Free Software
All software on this list has a free license for personal use. Most are free for business use too.
Anti-Virus
- Microsoft Security Essentials - Microsoft's anti-virus and anti-malware product. Completely free and our preferred option.
- Avira - Free for personal use only. Businesses have to pay.
- AVG - Free for personal use only. Businesses have to pay.
- ClamWin - Only does sweeps, no on-access scanning.
- Spybot Search & Destroy - Malware scanner with some additional tools to prevent more common threats.
- MalwareBytes - Malware scanner. Free for personal use only. Businesses have to pay.
Security
- NetDefender - Straightforward firewall.
- PeerGuardian - Block undesireables by IP address.
- SandboxIE - Runs applications in a sandbox, isolated from the rest of the system.
- Prey - Tracking tool to be used if your laptop is stolen.
Encryption
- TrueCrypt - Fantastic encryption tool, by file or device, up to 3 layers of encryption with plausible deniability features.
Web Browsing
- Mozilla Firefox - Fullest featured.
- Google Chrome - Fastest.
- Opera - If you want something different.
- Multiple IE - Allows multiple verions of Internet Explorer to be used. Great for testing website functionality against older browsers.
- Mozilla Thunderbird - eMail client and RSS reader. I don't recommend v3 as it's dog slow, stick with v2.
Instant Messaging
- Pidgin - Supports many different IM systems in a single tool.
- Trillian - Supports many different IM systems in a single tool. Free version is a bit hobbled.
Office Applications
- Go-OOO - Bleeding-edge version of OpenOffice.org.
- OpenOffice - Word processor, spreadsheet, presentations, database. Similar to earlier versions of Microsoft office. I've been using it for years.
- Lotus Symphony - Word processor, spreadsheet, presentations.
- AbiWord - Word processor.
- GanttProject - Project scheduling and management.
- OpenWorkbench - Project scheduling and management.
- OpenProj - Project scheduling and management.
- FoxIt Reader - Replacement for Adobe Reader. Much more lightweight and far faster.
- PDF Creator - PDF printer driver.
- PDF955 - Another PDF printer driver.
Graphics
- IrfanView - Mainly a slideshow viewer, but some limited editing facilities.
- Faststone Photo Resizer - I use this for resizing and watermarking photos for eBay.
- Inkscape - Vector drawing.
- The Gimp - No ... really.
- TuxPaint - Paint program for kiddies.
- Blender - 3D graphics and animation.
Video
- VLC - Multi-format video player.
- AVIdemux - Video format converter, joiner. Not quite a non-linear editor, but not far away.
- VirtualDub - Similar to AVIdemux but not as good. Also allows video grabbing from external sources through.
- SUPER - Video format converter.
- RealPlayer Alternative - Alternative player for RealVideo.
- XP CODEC Pack - A bundle of video and audio CODECs.
- K-Lite CODEC Pack - A bundle of video and audio CODECs.
Audio
Compression & Archival
- 7Zip - Archive and compression tool, handles most formats.
File Transfer
Odds & Ends
- Bulk Rename Utility - Extremely versatile file renaming tool.
- DriverBackup - Extracts all the drivers from your system and stores them with relevant .inf files to be reinstalled later if necessary.
Astronomy
- Stellarium - Planetarium software with remote control options for GOTO mounts.
- Celestia - Space simulator.
Virtualisation
- VirtualBox - Similar in features to VMware workstation. Straightforward hypervisor allows you to run another OS in a window, or lots of them if you have the memory.
Network Tools
- Wireshark - Full featured network analyser, monitor and packet sniffer.
- PuTTY - Secure SHell client.
- TightVNC - Remote control.
CD Builders
- BartPE - Bart's Preinstalled Environment. Builds a bootable Windows CD. Requires the original installation media.
- CTupdate - Creates ISO images of Windows Software Update Services which can be installed offline far faster than over a network.
CD Images
- GPartEd Live CD - Resizes your disk partitions.
- Ultimate Boot CD - Loads of useful things on a single CD.
- CloneZilla - Clones disk partitions, disk-disk, disk-image, whatever you like.
- Windows Password Recovery - Recovers or resets local windows passwords. Does not work on domain controllers or if your volumes are encrypted, you're outta luck.
- System Rescue CD - Live linux distribution with lots of tools to help repair broken software.
- DriverPacks - Full of the most popular Windows drivers. Can be burnt to CD and will find most unrecognised hardware.
Linux Distributions
- CentOS - Red Hat Enterprise without the support contract.
- Ubuntu - One of the best desktop distributions.
- Fedora - Bleeding-edge Red Hat.
- Knoppix - A full live CD or DVD distribution is incredibly useful.
Turnkey Linux Distributions
- ClearOS - Security / gateway server based on CentOS.
- TrixBox - Full featured IP telephony system.
- MythBuntu - Media centre, PVR, etc. based on Ubuntu.
Games and Toys
- Oolite - Modern clone of the '80s classic 'Elite'.
- Battle for Wesnoth - Turn based strategy.
Computer services, Computer repair, Broadband problems, Wireless problems, Data Transfer, Data recovery, Computer upgrades.