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The internet is a nirvana for people who love to download and toy with new pieces of software. But of the thousands of apps available online, how do you separate the unmissable gems that will take pride of place on your Start bar from the bug-ridden wastes of hard disk space? Or, worse still, the innocent-looking applications that infect your system with spyware?

Here, we've compiled our top 50 downloads - from apps that are measured in kilobytes to the Google Pack's 200MB - all of which are guaranteed performers. Every download has been installed, tested and approved by a member of the PC Pro editorial team; indeed, many of them were already fixtures on our home and work PCs.

We've covered a wide range of applications, including everything from browser add-ons, security software, music packages right through to Photoshop alternatives.

Best of all, you won't need to pay for any of our top 50. Although some might implore you to upgrade to paid-for versions or offer extra features for a few dollars more, each of our downloads are free standalone applications.

Before you start downloading, a little housekeeping: although we've taken great care to personally test each of the software downloads we recommend, we haven't installed all 50 on the same machine. So while we're happy to vouch for them

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individually, we can't guarantee that any of our downloads will be compatible with each other or other software on your PC. We'd also implore you to download the software from our recommended sites. It's not unknown for malware writers to stuff spyware or viruses into legitimate-looking software bearing the real product name.

As ever, we'd also welcome your feedback. If there are any free downloads that you think warrant a place in our top 50, send a link to letters@pcpro.co.uk and we'll check them out and share the best of them in a future issue.

Art & Design (2)
Communication (4)
Diagnostics (7)
Entertainment (11)
File Sharing (3)
Internet (4)
Security (5)
Tools (11)
Various (1)
Virtualisation (2)