2012 Free Software List for Windows
I'm sitting here re-installing all of my software, so I thought I'd post of list of the various free programs that I use.
Multimedia
DScaler 4 - http://deinterlace.sourceforge.net/ - The software responsible for letting me access my NES and Wii from the computer.
iTunes - http://www.itunes.com - Music player. I own an ipod so I'm kind of stuck with it.
VLC media player - http://www.videolan.org/vlc/ - Multimedia player. Supports just about every audio and video format in existence without having to mess around with codecs. Also, region-free dvd playback.
Internet
Chrome - http://www.google.com/chrome - Web browser.
GClient - http://www.abelssoft.net/gclient.php - software client for Google+.
Google Talk Software - http://www.google.com/talk/ - Lets me know when my cavaliere.me email gets a new message.
uTorrent - http://www.utorrent.com/ - For those rare times when you absolutely have to download from a torrent.
Photography / Image Editors
GeoSetter - http://www.geosetter.de/en/ - Save or edit geo data in a photos meta data.
GIMP - http://www.gimp.org/ - Like photoshop, but free.
Inkscape - http://inkscape.org/ - Free vector graphics editor (similar to Illustrator, CorelDraw, etc).
IrfanView - http://www.irfanview.com/ - Photo viewer, allows editing IPTC data without recompressing the jpeg.
Utilities
7-Zip - http://www.7-zip.org/ - File compression / decompression program. Like WinRAR / WinZIP / etc, but free.
QuickPar - http://www.quickpar.org.uk/ - Data verification and repair software.
SlySoft Virtual CloneDrive - http://www.slysoft.com/en/virtual-clonedrive.html - Mounts disc image files to drive letters.
Tweaks Logon - http://tweaks.com/software/tweakslogon/ - Changes the Windows 7 logon screen.
Security
Avast! Free - http://www.avast.com/free-antivirus-download - Free anti-virus software.
Spybot Search & Destroy - http://www.safer-networking.org/ - Free anti-spyware software.
Malwarebytes Anti-Malware Free - http://www.malwarebytes.org/products/malwarebytes_free - Free anti-malware software.
TrueCrypt - http://www.truecrypt.org/ - Free file encryption software. Supports full disc encryption if you're really paranoid.
ZoneAlarm Free Firewall - http://www.zonealarm.com/security/en-us/zonealarm-pc-security-free-firewall.htm - Free firewall software. Much better then the stuff built into windows.
Software / Web Development
Fiddler2 - http://fiddler2.com - "Web Debugging Proxy" (it logs http traffic from your computer).
FileZilla - http://filezilla-project.org/ - Free FTP software.
msysgit - http://code.google.com/p/msysgit/ - Git client.
Notepad++ - http://notepad-plus-plus.org/ - Like notepad, but with tabs.
SharpDevelop - http://www.icsharpcode.net/ - Free development environment for C# and VB.Net
Other
GNUCash - http://www.gnucash.org/ - Free personal finance software.
OpenOffice - http://www.openoffice.org/ - Like Microsoft office, but free.
PDFCreator - http://sourceforge.net/projects/pdfcreator/ - Save anything to a .pdf file.
Multimedia
DScaler 4 - http://deinterlace.sourceforge.net/ - The software responsible for letting me access my NES and Wii from the computer.
iTunes - http://www.itunes.com - Music player. I own an ipod so I'm kind of stuck with it.
VLC media player - http://www.videolan.org/vlc/ - Multimedia player. Supports just about every audio and video format in existence without having to mess around with codecs. Also, region-free dvd playback.
Internet
Chrome - http://www.google.com/chrome - Web browser.
GClient - http://www.abelssoft.net/gclient.php - software client for Google+.
Google Talk Software - http://www.google.com/talk/ - Lets me know when my cavaliere.me email gets a new message.
uTorrent - http://www.utorrent.com/ - For those rare times when you absolutely have to download from a torrent.
Photography / Image Editors
GeoSetter - http://www.geosetter.de/en/ - Save or edit geo data in a photos meta data.
GIMP - http://www.gimp.org/ - Like photoshop, but free.
Inkscape - http://inkscape.org/ - Free vector graphics editor (similar to Illustrator, CorelDraw, etc).
IrfanView - http://www.irfanview.com/ - Photo viewer, allows editing IPTC data without recompressing the jpeg.
Utilities
7-Zip - http://www.7-zip.org/ - File compression / decompression program. Like WinRAR / WinZIP / etc, but free.
QuickPar - http://www.quickpar.org.uk/ - Data verification and repair software.
SlySoft Virtual CloneDrive - http://www.slysoft.com/en/virtual-clonedrive.html - Mounts disc image files to drive letters.
Tweaks Logon - http://tweaks.com/software/tweakslogon/ - Changes the Windows 7 logon screen.
Security
Avast! Free - http://www.avast.com/free-antivirus-download - Free anti-virus software.
Spybot Search & Destroy - http://www.safer-networking.org/ - Free anti-spyware software.
Malwarebytes Anti-Malware Free - http://www.malwarebytes.org/products/malwarebytes_free - Free anti-malware software.
TrueCrypt - http://www.truecrypt.org/ - Free file encryption software. Supports full disc encryption if you're really paranoid.
ZoneAlarm Free Firewall - http://www.zonealarm.com/security/en-us/zonealarm-pc-security-free-firewall.htm - Free firewall software. Much better then the stuff built into windows.
Software / Web Development
Fiddler2 - http://fiddler2.com - "Web Debugging Proxy" (it logs http traffic from your computer).
FileZilla - http://filezilla-project.org/ - Free FTP software.
msysgit - http://code.google.com/p/msysgit/ - Git client.
Notepad++ - http://notepad-plus-plus.org/ - Like notepad, but with tabs.
SharpDevelop - http://www.icsharpcode.net/ - Free development environment for C# and VB.Net
Other
GNUCash - http://www.gnucash.org/ - Free personal finance software.
OpenOffice - http://www.openoffice.org/ - Like Microsoft office, but free.
PDFCreator - http://sourceforge.net/projects/pdfcreator/ - Save anything to a .pdf file.