Some of the best known softwares and addons

Installer Packages
SysInternals – Autoruns, Process Explorer, & BGInfo startup registry editor, & IE lockdown
JKDefrag – JKDefrag Installer w/ Shortcuts
Network Tools – Bundled AngryIP, SoftPerfectScan, SuperScanner, TFTPD, Teraterm, & PuTTY
Essentials for Every PC
Mozilla Firefox – The Best web browser (don’t forget the addons listed further down)
Ccleaner – Best temp file cleaner available, frequently updated
JKDefrag – The best defrag in an easy install format
7zip – Open Source, free zip utility, faster w/ better compression (dump Winzip)
Foxit PDF Reader – This is faster, smaller, PDF Reader without the bloat of Acrobat.
CDBurnerXP – Excellent burning software, supports ISO image burning, good interface, small footprint, XP only
Irfanview – A wonderful, fast, compact image file editor. Try it… you’ll love it
VLC Media Player – A great Media Player that plays all types of video/audio including DVD’s for free
Revo Uninstaller – The best app uninstaller on the planet. 5 star recommendation
doPDF – PDF converter/virtual printer, quick and easy
Launchy – An excellent keystroke app launcher to replace icons and menu trees
Scumware Removal
ComboFix – If you have an infected PC start with ComboFix. UserGuide & Tutorial here http://tinyurl.com/2yct9u
Spyware Doctor by PCTools – Fast scans and great detection rates, link points to Google pack free version
Spyware Terminator – A good solid cleaner
Advanced Spware Removal – Lots of good tools, fast scans, and good detections
Spybot Search & Destroy – Powerful scumware cleaner that includes an immunizer, startup registry editor, & IE lockdown
Super Antispyware – Very nice spyware cleaner.
Hijack This 1.99.1 – Advanced cleaner, use with caution
LSPfix – Repairs damaged Winsock stacks
WinSockFix XP 1.2 – Repairs damaged Winsock stacks
Rootkit Revealer – Advanced rootkit revealer by Sysinternals that identifies discrepancies that may indicate a rookit infection
SmitFraudFix – Desktop/Homepage Hijacker Removal tool. Great tool
Spyware Blaster – a very good spyware prevention software
AntiMalware Toolkit – a toolkit that helps you download all the latest versions of several antispyware tools, very handy
MalwareBytes – one of the best antispyware cleaners available
BOClean – Comodo’s antispyware utility
Clean/Shred
Ccleaner – Best temp file cleaner available, frequently updated
D.B.A.N. – Secure HD deletion, wipes entire HD
Eraser – Secure HD deletion, always highly rated.
SDelete – Secure file deletion via CLI
QuickClean – RMcCurdy.com’s quick temp file clean shredder based on Sdelete, for advanced users only
CyberShredder – Good freeware shredder, small and fast
Info Tools
Belarc Advisor – Excellent software/hardware inventory tool, free for personal use
System Information for Windows – Completely free Software/Hardware inventory tool, portable version available, supports scripting and batch modes
BGInfo – Great tool for displaying system info on the desktop, This is a direct link to my custom setup. See README.TXT
Autoruns – Great registry tool from Sysinternals, most often used to modify startup programs, but also provides a wealth of info
Dependency Walker – Shows the dependencies of a service or application
WinDirStat – Shows the dependencies of a service or application
Treesize – Shows folder sizes in a gui hierarchical format, great for finding where your HD space is being used
LANSweeper – Free software/hardware inventory program for Windows networks.
DriverMax – Inventories all drivers on a system then backs them up to a single .zip file
ProduKey – Displays the ProductID and Key of Office, Windows, Exchange, and SQL Server installed on your PC
SysInternals Utils
Process Explorer – Task Manager on Steriods, another essential for every PC you touch
Process Monitor – Monitor Process Activity
Autoruns – Great registry tool from Sysinternals, most often used to modify startup programs, but also provides a wealth of info
BGInfo – Great tool for displaying system info on the desktop, This is a direct link to my custom setup. See README.TXT
ZoomIt – Little program from SysInternals, provides zoom and more on your desktop, great for presentations
SDelete – Secure file deletion via CLI
PSTools – Window’s Multitools for managing local and remote systems, these are the tools that put SysInternals on the map
Rootkit Revealer – Advanced rootkit revealer by Sysinternals that identifies discrepancies that may indicate a rookit infection
Network Tools
IPERF – Excellent network throughput analysis tool. See Throughput Testing Made Simple(pdf) for more info
PortQry 2 – MS command line utility to see what processes are listening on which ports
Packetyzer – Great network sniffer from the folks at Network Chemistry
Angry IP Scanner – IP scanner that can be run without being installed
Super IP Scanner – IP & port scanner (my fav) but requires install, an essential for network pros
SoftPerfect Network Scanner – Free multi-threaded IP, NetBIOS and SNMP scanner with very nice interface
SolarWinds IP Subnet Calculator – Subnet calculator so you don’t have to think
SolarWinds TFTP Server – Simple and effective TFTP server
TeraTerminal – Terminal program, highly recommended, supports telnet & SSH
TFTPD Server – Network Swiss-Army knife, provides TFTP, SYSLOG, & DHCP server functionality
Kiwi Syslog Daemon 8.0.2 – Syslog server software
PuTTY – The standard for SSH communication, supports telnet also
Dameware Mini Remote Control – Great remote capabilities and a whole lot more, free 30-day trial
Wireshark – Packet Sniffer, the successor to Ethereal
Newt Network Scanner – Agent-free scanner to retrieve detailed info of client computers.
Winfingerprint – Network scanner that can be used to enumerate patch level, OS, user, sessions and more.
Axence NetTools – A full suite of free network utilities, very handy
the Dude Network Monitor – network discovery and monitoring with a graphical diagram
Spiceworks – Free network management/inventory software
Open Source Apps
Mozilla Firefox – The web browser you should be using.
Mozilla Thunderbird – Great mail client from Mozilla (does not support exchange, of course)
Open Office Suite – Fantastic Office suite, free, full featured, and has inherent PDF capability, did I mention it was FREE!
TorPark – Portable Firefox version that uses the EFF’s anonymous browsing TOR technology
7zip – Open Source, free zip utility, I recommend this over Winzip anyday
Notepad++ – This is what Windows Notepad dreams of being, from html to config files, this is your tool
Filezilla – The only FTP client you will ever need; fast and reliable.
Boot Tools
Ultimate Boot CD – Like the name says, Ultimate Boot CD, a must have
Bart’s PE – Bart’s PE is a wonderful CD to boot into a Windows like environment
HardDrive Tools
JKDefrag – Simple, small, excellent defrag software. This is my favorite but it is for purists only…
SmartDefrag – Robust defrag utility with great GUI and scheduling
TestDisk by CGSecurity – The only hard drive partition recovery utility you will ever need.
Linux Live CD’s
Knoppix – Linux Distro that runs from CD, good for file recovery, great for nix noobs
CHNTPW – Windows local administrator password reset tool, one of a kind, a lifesaver
Auditor – Linux distro that is primarily for security tasks
BackTrack – Another great Linux distro that is primarily for security tasks
Wireless Tools
NetStumbler – Find AP’s, filter by encryption, see signal strength, and more (XP Only)
inSSIDer – Free Wi-Fi network scanner compatible with XP & Vista
Vistumbler – Free, Open SourceWi-Fi network scanner compatible with Vista
AirSnort – WEP key cracker (nix only)
Kismet – Wireless detector and sniffer (nix only)
Security Tools
NMAP – The ultimate scanning/probing tool.
SNORT – The standard for intrustion detection.
HPING – command-line oriented TCP/IP packet assembler/analyzer
Ettercap – Tool suite for man in the middle attacks on LAN
dSniff by Dugsong – Great collection of Auditing/Pen Testing tools
Microsoft Baseline Security Analyzer – Microsoft Baseline Analysis
Nessus Vulneraility Scanner – THE network vulnerability scanner
Firewalker – Reconnaissance network security tool that attempts to determine what layer 4 protocols a given firewall will pass
Cain & Abel – Password cracker and network info tool, use with caution it is very powerful (your antivirus will detect this as a trojan)
NetCat – A swiss army knife network tool/scanner etc
Mozilla Firefox Extensions
AdBlock – It blocks most internet ads
Download Them All – Faster downloads, an essential add-on
FlashBlock – Prevents annoying flash elements from autoplaying, very nice
Xmarks – Keep bookmarks automatically synched between multiple computers
Personal Menu – replaces the standard menu bar with a customizable dropdown menu
Bit.ly Preview – Mouseover previews of shortened URLs, very handy for Twitter.com
Mozilla Ubiquity – The Ultimate Killer WebApp
ForecastFox – Compact weather toolbar powered by AccuWeather©
PDF Download – Allows you to download PDF without automatically opening the file
Download StatusBar – View download progress in status bar, very useful
Gestures – Perform browser functions with Mouse Gestures, very handy, you won’t know how you surfed without it
Stylish – Great for improving and tweaking FF interface, after install start here http://bit.ly/rVDsr
Nuke Anything – Allow hiding of almost anything, for example before printing, via context menu “Remove Object”
Site Advisor – McAfee’s Site Advisor provides link ratings on search results to protect you from potentially malicious sites
NoScript – Prevents a website from running a script unless you specifically allow the script, makes Firefox safer
Better Gmail – Collection of UI tweaks for Gmail
Better GCal – Collection of UI tweaks for Google Calendar
Better GReader – Collection of UI tweaks for Google Reader
Shareaholic – Makes it easy to submit content to multiple social sites.
Miscellaneous
CDBurnerXP – Excellent burning software, good interface, small footprint
EventComb – This is a great MS utility for parsing event logs and looking for patterns in error messages, available here as a standalone
WinRAR – Very good .zip and .rar program
Foxit PDF Reader – Say no to bloat, dump Acrobat. This is faster, smaller, and without the gunk of Acrobat.
PhotoStory 3 – Free app from MS that you can do amazing photo shows, panning, narration, music, the works
XP AntiSpy – Utility that lets you disable some built-in update and authentication “features” in XP, great tweaker for XP
WinTime Agent – Network Time problems? this is your salvation, highly recommended, server & client functions
WinMerge – Folder comparison tool, great when backing up files, or synching often changing folders
Nlite – Excellent software for slipstreaming Service Packs & creating unattended installations
VisionApp RemoteDesktop – Manage Multiple RDP sessions and credentials, req free registration
Irfanview – A wonderful, fast, compact image file editor. Try it… you’ll love it
Revo Uninstaller – The best app uninstaller on the planet. 5 star recommendation
Launchy – An excellent keystroke app launcher to replace icons and menu trees
doPDF – PDF converter/virtual printer, quick and easy
File Recovery – An excellent file recovery software from Soft Perfect
MagicISO – Virtual CD-ROM that allows you to mount/create/edit ISOs
Truecrypt – Disk/Volume encrption software, very good, easy, and secure
InfraRecorder – Free CD/DVD burning software with excellent audio/data/ISO features.
FastStone Photo Resizer – Image converter/resizer that provides great batch functions
SyncBack Freeware – Very robust backup and sync software
Outlook Attachment Remover – Excellent attachment pruning tool, great for reducing pst size
Health Monitor – Free and powerful Windows system monitoring tool
Free Media Converter – A great utility for converting video and audio formats
Log Parser – A great windows log parsing utility CLI only see, add Log Lizard for Gui
Log Parser Lizard – An excellent GUI front end for Log Parser
JavaRa – Detect & Uninstall old versions of Java
Flash Player Uninstaller – Detect & Uninstall old versions of Adobe Flash
Display Fusion – Fantastic multiple display manager