http://www.snap2objects.com/2007/07/20/45-best-freeware-design-programs/

nice link, doug. i have quite a few of those and have seen many of the others, but that's quite a list. thanks :)

Good list Doug, I've bookmarked it.

Word of caution, one of the programs on that list was found to come with a virus, always check the download source out before downloading any free programme, the "price" may be something you'd rather not pay.

The programme itself may be OK, but some download sites "bundle" other things with it. Wherever possible DL from sites you know and trust.

Word of caution, one of the programs on that list was found to come with a virus, which one? and was it like you said, where it was added in by someone else?

I looked at the list. I don't remember which program was listed with the virus, but I do remember that it was clearly marked and the person strongly advised that it not be downloaded and the link was no longer active.

thanks, racc.

Hi Craig, sorry just saw your post.

Alch Icon Suite is a powerful icon editing studio this small application is extremely easy to use and has a range of effects that can be applied to icons, not only can you edit any (16 X 16, 32 X 32, 48 X 48, 64 X 64) existing windows icons you can create your own icons fast and effectively.

*Update* 7/22/2007
Users have reported the presence of the virus “win32 adload.aw” in this program. Download for this app is not supported any more. Thanks for the help.



Though the link was disabled, it was not before some users had "aquired" a diseased file.

I have no criticism particularly for the page Doug linked to, they closed the link as soon as they discovered it was compromised. But they are just a link display page, they do not have control of the download links.

So just because the site you link from is "legit" users should not assume that the site linked to is also clean. As I said, if you don't know the programme or the download site, try Googling to see if you can get the programme from a "known" DL site. They usually ensure their downloads are clean.

Also look to see if anyone is complaining of infections from installing the programme you're interested in, there's usually a few around if the programme's dodgy.