Freeware Favorites

Artifical Intelligence (Source: Copilot)

1. AI Assistants
   1. ChatGPT (OpenAI)
   Free tier with GPT 3.5 access; paid upgrade unlocks GPT 4.
   2. Claude Anthropic
   Free plan available; Pro and Max tiers add more usage and advanced features.
   3. Gemini (Google)
   Free version via Google AI Studio; paid tiers expand reasoning and coding capabilities.
   4. Perplexity AI
   Free conversational search engine with citations; Pro adds deeper research and file uploads.
   5. Pi.ai (Inflection)
   Free personal AI companion for conversations and brainstorming.
2. Audio & Speech
   1. Whisper Flow
   Free speech to text transcription (up to 2,000 words weekly).
   2. Aiva
   Free AI music composition tool; premium unlocks commercial rights and advanced editing.
   3. Murf.ai
   Free voice generation with limited characters; paid plans expand voices and usage.
3. Creativity & Design
   1. Canva Magic Studio
   Free AI design features for images, presentations, and videos.
   2. Kling AI
   Free AI video generation tool for professional quality clips.
   3. Nana Banana Pro
   Free AI image creation and editing; paid version adds higher resolution and batch processing.
4. Research & Productivity
   1. NotebookLM (Google)
   Free tool for document analysis, summarization, and Q&A.
   2. Gamma
   Free tier for creating AI powered presentations and documents.
   3. Fathom
   Free meeting transcription and summarization tool for Zoom.
   4. Saner.AI
   Free productivity assistant for organizing tasks and notes.
5. Specialized Tools
   1. Deepseek
   Free AI for coding and reasoning tasks.
   2. Grok (xAI)
   Free tier for conversational AI; premium adds advanced reasoning.
   3. Runway
   Free tier for AI video editing and generation; paid unlocks higher resolution and longer clips.

These links represent the Freeware programs I use or recommend.

APPLICATIONS

1. Adobe
   1. Adobe (1)
   2. Adobe Acrobat Reader (1)
2. Miscellaneous
   1. LibreOffice
   2. Open Office
3. Microsoft
   1. Outlook Tools
   2. Windows Software Reg Keys

DEVELOPER

1. Miscellaneous
   1. Microsoft Web Platform Installer
   2. Notepad++
   3. PDFtk (PDF Toolkit) Free
2. Excel
   1. xlwings Documentation;xlwings Lite is added to Excel using Home, Add-ins, searching for xlwings and selecting it.
   2. OLAP PivotTable Extensions
3. Power BI & DAX
   1. Power BI Desktop
   2. Bravo
   3. DAX Formatter
   4. DAX Studio
   5. Deneb
      1. Deneb
      2. Deneb: Declarative Visualization in Power BI
      3. Deneb GitHub releases
   6. Measure Killer
   7. Notion
   8. Report Analyzer
   9. Tabular Editor v2; TE v3 is paid subscription.
4. Power Query
   1. Power Query Lint
5. Python
   1. Anaconda
   2. Python
   3. Plotly
6. R
   1. R
   2. RStudio Desktop
   3. RStudio Server
7. SQL Server
   1. AdventureWorks
   2. SQL Server Data Tools (SSDT) for Visual Studio
   3. SQL Server Downloads (includes Developer and Express)
8. Visual Studio
   1. Using Visual Studio Code for PowerShell Development
   2. Visual Studio Downloads (Community, Professional, Enterprise; Code)
   3. Visual Studio Community
9. Windows
   1. PowerShell ; You most likely have PowerShell already installed with Windows. Depending upon your Windows Update settings, PowerShell should get updated using Windows Update. Win key + I, Windows Update, Advanced Options, Receive updates for other Microsoft products.
10. .NET
    1. .NET 9 Downloads September 9, 2025
    2. .NET Documentation

HARDWARE

1. Memory \ Storage Devices
   1. Drive Info
   2. MemInfo
   3. WinDirStat
2. Output Devices
   1. Optical Drive Info
   2. Virtual Drives
      1. Windows 11
      2. Virtual CloneDrive
      3. WinCDEmu
3. System
   1. Device Info
   2. System Technical Specs
4. Miscellaneous
   1. BurnAware Free (2)
   2. ISO Recorder

INTERNET

1. Browsers
   1. Brave (browser)
   2. DuckDuckGo
   3. Mozilla Firefox
2. Communication
   1. Teams
3. FTP
   1. Cyberduck
   2. FileZilla

MULTIMEDIA

1. Images
   1. Color Seizer
   2. GIMP
   3. Google Photos (replaces Google Picasa)
   4. IrfanView
   5. Paint.NET
2. Audio
   1. Audacity
   2. MP3 ID3 Tag Editor
   3. MP4 Converter (Pazera)
   4. Pazera Audio Converter
   5. WMA to MP3 Converter (Pazera)
3. Audio and Video
   1. K-Lite Codec Pack
   2. Pazera Audio Video Pack
   3. Pazera Products
4. Video
   1. 4K Video Downloader
   2. Real Player SP (2)
   3. VLC Media Player

SECURITY

1. Firewall
   1. Zone Alarm (Firewall) (2)
2. Malware and Viruses
   1. HijackThis
   2. Malwarebytes (2)
3. Spyware
   1. SpyBot
   2. SUPERAntiSpyware (2)

UTILITIES

1. Backup
   1. FreeFileSync
   2. Personal Backup
   3. SyncBackFree (2)
2. Defragmentation
   1. Auslogics (files)
   2. Auslogics (registry; bottom of list)
   3. Defraggler (2)
   4. Smart Defrag
3. Files
   1. 7-Zip
   2. Agent Ransack (2)
   3. Duplicate File Cleaner (2)
   4. Duplicate File Finder
   5. Eraser
   6. Winmerge
   7. WizTree
   8. Rename Files

1. Bulk Rename Utility
2. Rename-It!
3. Advanced Renamer

WEB SITES

1. Ninite
2. AlternativeTo
3. Pixabay

WINDOWS

1. PowerShell (GitHub)
2. Microsoft PowerToys
3. Microsoft PC Manager NEW July, 2025
4. Windows Sysinternals
   1. Autoruns
   2. Contig
   3. Load Order
   4. PendMoves, MoveFile
   5. Process Explorer
   6. Process Monitor
   7. SDelete
   8. Windows Sysinternals List of Utilities

Sysinternals file above (h.) is web query (Power Query). It queries file posted on Sysinternal's website that lists all utilities and the last build date. The last build date differs from the posted or publish date on each utility's web page. The date differential is testing period.

More about Windows Sysinternals utilities can be found in Sysinternals section on Windows page.

(1)

Uncheck any Google, McAfee, Symantec or other software installation options you don't want.

(2)

Some Freeware programs also have commercial or professional versions available. Professional versions, those that offer more or advanced options, are referred to as Freemium versions. The commercial versions are most often identical to the Freeware version. The Freeware version is licensed for personal use. The commercial license is required if using at work or in commercial setting.

Please Note:

Each link above will denote if 64-bit version is available.
See technical specifications for 32 / 64-bit support.

To determine if Windows is 32 / 64-bit...

• Windows 10
• Start\Windows, Settings Icon, System, About

• Windows 11
•  Win + I, Settings, About
• (see System type )

Last Updated: November 28, 2025

USD $

Top of Page

Welcome to Recursive Creativity!

In addition to providing a resource for those I help with software (applications and operating systems), computer hardware and other related issues, this web site was originally my attempt to learn how to design and maintain a web site.

Content will concentrate on Excel, Outlook, Visual Basic for Applications (VBA), Windows 10 and Freeware available via the Internet. However, since there is already a plethora of such resources available on the Internet, I will only provide resource links and attempt to fill in some gaps.

Freeware content discussed will be devoted to assisting those whom I have helped with their computers.

Computers

If I have installed, configured (optimized) or reconfigured your computer, there is most likely a long list of Freeware tools I installed or used in the process.

The Freeware I use is listed under Freeware Favorites. However, additional information related to Freeware can be found on the FREEWARE page.

The original document containing many of the Windows tips I use to install, configure, and optimize computers running Microsoft Windows is no longer posted here. Most of the material can be found on the WINDOWS page, which is currently under construction and related material is being developed.

My Interest in Computers

I once worked for a state agency for the State of Illinois. I managed the Help Desk and supported computer hardware and software statewide. There always seemed to be one issue or another that resulted in an application or the computer itself crashing or locking up. I learned very quickly what it cost in time and money if computers or applications crashed.

By setting standards for both software and hardware and then standardizing and optimizing the installation of computers, calls to the Help Desk were significantly reduced.

Ever since then I have been interested in how to best utilize computers to increase productivity while minimizing their overall cost.