Aptana
Aptana is a free web design studio/IDE that helps with HTML/XHTML, PHP, Javascript debuging, Ruby on Rails, iPhone development, and Adobe AIR™. If you have ever wanted to use Front Page (now called Expressions) or Dreamweaver, this is a awesome alternative for those of us with limited budgets. Develop and preview your web pages, then upload them via FTP all through the same program.
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AutoIt
AutoIt is a easy scripting language that allows you to simulate mouse movements and keyboard inputs. Browse through the tutorials and you will be creating scripts in no time that help automize any process. With a tool that helps you figure out where to do mouse clicks as well as application titles to help speed up the scripting process. This program will become a network administrator's new power tool in no time with the ability to help speed up application/computer deployment or for software testing.
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avast!
I know it's hard sometimes to save up $50.00, or sometimes you just have better things to do then go pick up a copy of Norton Anti-Virus or some other virus protection software. Now you don't have to leave your house and don't have to pay a cent. In order for you to get it free, you must not use it on a computer used for business and you must register it within 60 days. So protect your computer for free, registration is quick and easy.
Download avast!


Azureus
Azureus is a Bittorrnet protocol program. It is one of the fastest Bittorrent programs around. Azureus can be used on any OS: Windows, Mac, and Linux. If you don't know what Bittorrent is, it is a file sharing program, but of coarse it would never be used for illegal usage. Bittorrents are not quite the same as other P2P networks, but I can not tell you how to use it.
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CDex
CDex is a CD ripping software that will let you convert you CD's into mp3's using the popular LAME encoder. One awesome feature that this program has is the ability to get the information from the CD, look at an online database for a match, and automatically fill in artist name, track number, album, etc and name the files in a specific format you choose.
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Firefox
I will not go into to much information on Firefox here because I have a whole write up about Firefox. For information on Firefox click on the link "Why Firefox?" over on the menu to the left.
Download Firefox


Gimp
Have you ever wanted Adobe Photoshop, but didn't want to sell your first child to afford this expensive piece of software? Well with Gimp you get the next best thing and will work on Windows, Mac, and Linux. This photo editor has all the tools you will need for editing your pictures. Also new tools and options are always being added.
Download Gimp


LanSpy
Discover all the information about a computer including it's MAC address, Users, open TCP/UDP ports, policy settings, shared folders, operating system, and even registry information.
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Open Office
This incredible program gets you everything that the $1000.00 plus Microsoft Office suite has. You will be able to work with all Microsoft word documents and have a full spell check, it even has some nice features that Microsoft doesn't offer. Create impressive power point presentations with this program. Make spreadsheets, do it all with Open Office which has a price tag of FREE! This is probably the best piece of free software available anywhere and can be downloaded for all OS's making it easy to make files for anyone no matter their operating system preference. I can't say enough about this program. Best part of all this can make ALL Microsoft documents.
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SharpDevelop
A free IDE that handles C#, VB.NET, and Boo. Set up very similar to the Microsoft Visual Studio .NET, makes this a smooth transition and this is also perfect for those just getting into C# and not sure if it will meet their needs.
Download Open SharpDevelop


Spybot - Search and Destroy
As the name implies, Spybot will search out spyware and well... destroy it. This is one of the most comprehensive spyware destroyer and is made by a single guy who made it in dedication to his girlfriend. This is an easy to use spyware remover tool.
Download Spybot


Thunderbird
Thunderbird is an e-mail client made by Mozilla (the makers of Firefox). Thunderbird works with Gmail, Comcast, Yahoo! Mail (only if you pay a yearly fee), and I am sure others. Check your e-mail provider to see if you can use this program. If your e-mail provider says they support Outlook, then it should support Thunderbird, also make sure to use your e-mail provider's method of setting up Thunderbird. Thunderbird is capable of handling multiple e-mail accounts, even from the same provider.
Download Thunderbird


Trillian Basic
With this instant messaging software you are able to use multiple instant messaging accounts at once. You can use AIM, Yahoo!, MSN, ICQ, and IRC. Another nice feature in the new Trillian is if you enter a word that is in Wikipedia database, Trillian will underline it, when you hold your mouse over the word, a definition will pop up. This may sound like a small feature but I have actually gotten a lot of useful information from this feature. You are able to send data and do everything else you can with other programs like AIM.
Download Trillian


Winamp
Winamp kills the llama, you will get the joke if you download the program. Winamp is a music player capable of playing most media files: WMA, MPEG, mp3, avi, almost anything but Quicktime's format(.mov). Winamp can also play CD's and has a huge Internet selection in their Media Library where you can watch Internet TV which has shows like Family Guy, South Park, The Simpsons (these are generally always full). You can also watch music videos and listen to lots of different songs all on demand. They also list a bunch of Internet Radio stations ranging from pop to punk, country to heavy, or if you like disco. So go kick the llama's... oops, almost said it.
Download Winamp


Wireshark
Wireshark, formally known as Ethereal, is a packet inspection utility that captures any traffic entering/leaving your network card. Look at ARP requests, HTTP traffic, DNS, FTP traffic, DHCP and literally hundreds of other network traffic. Find out just what travels your network, you just might be surprised.
Download Wireshark


YOD'M 3D
Take your desktop and give it a spin. Have four different virtual desktops that you can spin like a cube. This is version 1.4, the last version before the software was aquired by Otaku and they made it a program that you have to pay for. So gets this free version and have fun. The installation is simple: 1. Create a directory where you want the program to be located 2. Extract the files to that folder. From there just run the executable and change it to your native language and you can make it start with Windows on the Activation Key screen. To change any settings, such as how far it zooms out, right click on it's icon down in the bottom right corner.
Download YOD'M 3D