Good Freeware Programs for Windows:
Here are my favourite free programs that I use on Windows XP: (Some will also work on Vista or Windows 7 or Linux)
Applications:
- PhotoScape (good free image editor): http://www.photoscape.org
- GimpShop (free image editor like Photoshop): http://www.gimpshop.com/download.shtml
- Notepad++ (great text editor): http://notepad-plus.sourceforge.net/uk/download.php
- Comodo Internet Firewall and AntiVirus (great firewall and antivirus): http://personalfirewall.comodo.com/
- OpenOffice (free version of MS Word, Excel and Powerpoint): http://download.openoffice.org/
- CutePDF Writer (save anything as a PDF file instead of printing): http://www.cutepdf.com/Products/CutePDF/writer.asp
- PDFescape (edit PDF forms on the web): http://www.pdfescape.com
- PDF-XChange (fast PDF viewer): http://www.docu-track.com/downloads/users/
- 7zip (free version of WinZip and WinRar): http://www.7-zip.org/download.html
- IrfanView (image previewer): http://www.irfanview.com
- Everything (file search program): http://www.voidtools.com/download.php
- Project64 (play Nintendo 64 games): http://www.pj64-emu.com/downloads/project64/binaries/
- Snes9X (play Super Nintendo games): http://www.snes9x.com/downloads.php
- Mame (play Arcade games): http://mamedev.org/release.html
Audio / Video / Multimedia:
- VLC Media Player (play most videos): http://www.videolan.org/vlc/download-windows.html
- K-Lite Video Codec (play most videos): http://www.free-codecs.com/K_lite_codec_pack_download.htm
- Powertoys Image Resizer (right-click to resize images from Explorer): http://download.microsoft.com/download/whistler/Install/2/WXP/EN-US/ImageResizerPowertoySetup.exe
- Winamp (MP3 music player): http://www.winamp.com/
- SuperC (convert between almost any AVI/MPG/MOV/DVD video format): http://www.videohelp.com/tools/SUPER
- MediaCoder Video Converter (also converts between almost any video format): http://www.mediacoderhq.com/editions.html
- AP Guitar Tuner (tune through a computer mic): http://www.aptuner.com/cgi-bin/aptuner/apmain.html
- Cyberlink PowerProducer Video Editing Software: (search torrents)
- CamStudio (record videos of your screen capture): http://camstudio.org/
- Donar MP3 Recorder (record MP3s directly from a mic or Youtube): http://www.donarzone.com/donar-mp3-recorder-3/
- DVD Shrink (rip an encrypted dual-sided DVD to DVD-R): http://www.softpedia.com/get/CD-DVD-Tools/CD-DVD-Rip-Other-Tools/DVD-Shrink.shtml
- MP3Gain (normalise the volume in MP3 songs): http://mp3gain.sourceforge.net
- MP3Splt (split MP3 songs or audiobooks into shorter files): http://mp3splt.sourceforge.net/mp3splt_page/home.php
- Tag and Rename (edit MP3 tags or rename files from tags): http://www.softpointer.com/tr.htm
Internet Utilities:
- Firefox web browser: http://www.mozilla.com/en-US/firefox/personal.html
- Trillian or Meebo or Pidgin Messengers (chat with MSN, Yahoo, Facebook, AOL, Google Chat at the same time).
- Orbit Downloader (download files quickly, including Youtube videos): http://www.orbitdownloader.com/download.htm
- FileZilla (FTP transfer files to your website): http://filezilla-project.org/download.php?type=client
- uTorrent (download torrents such as videos and books): http://www.utorrent.com/
- LimeWire (download MP3 songs): http://www.limewire.com/download/?os=xp
Firefox Plugins:
- ScrapBook Firefox plugin (download a whole website): https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/427
- FoxClocks Firefox plugin (see world times): https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/1117
- GMail Notifier Firefox plugin (see when you have new mail): https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/173
- PDF Downloader Firefox plugin (save PDF files before it crashes): https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/636
- Stop-Or-Reload button Firefox plugin (give more space on the addressbar): https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/313
- Tab Mix Plus Firefox plugin (customize tab settings): https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/1122
Security (Advanced):
- GMER detector (see if you are infected with a rootkit virus): http://www.gmer.net/
- SysInternals RootkitRevealer (another rootkit detector): http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/sysinternals/bb897445.aspx
- Spy-The-Spy (see when system files are changed): http://www.mediachance.com/free/spythespy.htm
- Sandboxie (safety net around Windows software): http://www.sandboxie.com/index.php?DownloadSandboxie
- ThreatExpert (upload a file to scan for viruses online): http://www.threatexpert.com/submit.aspx
- CWSandbox (upload a file to scan for viruses online): http://www.cwsandbox.org/?page=submit&action=verify
- VirusTotal 36 Online Virus Scanners in 1: http://www.virustotal.com/
- SysInternals TCPView (see the internet connections you have open): http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/sysinternals/bb897437.aspx
System Admin Utilities (Advanced):
- CodeStuff Starter (Windows startup tool): http://www.snapfiles.com/get/starter.html
- SysInternals Autoruns (Windows startup tool): http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/sysinternals/bb963902.aspx
- CmdHere (open DOS prompt from Explorer): http://download.microsoft.com/download/whistler/Install/2/WXP/EN-US/CmdHerePowertoySetup.exe
- WinMerge (compare files for changes): http://winmerge.org/
- Auslogics (fast disk defragmenter to speed up your computer): http://www.auslogics.com/en/software/disk-defrag/download
- ICE-ECC (make reliable CD/DVD backups): http://www.ice-graphics.com/ICEECC/IndexE.html
- RoadKil's Unstoppable Copier (recover damaged files on CD/DVD): http://www.roadkil.net/program.php?ProgramID=29
- Irene File Renamer (rename lots of files easily): http://www.softpedia.com/get/System/File-Management/Irene.shtml
- Romaine File Attributes Changer (change lots of file dates easily): http://www.petges.lu/
- MultiMon Taskbar (makes a separate taskbar on each monitor): http://www.mediachance.com/free/multimon.htm
- WinSplit Revolution (split a large screen into regions): http://www.winsplit-revolution.com/
- iRotate (rotate any monitor or multiple monitors): http://www.entechtaiwan.com/util/irotate.shtm
- Linux Ext2 WinXP driver (to view a Linux filesystem in Windows): http://www.fs-driver.org/
- SysInternals ProcessExplorer (powerful Task Manager): http://technet.microsoft.com/en-gb/sysinternals
- Virtual Clone Drive (mount an ISO file): http://www.slysoft.com/en/virtual-clonedrive.html
- Tortoise SVN (upload / download computer code): http://tortoisesvn.net/downloads
- LCC-Win32 (C compiler for Windows): http://www.cs.virginia.edu/~lcc-win32/
- Vista Services Optimizer (speedup Windows Vista): http://www.snapfiles.com/get/vsoptimizer.html