TECHNOLOGY, SCIENCE, FOOD, MUSIC, Psychology, Hollywood, People & Business

This list is not in any particular order.

I will not be giving much detail about each product here, but I strongly encourage you to research them yourself on Google, or better yet just use the application, they are all amazing in their own right.

While this list is intended for windows users, both Mac & Linux users can use and benefit from a good number of the applications I mention below as well.

I am not responsible for any issues that appear from installing any of these applications, personally none of them have affected my system badly at all. I USE ALL THESE APPLICATIONS!

Please leave your recommendations for free software programs in the comments.

1. 7Zip (a lightweight, clean & simple zip/rar client, and unlike WinRAR it is free, and not trialware, this will do everything that will do, except repair broken archives, and how often do you need to do that?)

2. Revo Uninstaller (absolutely the best way to completely remove all traces of a program from your computer, and the only way really, unless you are very comfortable with regedit, and have lots of time on your hands)

3. CCleaner (you get 3 amazing products in this one application. #1 you get one of the best cleaners out there for unneeded internet & windows files w/ secure file deletion, and #2 you get an amazing registry error checker, and finally #3 you get a startup manager to block programs from starting with windows)

4. SpywareBlaster (using a very large and constantly updated database, this will basically immunize your browser from all known malicious websites)

5. Secunia PSI (scans your computer for all security vunerabitlies in your software, and tell you about the latest version of newly release software you have installed on your computer)

6. CNet TechTracker (if you have a free CNet account, this scans your computer to make sure most of the software on it is up to date, and will instantly provide you with a download link to the latest software. It keeps track and updates more software than Secunia PSI, but does not check for security vulnerbilities)

7. File Shredder (super secure file deletion software, including standards that surpass Deparment of Defense and NSA)

8. Skype (make super high quality audio and/or video phone calls to anyone in the world with a computer, and you can even make super cheap calls to landlines and cell phones as well)

9. Firefox 3.5 (the best web browser ever? yes IMO, everyone should be using it =)

10. Google Chrome (the 2nd best browser out there, if you said first I wouldn't argue with you. This to date is still technically the faster browser on the market as well. Best feature is each tab is it's on process, and dynamic tabs. Definitely worth checking this out, I use both Firefox and Chrome, mostly Firefox though. Chrome is great if you need to drag and drop and arrange multiple tabs everywhere on your screen. Firefox now does this too, but IDK let's say it does so less elegantly than Chrome. Whenever I want multple windows open of a web browser, I use Chrome ONLY)

11. Picasa (Google's image editing tool, I really love the interface, it has a lot to offer, and it is free, and Google makes it, so IT MUST BE GREAT! Also allows you to create and organize photo albums better than any other software I have ever used, and I use a lot, I am just not that into making and organizing photo albums, but if you are, you should download this now! Also you get online web albums and photo sharing if you have a google account, and who doesn't?)

12. CPUZ (probably the best tool out there to get detailed information on the specs of your hardware inside your machine, well mostly just your CPU and memory, but still)

13. System Information for Windows (this application will tell you almost every detail about both the hardware and software installed in your system, it differs from CPUZ, but you will have to see why for yourself)

14. Syncback (an amazing folder syncronization tool, as well as great free backup software to schedule backups to other internel or external hard drives, or do it instantly with a touch of a button. This software is soooooo damn amazing, however it could use a user interface face lift, but OMG do I love it!)

15. Foxit Reader (a very fast and lightweight PDF reader, unlike adobe's bloated piece of crap software, which has gotten better, but why bother?)

16. VLC (even though I am not a big fan of this software, there is no denying how powerful it is, it can play about 98% of all media file formats out there with no need to download and install extra codecs. Also they did clean up the look a lot more recently, which is good.)

17. Comodo Internet Security (very powerful easy to use firewall and antivirus software, FOR FREE! has a great user interface too, most firewalls do not)

18. PAINT.NET (an incredibly powerful and free image editing tool, complete with layers, it is comparable to GIMP and Photoshop on many levels, and well overall I just prefer it)

19. JDISK Report (this application will scan your hard disks, and tell you what files & folders are taking up the most space on your system. It does it with nice graphs too, great to have if you are running out of room, or want to remove junk from your system)

20. uTorrent (the best torrent client IMO, fast, lightweight, plenty of customization if needed)

21. Lightbox Free Image Editior (extremely powerful, yet simple, and best of all, IT IS FREE! as many features as this small piece of software has, what is probably the best thing is it's easy not threatening user interface)

22. HDD Health (a very simple and clean application to report the health of your hard drives, others out there as well, but they are more complex and heavy on the system resources. This will also take advantage of the S.M.A.R.T capabilities of your drive, to let you know it is failing before it fails.)

23. Spybot Search and Destroy (still probably the best free antispyware software out there, much lighter on system resources as now as well)

24. SUPER Video Converter (this free video converter software will convert any media file to any other media file type, and I really do mean ANY audio or video file. Now the quality ranges from amazing results, to extremely crappy results, but hey it is free and supports formats not even paid for video applications do, such as .FLV)

25. SuperAntiSpyware Free Edition (OK so if there was any free antispyware software out there to beat Spybot, it would be this. Sadly neither one of them find everything, but since this is light on system resources as well, I say use both)

26. TrueCrypt (simply put, the best encryption software out there, not only for free, but for under $200 as well. You can hide files, folders, as well as password protect them, but that is only the beginning)

27. FireTune (OK if this is used right, it is INCREDIBLE! This little application will automatically fine tune Firefox for optimal settings. It has been said, and well it definitely feels that way to me, that if FireTune is used on a fast PC with a fast connection, then Firefox 3.5 speeds will greatly surpass Chrome in every test)

28. Game Booster (super lightweight application that will temporarily turn off all running unnecessary processes to boost gaming performance by upwards of 40% for some systems)

29. Audacity (a very useful and extremely powerful audio editor. This also has multi-track recording, quite frankly it is all the software one needs IMO to record podcasts or even make an audio CD)

30. Exact Audio Copy (the amount of work the developer put into this application is ridiculous, but I wouldn't expect anything less from a true audiophile. This is the only software that will make an "exact audio copy" of the information on a music CD)

31. AVG Free Virus Scanner (amazing results in terms of what it finds and has the ability to actually remove it too, and the fact it is free, but I feel as if it definitely slows down my computer. That said one should realize this finds and REMOVES stuff that paid for virus scanners do not)

32. Handbrake (a more professional and powerful video converter application. This will take almost any video format, including .VOB and .FLV files, and convert it to a gorgeous high quality H.264 MP4 file. Well .FLV will be as gorgeous as it can possibly get, your original source is in a super compressed format)

33. RealPlayer SP (12.0) (OK I know everyone hates RealPlayer, but I never hated it. It uses a hell of a lot less system resources now too, also IDK but to me it sounds like I get the best audio quality playback with this over winamp, itunes, WMP, etc as well. But the #1 reason to get this may be the ability to download embedded media files on websites, ranging from .mp4, .wmv. and even .flv)

34. Hulu Desktop (watch television shows old and new from many of the major TV networks in fantastic quality, for free!)

35. LimeWire (by far the best P2P application out there & that is all I will say. I do not encourage piracy, this can be used for good as well. For legal music downloads I ONLY recommend Amazon's MP3 store =)

36. AC3Filter (allows you to play back AC3 & DTS audio tracks, as well as up-mix stereo tracks into 6 channel audio, for those without Dolby Pro Logic II or a creative sound card that does that for you most the time. This is good to have if you find yourself playing a lot of high quality video files, with this you are almost guaranteed you will be able to get the audio track to play as well)

37. OpenOffice (for those that need a productivity suite, and do not need all the features Microsoft has to offer, or the price tag, this is a powerful free productivity suite)

38. GIMP 2 (an extremely powerful image creation and editing tool, the poor mans Adobe Photoshop, but don't let the price-tag fool you, this can do almost everything Photoshop can do, + more)

39. FLV Player (yes that is all the software does, but it is beyond lightweight, so it can't hurt to have it, especially if you do not wish to install RealPlayer or VLC)

40. iTunes (I put this on the list mostly as a podcast finder and aggregator, that said I think it makes an above average media manager too, and a decent program to play your audio files. Also I personally love it because how else would I find applications for my sexy and amazing iPod touch!)

OK THESE APPLICATIONS ARE FOR WINDOWS XP HOME AND PROFESSIONAL USERS ONLY! 

41. Unlocker 1.88 (ever have an error message saying "can not delete file, file in use"? well that's where this application comes in, just right click the file, hit unlocker, you can see all applications that have control over it, and force it to "unlock" the file, then you can delete it. DYING for them to release a new version compatible with Windows 7)

42. TweakUI (part of Microsoft power tools, this utility lets you change many settings in windows for increased performance & productivity. Hell I would just download all the Power Toys for Windows XP)

43. Remove on Reboot (this is a shell extension for windows, basically O/S integration, anyway for really, really stubborn files that won't go away, this application will remove it on the next reboot, and delete it before windows loads. Sadly they have not updated the software and there is no working version for Windows 7.)

44. Microsoft Baseline Security Analyzer 2.1 (this will tell you about all security holes Microsoft sees in your system, it does much more than Windows Update can do alone, but the downside is Microsoft does not know about all of the security holes in their own O/S, neither does Apple though, but yea, better to have this though than not having it at all)

45. Windows Search 4.0 (a lighter weight version of Google Desktop, I really enjoy this, I know Macs have had this feature forever, but IDC. When I had XP, I use dthe search bar probably 100x a day. This functionality is built into Windows 7, so I am still using it constantly)