With the complexity of networks and applications growing, IT managers don’t get a break in terms of the number of things they have to manage -- which represents a huge strain on budgets. And that's where freeware comes in.

Freeware is one of my favorite topics to cover at Network World, partly because a lot of the no-cost applications address pressing IT management concerns and partly because I got my newsletter writing start here compiling freeware, shareware and other low-cost applications in the now defunct Download Depot. And this week I compiled my most recent list of freeware applications that I discovered and that readers and some vendors submitted to me.

Freeware is typically a small application designed by an individual or a scaled down version of commercial software made available at no cost by the vendor. For instance, one of the all-time favorite freeware applications MRTG, or Multi Router Traffic Grapher, is put to use in many large networks today.

"We are using MRTG to monitor traffic on some of our more critical routers," says Kerry Miller, network engineer at First Victoria National Bank in Victoria, Texas.

And others combine the classic freeware applications like Ethereal with newer freebies. "We've long used Ethereal -- freeware network sniffing software. In fact, over time it replaced our commercial Network General Sniffers. It's been renamed Wireshark and is worth the upgrade for those using it," says Rick Beebe, manager of system and network engineering for ITS-Med at Yale University School of Medicine in New Haven, Conn.

And sometimes by spending a bit of cash, IT managers such as Beebe couple the freeware with commercial products to address emerging issues and new technologies in IT environments.

"There's a commercial add-on from CACE Technologies called AirPCap. It's essentially a promiscuous-mode wireless card in a USB dongle. Plug it in and Wireshark can be used to sniff the wireless network," Beebe explains.

Tristan Rhodes, network engineer at Weber State University in Ogden, Utah, authors a blog on the topic of open source software and puts multiple free applications to use in his network. For instance, NeDi "is the most useful tool we have," Rhodes says. "It is used by our service desk, the security team and the network team."

Denise Dubie is senior editor with Network World.