We love finding better substitutes for things we use regularly. Yes, this includes software we use on the daily – and today, we’ll go over freeware. You can actually find a lot of programs on the internet that are free and they act as a great substitute for programs that you would normally pay for. Windows, in particular, has a lot of freeware options and it can allow you to get your computer up and running in no time.

However, many recommend some of the more familiar types of programs that everybody knows about for your CPU. But what about the unknowns?

Today we give a special mention to some of the lesser-known freeware for Windows!

Notepad ++

Ever thought of having a Notepad replacement? Just in case you have, Notepad ++ is the best alternative and probably the most popular text editor for Windows apart Notepad. Notepad ++ is essentially Notepad but with a lot of nifty little and very useful features to boot.

Notepad ++ comes with such addition as improved search options, line numbers, multi-tabbed interface, spell check and more. But the best part of Notepad ++ is syntax highlighting which comes very useful for people who are writing code.

Pandora Recovery

Have you ever accidentally deleted something from your computer and regret doing it? Of course you did, everyone has! But with the help of Pandora Recovery, you won’t have to threat any longer. It is a great tool to have and it will help you get back some of your lost data. It can’t perform miracles though but it is pretty good.

Probably the best feature is the photo recovery tool which, when active, can detect the missing image files and try to bring them back. So if you accidentally lost all of your pics from your computer there is a way to get them back.

PstPassword

Forgetting your password for almost any account on your computer can be devastating. If you are a forgetful person and don’t like writing down passwords in a safe place, then PstPassword will help you recover all the ones you forgot.

It also runs really smooth and is simple to use. You don’t even have to install anything additionally you just run the program and wait for it to analyze the situation. It will offer you a choice of three possible solutions that will most likely work.

Process Explorer

If you are having problems with your computer and need to figure out which process is causing spikes, then you can analyze the situation with the Process Explorer. This is a free software that can be very useful in various situations. You can find out exactly which program owns a particular process in any scenario.

One can find out which service is running for each different svchost process. Find out which program has a particular file directory open. Or, reveal which DLL process has loaded and which file handles it currently opens.

Duplicate Cleaner

Many of us end up having duplicate files on our CPUs without realizing it. They are just there and only take up space. However, with the Duplicate Cleaner, a nifty freeware program, you can clean those out in an instant.

Duplicate Cleaner has an advantage as opposed to other similar software as it has a lot of advanced options for cleaning. For instance, you can tick Same File Name, Same Size, or Similar File Names for better detection.