Recommendations can be made in this (http://www.slickdeals.net/forums/showthread.php?p=182180) thread.

Thanks to all our contributors:
appleyum, Baskins, darksarcasm, FMcamaroZ28, luxuryoils, scherermaddness, snipe, The Raddish, NeOrC, Rabid, Digerati, davepry, cookiemonster, 187Cop, cosmic_kid, Geeke19 et al.

Recommended software list


Anti-virus (http://www.slickdeals.net/forums/showpost.php?p=545781&postcount=2)
Audio (http://www.slickdeals.net/forums/showpost.php?p=545785&postcount=3)
Browsers and utilities (http://www.slickdeals.net/forums/showpost.php?p=545788&postcount=4)
Data backup and recovery (http://www.slickdeals.net/forums/showpost.php?p=545789&postcount=5)
Drivers (http://www.slickdeals.net/forums/showpost.php?p=545790&postcount=6)
File Compression (http://www.slickdeals.net/forums/showpost.php?p=545792&postcount=7)
Firewall (http://www.slickdeals.net/forums/showpost.php?p=545794&postcount=8)
Hardware monitoring (http://www.slickdeals.net/forums/showpost.php?p=545796&postcount=9)
Image editing and animation (http://www.slickdeals.net/forums/showpost.php?p=545798&postcount=10)
Internet/Networking (http://www.slickdeals.net/forums/showpost.php?p=601455&postcount=14)
Spyware / Adware removal tools (http://www.slickdeals.net/forums/showpost.php?p=545800&postcount=11)
Stress testing (http://www.slickdeals.net/forums/showpost.php?p=545801&postcount=12)
Text editing (http://www.slickdeals.net/forums/showpost.php?p=545802&postcount=13)
Miscellaneous (http://forums.slickdeals.net/showpost.php?p=981887&postcount=15)
Web Filtering (http://forums.slickdeals.net/showthread.php?p=2393893#post2393893)


PC Diagnostic Tools / Applications on the Go


PC Diagnostic Tools / Applications on the Go (http://www.slickdeals.net/forums/showthread.php?t=44547)
Compiled by snipe, this is a list of freeware apps useful to keep on a USB thumbdrive, helpful with PC diagnostics and troubleshooting etc.


Windows/Tweaking utilities


The best Windows XP Tools & Registry Hacks (http://www.slickdeals.net/forums/t37589.html?)
Compiled by luxuryoils



X-Setup Pro (http://www.x-setup.net/product/home.asp?lang=EN)
A free "tweaker" program for all versions of Windows accessing >1,700 settings in an easy to use interface.
X-Setup 6.3 (http://www.majorgeeks.com/download.php?det=127)
Same functionality as above but without the license.



Heaps of FREE software
compiled by alholly1

Lots of Free Software (http://slickdeals.net/forums/showthread.php?t=201060) for all kinds of tasks.

Anti-virus


http://housecall.trendmicro.com/
Free scanning and cleaning, no download required.

http://www.bitdefender.com/scan/

http://www.pandasoftware.com/activescan/

http://us.mcafee.com/root/mfs/

http://www3.ca.com/threatinfo/virusinfo/scan.aspx

http://security.symantec.com/sscv6/vc_scan.asp

http://www.grisoft.com/us/us_dwnl_free.php

Audio


Audacity (http://audacity.sourceforge.net)
Audio editing, mixing, processing
CDex (http://sourceforge.net/projects/cdexos)
Audio Ripping Tool. Convert CD audio to .wav or .mp3, and vice versa.

Browsers and utilities


Google Toolbar (http://toolbar.google.com/)
Mozilla (http://www.mozilla.org)
Mozilla Firefox (http://www.mozilla.org/products/firefox/)
with snipe, appleyum, Baskins, The Raddish, yeswarchief seal of approval
Opera (http://www.opera.com/)
with Aluvus seal of approval
MoreGoogle (http://www.moregoogle.com/)
See page preview thumbnails, "Open in New Window" Button, not a toolbar, saves screen real estate, live Amazon.com product information, get accurate site access statistics, retrieve older versions of a site, find more related web sites
AM-DeadLink (http://www.aignes.com/deadlink.htm) detects dead links and duplicates in your Browser Bookmarks.

Data backup and recovery


SyncBack (http://www.2brightsparks.com/syncback/syncback-hub.html)
CasperXP (http://www.fssdev.com/products/casperxp/)
RescuePRO (http://www.lc-tech.com/rescuepro.htm)
see description (http://slickdeals.net/forums/showpost.php?p=367029&postcount=35) by The Raddish
GetDataBack (http://www.runtime.org/gdb.htm) Affordable data recovery utility that works very, very well.
PC Inspector Recovery (http://www.pcinspector.de/file_recovery/UK/welcome.htm) (best thing about it - it's 100% free!)

Drivers


http://www.driverguide.com/
To access the drivers, click on login
username: drivers
password: all

Check the manufacturer's site for drivers first!

File compression and utilities


Winace's XAcePlus (http://www.winace.com/xaceplus.html)
Free unzip utility (supports ACE, ARJ, CAB, LZH, LHA, JAR, RAR, ZIP, SFX)
IZarc (http://www.izsoft.dir.bg/izarc.htm)
Pocket Killbox (http://www.bleepingcomputer.com/files/killbox.php)
a program that can be used to get rid of files that stubbornly refuse to allow you to delete them.
PV.ZIP (http://www.downloads.subratam.org/pv.zip)
removes hidden dll files

Firewall


Zone Alarm (http://www.zonelabs.com/store/content/catalog/products/zonealarm/znalm_details.jsp?lid=zaskulist_info#benefits)
Outpost Firewall (http://www.agnitum.com/download/outpost1.html)
Sygate Personal Firewall (http://smb.sygate.com/products/spf_standard.htm)

Hardware monitoring


Sisoft Sandra 2004 (http://www.sisoftware.net/index.html?dir=dload&location=sware_dl_x86&langx=en&a=)
Tells all general information, also performs burn in's, and supports mobo temp monitoring for those not supported with MBM.
CPU-Z (http://www.cpuid.com/cpuz.php#download)
Tells information about mobo , proc, and memory.
MBM (http://mbm.livewiredev.com)
SpeedFan (http://www.almico.com/speedfan.php)
see description (http://slickdeals.net/forums/showpost.php?p=381147&postcount=36) by Rabid

Image editing and animation


Irfanview (http://www.irfanview.com)
gifworks (http://www.gifworks.com) - online animation tool
The GIMP (http://www.gimp.org)
Paint.Net (http://www.eecs.wsu.edu/paint.net/) - Free powerful Paint replacement

Spyware removal tools


Ad-aware (www.lavasoftusa.com/software/adaware/) - http://www.lavasoftusa.com/support/download/
Spybot S&D (http://www.safer-networking.org/index.php?page=spybotsd) http://www.safer-networking.org/index.php?page=download
SpywareBlaster (http://www.javacoolsoftware.com/spywareblaster.html) - http://www.javacoolsoftware.com/sbdownload.html
SpywareGuard (http://www.javacoolsoftware.com/spywareguard.html) - http://www.javacoolsoftware.com/sgdownload.html
HiJackThis (http://tomcoyote.org/hjt/) - http://tomcoyote.org/hjt/
Bazooka (http://www.kephyr.com/spywarescanner/index.html) - http://www.kephyr.com/spywarescanner/index.html
Winpatrol (http://www.winpatrol.com/) - http://www.winpatrol.com/winpatrol.html
Windows Startup Inspector (http://www.windowsstartup.com/) - http://www.windowsstartup.com/download.php
CWSshredder (http://www.spywareinfo.com/~merijn/cwschronicles.html) - http://www.spywareinfo.com/~merijn/downloads.html
BHODemon (http://www.definitivesolutions.com/) - http://www.definitivesolutions.com/bhodemon.htm
www.pestscan.com (http://www.pestscan.com)
Microsoft Antispyware (beta) (http://www.microsoft.com/athome/security/spyware/software/default.mspx) - http://www.microsoft.com/athome/security/spyware/software/default.mspx

Stress testing

Prime95 (http://www.mersenne.org/freesoft.htm)
Processor stress-test. Useful for overclocking or seeing how well your heatsink performs under load. Use in combination with temperature monitoring software.
Memtest86 (http://www.memtest86.com/)
Standalone memory stress-test. This will certainly evaluate your RAM to see if you bought a lemon or not.
3DMark 2003 (http://www.futuremark.com/download/?3dmark03.shtml)
3D Performance benchmark utility. Useful for stress-testing pretty much every component of your computer.

Text editing


openoffice.org (http://www.openoffice.org)
Alternative to MS Office suite.

Internet/Networking



LSP - Fix (http://www.cexx.org/lspfix.htm)
Repairs Winsock 2 settings, caused by buggy or improperly-removed Internet software, that result in loss of Internet access.

Winsock XP Fix (http://www.spychecker.com/program/winsockxpfix.html)
similar to above.

Hamachi (http://www.hamachi.cc)
Free and secure "Zero configuration" UDP-based VPN-like network. If this was too much to handle in one sentence, click the link and see for youself :)

NetStumbler (http://www.netstumbler.com/downloads/)
NetStumbler is a tool for Windows that allows you to detect Wireless Local Area Networks (WLANs) using 802.11b, 802.11a and 802.11g. It has many uses:• Verify that your network is set up the way you intended.
• Find locations with poor coverage in your WLAN.
• Detect other networks that may be causing interference on your network.
• Detect unauthorized "rogue" access points in your workplace.
• Help aim directional antennas for long-haul WLAN links.
• Use it recreationally for WarDriving.

Miscellaneous

LCD Dead Pixel Testing (http://forums.slickdeals.net/t82564.html?) - A few great utilities to see if your new shiny LCD has any dead pixels on it

Web Filtering

K9 Web Protect (http://www.k9webprotection.com/about.html) by Blue Coat - A content filtering solution for your home computer where YOU control the Internet content that enters your home.

Antivirus

AVG (http://free.avg.com/)
AVG Free offers very good (and very free) protection against viruses and spyware... As a bonus, its real-time LinkScanner technology keeps you from clicking search links to dangerous sites. It's an excellent choice if you need free protection against both viruses and spyware.

Backup Software

DriveImage XML (http://www.runtime.org/driveimage-xml.htm)
Make images of your drive

IDrive (http://www.idrive.com/)
2 GB free of online backups. Great free online backup tool for your most important documents.

Syncback (http://www.2brightsparks.com/downloads.html)
Every admin should be using this. It's a copying tool used to synchronize locations. Good for making exact file structures.

Internet Browsers

Mozilla Firefox (http://www.mozilla.com/en-US/)
With all the addons, it's a very good choice. I'de recommend every system have the minimum of adblock and noscript

Opera (http://www.opera.com/)
Another that I have used, but not currently.


Office

Thunderbird Email Client (http://www.mozilla.com/en-US/thunderbird/)
This along with gmail and you have a nice alternative to outlook and paid email.

Open Office (http://download.openoffice.org/index.html)
OpenOffice.org 2 is the leading open-source office software suite for word processing, spreadsheets, presentations, graphics, databases and more. It is available in many languages and works on all common computers. It stores all your data in an international open standard format and can also read and write files from other common office software packages. It can be downloaded and used completely free of charge for any purpose.

Foxit PDF Reader (http://www.foxitsoftware.com/pdf/rd_intro.php)
PDF reader that's MUCH faster than adobe.

Cute PDF (http://www.cutepdf.com/)
Transform regular documents into pdf documents.

Pictures

Irfanview (http://www.irfanview.com/)
Great tool for compressing, resizing, renaming, ect. Has a nice ability to batch files.

Gimp (http://www.gimp.org/)
The free alternative to photoshop.

Videos

VLC Player (http://www.videolan.org/vlc/)
Plays just about anything you through at it.

Handbrake (http://handbrake.fr/)
Convert dvd's to mpeg4.

My Movies (http://www.mymovies.dk/)
This is a bit off the normal programs listed, but an excellent program for HTPC users.

______________________________________


Other neat tools:
WinUtil (http://www.download.com/WinUtil/3000-2340_4-10210223.html)
Nice small program to minimize any program to tray.
CCleaner (http://www.download.com/CCleaner/3000-2144_4-10315544.html?tag=mncol&cdlPid=10876371)
Program to clean up temp files, clean registry, and uninstall programs
Logmein (http://www.logmein.com)
Remotely access to your computer from any browser.
OpenDNS (http://opendns.org/)
Not really free software, but good to control content that makes it to your browser. Especially good if you have kids on the network. You can restrict a lot of sites.

Nice thread. Looks familiar, though (http://forums.slickdeals.net/showthread.php?t=44729).

But hey, I'll still rep you - you put some effort into this.