Tired of performing searches for viable software, I thought it might be nice to have a go-to thread for folks who are looking for applications that make computer life easier or more fun.
None of these are "Free to try". They are
completely functional and
cost absolutely nothing.
Please contribute as you think necessary.
UPDATED: I have included most of the software as suggested by forum members. I'm leaving out trial version, file-sharing (no offense but 9/10 times File Sharing = piracy) and non-computer applications. Again, no offense meant, just tying to stay on-topic. Thanks for the great suggestions!
I'll continue to update this thread as necessary. Any description errors are mine, please let me know if a description is inaccurate.
Desktop Applications & Utilities AbiWord - AbiWord is able to read and write all industry standard document types, such as OpenOffice.org documents, Microsoft Word documents, WordPerfect documents, Rich Text Format documents, HTML web pages and many more.
Avast Anti-Virus - Free anti-virus protection.
AVG Anti-Virus - Basic (no firewall & no adware protection) anti-virus package with daily updates, e-mail protection and realtime scanning.
BootZilla - BootZilla is a compilation of tools intended for use in diagnosing and fixing viral and spyware-related infections on computers. It also has the ability to test memory and hard drives through the use of a BootCD function called CGT.
CleanUp - Removes unwanted temporary files created while surfing the web, empties the Recycle Bin, deletes files from your temporary folders and more.
Chaos Manager - Small calender/appointment manager.
Cute PDF Writer - A no-cost alternative to Adobe Acrobat. While not as feature-rich, this is perfectly acceptable for most users. You'll need to download the free converter utility included on the same page.
eMachineShop - Offers free CAD software.
FreeCommander - File management software
FreeRAM XP Pro - Free and optimize your computer's RAM.
I love this little utility Foxit PDF Reader - Don't download Adobe's bloatware (22 MB). Foxit faster and smaller (2.1 MB).
Launchy - Launchy is a free windows utility designed to help you forget about your start menu, your desktop icons, and your file manager.
I can't say enough good things about Launchy. ALT+SPACEBAR brings up a tidy little window into which you can type an application name, document name or URL and it launches it. In addition you can download several skins to fit your current Desktop theme. LClock - LClock is a very simple program that makes the Windows' clock look like a Windows Longhorn Clock. It also comes with a simple but configurable popup calendar.
NotePad ++ - Free source code editor/text editor for multiple programming languages.
OpenOffice - Above average Open Source Productivity Suite. Includes word processing, spread sheet, database management, drawing and presentation software.
PageDefrag - Allows you to defragment your Windows 2000/XP page file (an option not available under standard Windows Defrag.
PowerToys for Windows XP - Great collection of UI mod not included with Windows. My personal favorite is the Open Command Window Here toy that allows you to drop to the command (DOS) prompt from the currently selected folder.
Stardock BootSkin - Stardock BootSkin is a program that allows users to change their Windows 2000 and Windows XP boot screens.
Stardock LogonStudio - Change Windows XP & Vista logon screens.
Stardock ObjectDock - Windows taskbar replacement. Mainly eye-candy, but kind of fun. There is a "Plus" version for $20 but this one is totally free.
TJPing - A slick GUI of the built in Ping, Tracer etc network utilities. No command lines necessary.
Vim - Vim is a highly configurable text editor built to enable efficient text editing. It is an improved version of the vi editor distributed with most UNIX systems.
WordWeb - English thesaurus and dictionary for Windows
Multi-Media Applications & Utilities Audacity - Renowned audio editing software.
Audiograbber - CD ripping software.
BestPractice - a tool especially for musicians to slow down or speed up music, either from a file or directly from a CD while keeping the correct pitch. Will also change pitch without affecting tempo.
CDBurnerXP - CD/DVD burning software.
Finale NotePad - Music notation software.
Foobar2000 -Another media player. Some of the basic features include full unicode support, ReplayGain support and native support for several popular audio formats. This program cuts down on cpu usage a ton.
FreeAmp - Effect pedal software & much more.
GIMP - Good PhotoShop alternative.
HandBrake - An open-source, GPL-licensed, multiplatform, multithreaded DVD to MPEG-4 converter, available for MacOS X, Linux and Windows.
IrfanView - Multi image format viewer (and a few others like AVI, MPEG & TTF), allows a fair range of image correction & manipulation and makes no changes to the registry. Includes Google tools, but you can opt to not install them.
Krystal Audio Engine - Suite of recording software with many features.
Miro - Open source TV & video player.
MP3Gain - Volume-normalize all your mp3's at once so you can use your mp3 player to DJ your breaks and not worry how loud or quiet the next song will be. Detects clipping too.
Paint.NET - Another good alternative to Photoshop.
Real Alternative Don't load that horrible RealPlayer application, use this instead.
ReBirth - Software simulation of classic Roland devices.
Riva VX - FLV player
SUPER (Simplified Universal Player Encoder & Renderer): Can pretty much convert most multimedia formats into another. Not the most intuitive interface, but works well once you figure it out.
Virtual Dub - a video capture/processing utility for 32-bit Windows platforms (95/98/ME/NT4/2000/XP).
VLC Media Player - Media player for various audio and video formats (MPEG-1, MPEG-2, MPEG-4, DivX, mp3, ogg, ...) as well as DVDs, VCDs, and various streaming protocols.
Winamp - Media Player that is highly customizable.
Web Applications & Utilities Ad Aware - Excellent spyware/adware cleansing software.
FileZilla - Free full-featured FTP client & server applications.
FireFox Kiss your IE goodbye. With the ability to block harmful scripts and annoying advertisements, this is the WWW browser that you need.
HijackThis - The next level in adware hunting & removal. HijackThis provides a raw list of items that may have been changed by spyware.
You really need to know what you're doing when you use this.
HTML Kit - HTML Kit is a full-featured free editor for HTML, XHTML, XML, CSS, JavaScript, PHP and other text files. Over 400 plugins are available for it, including HTML Tidy for creating standards -compliant web pages.
Opera - WWW Browser. Powerful and customizable.
Quicktime Alternative - I would hope this is self-explanatory.
Spybot S&D - Another spyware/adware cleaner. Use this in conjunction with Ad Aware and you'll be golden.
Thunderbird - A powerful Email client
Trillian - Multi-client chat application. Replaces AIM, ICQ, IRC, MSN and Yahoo! Messenger.
FREE Software Thread - Utilities & Applications You Cannot Live Without 
