Three software freebies worth $1,089

A one-year IOBit Security 360 Pro license normally costs $29.95, but right now it's free.

(Credit: IOBit)

Nothing thrills me like getting something for nothing. Yesterday, for example, I redeemed the last of my birthday coupons, wolfing down a free scoop of Cold Stone ice cream (Fudge Brownie Batter with brownies mixed in--yum).

Today I've rounded up three software freebies that have a combined value of $1,089. Seriously! Take a look:

• IOBit Security 360 Pro Normally $29.95 for a one-year license, this security app is free until Nov. 11. It promises "advanced malware and spyware removal," along with protection from all manner of threats: trojans, keyloggers, worms, etc. I haven't found any reviews to speak of, but the always-free, non-Pro version earned four stars from CNET users. So it must be halfway decent.
• WinX DVD Author Remember WinX DVD Ripper Platinum from last month? (Since expired, sorry.) The same developer, Digiarty Software, is now offering its DVD-authoring tool, normally $29.95, for free until Oct. 31. Use it to turn AVI, MPEG, FLV, and other kinds of video files into menu-enhanced DVDs. I haven't tried it myself, but DVD Ripper Platinum was a little gem.
• Windows Server 2008 R2 Standard This might be the weirdest and most surprising giveaway ever. Microsoft's DreamSpark program is offering this new Windows Server release to eligible high school and college students. Why? To learn IT skills, I reckon. Obviously not everyone needs or wants this OS, which is worth $1,029, but I had to mention it. Anyone who does want it will need a Windows Live ID, a valid student e-mail address, and a way to burn the downloaded ISO file to a CD or DVD.

Well, what do you think? Anything here suit your freebie fancy? Let me know which one(s) you'll be downloading.

[andnowyouknow]

I personally don't have a need for these to fine freebies. Have you ever let your readers know about http://www.giveawayoftheday.com/. Everyday they give away one free licensed software. But you must grab it that day. Snooze or you'll lose.

...and now you know.

[yanchineseguy]

Rick has posted several such deals in the past.

[ducttape36]

I hope im not stealing your thunder rick, but 2D Boy is having a "pay what you want" sale on world of goo to celebrate their one year birthday. it runs until october 25th. I highly recommend that game and would put it up there with one of the best games i've ever played. and you can get it now for as litle as one cent! (of course, if you want to suport indie game developers you should probably give more)

http://2dboy.com/

[rickbroida]

Hey, steal away! That's a great find!

[ducttape36]

hey, poked around that microsoft deal some more as well. I found that you can get windows 7 home premium or even windows 7 professional for $29 if you have a .edu address. thats pretty impressive considering their pre-order was $49 for home premium and $99 for professional. so i just ordered myself windows 7 professional for $29! Thanks rick!

http://www.microsoft.com/student/en/us/default.aspx#discounts

[rickbroida]

Hey, watch it -- now you're stealing tomorrow's post! ;)

[JDawg1983]

FYI. The windows 7 student deal for $30 is only an upgrade. You have to have a valid licensed copy of a previous version of windows to install it. You can't just do a fresh install on a clean hard drive. I thought about doing this because my school email address is still active. However, my computer runs ubuntu 9.04 and after a bit of research, i learned my system does not qualify for the $30 upgrade. Instead I went to newegg and ordered an OEM copy of windows 7 home premium 32-bit for $100 bucks. Sure, not as good as $30, but still half the price of retail and I can do a fresh install on a clean hard drive. It looks the price now is $109.99, but I got it for 10 bucks cheaper when i pre-ordered it a couple weeks ago. Link below.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16832116752

[ducttape36]

whoops! sorry rick, i got a little too excited there i guess ;)

[imop45]

I played the original concept 3 years ago called tower of goo!! it was on Experimentalgameplay.com (an awesome site where game dev students post games that they only have limited time to make).
Yeah just googled it, http://experimentalgameplay.com/blog/?s=tower+of+goo

[j_a_s_p_e_r]

Rick

I've recently looked at DreamSpark, WebSpark and BizSpark. Microsoft will GIVE web and software startups 10s of thousands of $ of software cheap or free. In the case of WebSpark and BizSpark you pay $100 when you LEAVE the program

Jasper

[j_a_s_p_e_r]

Here are the URLS

http://www.microsoft.com/bizspark/
http://www.microsoft.com/web/WebsiteSpark/

Great for those that want to start a small business...

[yanchineseguy]

And along the veins of free software, check out Dennis O'Reilly's post about "Finding the catch in 'free' software" http://news.cnet.com/8301-13880_3-10378605-68.html.

[richdave]

Thanx for the post. Passed it on to to the student services department of our local high school. They have a student working with IT who can use this. Thanx again!!!

[Raabscuttle]

Thank WinX stuff is rubbish. I took off that DVD Ripper of there because... It just plain didn't work very well...

[j_a_s_p_e_r]

I have to agree there... I've tried it and got rid of it the same day. I'll stick to the oldschool DVD Decrypter and DVD shrink

[Fredcarter]

Freebies! Are freebies ever free, no they are only free for a certain amount of time, which generally isn't enough time, for me, to get a good grip on the program and to evaluate if i want to use it again. Then if it's not what you are looking for, or doesn't actually do what it say's on the packet.
You then have to remove it from the computer because you dont want to waste drive space and extra time when doing a defrag or a virus check. but then there are the bit's that dont get taken off by windows removal tools etc. Do I a server program No1 but it's good for schools and stuff.
Do i need another virus checker, no, the one i've got works, why fix something that isn't broken
Dvd authoring most if not all of the good film editing programs, adobe,ulead and pinnicle have dvd authoring, but why would you want to supply a program to the public that converts realplayer videos in to dvd's surely that just encourages video piracy as most original films from your own camera's do not download to your pc as .flv files, sorry for the rant but I can't understand the entertainment business bleating about copyright and allowing people to supply programs which openly encourage piracy

[streamline35]

Actually, the windows server is free. And not for some limited about of time. I don't have any great use for it at the moment, but I went ahead and grabbed it anyway, because you never know when you might want it (and I'm a student, so it's free).

[yoko1324]

Even though it says the Windows 7 Home or Professional Edition is for upgraders only, if you do a "Custom Install," you can do a fresh install (given that you already have XP or Vista). Simply format your HDD, do a clean install of XP or Vista, and then upgrade to Windows 7.

http://www.sevenforums.com/installation-setup/28035-can-you-do-clean-install-upgrade-dvd.html

[JDawg1983]

notice where i said.... "You have to have a valid licensed copy of a previous version of windows to install it. You can't just do a fresh install on a clean hard drive."

Yes, you can do a "custom" fresh install, but you have to launch the installer from within a valid copy of windows. you can't just burn the installation file to a disk and boot from the cd like a normal installation disk.

[JDawg1983]

Even if you choose to receive the disks instead instead of downloading the installation file, all my research indicates that the update still has to be installed on top of an existing XP or Vista installation.

[Donkosaurus]

yoko1234 I read a post somewhere, guy said he had no vista or xp copy so he did a clean install of windows 7 without entering key then while in windows 7 (you can run 30 days no activation) he did another install selected upgrade, the install went on and he entered key and it activated.

[at_welch]

Hey Rick,

Students who go to www.dreamspark.com can also get free Microsoft Expression 3 a $995 value.

I hope I didn't steal tomorrow's Cheapskate Deal....

Regards,

ATW

[j_a_s_p_e_r]

For those that are not eligible for dreamspark Expression Web 3 (web, design, encode) is only $78 if you have ANY MS office program and Expression Studio (same as web + sketchflow and blend) is only $350 if you have visual studio 2005 or up. It actually worth it to get an old VS2005 upgrade instead of buying the full package... talking about visual studio you can always buy the upgrade because all program environments are eligible for upgrade EVEN FREE ONES

[enoch861]

It takes more than a hotmail e-mail and student e-mail to get the dreamspark thing. You also need a code from your school (which means you have to be studying in the IT/Developing) and that your school offers DreamSpark. DreamSpark has potentially over $5000 worth of software. (I personally use it :)

[streamline35]

I didn't need a code, I just gave them my name, bday, school, and school email address. They emailed me the "code". You don't have to be studying IT/developing (I'm downloading win server 2008 right now. I would be wrong if it was different for some of those other programs)

[enoch861]

Oh. Well.. I guess that process is for high-school students then, because I had to go through that process. Although I just told my teacher to get the codes for me and I was set.

What I am wondering about is I currently am running Windows 7 RC. Will this upgrade work for me or am I going to have to buy a copy. The release candidate version will cease to work in a few months.

[JDawg1983]

No, the upgrade will not work with the RC. You will have to either buy a copy or else upgrade from a legit previous version.

[imop45]

It's wrong to think this, i know, but what about selling the Windows Server 2008?

Is it possible? I saw it on Google Products for $1000 http://www.google.com/products?q=windows+server+2008+r2+standard&aq=f

[JDawg1983]

Good luck with that...

Somehow I'm guessing the geniuses at Micro$oft already thought some idiot would try to do this...

[imop45]

Hey, bought 4 windows 7 home premium preorder for $49, and I've already sold 2 for $110 and still trying to sell the 3rd.
Keppong the 4th for me.

[JasCarver9]

Scalping isnt nice you know, this topic is about what you plan to do with the freebies mentioned here, not your scalping habits.

[imop45]

Selling this freebie would be scalping, but selling windows 7 isn't scalping. Its "capitalism" "free market" etc. "Freedom" man :)

[j_a_s_p_e_r]

Actually Rick recommended it...In his "How to get Windows7 free" he said buy two and sell one

[brightedge]

Excellent post...thanks!

[JasCarver9]

While Windows 2008 Server R2 Standard is not meant for casual operating system use, I have seen many tutorials online how you can potentially adapt it to be a desktop operating system versus a server operating system. And YES it can run games.

[Valerie Steele]

You folks always find the best in "free" software. I really think your various sites are great. Keep up the good work!

[gazza196469]

G' Day Mates,
I am from Down Under OZ, and Jas Carver9 , you are absolutely right, Scalping is not the Right thing to be doing and Exhibiting what you do on this Site is the heigt of Ignorance and Stupidity.

[rufustel]

As to the scalping comment above, is it really scalping if you pre--ordered Win7 4 months ago at the lower pre-order prices, and now re-sell that copy at a price between then and now? Actually, if I was a buyer, I just would be happy .

[imop45]

Thank you.

How do ALL businesses/profit systems work? You buy something cheap, and then sell it for more competitively and reasonably. I assumed the risk also that i wouldn't be able to sell it for that much more. I spent $196 for 4 copies. If i sell for $90, that's $270 and i made a $74 profit and saved three people $30 each.

Anytime you pay for anything, it works on this system. Even with services. Company pays someone $10/hour to make them thousands.

Difference with me is i'm not ripping anyone off. I'm saving them $90 all together

[rufustel]

As to the scalping comment above, is it really scalping if you pre--ordered Win7 4 months ago at the lower pre-order prices, and now re-sell that copy at a price between then and now? Actually, if I was a buyer, I just would be happy .

[imop45]

I said "i know it's wrong to think this," I was just wondering. that's all :)

And with Windows 7, there's no way that's wrong. It's buying something cheap and selling it for a little more. Clean profit.