Please note that most of these links are for Windows, although many of them also have Mac OS and Linux versions available. I've "organized" these links by popularity, with the more commonly used applications at the top. I know that most people outside of the IT world do not need things like SSH or VNC clients, so I've put those applications at the bottom of the list.
I only put freeware applications on this list. Shareware, demo, or adware applications that some bundled with spyware are not allowed! If a company starts charging for a product that was originally free (Like RealVNC, UltimateZip, SmartFTP, or XDeep did!), they get removed from the list.
If you know of any cool freeware titles that I'm missing, please e-mail me at themejunky at yahoo dot com and let me know! Also, please let me know about any broken links that you find in this blog, or if a program on this list is no longer freely available.
One last thing: If you have a blog or web site of your own and like this site, please add a link to it! Thanks!
General Desktop Software
Web Browsers: Internet Explorer used to be a decent web browser, but you're practically asking for a Spyware infection if you're still using an older version today. I'd recommend using one of these browsers instead:
Mozilla Firefox Web Browser: http://www.mozilla.com/
Opera Web Browser: http://www.opera.com/
If you NEED to use Internet Explorer for whatever reason, I'd recommend getting the Google Toolbar for it. It adds a good pop-up blocker and the very handy Google search bar.
Google Toolbar for IE: http://toolbar.google.com/
Office Suites: I like Microsoft Office, but I'm too thrifty (or flat out cheap, depending on your opinion) to buy it for my home computers. I use Openoffice.org instead, and I'd recommend giving it a try. You might also want to check out Google Office, an online word processor and spreadsheet with built in spell check and online publishing features.
Openoffice.org Office Suite: http://www.openoffice.org/
Google Office: http://docs.google.com
Spyware cleaners: Since I switched to Firefox, I haven't had much use for a Spyware cleaner. If your system is infected with Spyware, however, I'd recommend using at least two of these to make sure that your system is clean:
Windows Defender: http://www.microsoft.com (It's under the software downloads section)
Ad-Aware 2008 Free: http://www.lavasoftusa.com/products/ad-aware_se_personal.php
Spybot Search & Destroy: http://www.safer-networking.org/en/index.html
Anti-Virus Scanners: Most people that I know use Symantec/Norton Antivirus or McAffe Antivirus for virus protection. They're great if you're willing to spend $50 a year on an Antivirus scanner... I'm not! I use Avast Home Edition instead, and I'd recommend them as long as they continue to support the free version. Even if you use Norton or McAffe, it wouldn't hurt to use this software as a backup. Trend Micro also has a nice online Anti-Virus scanner that you can try for free, too.
Avast Home Edition: http://www.avast.com
Avira Anti-Virus: http://www.free-av.com/
AVG Free Edition (not recommended, contains pop-up ads for the paid product): http://free.avg.com/
If you want a free demo copy of Norton AntiVirus, you can get it from the Google Pack. A lot of the other free software products that I'm recommending are in here, too.
Trend Micro House Call: http://housecall.trendmicro.com/
Firewalls: Windows XP Service Pack 2 and Windows Vista come with a software firewall, so this isn't as big of a deal as it was earlier. If you are using an older version of Windows, however, you might want to give ZoneAlarm's free firewall a try. Make sure that you choose the right download, however, as most of ZoneAlarm's products are not free.ZoneAlarm: http://www.zonelabs.com/
Image Editing/Organizing software: Photoshop and Paint Shop Pro are great, if you're willing to pay for them. If you're trying to be thrifty, try Paint.net or The GIMP instead for cool image editing applications, and Picasa for organizing and retouching photos. ScreenHunter is also handy for taking screen shots!
Paint.net: http://www.eecs.wsu.edu/paint.net/
Picasa: http://picasa.google.com/
The GIMP: http://gimp-win.sourceforge.net/
ScreenHunter: http://www.wisdom-soft.com/E-Mail Programs: I'm probably not the best person to recommend e-Mail software, since I use GMail and Yahoo Mail for my home e-mail needs. I hear that people like Mozilla Thunderbird, though. If good ol' Outlook Express isn't meeting your e-mail needs, I'd give it a try.
Mozilla Thunderbird: http://www.mozilla.com/
Instant Messaging Software: Here are the instant messaging products that I use. I'd recommend doing custom installs of these, in order to keep them from installing a bunch of icons and browser toolbars on your computer. You might also want to try Trillian if you want a instant messaging program that logs onto both services at the same time. I personally do not use them, but I'll include them anyway.
AOL Instant Messenger: http://www.aim.com/
Yahoo Messenger: http://messenger.yahoo.com/
Trillian: http://www.ceruleanstudios.com/I'll include a link to Skype here, too. It's a decent free voice chat program, and also allows you to call regular phone numbers as well.
Skype: http://www.skype.com
Media Players/Editors: Personally, I like Winamp and iTunes for playing music and movies. There are plenty of others, but these are my favorites. Make sure to do custom installs with these, however, or they will take over your existing media player settings.
Winamp: http://www.winamp.com/
iTunes: http://www.apple.com/itunes
If you also need a music editor, Audacity is a nice tool for recording and editing sound files.
Audacity: http://audacity.sourceforge.net/
File Sharing Applications: My favorite P2P file sharing application is Limewire. It works better than Kazaa, and doesn't have any spyware built into it. I don't recommend using it for downloading copyrighted materials, though, unless getting sued sounds thrilling to you :)
Limewire: http://www.limewire.com
PDF Readers: Believe it or not, Adobe isn't the only company that makes a free PDF viewer! I like the Foxit Reader instead, because it's smaller, faster, and seems to crash less on my computer.
Foxit Reader: http://www.foxitsoftware.com/pdf/rd_intro.phpAdobe Reader: http://www.adobe.com/
FTP Software: Personally, I still think that WS-FTP LE was the coolest FTP program ever written. Ipswitch discontinued it, however, so now I recommend Filezilla. If you need a secure FTP client, try WINSCP instead.
Filezilla: http://filezilla.sourceforge.net/
WINSCP: http://winscp.net
File Compression Tools: There are lots of good programs out there for handling compressed archive files, like .zip and .gz files. WinZip, WinACE, and UltimateZip are actually trial demos and not freeware, so I wouldn't recommend them. 7-Zip is free, however, so I can give it an "official" link.
7-Zip: http://www.7-zip.org/
Other Cool Stuff:
Belarc Advisor is a neat utility that lists all of the software and hardware on your computer, including serial numbers for all of the Microsoft products that are installed. This is a great troubleshooting tool.
Belarc Advisor: http://www.belarc.com/free_download.html
Convert is a cool tool that will convert almost any unit of measurement. This is very handy!
Convert: http://www.joshmadison.com/software/convert/
DVD Shrink is a great tool for making backup copies of DVD's, and can even duplicate DVD's if you have a recent version of Nero installed.
DVD Shrink: http://www.dvdshrink.org
Futuremark makes a bunch of pretty looking 3D benchmarking tools. Even if you're not interested in seeing how fast your graphics card is, the demos still look pretty cool.
Futuremark 3DMark: http://www.futuremark.com/products/
Google Earth is a really cool interactive 3D world map. I'd recommend giving it a try, and playing around with the 3D buildings and sateillte imagery.
Google Earth: http://earth.google.com/
Speaking of Earth and 3D, Terragen can create some really cool looking computer generated landscapes with realistic looking mountains, water, and clouds.
Terragen: http://www.planetside.co.uk/terragen/
The Windows XP PowerToys add a lot of cool functionality to the base Windows XP installation. If you have Windows XP, give them a try.
Windows XP PowerToys: http://www.microsoft.com/windowsxp/downloads/powertoys/xppowertoys.mspx
System Management Software
OK, now it's time for the more technical stuff. If you're not an IT guy, you might want to stop reading now.
Custom Windows Installers: nLite is a really slick utility that lets you build custom Windows CD's with the latest service packs and patches already included. You can even include extra drivers, or make automated Windows installs that include the install options that you want.
nLite: http://www.nliteos.com
Network Scanners: Angry IP scanner has a weird name, but it's great for doing network scans for active IP addresses and open ports.
Angry IP Scanner: http://www.angryziber.com/ipscan/
PuTTY: http://www.putty.nl/download.html
VNC Software: VNC is used for remote desktop management, and works with both Windows and Linux systems. There are a bunch of VNC clients and servers out there now, but I like UltraVNC the best. It's fast, and supports native Windows authentication. This is great for remotely managing a computer in another room, or across the world for that matter.
UltraVNC: http://ultravnc.sourceforge.net/
TightVNC: http://www.tightvnc.com/
X-Windows Servers: XWin32 and Hummingbird Exceed are probably the best X-Windows servers for Windows out there, but they aren't free. X-Deep used to be free, but is now only offered as a 15 day free trial. Out of these three, however, XWin32 probably has the best free trial.
Server Virtualization Software: VMWare now makes a free viewer and a free server for running VMWare virtual machines. The player comes in handy if you want to send a copy of a VMWare virtual machine that you made with VMWare Workstation or VMWare Server to a friend or co-worker. You might also want to look into Xen and Microsoft Virtual Server if you're looking for other no cost virtualization solutions.
VMWare Player: http://www.vmware.com/products/player/VMWare Server: http://www.vmware.com/products/server/
Microsoft Virtual Server: http://www.microsoft.com/windowsserversystem/virtualserver/default.mspx
Xen: http://www.xen.org
