This is a simple list of free software for windows. It gives alternatives to much paid software and solutions to many simple problems.

Many of these app's are available in a portable form at [ Register or Signin to view external links. ] which allows them to run from a USB thumbdrive on any computer.

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Browsers

Firefox - Reliable and fast browser.
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Opera - Very fast and feature filled browser.
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Google Chrome - Very fast web browser.
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Email

Thunderbird - Outstanding email client from mozilla.
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FTP

FileZilla - Very good FTP client and server.
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SmartFTP - Simple to use FTP client.
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Messaging

Windows Live Messenger - The newest version of MSN messenger with video and voice chat built in.
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Skype - The most popular Voip program on the net.
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ICQ - A more chatroom 'themed' IM.
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AIM - AOL instant messenger.
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GoogleTalk - Googles answer to IM.
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Yahoo Messenger - You guessed it, Yahoo's answer to IM.
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Trillian - A multi-protocol chat program. Can connect to IRC, AIM, MSN, yahoo etc etc.
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GAIM - An open-source multi protocol client.
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Xchat - Open source IRC client.
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Multimedia

VLC media player - VLC media player is a highly portable multimedia 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. It can also be used as a server to stream in unicast or multicast in IPv4 or IPv6 on a high-bandwidth network
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Media Player Classic - Very small and powerful media player will play just about any file you can find.
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WinAmp - Free media player from Nullsoft
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Foobar2000 - Advanced highly customisable media player
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RealAlternative - Real Alternative will allow you to play RealMedia files without having to install RealPlayer/RealOne Player.
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QTAlternative -
QuickTime Alternative will allow you to play QuickTime files (.mov, .qt, .3gp and other extensions) without having to install the official QuickTime Player.
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Creative Software

GIMP - Free alternative to Photoshop
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Blender - Free 3D modeling and animation.
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Terragen - 3D landscape generator
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IrfanView - free image viewer/resizer/converter
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Paint.NET - Another great Photoshop alternative
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CD/DVD

Exact Audio Copy - Advanced CD riping
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dBpowerAMP - CD ripper and audio converter.
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CDex - Free, simple to use CDripper.
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Compression/Zip

WinRAR - Winzip alternative can handle almost all kinds of compressed files.
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7zip - Another winzip alternative with powerful filemanager.
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Office software

Open Office - Free alternative to Microsoft Office
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Foxit PDF Reader - Foxit Reader 2.0 is a free PDF document viewer and printer.
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Web Design

Notepad++ - Code editor that supports syntax highlighting for many languages.
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NVU - A free alternative to Dreamweaver. Allows you to visually create and edit websites.
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Programmers Notepad - Code editor with syntax higlighting and a variety of plugins.
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Anti-Virus

AVG - Anti-virus
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Avast! - Anti-virus
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Firewall

Zone-alarm - Easy-to-use firewall
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Kerio Personal Firewall - Another firewall
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Anti-spyware

Spybot Search & Destroy - One of the best Anti spyware programs available.
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Ad-Aware - Another great Anti-spyware utility
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Windows Defender - A free program that helps protect your computer against pop-ups, slow performance, and security threats caused by spyware and other unwanted software.
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Other Security Utilities

Process Explorer - Like task manager but much better
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AutoRuns - View/edit all auto-starting programs on your system
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NetStumbler - locate wireless networks
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TCPView - View all currently active network connections on your computer
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Rootkit Revealer - Exactly what it says on the tin.
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hikackThis - Advanced tool for spyware and virus detection
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System Utilities

Windows Powertoys - Extra features for Windows XP
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CPU-Z - Quick tool to identify chipset, CPU type & memory configuration
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Unlocker - Unlock files which are locked by an application to allow deletion, moving or renaming.
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I am planning to add better descriptions and more software as I learn of others. If you think of one I may have missed feel free to PM me with a description and a link to download *No Warez Content*