Browsers

Mozilla Firefox: The single best browser out there. Lightweight, portable, fast, and completely customizable. It has it’s security flaws, just like everything else, but they get patched much quicker than any other browser, thanks to the open source community backing it up. I’m not an Internet Explorer hater, but it doesn’t have anything compared to the functionality of Firefox. Go get it and browse happy.

Email Clients

Mozilla Thunderbird: Another Mozilla product that’s impressed me. It’s as lightweight, portable, and customizable as Firefox. Could definitely give Outlook Express a run for it’s money.

Microsoft Outlook: Unmatched in features, but not for the casual user. My client of choice.

If you use Outlook, you have to get SpamBayes for filtering spam. This is one of those gems that I can’t live without.

Spyware Removal and Prevention

Lavasoft Ad-Aware SE Personal Edition: Free spyware scanner and remover.

Spybot - Search and Destroy: Another free spyware scanner and remover.

SpywareBlaster: A proactive approach to preventing spyware. Doesn’t even run in the background.

Spyware Block List File: I don’t know if SpywareBlaster includes all these, so I use it anyways. Another proactive approach to preventing spyware. Don’t use this if you’re not comfortable modifying your registry.

Instant Messaging / Chat

Gaim: Thank goodness for the Windows port. Gaim is one of those all in one instant messaging clients that let’s you talk to people using Yahoo Messenger, MSN Messenger, AIM/AOL, along with multiple other clients. The GUI is customizable, and it’s open source as well. Boy do I love open source projects.

Skype: Straight from their site: Skype is free Internet telephony that just works. Skype is for calling other people on their computers or phones. Download Skype and start calling for free all over the world. I have to admit it’s pretty damn nifty.

Image Editing

Adobe Photoshop: By far the best image editing software out there. It costs an arm, a leg, and your first child, though.

GIMP: An open source alternative to Photoshop. I can’t get used to menu structure after using Photoshop for so long. Scott Moschella has a modified version for user familiar with Photoshop called GIMPshop.

Paint.NET: A more powerful, free replacement for MS Paint.

Code Editors

Macromedia Dreamweaver: I prefer the syntax highlighting and interface in Dreamweaver for web development to other code editors. I was wondering how many prepositions I could string together in that last sentence. =P

Crimson Editor: This is my editor of preference when I don’t have Dreamweaver on the computer I’m using, since it’s free, although there a lots of free editors out there that are worth trying.

Office Suite

OpenOffice.org: An open source alternative to Microsoft Office. It’s even compatible with MS Office files, making this a helluva deal considering the cost of MS Office.

File Archiver (.zip, .rar, .bz2, .tar, etc…)

7-Zip: I decided I needed a free zip program and 7-Zip fit the bill perfectly, since it’s distributed under a GNU LGPL license. It claims to have better compression than competitors, but I haven’t tested this out.

WinRar: This is also a nice file archive program, that’s worth the price.

BitTorrent Client

BitSpirit: This just happens to be the first and only client I tried, so I’m definitely open to suggestions here, although this is a nice client itself.

FTP Server

zFTPServer Suite: I can’t believe this is actually free. Nice interface, and easy to use.

Registry Cleaner

RegSeeker: This free program let’s you clean up the registry and make multiple other tweaks without opening regedit. You don’t even have to install it.

Miscellaneous

CeltX: I was highly impressed with this neat little piece of software. It’s used to write movie scripts, associate media files with the different scenes, characters, props, etc… and it allows you to collaborate online with a team. I keep it installed in case I’m ever in the movie script writing mood

ICOFormat: A free Photoshop ICO Format plugin to save images as icons. Excellent for making favicons.

ICOBundle: A free command-line tool to bundle multiple .ico files.

Gadwin PrintScreen: Just a nifty little program to save screenshots. Distributed as freeware.

DAEMON Tools: A free CD / DVD emulator

If you have any questions or suggestions, leave me a comment, and I’ll try to answer them. Who doesn’t like feedback?