List updated 12 Apr 08.

Anti-Virus, Anti-Malware, Anti-Spyware

Ad-Aware - http://lavasoft.element5.com/index.php
Avast! - http://www.avast.com
AVG - http://free.grisoft.com/
Avira AntiVir PersonalEdition Classic - http://www.free-av.com/
ClamWin - http://www.clamwin.com/
Comodo Antivirus - http://antivirus.comodo.com/
HijackThis - http://www.spywareinfo.com/~merijn/programs.php#hijackthis
Spybot-S&D - http://www.spybot.info/en/home/index.html
SpywareBlaster - http://www.javacoolsoftware.com/spywareblaster.html
SpywareGuard - http://www.javacoolsoftware.com/spywareguard.html
Winpooch - http://winpooch.free.fr/
XPY - http://xpy.whyeye.org/


Audio Players

1by1 - http://mpesch3.de1.cc/1by1.html
CoolPlayer - http://coolplayer.sourceforge.net/
DeliPlayer - http://www.deliplayer.com/
Delphamp - http://www.delphamp.com/
Foobar2000 - http://www.foobar2000.com/
MoolPlayer - http://tinyapps.co.uk/moolplayer/
musikCube - http://www.musikcube.com/
Poddox - http://www.poddox.com/
Quintessential Player - http://www.quinnware.com/
SongBird - http://www.songbirdnest.com/download
XMPlay - http://www.un4seen.com/


Audio Tools

Audacity - http://audacity.sourceforge.net/
AutoFLAC - http://legroom.net/modules.php?op=modload&...mp;app=autoflac
BonkEnc - http://www.bonkenc.org/index.php
CDEx - http://cdexos.sourceforge.net/
EAC - http://www.exactaudiocopy.de/
Floola - http://www.floola.com/modules/wiwimod/
MP3Gain - http://mp3gain.sourceforge.net/
Mp3tag - http://www.mp3tag.de/en/
Streamripper - http://streamripper.sourceforge.net/
YamiPod - http://www.yamipod.com/main/modules/home/
Yammy - http://yammy.sourceforge.net/


Benchmarking / Hardware Info

CPU-Z - http://www.cpuid.com/cpuz.php
Futuremark - http://www.futuremark.com/products/
HDDScan - http://hddguru.com/content/en/software/
HD Tune - http://www.hdtune.com/
Nero CD-DVD Speed - http://www.cdspeed2000.com/
Nero InfoTool - http://www.nero.com/nero7/deu/Info_Tool.html
PC WIZARD 2007 - http://www.cpuid.com/pcwizard.php
RightMark Utilities - http://www.rightmark.org/
SIV System Information Viewer - http://siv.mysite.wanadoo-members.co.uk/
SIW System Information for Windows - http://www.gtopala.com/


Bittorent Clients

µTorrent - http://utorrent.com/index.php
Azureus - http://azureus.sourceforge.net/index.php
BitComet - http://www.bitcomet.com/
BitSpirit - http://www.167bt.com/intl/
BitTorrent - http://www.bittorrent.com/
Deluge - http://www.deluge-torrent.org/
Halite - http://www.binarynotions.com/halite.php
Rufus - http://rufus.sourceforge.net/


CD & DVD Burning

BurnAware Free Edition - http://www.glorylogic.com/overview-free.html
Burrrn - http://www.burrrn.net/
CDBurnerXP Pro - http://www.cdburnerxp.se/index.php
cdrtfe - http://cdrtfe.sourceforge.net/
DeepBurner - http://www.deepburner.com/
ImgBurn - http://www.imgburn.com/
Infra Recorder - http://infrarecorder.sourceforge.net/
Small CD-Writer - unofficial translation - http://www.911cd.net/forums//index.php?showtopic=7564
StarBurn - http://www.rocketdivision.com/starburn.html


Compression/Decompression

7-zip - www.7-zip.org
ExtractNow - http://www.extractnow.com/
Far Manager - http://farmanager.com/
WinUHA - http://winuha.com
UPX - http://upx.sourceforge.net/
Universal Extractor - http://www.msfn.org/board/index.php?showtopic=62418


Data Backup & Recovery

DriveImage XML - http://www.runtime.org/dixml.htm
PC INSPECTOR File Recovery - http://www.pcinspector.de/file_recovery/uk/welcome.htm
Recuva - http://www.recuva.com/
Restoration - http://www3.telus.net/mikebike/RESTORATION.html
SelfImage - http://selfimage.excelcia.org/
SoftPerfect File Recovery - http://www.softperfect.com/products/filerecovery/
TestDisk and PhotoRec - http://www.cgsecurity.org/
Undelete Plus - http://www.undelete-plus.com/


Download Manager

DownThemAll - Firefox extension - http://www.downthemall.net/
FlashGet - http://flashget.com/
Free Download Manager - http://www.freedownloadmanager.org/
LeechGet Personal Edition - http://www.leechget.net/en/
Orbit Downloader - http://www.orbitdownloader.com/
Wackget - http://millweed.com/
Wget - http://gnuwin32.sourceforge.net/packages/wget.htm
wGetGUI - http://www.jensroesner.de/wgetgui/
WinWGet - http://www.cybershade.us/winwget/



Encryption

FreeOTFE - http://www.freeotfe.org/
KeePass - http://keepass.sourceforge.net/
Steganos LockNote - http://www.steganos.com/?content=locknote&language=en
TrueCrypt - http://www.truecrypt.org/


File Tools

A43 File Management Utility - http://www.primitus.us/a43/
Ant Renamer - http://www.antp.be/software/renamer
CloneSpy - http://www.clonespy.com/?Features
CubicExplorer - http://www.cubicreality.com/ce/about
Directory Lister - http://www.krksoft.com/index.html
ExplorerXP - http://www.explorerxp.com/
freeCommander - http://www.freecommander.com/
LS File List Generator - http://home.a03.itscom.net/tsuzu/programing/en/
ReNamer - http://www.den4b.com/
UltraExplorer - http://www.mustangpeak.net/ultraexplorer.html
WinMerge - http://winmerge.org/


Firewall

Comodo Personal Firewall - http://www.comodogroup.com/
Outpost Firewall Free - http://www.agnitum.com/products/outpostfree/index.php
Safety.Net - http://www.netveda.com/consumer/safetynet.htm
SoftPerfect Personal Firewall - http://www.softperfect.com/products/firewall/
ZoneAlarm - http://www.zonelabs.com/


FTP

Filezilla - http://filezilla.sourceforge.net/


Graphics

ArtRage - http://www.ambientdesign.com/
Artweaver - http://www.artweaver.de/index.php?artweaver_en
AveIconifier2 - http://www.aqua-soft.org/board/showthread.php?t=15304
Blender - http://www.blender.org/
Color Detector - http://www.cosmin.com/colordetector/
Color Cop - http://prall.net/colorcop/features
ColorPic - http://www.iconico.com/colorpic/
Gimp - http://www.gimp.org/
hugin - Panorama Tools GUI - http://hugin.sourceforge.net/
InkScape - http://www.inkscape.org/
Instant Eyedropper - http://instant-eyedropper.com/
IrfanView - http://www.irfanview.com/
Jahshaka - http://www.jahshaka.org/
OpenFX - http://www.openfx.org/
Paint.NET - http://www.getpaint.net/index.html
PhotoFiltre - http://www.photofiltre.com/
Picasa - http://picasa.google.com/
Google SketchUp - http://www.sketchup.com/
Scratch - http://scratch.media.mit.edu/
TuxPaint - http://www.tuxpaint.org/
XnView - http://www.xnview.com/




GUI

Adolix Wallpaper Changer - http://www.adolix.com/wallpaper-changer/
AveDesk - http://www.avedesk.org/
Caledos Wallpaper - http://www.caledos.com/lab/Caledos/Caledos.aspx
CD Art Display - http://www.closetosoftware.com/
Crawlpaper - http://sourceforge.net/projects/crawlpaper/
Deskloops - http://www.xilokit.com/deskloops/deskloops.html
Desktop List View - http://iamwill.com/dev/desktopListView/index.php
Dexpot - http://dexpot.de/index.php?id=home
DM2 - http://dm2.sourceforge.net/
Flickr Wallpaper Rotator - http://www.rushfrisby.com/apps/Flickr-Wallpaper-Rotator.aspx
FlyakiteOSX - http://osx.portraitofakite.com/
John's Background Switcher - http://www.johnsadventures.com/backend/BackgroundSwitcher/
ObjectDock - http://www.stardock.com/products/objectdock/
Pitaschio - http://pitaschio.ara3.net/index.htm
Power Dimmer - http://www.whitsoftdev.com/powerdimmer/
PowerMenu - http://www.veridicus.com/tummy/programming/powermenu/
QTTabBar - http://qttabbar.wikidot.com/
RK Launcher - http://home.cogeco.ca/~rklauncher/
RocketDock - http://www.punksoftware.com/rocketdock
Switcher - http://insentient.net/index.html
Tango Shell Patcher - http://vertigosity.benpbrown.com/?page=start
Taskbar Shuffle 2.2 - http://www.freewebs.com/nerdcave/taskbarshuffle.htm
TaskSwitchXP - http://www.ntwind.com/software/taskswitchxp.html
XPize - http://xpero.msfn.org/
Yahoo! Widgets - http://widgets.yahoo.com/
VirtuaWin - http://virtuawin.sourceforge.net/
Vista Transformation Pack - http://www.windowsxlive.net/?page_id=15


Instant Messaging

aMSN - MSN - http://amsn.sourceforge.net/index.php
Gaim - Multi-Protocol support - http://gaim.sourceforge.net/
miniaim - AIM - http://miniaim.net/
Miranda - Multi-Protocol support - http://www.miranda-im.org/
Trillian - Multi-Protocol support - http://www.ceruleanstudios.com/


IRC Client

Bersirc - http://bersirc.free2code.net/index.php/home/
HydraIRC - http://www.hydrairc.com/
KVIRC - http://www.kvirc.net/
X-Chat - http://www.xchat.org/
X-Chat 2 - http://www.silverex.org/news/


Network Tools

Ethereal - Protocol Analyzer - http://www.ethereal.com/
Knocker - Port Scanner - http://knocker.sourceforge.net/index.php
NetStumbler - http://stumbler.net/
Hamachi - http://www.hamachi.cc/
OCS Inventory - Inventory - http://ocsinventory.sourceforge.net/
OmniPeek Personal - http://www.omnipeek.com/omnipeek_personal.php
PuTTY Tray - http://www.xs4all.nl/~whaa/putty/
Show Traffic - Traffic Analyzer - http://www.demosten.com/index.html
SmartSniff - http://www.nirsoft.net/utils/smsniff.html
Snort - IDS - http://snort.org/
SoftPerfect Network Scanner - http://www.softperfect.com/products/networkscanner/
Spiceworks - http://www.spiceworks.com/
The Dude - http://www.mikrotik.com/thedude.php
Wireshark -http://www.wireshark.org/


Notepad Replacements

metapad - http://www.liquidninja.com/metapad/
Notepad++ - http://notepad-plus.sourceforge.net/uk/site.htm
Notepad2 - http://www.flos-freeware.ch/notepad2.html


Office

AbiWord - http://www.abisource.com/
doPDF - http://www.dopdf.com/
Foxit Reader - http://www.foxitsoftware.com/pdf/rd_intro.php
Gnumeric - http://www.gnome.org/projects/gnumeric/
Nvu - http://www.nvu.com/index.php
OpenOffice - http://www.openoffice.org/
PDFCreator - http://www.pdfforge.org/


RSS

FeedReader - http://www.feedreader.com/
GreatNews - http://www.curiostudio.com/index.html
RSSOwl - http://www.rssowl.org/


System Utilities


Auslogics Disk Defrag - http://www.auslogics.com/disk-defrag/index.php
CamStudio - http://www.camstudio.org/
CCleaner - http://ccleaner.com/
Convert - http://joshmadison.net/software/convert/
Event Log Explorer - http://www.eventlogxp.com/
Google Earth - http://earth.google.com/
HashTab - http://beeblebrox.org/hashtab/
JkDefrag - http://www.kessels.com/JkDefrag/
Neoshooter - http://www.neowin.net/forum/index.php?showtopic=161346
nCleaner - http://nkprod.ro/ncleaner/
NirSoft Utilities - http://www.nirsoft.net/
Revo Uninstaller - http://www.revouninstaller.com/index.html
Rumshot - http://shellscape.org/rumshot/
Sandboxie - http://www.sandboxie.com/
Sizer - http://www.brianapps.net/sizer.html
Sysinternals Utilities - http://www.microsoft.com/technet/sysintern...itiesindex.mspx
System Info for Windows - http://www.gtopala.com/
Microsoft Virtual PC - http://www.microsoft.com/windows/products/...pc/default.mspx
Total Copy - http://www.ranvik.net/totalcopy/
Tera Copy - http://www.codesector.com/teracopy.php
Unlocker - http://ccollomb.free.fr/unlocker/
VirtualBox - http://www.virtualbox.org/
WinAPIOverride32 - http://jacquelin.potier.free.fr/winapioverride32/
Window Clippings - http://www.windowclippings.com/

Web Browsers

Firefox - http://www.mozilla.com/en-US/firefox/
K-Meleon - http://kmeleon.sourceforge.net/
Opera - http://www.opera.com/


VoIP

Gizmo - http://www.gizmoproject.com/
Skype - http://www.skype.com/
VoipStunt - http://www.voipstunt.com/
WengoPhone - http://www.wengo.com/


Video Players

GOM Player - http://www.gomplayer.com/main.html
Media Player Classic - http://sourceforge.net/projects/guliverkli/
MoolPlayer - http://tinyapps.co.uk/moolplayer/
MPUI - http://mpui.sourceforge.net/
KMPlayer - http://www.kmplayer.com/forums/index.php
rulesPlayer - http://rulesplayer.lessequal.com/
VLC - http://www.videolan.org/vlc/
Zoom Player (Standard) - http://www.inmatrix.com/


Video Tools

Any Video Converter - http://www.any-dvd-converter.com/
AutoGK - http://www.autogk.me.uk/
BeSweet - http://dspguru.doom9.net/
Dr.DivX - http://labs.divx.com/DrDivX
DVD43 - http://www.dvd43.com/
DVDFab Decrypter - http://www.dvdidle.com/free.htm
DVD-Rebuilder - http://dvd-rb.dvd2go.org/
GSpot Codec Information Appliance - http://www.headbands.com/gspot/
MediaCoder - http://mediacoder.sourceforge.net/
MKVToolnix - http://www.bunkus.org/videotools/mkvtoolnix/
RatDVD- http://www.ratdvd.dk/download.htm
StaxRip - http://www.planetdvb.net/staxrip/
Videora Converter - http://www.videora.com/en-us/Converter/
VirtualDub - http://www.virtualdub.org/


---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

nice job!!!

little update: .DOT NET is not required for CD burner xp pro. see here. enough people complained about their switch to DOT NET that they decided to offer an alternitive.

also very worthy of mention is ClamWin, a FOSS and *very* good, very light anti-virus. note that isn't for newbs however, as it does not do real-time scanning (which is one of it's better assets IMO). ClamMail is the counterpart for e-mail.

PopTray is, by far, the very best e-mail checking util i've ever found. very simple, yet LOADED with useful features. FOSS, but it's Delphi.

KeyPass Password Safe, FOSS, and the best PWD manager i've yet come accross.

Filezilla, one of the better FOSS FTP clients/servers.

Just one ques. before even i included to the list?
Only open source ones or even the normal freewares?

@ atamozier - Thanks for the heads up. List edited.

@ alsiladka - As you can see on the topic description, the list is made of Free and Open Source Software. So yes, the "normal freeware" is acceptable.

IrfanView is free, so it should be on your list. I use it and it rules.

i don't think IrfanView is OSS

The topic is not just a list of OSS but also some good freewares.

F/OSS = Free / Open Source Software
IrfanView is Free as in you don't pay anything, nor are you encouraged to donate. Nothing complicated here...

we could add irfanview, whats the difference between that and xnview though?

i know i tunes is free and it falls under the catagory of [Audio Players]

Yeah, well you wouldn't use ITunes unless you owned an IPod.

iTunes is something that everyone knows about. The main reason for this list is to provide some alternatives to the 'well known software'.

However, I want to thank everyone for the submissions. Some will be added, some will not. However, there will be no confirmation (post) by me nor DigeratiPrime about a user's submission. Mainly to prevent useless posts.

Feel free to submit as many applications as you want. After all, the list is made by all of you.

Thank you all.

@Gouki - ohhh ic now, thanks for the info

What about DVD Shrink?

might want to check the defanition of F/OSS

@DigeratiPrime - the differance between IrfanView and XnView is that the latter is primarily geared toward graphics only, where Irfan does audio and video as well.

ty atomizer and others. i will update the list a little later today.

To hell with the technicalities and politics of "free" and "open-source". You don't have to bloody pay for it, I've said this a dozens times now... c'mon.
Yes, it does audio and video, but you can select only image formats to be associated with the program and then disable the audio and video plugins aftwards. Man, I hate it when someone brings up a bunch of gobbly goop just because they want the last word of a discussion. I suppose it's the whole pride or male ego thing. Anyway, I'm like that too, but when it's as simple as being free, why bother creating more frustrations?

Tor: An anonymous Internet communication system
http://tor.eff.org/

TrueCrypt: Free open-source disk encryption software
http://www.truecrypt.org/


Also, I would like to second a couple of sentiments. First would be the inclusion of KeyPass Password Safe. Second would be that I don't think most people care whether or not something is open source or not, but rather if they're permitted to use it without paying for it.

The only reason this list has OSS it's because it tends to be more well written than regular (non-OS) software.

As for the suggestions, they have been added to the list. Thanks

I would agree with that. I certainly have more "trust" in open source software since it is open to the scrutiny of everybody. I've never been a fan of secrets.

I think that the malware title should be changed. I doubt most people want free malware .

LOL! You'r right. My bad! Hehehe!

EAC (Exact Audio Copy)



Excellent program to copy cd's. It's free to download and use, although the cretor advertises it as "CardWare". Basically he would appreciate a nice postcard from people who download the software.



http://www.exactaudiocopy.de/

That's just prejudice towards anything non-Open Source. nLite isn't open-source, does Nuhi keep secrets? ... besides forgetting to mention some things in the changelog sometimes...

Call it prejudice, call it whatever you like. But the fact remains that I, and many others as well, have more trust in open source software. I'm not calling authors of closed source software untrustworthy, but I'd be willing to bet most software developers are not nearly as accessible as nuhi either.

True? So all the ones on the list are fake?

I have read the line again and I still think that you called the listed applications fake (not Free or OSS).

P.S: I don't need colors and sentences in bold to understand something better.

Edit:

Just so you know, you have been warned.

Stuff i use (Free):

K-Meleon: http://kmeleon.sourceforge.net/
Quintessential Player: http://www.quinnware.com/
VNC Manager & Neighborhood: http://www.sysworksoft.net/products/
Free Commander: http://www.freecommander.com/index_en.htm
CDex: http://sourceforge.net/projects/cdexos
MozBackup: http://mozbackup.jasnapaka.com/
PuTTy: http://www.chiark.greenend.org.uk/~sgtatham/putty/
WinSCP: http://winscp.net/eng/index.php

I prefered to use this FreeOTFE (Free On The Fly Encryption) over TrueCrypt. Very small footprint and doesnt use up much of ram and capable with SecureTrayUtil A handy utility that sits in the tasktray, allowing hotkey shredding files, file hashes to be generated, and complementing several OTFE (On-The-Fly Encryption) systems by providing rapid access to their most used day-to-day functions, making them considerably easier to use. Also incorporates self-destruct facilities for sensitive material, triggerable by hotkey, easily-built serial connector or secure Internet connection.

Another Suggestion for Web Authoring - NVU

in case no one else mentioned it, i really like Advanced Windows Care,beta 2 works well
i have used quite a few utilities, this one finds alot more problems than most others

Yeah, just from reading the site, it looks like crap.

WHat are the best settings? Dramatically boost my PC operation and my connection speed? The most advanced optimization engine? Reeeaalllyy... In all these years I've used PCs, in the dozens and dozens of cleanup utilities, why I've never heard of this? Surely, it would have been mentioned on one of the dozens of reputable sites I have in my bookmarks, since it's so good? Hmmm...
As far as I'm concerned, it's an over-hyped registry cleaner.

everybody missed one thing ....i know this is MSFN (Microsoft a big part in it) what about linux it is an open source O/S and no one said that this was only about application software so linux must ge in the list.

and some browsers are also there

Graphics
Picasa2 http://picasa.google.com/
Gimp http://www.gimp.org/

Audio
Audacity http://audacity.sourceforge.net/
MP3Gain http://mp3gain.sourceforge.net/

I've found these to be rather useful

I Think U 4got about the smallest and efficient video/audio editing app
-- VirtualDub [LINK]www.virtualdub.org[/LINK]

Best File Compression algo.
-- 7-zip [LINK]www.7-zip.org[/LINK]

thanks, added your suggestions. please submit more

There's two 'Audio Player" sections on the first post i think the second one should get another name... "audio tools" maybe.

my suggestions :

Audio \ Digital Audio Extraction :
CDEx - http://cdexos.sourceforge.net/ - like EAC, but still developped, and much more intuitive !

Compression :
WinUHA (or google for UHARC) - http://winuha.com/ - globally same compression levels than RAR or 7-Zip, but better on multimedia files (WAV, BMP...)
UPX - http://upx.sourceforge.net/ - packer for executables

Firewall :
Kerio Personal Firewall 2.1.5 - http://www.google.fr/search?q=Kerio+Personal+Firewall+2.1.5 - very lite rule-based firewall for 9x users

Graphics \ 3D :
Blender - http://www.blender.org/ - (req. Python) - a reference in 3d animated graphics

GUI :
Vista Transformation Pack 4 - http://www.jcxp.net/forums/index.php?showforum=77


Website \ Software collection :
Softpedia - http://win.softpedia.com/


++

Thanks Delprat, fixed the typo and added your suggestions.

Another great website for software is filehippo and fileforum.

What about games?

PlasmaPong and that er.. other one.. *forgets* you know.. car racing.. online.. crap...

(Hello from Russia )

What's about:

Firewall
Outpost Firewall Free - http://www.agnitum.com/products/outpostfree/index.php (but I can't understand very strange download...)

Instant Messaging
QIP - http://www.qip.ru/

Audio players
Cool Player
1by1 (rekomended by me)

Audio Tools
Mp3tag (tad editor for media files, recomended by me)

Video players
Gom Player (new and powerfull)

CD/DVD Writing:
Burrrn is a very good burner which can burn anything if you have a command line encoder .

Firewall:
NetVeda Safety.Net is the most bugfree firewall that i have ever used. it also has a small memory footprint making it very nice.

GUI:
CD Art Display lets you see the currently playing song right on your desktop. it also has some nice skins.
RK Launcher is a program which acts as a dock and provides a nice way to launch your programs. it also has a couple of nice plugins.
TaskSwitchXP is a program which acts as replacement for the default Alt + Tab window. it offers many extra features such as a theme-based GUI, Application preview, and much much more. it also has an EXTREMELY small memory footprint as well as a small filesize.

Network Tools:
XP Firewall Logger uses a file made by the Windows XP Firewall which comes with SP2. the program reads the file and shows the IPs to which you are currently connected to.

System Tools:
Dial-a-fix is a little program which contains a lot of tools which can make some errors go away. some features include rebuilding the icon cache, fixing a few services(like Windows Update, Microsoft Installer, SSH one, etc...), re-registering important explorer.exe files, and more
Process Explorer is a program which is made to show all the processes that are currently active. it has a nice treeview layout and with nice highlighting as well as a lot of advanced features. if you're looking for a replacement to Windows Task Manager, Process Explorer is it.
Replacer is a program which can safely replace system files such as shell32.dll . it also saves a backup copy so that you can revert back to it.
Contig is an application that can defrag files, folders, or even a hard-drive. it uses a special way of defraging the hard-drive by using the Degraging API itself. since this is a command line tool, a lot of users will want a GUI. so see the next program here.
Power Defragmenter GUI is a GUI for Contig. it lets you do everything that Contig can do, but with a nice interface for it. really recommend it for people that don't like command-line.
Uninstall Tool is a very small program which can let you uninstall any program that is listed in the registry. the reason that it's very good is because it loads fast, it has a lot of features, and it's free. the default "add/Remove" in Control Panel is slow and freezes when you uninstall a program. this one doesn't.
Foxit PDF Reader is an alternative for Adobe Reader. it runs fast, it loads the PDF files fast as well, it offers some tools, and a few other features. the main reason why it's better than PDF reader is because of its filesize(just 2MB) and because PDFs load in less than 5 seconds(usually 1 second but depends on the filesize of the pdf file). i'm using the 2.0 beta right now and it's being very stable.
RegSeeker is a program which cleans the registry of any garbage which is left from many programs that can't uninstall right. i've been using it for months and it hasn't caused my system to crash, breakdown, slowdown, or anything like that.
RegCompact.NET is a program which can compact your registry hives. this supposidly can make your computer run faster. requires the evil .NET Framework though. there is a native alternative but it sucks so i won't bother posting it.
FAR Manager is a file manager that has a DOS-like interface. it works very nicely and has a few plugins. Igor Pavlov(maker of 7-Zip) also made a 7z plugin for it.
HDTune is a tiny program which can let you see a bunch of information about your computer's Hard Drive. it can also run an error check to check for any bad blocks. it's a very useful one.
HijackThis is a program which can find a lot of info on your computer and delete some registry entries. this tool is very useful for finding out if you have spyware on your computer.
CPU-Z is a program which can find out information about your computer's CPU, Motherboard, memory cards, and some other stuff as well.

VoIP:
Skype is a program which can let you talk to any landline and mobile phone around the world. it costs money to do that, but the program itself is free. and also, if the person you want to talk to also has skype, then conversations through Skype are free. really nice program made by 2 very famous people(even though eBay owns it now).

Video Tools:
mkvtoolnix is a free program which can make Matroska files out of a lot of files(such as AVI). if you like Matroska, then you must have this program. the name is mkvtoolnix, but there is also a port for Windows via Cygwin.

I used 1By1 for months, but it has stuttured playback during system load *even minimizing and restoring MSN causes this*. Also, random file change bug. I switched to Winamp and am very happy with it.


NET Framework 2 is not evil. I have it installed and there is no negative effect to my system, the specs for which you can see in my signature. NET2.0 bashers are becoming very annoying, huh, Zxian?
Also, as the "native alternative" you're referring to NTRegOpt? I use it and see nothing wrong with it. Can you backup your claims?

the negative effect of having it is 124MB of storage space(well that's how much Uninstall Tools says there is). you also get more HD space taken away if you have the .NET 1.1 Framework(which i currently don't have).

as for NTRegOp, i've only used it once so i can't say that i can back up my claims. however, i've found RegCompact.NET to work better for me since it has a more detailed GUI. Plus, it's Open Source

Update Vista Trasformation Pack to 5.5
http://www.windowsxlive.net/?p=137

Well, it's not so much a "negative" effect as it does not affect system performance whatsoever. If you only have 4GBs of HD space in total, than I can see why it would be a concern at that point. If you have 100GBs... I'd say let it go.

Irfanview is NOT "Free", when you say Free the term means "Free as in Freedom, not as free beer".
The Freedom of the software is the power of so many developers to "Free" their software under CopyLeft licenses, please read more about it here: http://www.gnu.org/philosophy/free-sw.html

Video editing:

AviUtl

http://www.geocities.com/fredledingo/aviutl.htm

Mozilla Sunbird is a free open-source calendar application. Very basic (like Firefox) and supports themes/plugins/extensions as well.

Please add HijackThis to the [Malware Prevention] list. One of the best btw.

No offence, but this list it crap.

Your missing soo many good products.

I'm not even going to start naming them.

OK parent heavily cleaned up and many suggestions added keep 'em coming