Notes Everywhere

Simplenote is an easy way to keep notes, which are encrypted and synchronized between mobile, desktop and web apps. It is an open platform with lots of extensions and features. The FREE version backups up to 10 versions of each note, while a premium ad free annual subscription is $19.99 see: http://simplenote.com/

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Springpad is a FREE service which lets you share (if you choose to) your notes, clips, lists etc which lets their partners provide tailored offers which keeps everything FREE. See: http://springpad.com/

FREE Online Contact Management

Soocial is a cloud service that syncs and backs up all your contacts to your mobiles, emails and computers. Additional features include dedupe and cleaning. The FREE plan allows you to sync and manage up to 250 contacts and sync with 3 sync sources. See: http://www.soocial.com/

FREE Windows Virtual Wifi Router

Turn your laptop or PC into a temporary virtual WiFi hotspot to share with other WiFi enabled devices.  Handy when don't want to give out your home WiFi password for friends and guests. Available for Windows Vista, 7 & 8, see: http://www.virtualwifirouter.com/

FREE Desktop Screen Recorder

Easily create videos (AVI & SWF) by recording your screen and audio activity on your computer to make training materials (audio is optional and can be added later) - available for Windows only. See: http://camstudio.org/

FREE Media Streaming Server

The FREE Plex Media Server lets you stream your movies, TV shows, music and photo library onto wide range of devices using the FREE Plex player apps. Available for Windows, Mac, Linux, iOS, Android, Windows Phone, see: http://www.plexapp.com/ Premium features to access your media from anywhere require a PlexPass subscription (Monthly $3.99, Yearly $29.99 or Lifetime $74.99)

Let Amazon Store Your Music For FREE

Amazon lets you import 250 of your own MP3s into their music cloud player for FREE, which you can then stream to a wide variety of devices. See: www.amazon.com/cloudplayer with FREE apps available for iOS, Android, Kindle Fire & BlackBerry

Removing Unnecessary Programs In Windows

The average modern PC is full of unnecessary software slowing everything down. Help identify what can be removed with the FREE utility, see: http://www.shouldiremoveit.com

FREE Network Attached Storage (NAS) Operating System

Turn an old or spare PC into a Network Attached Storage (NAS) drive and make it useful again. A small investment into a new large capacity hard drive, together with the FreeNAS operating system will give you somewhere to store your local backups. Features include Snapshots, ZFS filesystem, RAID support and Plugins for media streaming and other services. See: http://www.freenas.org/

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Also have a look at NAS4Free, which can be installed on Compact Flash/USB/SSD media, Hard disk or booted of from a LiveCD with a USB stick. many advanced features all configured via the web management interface. See:  http://www.nas4free.org/