[Bernardakins]

Since we all know how expensive college is, every way to save money counts.

Open Office - www: OpenOffice.org - The Free and Open Productivity Suite

This is a Microsoft Office replacement. In my experience it can do almost everything that office can do, (Except some weird powerpoint problems) and is actually a bit better with compatibility in some cases.

The GNU Image Manipulation Program, GIMP - GIMP - The GNU Image Manipulation Program

Photoshop replacement. Since photoshop is insanely expensive, I've been using this for years instead. It has a smaller memory footprint than photoshop and does pretty much everything it does, except it's free~

AVG Anti-Virus Free Edition - AVG Free - Download antivirus and antispyware software for Windows XP and Vista

I *loathe* Norton. They charge you oodles for a program that barely works as advertised. This does so much better.

VLC Media Player - VideoLAN - Free Software and Open Source video streaming solution for every OS!

Plays any video file ever.

And last but not least

CCleaner - CCleaner - Home

If you're on an older computer with limited space (Like mine XD) this cleans out the cobwebs and frees up some space.

Hope that was helpful

[Kayepur]

I agree on two counts:
1: Norton does really stink - it costs too much for what little it does, and
2: AVG or other Anti-Virus programs that are freeware do the same thing and in some cases more.

On the side, CCleaner is similar to the clean sweep utility that comes with most windows OS, except it is beefed up a little more. Love it.

[Corrine]

Since AVG updated to 8.0, it seems there has been a trend to move to either avast! 4 Home Edition or Avira AntiVir PersonalEdition Classic. Both are free for personal use.

Don't forget a firewall. Although the Windows Vista firewall has both inbound and outbound protection, the Windows XP firewall only has inbound. Here's several to choose from:

Agnitum Outpost Firewall
Comodo Free Firewall
Kerio Personal Firewall
Online Armor Free

[Bernardakins]

Thanks for those other ones, Corrine. ^^
I've been using Sygate Personal Firewall for a couple of years now. It isn't updated anymore, so I should probably switch over to a new one. (Which is why I didn't mention it XD)
Kayepur: HIGH FIVE!

[Corrine]

As long as we're on a roll with security software, consider installing and updating both SpywareBlaster & SpyGuard to prevent the installation of spyware and other potentially unwanted software:

SpywareBlaster -- SpywareBlaster
SpywareGuard -- SpywareGuard

Then there is my favorite, WinPatrol. Scotty has been the "Windows Watchdog" for 10 years. There is a Plus version (one-time license fee) but the free version of WinPatrol works well. I don't think the recent additions are detailed but you can get a good idea here: WinPatrol Features

[Bernardakins]

Oh! That reminds me of another useful program I forgot to mention. XD
The home of Spybot-S&D!
Spybot Search and Destroy. <3
I have never had problems with spyware thanks to this gem~

[Redline]

I nominate Winamp. Its pretty much the best audio player out there - makes a nice match with VLC, the best video player out there.

[bboy daniel]

I've actually been using the VLC player for awhile and it really does play every single media file known to man. Sometimes I find weird wacky extentions like .MLK or whatever and it plays that. Good thing because so many of the movies I used make during high school I had burned on dvd and ripped actually played on this player.

It's a good catch for anyone and you won't ever have to download any video or audio codecs (always a hassle). It looks great too. Reminds me of Windows Media Player Classic.

[Sheerdal]

Yeah VLC is really good there is also a Codec pack that is called CCCP. I believe it has two bundled players one called zoomplayer and the other is a Media Player Classic. There have been a few times that VLC hasn't been able to play a file or what not that ZoomPlayer or the MPC has played it without a problem. Also another nice feature is that VLC lets you play a file in progress such as a download or what not.

[OldTimer97]

For those interested in 3D rendering,

DAZ 3D Studio.

This software is free. The models cost money. If you are a patient member of their community, all kinds of giveaways happen at random times, and I have built quite a runtime with almost no financial contributions.

I also uplift

Skype

As the ultimate Internet chatting application, mostly for its versatility.