alt.comp.freeware includes some of the most die-hard freeware devotees on Usenet. From time to time, someone still posts a message about booting a new machine running 100% free/open source software.

Everybody knows about the best freeware (according to alt.comp.freeware); it's at http://www.pricelesswarehome.org . Payware, however, is another matter.

casioculture started the thread: "Ok ok, I know this is a freeware newsgroup; that's precisely why I'm asking here. You guys must have a hint of prudence (thrift?) to use... freebies. So, you're good to ask. What payware do you regard worth every penny?"

Here's their payware line up:

4NT - command line megatool http://www.jpsoft.com/

602PC - Office Suite http://www.software602.com/products/pcs/

ACDSee - Picture Viewer http://www.acdsystems.com/English/index.htm

AI Roboform - Password Manager & More http://www.roboform.com/

Acoustica - Audio Editing Tools http://www.aconas.com

Acronis TrueImage - Disk Imaging Tool http://www.acronis.com/homecomputing/products/trueimage/

Adobe Photoshop - Photo Editing Par Excellence http://www.adobe.com/products/photoshop/main.html

Agent - Awesome Newsgroup Reader http://www.forteinc.com/main/homepage.php

Blanch (donationware) - This one is new to me. According to its Web  page, Blanch is "a small, fast, easy to use, drag and drop button  launcher...." http://oneguycoding.com/

BootItNG - Partition Manager http://www.terabyteunlimited.com/

Borland Delphi - Programming Software http://www.borland.com/delphi/

CSE HTML Validator - http://www.htmlvalidator.com/

Championship Hearts & Spades - http://dq.com/pocketpc.html

Clean-It - Optimization Utility http://www.skylarkutilities.com/clean-it/home.html

CopyToDVD - http://www.vso-software.fr/

Dreamweaver - http://www.macromedia.com/software/dreamweaver/

EFI Specialty Fonts - http://www.educationalfontware.com/specialty_fonts.html

EditPlus Text Editor - http://www.editplus.com/

Diskeeper - Defragmentation Utility http://www.executive.com/coverpage.asp

MP3Rat http://www.kaylon.com/mp3rat/

Microsoft Office Premium

Mathtype - Equation Editor http://www.chartwellyorke.com/mathtype.html

McAfee antivirus - http://us.mcafee.com/root/package.asp?pkgid=100

Nero - Digital Media Burner http://ww2.nero.com/us/index.html

Netlimiter - Net Monitor http://www.netlimiter.com/

Nod32 antivirus - http://www.nod32.com/home/home.htm

Norton Ghost - http://www.symantec.com/sabu/ghost/ghost_personal/

O&O Defrag - http://www.oo-software.com/en/index.html

Opera - http://www.opera.com/

Paperless Printer - According to the Web page, "Paperless Printer can convert  almost any application data to PDF, HTML, DOC, Excel, JPEG or BMP  including those created with drawing, page-layout, or image-editing programs." http://www.pragnaan.com/paperlessprinter/

PerformanceTest - Benchmark Utility http://www.passmark.com/

Photofiltre - http://photofiltre.free.fr/frames_en.htm

PicturesToExe - Presentation Creator http://www.wnsoft.com/apr/

PocoMail - http://www.pocosystems.com/home/index.php?option=content&task=category§ionid=2&id=7&Itemid=28

Powermarks http://www.kaylon.com/power.html

Restorer2000 - Recovery Software http://www.bitmart.net/r2k.shtml

Servant Salamander - File Utility http://www.altap.cz/

Slick Run (donationware) - http://www.bayden.com/SlickRun/

The Bat - http://www.ritlabs.com/en/products/thebat/

Total Commander - File Manager http://www.ghisler.com/

Total Recorder - http://www.highcriteria.com/

Total Uninstall - http://www.martau.com/

Treepad Business Edition - http://www.treepad.com/treepadbiz/

WhereIsIt - http://www.whereisit-soft.com/

WinPatrol PLUS - http://www.winpatrol.com/

WinZip (The contributor observed: "Yeah, yeah: I know people don't actually  pay for WinZip, but the basic deal is that you're supposed to, and ages  ago I did." Another writer: "Ahh, so your the one!")

Window Washer - http://www.webroot.com/products/windowwasher?rc=266&ac=383

Windows XP Winrar - Archive Utility http://www.rarlab.com/index.htm

About the Author - Tony Brezovski publishes a tightfisted techie ezine at http://www.tightwadtech.com/