Free software download.

I can personally recommend the software in this list. I have used each one and have had no problems. The following list is made up of free or open source software.

 Spybot - Search & Destroy can detect and remove spyware of different kinds from your computer. Spyware is a relatively new kind of threat that common anti-virus applications do not yet cover. If you see new toolbars in your Internet Explorer that you didn't intentionally install, if your browser crashes, or if you browser start page has changed without your knowing, you most probably have spyware. But even if you don't see anything, you may be infected, because more and more spyware is emerging that is silently tracking your surfing behaviour to create a marketing profile of you that will be sold to advertisement companies. Spybot-S&D is free, so there's no harm in trying to see if something snooped into your computer, too.

AVG Free Edition is the well-known anti-virus protection tool. AVG Free is available free-of-charge to home users for the life of the product! Rapid virus database updates are available for the lifetime of the product, thereby providing the high-level of detection capability that millions of users around the world trust to protect their computers. AVG Free is easy-to-use and will not slow your system down (low system resource requirements).Highlights include:

* Automatic update functionality
* The AVG Resident Shield, which provides real-time protection as files are opened and programs are run.
* The AVG E-mail Scanner, which protects your e-mail.
* The AVG On-Demand Scanner, which allows the user to perform scheduled and manual tests.
* Free Virus Database Updates for the lifetime of the product.
* AVG Virus Vault for safe handling of infected files

CCleaner (Crap Cleaner) is a freeware system optimization and privacy tool. That removes unused and temporary files from your system - allowing Windows to run faster, more efficiently and giving you more hard disk space. The best part is that it's fast! (normally taking less that a second to run) and Free.

Cleans the following:
* Internet Explorer Cache, History, Cookies, Index.dat.
* Recycle Bin, Temporary files and Log files.
* Recently opened URLs and files.
* Third-party application temp files and recent file lists (MRUs).
Including: Firefox, Opera, Media Player, eMule, Kazaa, Google Toolbar, Netscape, Office XP, Nero, Adobe Acrobat, WinRAR, WinAce, WinZip and more.

* Advanced Registry scanner and cleaner to remove unused and old entries.
Including File Extensions, ActiveX Controls, ClassIDs, ProgIDs, Uninstallers, Shared DLLs, Fonts, Help Files, Application Paths, Icons, Invalid Shortcuts and more... backup for registry clean, windows startup tool.

Thunderbird is a great email client from the same people who brought you the Firefox browser.Thunderbird gives you IMAP/POP support, a built-in RSS reader, support for HTML mail, powerful quick search, saved search folders, advanced message filtering, message grouping, labels, return receipts, smart address book LDAP address completion, import tools, and the ability to manage multiple e-mail and newsgroup accounts.

Firefox The award-winning Web browser just got better. It’s free, and easy to use. Join the millions of people worldwide enjoying a better Web experience.

FileZilla is a powerful FTP-client for Windows 9x, ME, NT4, 2000 and XP. It has been designed for ease of use and with support for as many features as possible, while still being fast and reliable.  The main features of FileZilla are:Ability to resume Uploads/Downloads (if the server supports it) Custom Commands Site Manager with folders Keep Alive system Timeout detection Firewall support SOCKS4/5 and HTTP1.1 Proxy support SSL secured connections SFTP support Upload/Download Queue Drag&Drop Multi-language support GSS authentication and encryption using Kerberos.

Skype is software for calling other people on their computers or phones. Download Skype and start calling for free all over the world (computer to computer only).  The calls have excellent sound quality and are highly secure with end-to-end encryption. You don't even need to configure your firewall or router or any other networking gear.  Additionally it doesn't just work on Windows. Skype is also for Mac OS X, Linux and PDAs using Pocket PC, with a native look and feel for each platform. Talking, sending instant messages or even file transfers work between different platforms like a charm and faster than MSN. Watch out for calling moblies though!

Eclipse  Eclipse is an open source community whose projects are focused on providing an extensible prototype platform and application frameworks for building software.  If you're new to Eclipse, start by downloading the Eclipse SDK, then browse the various project pages to find the useful tools and plugins that you need. You will need a Java runtime environment (JRE) to use Eclipse.

phpeclipse Is a module for eclipse making it a php ide. Don't feel like dishing out big bucks or paying for up-grades? Luckily for you there is an open source alternative — PHPeclipse. The editor plugins for JavaScript, CSS and XML files and the TCP/IP Monitor aren't available in the PHPeclipse plugin anymore. You need the the webtools project first then install PHPeclipse.

XAMPP Many people know from their own experience that it's not easy to install an Apache web server and it gets harder if you want to add MySQL, PHP and Perl. XAMPP is an easy to install Apache distribution containing MySQL, PHP and Perl. XAMPP is really very easy to install and to use - just download, extract and start.  At the moment there are four XAMPP versions: a version for Linux systems (tested for Ubuntu, SuSE, RedHat, Mandrake and Debian)a version for Windows 98, NT, 2000, 2003 and XP a beta version for Solaris SPARC (developed and tested under Solaris 8), and a beta version for Mac OS X.

Colormania is an advanced color picker utility, especially created for web-designers, graphic artists and application developers.  It supports various color models and is able to pick colours from anywhwere on your screen. Accuracy on pixel level is even made easier with the built-in screen magnifier.

7-Zip is open source software. Most of the source code is under the GNU LGPL license. The unRAR code is under a mixed license: GNU LGPL + unRAR restrictions. Check license information here:

7-Zip license. You can use 7-Zip on any computer, including a computer in a commercial organization. You don't need to register or pay for 7-Zip. The main features of 7-Zip--

• High compression ratio in new 7z format with LZMA compression
• Supported formats:
  • Packing / unpacking: 7z, ZIP, GZIP, BZIP2 and TAR
  • Unpacking only: ARJ, CAB, CHM, CPIO, DEB, DMG, HFS, ISO, LZH, LZMA, MSI, NSIS, RAR, RPM, UDF, WIM, XAR and Z.
• For ZIP and GZIP formats, 7-Zip provides a compression ratio that is 2-10 % better than the ratio provided by PKZip and WinZip
• Strong AES-256 encryption in 7z and ZIP formats
• Self-extracting capability for 7z format
• Integration with Windows Shell
• Powerful File Manager
• Powerful command line version
• Plugin for FAR Manager
• Localizations for 74 languages

Gimp The GIMP (GNU Image Manipulation Program) is a free graphics editor used to process digital graphics and photographs. Typical uses include creating graphics and logo's, resizing and cropping photos, altering colors, combining multiple images, removing unwanted image components, and converting between different image formats. Availible for GNU/Linux (i386, PPC) Microsoft Windows (XP, Vista) Mac OS XSun OpenSolaris FreeBSD