This is a simple list of free software for windows. It gives alternatives to much paid software and solutions to many simple problems. I've tried to make it complete as possible but theres probably a few I've missed. nice and simple layout, name - description then a link with more info and a download.

Many of these app's are available in a portable form at portableapps.com which allows them to run from a USB thumbdrive on any computer.

Browsers

Firefox - By far the best browser for use with dA, there are a huge amount of plugins and scripts available for use on dA. Which can be found at =Mozilla
[link]

Opera - Very fast and feature filled browser.
[link]


Email

Thunderbird - Outstanding email client from mozilla
[link]


FTP

FileZilla - Very good FTP client and server.
[link]

SmartFTP - Simple to use FTP client.
[link]


Messaging

Windows Live Messenger - The newest version of MSN messenger with video and voice chat built in.
[link]

Skype - The most popular Voip program on the net.
[link]

ICQ - A more chatroom 'themed' IM.
[link]

AIM - AOL instant messenger.
[link]

GoogleTalk - Googles answer to IM.
[link]

Yahoo Messenger - You guessed it, Yahoo's answer to IM.
[link]

Trillian - A multi-protocol chat program. Can connect to IRC, AIM, MSN, yahoo etc etc.
[link]

GAIM - An open-source multi protocol client.
[link]

Xchat - Open source IRC client.
[link]


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
[link]

Media Player Classic - Very small and powerful media player will play just about any file you can find.
[link]ackage_id=84358

WinAmp - Free media player from Nullsoft
[link]

Foobar2000 - Advanced highly customisable media player
[link]

RealAlternative - Real Alternative will allow you to play RealMedia files without having to install RealPlayer/RealOne Player.
[link]

QTAlternative -
QuickTime Alternative will allow you to play QuickTime files (.mov, .qt, .3gp and other extensions) without having to install the official QuickTime Player.
[link]


Creative Software

GIMP - Free alternative to Photoshop
[link]

Blender - Free 3D modeling and animation.
[link]

Terragen - 3D landscape generator
[link]

IrfanView - free image viewer/resizer/converter
[link]

Paint.NET - Another great Photshop alternative
[link]


CD/DVD

burnatonce Free CD copying/authoring
[link]

Exact Audio Copy - Advanced CD riping
[link]

dBpowerAMP - CD ripper and audio converter.
[link]

CDex - Free, simple to use CDripper.
[link]


Compression/Zip

WinRAR - Winzip alternative can handle almost all kinds of compressed files.
[link]

7zip - Another winzip alternative with powerful filemanager.
[link]

Office software

Open Office - Free alternative to Microsoft Office
[link]

Foxit PDF Reader - Foxit Reader 2.0 is a free PDF document viewer and printer.
[link]


Web Design

Notepad++ - Code editor that supports syntax highlighting for many languages.
[link]

NVU - A free alternative to Dreamweaver. Allows you to visually create and edit websites.
[link]

Programmers Notepad - Code editor with syntax higlighting and a variety of plugins.
[link]


Anti-Virus

AVG - Anti-virus
[link]

Avast! - Anti-virus
[link]


Firewall

Zone-alarm - Easy-to-use firewall
[link]

Kerio Personal Firewall - Another firewall
[link]


Anti-spyware

Spybot Search & Destroy - One of the best Anti spyware programs available.
[link]

Ad-Aware - Another great Anti-spyware utility
[link]

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.
[link]

Other Security Utilities

Process Explorer - Like task manager but much better
[link]

AutoRuns - View/edit all auto-starting programs on your system
[link]

NetStumbler - locate wireless networks
[link]

TCPView - View all currently active network connections on your computer
[link]

Rootkit Revealer - Exactly what it says on the tin.
[link]

hikackThis - Advanced tool for spyware and virus detection
[link]


System Utilities

Windows Powertoys - Extra features for Windows XP
[link]

CPU-Z - Quick tool to identify chipset, CPU type & memory configuration
[link]

Unlocker - Unlock files which are locked by an application to allow deletion, moving or renaming.
[link]

Many of these app's are available in a portable form at portableapps.com which allows them to run from a USB thumb-drive

--
Also available in 'sober'