The Definitive Safe Windows Software List
There’s a lot of crap software out there. If you don’t know what you’re doing, installing an unknown piece of software can disrupt and possibly cripple your windows install.
I took about 3 months to compile a list of the best available software for windows, organized by category. These programs are light, safe, and almost all are free. They are also backed by hundreds of positive user reviews. Bloatware is avoided wherever possible, and spyware is strictly off limits. I consider this list my “Must Install” resource for any windows system.
First of all, let’s give credit where credit is due. Here is a list of links to some of the best collections of windows software around the web:
Techsupportalert
eConsultant’s “I want a freeware to…” list
Best Free Software For Windows, by Calvin Blackburn
Listable’s windows freeware list
Another Listable windows freeware list
WinAddons Top 300 list
100-downloads.com
Freeware Genius Toplist
Lifehacker: 2007 top software list
Portable Freeware popular list
Last Freeware Version
17 Portable Apps to Help Troubleshoot PCs
PortableApps – Portable Software for USB Drives
The Portable Freeware Collection
Next, the quality download sites. Here are websites that offer software downloads backed by reviewers and comments:
www.filehippo.com
www.tucows.com
www.softpedia.com
You’ll notice download.com is not included. While download.com IS a comprehensive site, I have found over time that the reviewer opinions (both expert and user) are often biased and skewed. Use download.com if you must, but at least compare some of the reviews against these other sites.
Ok, now we get to the good stuff. Read on to discover my comprehensive windows software list. (You may want to bookmark this post so you can come back to it when you need to.)
BASE INSTALL LIST (I use this to remind me what programs to put on a new windows system)
SIW, PC Decrapifier, Revo Uninstaller, Microsoft Update, Drivermax, Acronis True Image, Antivir, Firefox, 7-zip, MacDrive, TuneUp Utilities, Winpatrol, CCleaner, Notepad++, PowerISO, uTorrent, SpywareBlaster/Spybot, SuperAntiSpyware, VLC, WinDirStat, OAPF firewall, Threatfire, JKDefrag
BASE PRODUCTIVITY
Quicken, Adobe, Office, Skype/Digsby, Camtasia, Bullzip PDF Printer, Paint.NET, Affiliate Elite, Audacity, Google Earth, Launchy, Alt-Tab Power, Toy Xsite Pro, HTTrack, BugShooting
System Information Discovery
SIW, PC Wizard, Everest Free 2.20, Sandra Lite, CPU-Z, ATI Tool, Memtest86
Codecs/Media Players/Readers
Firefox Plug-Ins, WMP Firefox Plug-in, Combined Community Codec Pack, K-Lite Codec Pack, Codec Pack All in 1, QT Lite, Real Alternative, Foxit Reader, VLC, aacPlus (wmp aac codec), LAME MP3 Encoder
Software Updates and Driver backup
SUMo, Windiz (Windows Update for Firefox), driversplanet.com, Drivermax
Tweaking New Installations
EasyBCD (Bootloader), XPLite, GameXP, nlite (XP), vLite (Vista)
Overclocking
Easytune5, Rivatuner, Prime 95 v25, CoreTemp, HWMonitor, 3D Mark06
Disk Partitioning
Acronis Disk Director
Disk Backup
Norton Ghost, Acronis True Image, Second Copy
System Realtime Info (Browser Helper Objects, System Intelligence, Running Processes)
WinPatrol, Microsoft Sysinternals, ProcessScanner, HijackThis, HijackReader
Registry & Junk (Backup/Clean)
Erunt (registry backup), CCleaner, Win Aso, EasyCleaner, PC Decrapifier, DoubleKiller
Firewall
Comodo, Online Armor Personal Firewall, Sunbelt Firewall
AntiVirus
AntiVir, ClamWin, AVG Anti-virus Free, Nod32($)
Spyware Prevention (Blacklisters, Isolation)
Spybot S&D, Spyware Blaster, Hostman, Sandboxie
Spyware Scanners
HiJackThis, Windows Defender, Ad-aware, Spyware Terminator, Spyware Doctor($), Counterspy($), Webroot Spy Sweeper($)
Host Intrusion Prevention Systems (HIPS), protect against 0-day threats
Threatfire, Winpatrol
IE Cleanup (Browser Helper Object removal)
ToolbarCop, BHODemon
Rootkit Removal
AVG Anti-Spyware, Panda Anti-Rootkit, Rootkit Revealer
Encryption/Passwords/Security
Roboform, Truecrypt (encryption), RoboForm, KeePass (password managers)
Tools that Do Systemwide Optimization
Tuneup Utilities($), Glary Utilities, Ace Utilities, Winoptimizer
Defrag
O&O Defrag($), Raxco PerfectDisk($), JKDefrag, PageDefrag (SysInternals)
Uninstallers
Revo Uninstaller
Undelete
Restoration, Recover My Files
Files Size Map (Find files hogging up drive space)
WinDirStat, SpaceMonger
Piracy (Forget you saw this section 
uTorrent, Limewire, Serials 2000, Peerguardian
Web Browsing
Firefox
Website Authoring
Kompozer, XSite Pro, Dreamweaver, HTTrack (Website Copy)
Text Editors
Notepad++, NoteTab Lite
Instant Messaging/Chat/Video Conferencing
Digsby, mIRC (irc), Skype
Remote System Control/Networking
TeamViewer, Putty (telnet/ssh)
Image View/Edit
Ifranview, Picasa, Paint.net, GIMP, Photoshop, VSO Image Resizer, Painter X, WinSnap (Screenshots), ColorPic (color picker)
Audio Player
iTunes, Songbird, Winamp, MediaMonkey
Audio Creation/Edit
Audacity, dbPowerAmp (conversion)
Screencasting
Camtasia ($)
iPod
SharePod, Floola
PDF
Foxit Reader/Editor, Bullzip PDF Printer (make PDFs)
DVD Player
WinDVD, PowerISO
Clip to DVD
GSpot (movie info), DVD Flick, Total Video2DVD ($), FAVC, ConvertXToDVD, avi2dvd
DVD to Clip
AutoGK, Handbrake, DVD Shrink, Cucusoft Ultimate DVD ($)
DVD to DVD
DVD Cloner V
CD/DVD Rip
Exact Audio Copy, DVD Decrypter, DVDFab HD Decryptor, DVD43
CD/DVD Burning
Imgburn, CDBurnerXP, Deepburner
Media Conversion
Total Video Converter ($), SUPER
Explorer replacements, Launching, Managing Apps
xplorer2, Launchy, Xecutor, Alt-Tab Powertoy, Sysinternals Process Explorer
Fonts
The Font Thing
Command Prompt
Cygwin (for Unix interface) or PowerShell
