Afif App Awards is dedicated to software, apps and websites that have been very useful to me. I use them everyday at work and also at home and some of them have essentially became something that I just cannot do without. In this inaugural award, I present to your 12 apps/website that are the best in their respective categories.
Best Free Antivirus - Microsoft Security Essentials (Windows)
I'm actually surprised that the birth of Microsoft's very own antivirus software didn't spell the death of numerous paid and premium antivirus software out there. It works just as good as any popular antivirus program (if not better) at the cost of nothing. My guess is either many people still doesn't know it exists or the other antivirus' marketing program had done their job well.
Honorable mention - Panda Cloud Antivirus, the lightweight, web-based antivirus suitable for Windows system that is low on RAM and other resources.
Best Premium Antivirus - McAfee VirusScan (Windows,Mac,Linux)
Once every other antivirus software fails, I always turn to McAfee VirusScan as the final solution for all my virus/malware problems. It's effectiveness in detecting and removing viruses has been top-notch from my experience. If McAfee VirusScan cannot remove those nasty viruses, you might as reformat your hard drive and start fresh. While Microsoft's Security Essentials is good enough for normal Windows PCs, VirusScan will give comprehensive protection for all your desktop, server and also email systems.
Best Antimalware App - Malwarebytes Anti-Malware (Windows)
Malwarebytes' Anti-Malware is simply the best free or paid anti-malware software I have used ever. This little software is very capable of detecting and removing most known or new malware programs that is infecting your poor Windows PC.
Best Web Browser - Google Chrome (Windows,Mac,Linux)
Renown for it's blazing fast speed and light memory foot print, Google's Chrome is currently my most preferred web browser. I still use Firefox from time to time though. If only they weren't so bloated and slow sometimes.
Best Multimedia Player - VLC (Windows,Mac,Linux)
The cross-platform VLC media player can play just about any audio and video media format thrown at it.
Best Online Syncing App - Dropbox (Windows,Mac,Linux)
By using Dropbox, you can store and sync all your important documents on any computers installed with the program be it Windows, Mac or Linux. Apart from that you can also easily browse and edit your files online at their website.
Best Online Storage - Windows Live Skydrive
I can name a few other popular online storage services such as 4shared, Mediafire or Drop.io but Skydrive offers fuss-free, huge 25GB storage for anybody with a Hotmail account.
Best Notetaking App - Evernote (Windows,Mac)
Just dump all your text notes, word documents, emails, pictures and also web clips to Evernote and sync them across all your computers or smart phone.
Best Social Networking Site - Facebook
With a staggering 350 million members, what else can I say?
Best DVD-ripping App - Handbrake (Windows,Mac,Linux)
Handbrake will help you convert your DVD or many multimedia formats to your preferred format of choice.
Best Web Email - Gmail
7GB of storage with POP3, IMAP and user-friendly setup with many popular email client (Apple Mail, Microsoft Exchange, Mozilla Thunderbird), Gmail is the best email service ever.
Best Photo Sharing App - Picasa 3 (Windows,Mac,Linux)
Picasa from Google will help you organize, edit and share your photos on your computer and also online with it's Picasa Web Album website.
