The Best Free Web Development Software »

Everyone loves FREE. So, here is a list of some of the best free software we have found with regards to web design and development. We personally use or have used the software listed here and none of these software makers paid us to get listed here. We did it because we are just so darn nice .

Web Graphics

• Top Pick for Screen Capture Software – Faststone
• Top Pick for Screen recording software – CamStudio
• Top Pick for Graphics Editing – Gimp

Web Development

• Top Pick for FTP – Total commander
• Top Pick for Text Editor – Notepad ++ (Text editor and much more – way better than Microsoft Notepad)
• Top Pick for ActionScript editor – SEPY actionscript editor – Edit or create Actionscript without even opening Flash

Web Browsing

• Top Pick for Web Browsing – Firefox – no explanation needed
• VERY close second – Opera – Web browser that has plenty of benefits

Web Safety

• Top Pick for Anti-virus – AVG anti-virus
• Top Pick for Anti-spyware – AVG anti-spyware
• Top Pick for Anti-spyware (because you can’t have too many options in this department) – Spybot Search and Destroy

This concludes our list of the best free software related to web design. I am sure there will be some differing of opinions, so if you have ones that you are particularly fond of, feel free to speak up. As I mentioned in the introduction, we either use or have used all of the software on this list, so we recommend from experience .

McAfee Offers Free Rootkit Detector »

McAfee has released Rootkit Detective 1.0 to help uses detect and remove any pesky rootkits that may be running on their computers.

Here are a few of the features of this free tool from McAfee:

• Detect any system objects which the user cannot usually see, including files, processes and registryn entries.
• Provide details of all processes running on the user’s computer.
• Give the user the ability to terminate any malicious processes discovered.

  Rootkits can create plenty of problems once they have wormed their way into a computer. However, McAfee includes a warning for anyone thinking of using Rootkit Detective 1.0:

McAfee Rootkit Detective should only be used by knowledgeable individuals at the direction of, and with the support of, a representative from McAfee Avert Labs or McAfee Technical Support. Improper usage of this tool could result in damage to your applications or operating system.

Translation: Rootkits = bad. Accidentally removing an important part of your computer’s operating system = really bad. Don’t attempt it if you are not sure what you are doing.

Read all the instructions on how to use this free tool from McAfee before deciding to jump in with both feet.

NetBeans v5.5 Launched! »

Yes! Netbeans version 5.5 has been released!

InfoWorld names NetBeans “Best Java IDE Innovator” in 2007 Technology of the Year awards

Personally, I feel NetBeans itself is a very powerful Java IDE by itself. No other free editor could ever allow you to use GUI to create your splash screen for J2ME applications within minutes!

NetBeans IDE has been around for 7 seven years, it is truly open-source software and is backed by thriving communities at the backend. It is fully sponsored by Sun Microsystems and the editor is well-liked all over the world from students to working professionals.

NetBeans features can save hundreds of hours of developer time and accelerate application availability!

With NetBeans v5.5 launch, you are in for a very wonderful treat! With so much added functions included free, you shouldn’t be whining about its disadvantages. Here are some features added into version 5.5:

• Multiple Tool and Protocol Integration Provides Reasons for Migration
• Ease of Use Across the Development Lifecycle
• NetBeans Manages SOA Complexity
• Modeling Support Improves Developer Productivity
• Promoting Best Practices for Group Productivity
• Built for the Speed of Development

Read here for more about Netbeans v5.5.
Read here about migrating from Borland to NetBeans
Read here for NetBeans Flash Demo Tutorials
Read here for Planet NetBeans Blog
Click here to download NetBeans v5.5!

Free Screen Capture Software FastStone »

As our regular readers will attest to, we love FREE software . Typically posts like this are some of our most popular. And, since everyone’s wallets may be a little lighter right now, this should make some of you very happy.

I was checking out CyberNotes blog this morning and they had one post in particular that caught my eye. Ryan wrote a real nice review of his favorite screen capture sotware and the word free immediately caught my eye. If you want, check out his entire post to see the complete list but one in particular was very interesting to me.

We exclusively use SnagIt and could not work without it (earlier this month Techsmith released SnagIt version 8.2 and it is super sweet!). But in Ryan’s post, he said that FastStone was even better than SnagIt. Immediately, I thought, it could be better just on the basis that it is free and SnagIt costs $39.95. So, I followed the link and downloaded it to see for myself.

Well let me say that I am a believer. SnagIt is still a super program, but if free is your mantra, you will absolutely love FastStone. Check out just some of the features:
* Very lightweight – it will not hog up a bunch of your system resources.
* Pick a color on the screen – when you want to find out the exact color used on a website.
* Image editor – you can resize, crop and more to your heart’s content.

Check out Ryan’s post for a detailed list of the features of FastStone (and his other favorite free screen capture programs). I think we are sold on FastStone and you will be too .

Ask Getting a Jump on Next Year »

I guess Ask is tired of getting their ask kicked and so decided to setup something that will possibly compete better with the other SEs chasing Google.

They have launched Ask X and it looks slightly different from the other SEs.

I searched for “north carolina web design” (we show up as #5 out of almost 4 million results – woo hoo) and it looks like the results are broken into 3 columns, which is a little different from the other SEs results pages.

The far right column will probably show paid advertising eventually or maybe links to related information (not sure). The far left column shows other potentially related search terms (although searching for “north carolina web design” is apparently related to “pooch” – not sure how that works but, whatever).

Then, there are the Ask binoculars that will show you a snapshot of the site before you actually visit. That way you can see if it is close to what you are looking for.

Lastly, when you hover over the link, at the right hand side of the results section you will see a little icon that allows you to add to “MyStuff”. This is kind of Ask’s favorites and allows you to bookmark sites as you go. A little handy when you are researching things and don’t want to keep adding to Windows favorites.

Overall, Ask X shows promise and maybe they will climb a little higher in the Search Engine ratings war.

SEO people know that you stand little to gain by ranking highly in Ask since they are not used a huge amount. However, when I am out near a public Internet location (library, coffee shop, etc.) I make it a point to try and see what Search Engine people are using. Oddly enough, I have noticed more people using Ask.com and that really surprised me. I have not gotten up the nerve to ask the user why they chose Ask, but if the trend continues I will have to come up with a “Hi. I am doing research on Search Engines and wondered if I could ask you some questions” line. Maybe next year.