Free PC Stuff

Free Storefront Website
FreeMerchant gives you a free online storefront that bears your domain name or uses your company name as a subdomain in the Web address (for example, Amanda@giftandsuch.freemerchant.com). It's easy to design and set up a store using the service's suite of e-commerce tools, which includes items to handle credit card transactions, hold auctions, track packages, and log Web page traffic and purchases.

Free Website Monitoring
How reliable is the company you pay to host your domain's Web site and e-mail? NetWhistle's PersonalWhistle will tell you. This free monitoring service pings your Web site at fixed intervals to see if it's up. It can also check e-mail boxes at the same intervals. If there's a problem, the service logs it and notifies you via e-mail

Software602's free word processor and spreadsheet program
602Pro PC Suite 2000, is comparable to Office and compatible with it as well--the suite handles Word 2000 documents with several layers of tracked and highlighted changes in them and Excel documents laden with statistical formulas. You may never have to call on Microsoft again. Software602 also throws in a decent photo-editing tool that supports over 15 graphics formats. The 14.5MB program has no ads and no subscription fee.

SurfSaver 2.2
Save entire Web pages--including any linked pages connected to the page you're saving

NameDemo: Free Domain Registeration Site

NameZero: Another Free Domain Registeration Site

If you want to register your name as a .com, .net, or .org but you don't want to pay for the privilege, these two sites will give you a free domain name (one per customer) as well as e-mail and Web services. Namezero and Register.com's NameDemo are services from domain registrars accredited by ICANN (the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers) that are trying to bulk up their numbers by offering a free service. The catch? You don't actually control the domain; it remains registered to the company that provides it. But you do get to use the name as long as you're a member of the free service. Both companies also supply a Web site redirection function to refer traffic to and from your other sites, but it comes with a substantial banner ad promoting the domain registrar businesses--making it unsuitable to use for your business.

Free PC-to-phone and PC-to-PC Phone calls
After installing the company's 860KB download, you can make free PC-to-phone and PC-to-PC domestic calls to anywhere in the United States. For PC-to-PC calls, the recipient must first download the Net2Phone program. Net2Phone also lets you send free voice-mail messages to anyone in the world via e-mail. The recipient receives brief instructions about downloading the software to hear your message. In addition, the site offers a free answering service in the United States and Canada that lets you hear incoming phone messages through your PC's speakers, and while you're still online. However, the feature uses your existing telephone line and your phone company's "forward on busy" answering service, so you'll have to pay your phone company for that extra service.

PC Pitstop: Free Web-based virus scanning tool
PC Pitstop, in addition to its virus scanner, offers a disk analyzer, an Internet connection monitor, a tool for analyzing your PC's configuration and making recommendations for better performance, and a diagnostic tool that tells you if unwanted ActiveX controls are lurking in your PC.

HouseCall: Free Web-based virus scanning tool
HouseCall, Trend Micro's free online scanner, is easy to use and effective, and it will not only find viruses but also remove most of them.

Security Check: Free Web-based virus scanning tool
Symantec's Security Check finds viruses (but won't eliminate them), analyzes whether your PC is vulnerable to hacking, and tells you if your browser is feeding your personal information to Web sites.

NetZero: Free Internet service provider
BlueLight: Free Internet service providers
Freedomlist: Free Internet service providers
Free Internet service providers are an endangered species, but they're great to use as a backup in case your paid provider goes down. While two other free ISPs keeled over as we were writing this, NetZero and BlueLight seem to be holding strong. And they can save you over $200 a year in access fees if you forgo a paid service altogether. Sure, you pay indirectly for these services by having to endure large ad frames placed on your screen while you're online. The companies also record your surfing history to serve you targeted ads, and they limit the amount of time you can be online (BlueLight locks you out after 25 hours a month, NetZero begins charging you after 40 hours). What's more, there's no guarantee these services won't go the way of other free ISPs. But if they do, you can always search for alternative free ISPs (and access a list comparing their features) at Freedomlist, which also keeps track of the latest ones to bite the dust.

Free Dictionary Services
Ever find yourself without a dictionary when you need the definition of a word quickly? Atomica for Windows can deliver the meaning of a word appearing in any Windows program (e-mail, browser, word processor, or whatever). You simply hold the Alt key while clicking on a mystery word, and a definition pops up. The slight 945KB download is a subset of a larger knowledge bank from a company formerly known as GuruNet. The program draws on definitive Web sources, dictionaries, and encyclopedias from its server; the only drawback is that you have to be online to use it.

Cash Express 2000 Software
If you're having trouble keeping track of all your financial data, you can try this free and useful home-budgeting utility. The 3.88MB download helps you manage your bank accounts, stock investments, mortgage, credit card bills, and other financial data--it even lets you organize your bills into separate groups to be paid on specific days of the month. The password-protected program also lets you generate graphs and print checks.

Free Online Games
MSN's Gaming Zone has 100 free or free-trial games that range from checkers and cards to wilder offerings like Magic & Mayhem and Monster Truck Madness.

More Free Online Games
Heat.net has 115 online multiplayer games, including Warcraft II and Diablo. You do have to download game software, so during setup be sure to select only the games you want.

And yet More Free Online Games
For tamer games, Pogo.com offers card and board games, bingo, and casino games.

Free Online Game Cheats
Heat.net has 115 online multiplayer games, including Warcraft II and Diablo. You do have to download game software, so during setup be sure to select only the games you want.

Watch Movies for Free
More Movies for Free
Got a couple of hours to spare--or just a couple of minutes? Take in a movie from the comfort of your office chair at AtomFilms or The Sync. Both showcase excellent shorts in RealVideo and Windows Media formats. AtomFilms boasts the winner of the 2000 Oscar for best live-action short film (My Mother Dreams the Satan's Disciples in New York), short works with cameos by Jennifer Aniston and George Clooney, and a series of stop-motion animation shorts from Aardman Studios (the team behind the Wallace and Gromit films and Chicken Run). The Sync's offerings are more self-consciously edgy, though it also provides full-length, must-see classics such as Nosferatu (1922), The Cabinet of Doctor Caligari (1919), and Reefer Madness (1936).

Free Crosswords
Yahoo Games features daily stumpers that are archived for two weeks. And no pencil required.

Crossword Cheats and More Crosswords
Oh, and if you need a helpful clue, PuzzleDepot's word pattern-matching tool can help you fill in the blanks. For those lazier days, the site also provides free online crosswords that aren't that tough to crack.

Tour Art Museums Online in 3-D for Free
If the Net had been around a century ago, van Gogh might have made a fortune on EBay. Vince died in utter poverty, but you can still enrich yourself with this amazing virtual tour of his works, which actually lets you "walk into" 3D representations of two of his paintings. Presented by Intel and the Van Gogh Museum in Amsterdam, the tour includes a 3D stroll through the museum accompanied by an audio narrative and a spectacular zoom-in function that lets you see brushstrokes almost as clearly as if you were a nose-length from the actual painting. The program is 12MB and is best accessed using a broadband connection, since your computer has to connect with a server in Reykjavík, Iceland (don't ask), to produce the art. But even if you don't have a speedy connection, you can still visit the site's other great exhibits on Andy Warhol (parental discretion advised), and the Whitney Museum's fascinating retrospective of twentieth-century art and culture.

Wanna be a Crime Sence investigator?
This site should come with an addiction warning because you're bound to return to it again and again--like a criminal to the scene of the crime. Satisfying the armchair detective in you, Crime Scene lets you follow the investigators of Yoknapatawpha County (the fictional setting of William Faulkner's books) as they troll through the unseemly underbelly of society to solve the mystery behind grisly murder cases. You can either participate as an observer for free--which means you can examine evidence such as crime scene photos, surveillance videos, interrogation transcripts and tapes, and lab reports--or for $5, you can sign up as a case detective and ask the investigators questions about niggling details or offer them your own ingenious theories about the crime. The site notifies you by e-mail when new evidence is available for viewing. Cases can string along for weeks, but it's fascinating to watch the evidence unfold.

TOP 5 FREE DOWNLOAD SITES

Free Downloads #1
A potpourri of games, utilities, and tools

Free Downloads #2
Driver updates and a freebie device that checks the current versions of your drivers.

Free Downloads #3
Downloads that don't limit the number of days you can use them or nag you to buy upgraded versions.

Free Downloads #4
Zippy downloads and thoughtful editorial selection.

Free Downloads #5
This site offers over 7000 downloads for everything from business apps to screen savers.

TOP 4 BEST PRIVACY SITES

Best Privacy Service #1
Proxy site that lets you anonymously surf URLs you type in.

Best Privacy Service #2
Easy-to-use, end-to-end, Web-based encryption.

Best Privacy Service #3
Offers a secure POP3 e-mail box for reading your encrypted correspondence.

Best Privacy Service #4
Robust firewall for Web connections and incoming e-mail.

TOP 5 FREE MUSIC LISTENING SITES

Free Music Listening Site #1
Interactive radio station lets you choose the music genres and vote on the playlist.

Free Music Listening Site #2
Unsigned acts in spades...and in MP3 format.

Free Music Listening Site #3
Online broadcaster lets you search for acts through thousands of stations, or create your own station

Free Music Listening Site #4
Eclectic mix of downloadable and broadcast tunes