Useful Free Software

[NightHawkJohn]

Thought i would post up some of the useful free software i have been using

ImgBurn
Free CD DVD burner simple to use and works well for me
http://www.imgburn.com/

GIMP
Free Photoshop like program
http://www.gimp.org/

Notepad ++
Great replacement for windows notepad plus does a lot more.
http://notepad-plus-plus.org/

Password Safe
Free Open source i have been using this for years great to store all you usernames/passwords so you only have to remember one password to open your safe you can pick a complex one and then have all the others stored, it also has a password generator so your passwords will not be easy to guess.
http://passwordsafe.sourceforge.net/


VideoLan or VLC
Great media player does everything i could ask of it works great.
http://www.videolan.org/index.html

7z
Great opensource file archiver
http://www.7-zip.org/

That's all i can think of at the moment but if anyone else has some please add them to the thread.

 

[Limlim]

qBittorrent
Better than uTorrent, great for getting all those perfectly legal linux ISOs you're after.
http://qbittorrent.sourceforge.net/

Peerblock
A must have when running qBittorrent, like wearing a condom to make sure the wrong people don't see you downloading your perfectly legal linux ISOs
http://peerblock.com/

AIMP
Lightweight but powerful audio player
http://aimp2.us/

JDownloader
A java based download manager which makes grabbing multiple files from captcha based file hosting sites easy. Also is great for grabbing flash videos off of streaming sites
http://jdownloader.org/

combined community codec pack (CCCP)
A free unbloated video codec pack combined with media player classic which plays an even wider range of formats than VLC does, along with better subtitle and aspect ratio functionality. A must have for anime fans.
http://cccp-project.net/

LibreOffice
A free office suite for those not wanting to buy Microsoft Office (and just plain better than IMO)
https://www.libreoffice.org/

Trillian
An all in one instant messenger client that combines MSN, Yahoo, Skype, AIM, and many more in one program, and is faster and significantly less bloated than any of these programs by themselves.
https://www.trillian.im/

Calibre
An e-book manager which converts any electronic book format into any other format on the fly so it can work in any e-reader you own. Has the ability to autodownload updated covers and metadata as well.
http://calibre-ebook.com/

Daemon-Tools lite
A virtual CD / DVD / Blu-ray drive program that lets you mount copied images of... perfectly legal linux ISOs you've downloaded without having to make a coaster each time.
http://www.daemon-tools.cc/products/dtLite

Dropbox
Program that allows you to create folders on your desktop / phone / laptop / tablet which auto sync up so that you can access them on each device without having to manually transfer them each time.
https://www.dropbox.com/

Foxit
Less bloated and clunky PDF reader with an elegant interface than the POS Adobe puts out
http://www.foxitsoftware.com/

Microsoft Security Essentials
Throw away your stupid AVG and Kapersky, Microsoft actually has its own antivirus program that runs quickly in the background and uses up very little memory. It does everything an anti virus software needs to do, which is make you not realize it even exists unless it finds something.
http://windows.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/security-essentials-download

 

[LoneKiller]

Freemake Converter And Downloader (It will amaze you at just how many videos you can download for free. i.e. XHamster and many, many other adult sites. Youtube, anything.)

*deleted at request*

 

[NightHawkJohn]

Just thought of a new one a real Skype alternative
Jitsi
https://jitsi.org/

 

[9006]

Limlim's suggestion of Trillion is worth looking into. If you're like me who doesn't like the bulky and unreliable client software that the masses use, something lightweight like this is perfect, especially with the variety of protocols.

Trillian
An all in one instant messenger client that combines MSN, Yahoo, Skype, AIM, and many more in one program, and is faster and significantly less bloated than any of these programs by themselves.
https://www.trillian.im/

 

[LeaningIntoTheMuse]

Dropbox is wonderful. I use it for everything now. It perfectly syncs my school and fun files so that I don't have to worry about it.

 

[Oniseke]

For those who use cloud storage solutions like Dropbox and are paranoid about third-parties being able to probe the contents of files you upload (potentially sensitive personal documents, photos, etc.) you can try something like TrueCrypt to create encrypted containers, and then upload these containers with the your files contained within. Non tech-savvy folks might need to read through the FAQs, but it is still fairly intuitive once you start going.

TrueCrypt: Creating encrypted partitions and file containers.
http://www.truecrypt.org/

Also some other software I find indispensable:

Anki: Make your own flash cards to learn a subject, like another language.
http://ankiweb.net/
Audacity: General sound editor.
http://audacity.sourceforge.net/

 

[LeaningIntoTheMuse]

Audacity is great. I use it for recording albums.

 

[murmi97]

I make ringtones from my mp3s with it

 

[LoneKiller]

These are all of the free sites I use for image editing.


SHRINK PICS

http://www.shrinkpictures.com/

IPICCY

http://i1059.photobucket.com/albums/t426/kokolovich/myphoto1_zpsdef86362.gif

GLITTERPHOTO

http://www.glitterphoto.net/

BANNER FANS

http://www.bannerfans.com/banner_maker.php

FREE ONLINE PHOTO EDITOR(LIME)

http://www.freeonlinephotoeditor.com/

PHO.TO

http://funny.pho.to.look-for.us/

BE FUNKY

http://www.befunky.com/

LUNA PIC

http://www130.lunapic.com/editor/

RIBBET
http://www.ribbet.com/app/#/home/welcome

SUPERLAME
http://www.superlame.com/index.php

PIC RESIZE
http://www.picresize.com/

GRAFFITI CREATOR
http://www.graffiticreator.net/htm/creator_kodiak.htm#.UZVw17Xvu1E

RESIZE ANIMATED GIFS
http://toolson.net/GifResizer

PAINT.NET (COURTESY OF SCI-FI)
http://www.getpaint.net/index.html

WALLPAPER TUBE (AWESOME!!)
http://wallpapertube.com/tv-and-movies/star-wars-luke-skywalker-wallpaper

PHOTOGRAMIO
http://photogramio.com/

PHOTO SHARPEN (VERY USEFUL)
http://www.photo-sharpen.com/

KUSO CARTOON
http://kusocartoon.com/create-comic-bubbles.php

TUXPI PHOTO EDITOR
http://www.tuxpi.com/

CUT MY PIC
http://www.cutmypic.com/

ROLLIP PHOTO EFFECTS
http://www.rollip.com/wizard/choose_effect

PHIXER
http://www.phixr.com/

QUICK THUMBNAIL IMAGE RESIZER
http://quickthumbnail.com/

PHO.TO
http://funny.pho.to.look-for.us/

GIMP
http://www.gimp.org/

 

[LonesomeLoner]

iPhone custom ringtones. I have custom alerts for everything. Be sure to use good quality files!
http://iringer.en.softonic.com/

Ideal but in all honesty should have been able to do this on iOS anyway!

Switch Audio Converter
http://www.nch.com.au/switch/index.html

Perfect and never expires. Many files types included, codecs required for some but a megafast download for each. Use this all the time.

 

[LeaningIntoTheMuse]

XMediaRecode

This freeware and open source software can take any file format, and convert it to any other file format. Have a WMV, but want a Quicktime film? Done. Have a Flac, but want MP3s? Done.

It is quick, painless, and it doesn't damage the files. It just takes what's there, and changes the extensions so it plays on another format. And 9 times out of 10, it works (for some reason, it chokes on AVIs and some MKVs, but we all know those are the troublemakers!)

Worth a look.