Another site listing spyware-free software

Generally speaking, I tell people not to install free software on a computer anymore unless it’s licensed under the GNU GPL or another similar open-source license, because open-source software is the only type of software that has any high degree of likelihood of not containing adware or spyware or other malware.

The problem with that advice is that the people who know what it means probably already follow it, and if you follow this Farquhar’s Law (there are many) to the letter, you miss out on gems like Irfanview.I’ve recommended the Tinyapps.org web site for a long, long time, but some jewels like Mozilla are much too big to qualify for that list.

Enter Cleansoftware.org.

While neither list is likely to have every safe, free application available, checking those sites for software that does what you want gives a broader range of choice than simply making a blanket statement like “Don’t install anything that isn’t Free (as in speech) Software,” or “Don’t install anything that isn’t GPL.”

If you want software that you can copy and redistribute and, if you wish, modify, with little or no restriction, then of course your best bet is to check out Freshmeat.net and look for software with a license that’s OSL approved.

Contrary to what it may seem, strings-free freeware isn’t a totally lost art. You just have to look a little harder these days, that’s all.

If you found this post informative or helpful, please share it!

3 thoughts on “Another site listing spyware-free software

  • December 29, 2004 at 10:28 am
    Permalink

    I found Irfanview about 2 months ago or so. It’s a nice, functional, free graphics manipulation software. The main reason I downloaded it was so I could create my own Windows Icon (.ico) files without buying for some proprietary software that I didn’t want. IrfanView is, overall, great free software.

    • December 29, 2004 at 12:12 pm
      Permalink

      It’s probably the best image viewer I’ve seen–ACDSee is the only thing I’ve seen that’s in its league–and I don’t think there’s any doubt in my mind that it’s the best image converter I’ve seen. And it’s very good at a lot of the things people use an image editor to do, like resizing, rotating, cropping, and sharpening.

      It’s not open source, but as far as closed-source freeware goes, Irfanview is top drawer, for sure.

      • December 29, 2004 at 8:53 pm
        Permalink

        The other very good thing about this is that it is a stand alone program.

Comments are closed.