Good Freeware Programs for Windows:

Here are my favourite free programs that I use on Windows XP. Most of these will also work on Windows 7 or Linux, but if you are using Linux then you are better off with an actual Linux guide such as this one.

• 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

• 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

• 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
• Get individual files in a ZIP file without downloading the whole ZIP: http://www.raymond.cc/blog/preview-and-download-selected-files-and-contents-in-zip-archive/

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
• ArchView Firefox Addon (can get files inside a Zip without downloading the whole Zip file): https://addons.mozilla.org/en-us/firefox/addon/5028/

• 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

• 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
• FileMenu Tools (add many useful features to your Explorer context menu): http://www.softpedia.com/get/System/OS-Enhancements/FileMenu-Tools.shtml
• Romaine File Attributes Changer (change lots of file dates easily, without FileMenu Tools): http://www.petges.lu/
• XP-AntiSpy (easily change lots of XP settings): http://xp-antispy.org/index.php/en/home
• FlashFolder (easily jump to your fav locations): http://sourceforge.net/projects/flashfolder/
• PowerMenu (make window topmost or minimize to tray): http://www.abstractpath.com/powermenu/
• Synergy+ (share a keyboard & mouse across computers): http://synergy-foss.org/
• HashCheck Shell Extension (easily verify CRC/MD5/SHA checksums of files): http://code.kliu.org/hashcheck/
• Mmm (remove items from your Explorer context menu): http://www.hace.us-inc.com/mmm.shtml
• MultiMon Taskbar (makes a separate taskbar on each monitor): http://www.mediachance.com/free/multimon.htm
• ZoneScreen (virtual spare monitor that can be accessed remotely with VNC): http://www.zoneos.com/zonescreen.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/
• VisualTaskTips (show previews on taskbar): http://www.freewarefiles.com/Visual-Task-Tips_program_34978.html
• Vista Services Optimizer (speedup Windows Vista): http://www.snapfiles.com/get/vsoptimizer.html
• DriveImage XML (clone or backup Windows 7): http://www.runtime.org/driveimage-xml.htm

MANY MORE FREE SOFTWARE LISTED AT MSFN: http://www.msfn.org/board/topic/129933-free-software-list/