14 DAY TRIAL // A really uplifting saying is that the best things in life are free. This may be true to some extent and may apply to some fields of activity, but software-wise things are a bit different. A large part of the freebies on the market today are natively limited to carrying out the jobs they are supposed to do. And extra care is needed when trying them on your system.
On a more positive note, that's not to say that all the free programs are flawed from the beginning. Take a look at Foobar, Firefox, Maxthon, Revo Uninstaller, EasyCleaner, 7-Zip, FileZilla, Gimp, Paint.NET, HWiNFO, PC Wizard, and many, many others that do a great job and don't cost the home user a dime.
If you want to get by with your computer using strictly free stuff, head to A-Z Freeware Launcher. It is not much of a software, but it has the merit of compiling a list of some of the best freebies on the market today and offer them to you on a pink platter.
The application's name explains exactly what it is designed to do: it launches freebies. It is not a traditional application launcher as it will execute only a limited set of apps and does not let you add your own shortcuts to the list. All the freebies it provides shortcuts for are neatly selected based on their efficiency and the high ratings they received from many users.
The latest version of A-Z Freeware Launcher comes in pink, and although it does not look too appealing, the programs it can launch are generally pretty awesome. The main console (first screen of the app) presents a set of main categories that cover freeware every Windows user bumps into at one time or another.
From the start you have to know that the application can launch software designed to protect your computer from threats and all sorts of malware, system maintenance tools (cleaners, defragmenters, uninstallers, monitoring instruments) and backup applications. These are organized into categories (you can view the main set in the first screen of A-Z Freeware Launcher) and into sub-categories. Needless to mention that all the software A-Z Freeware Launcher refers to has to be installed on your computer (check out the “Info” section on the main screen of the software for the details).
The three categories dominating the main console shelter links for applications that should be run daily, weekly or monthly. These include definition updates for some security software, system cleaning tools and apps necessary for defragmenting the data on the hard disks. The Common Tasks section comes with a set of four sub-menus providing launch links for system cleanup tools, spyware and malware scan, registry backup, clean and optimize, as well as virus scanning.
Under Security you'll find that a vast suite of links is offered; the apps you need to have installed in order to access are Avast Home Edition, ZoneAlarm, WinPatrol, ThreatFire, Secunia PSI, Ad-Aware, a-squared Anti-Malware and Spyware Blaster. There are some pretty heavy names present, but mind that in the case of the antivirus you cannot have multiple such protection programs installed as they will clash and fail to protect the system.
If you move under Uninstallers you'll bump into a favorite of mine, Revo Uninstaller, as well as ZSoft Uninstaller and My Uninstaller. The defragmenters chosen by the developer of A-Z Freeware Launcher are JkDefrag, Defraggler and PageDefrag. I would have also pointed the user towards PowerDefragmenter, but these will do just fine.
In order to see the processes and whatnot running on your system a good process manager is to be used. A-Z Freeware Launcher gives you the possibility to launch some of the best in the business: AutoRuns, What's Running and Process Explorer.
The Backup section includes Macrium Reflect, a disk imaging solution, and Ashampoo Burning Studio, a disc recording solution that has gained a lot of attention lately, and for good reason.
The “More PC and Personal Tools” category stands for miscellaneous and actually and provides links to the most diverse software. From system information tools, to recovering lost data, remote desktop management, file archiving utility or password management, these are all here and ready to be launched.
If you take a look in the “Info” panel accessible from the main console (lower right hand corner), you'll have a list of all the applications supported by A-Z Freeware Launcher. The upside is that for the majority of them a brief description is present and you will benefit from links to the developers' websites, allowing you download of the latest version.
A-Z Freeware Launcher comprises a neat set of freeware and in some cases it offers the possibility to choose between software of the same kind. For antivirus, for instance, there are three choices to pick from: avast!, Avira and AVG. Sure, only one should be installed on the system in order to avoid any malfunction.
But although A-Z Freeware Launcher provides a free ride to keeping your PC secure, clean, running at its true performance, it comes with its share of flaws. Providing links to antivirus and other security software is not exactly feasible as this type of programs should start running automatically once the system is on (and they do this by default) for deflecting malicious attacks all the time.
Besides this, you have absolutely no input and cannot make any modification. It would be nice to have the option to modify the installation path, add new items or simply organize them the way it best suits you.
The Good
The application organizes all the links into categories, based on the function of each of the programs it launches. There are also brief descriptions of the apps included in the supported list, so that the user knows exactly how they should be employed.
The Bad
Users cannot make any alteration to the contents of the categories or the installation paths of the software A-Z Freeware Launcher can execute.
The Truth
On the upside, A-Z Freeware Launcher is free and works with freebies, a great thing if you consider that it addresses newbies. It is not one of the best-looking tools on the market, but it does exactly what it is supposed to do if all the requirements are met.
Here are some snapshots of the application in action:
