Over the years I have accumulated a list of software that I install on any machine that I use, or when I build a new system. There is no spyware, no viruses and most importantly no money required for these programs. Install these programs only if you want to, these are just my opinions.

First off is probably the most important. AVG Free edition.
AVG is a pretty good Anti-virus program, and the free version is just as good. It doesn’t mess around or slowdown your Operating System like Norton or McAfee does.
Download is here.

7-Zip Probably the best compression program around and it’s absolutely free!!
Download is here.

Mozilla Firefox. Cause IE just plain sucks…
Download is here.

Java. I don’t really like java that much, but you need it for allot of things so I have to put it here.
Download is here.

Adobe Flash Player. this program has gotten much better over the years, so I am happy to ad it to the list. This is what makes YouTube.com work.
Download is here.

Microsoft Silverlight. This is Microsux’s flash ripoff. You need this to make certain MS crap work. Unfortunately this is also something every computer should have, at least it doesn’t slowdown your computer.
Download is here.

Adobe Shockwave. This program is very similar to Flash, but it is different and requires a separate program. This was used allot more about 7 years ago but now it’s not as common as flash. There are still allot of sites that use this.
Downoad is here

Adobe Reader. Before I hated this program with a passion as there older versions were really slow and crashed constantly! Back then I used a alternative called Fox-It PDF which is much faster, but not as compatible. However Adobe managed to greatly improve this program and now I am happy to add it once again to my Must install list. You need this to read PDF files, and it has a nice Firefox Plugin.
Download it here.

CD Burner XP. This is only good if you don’t got a copy of Nero laying around. This is a very good, free, and easy to use alternative to Nero and other burning programs.
Download it here.

Cute PDF Writer. This program is AWESOME as it lets you easily create PDF files from any program that can print. It installs as a virtual printer that saves what you print to PDF format.

Download it here.

Vista Codec Pack. It also works with XP. There is another version called Win7Codecs for Win 7 of course. I like this codec pack cause it works with multi-track, embedded ASS MKV files. (woot 4 anime subs!!).
Download it here.

Media Player Classic – Home Cinema. A Perfect example of when a program has had too many words added to it over the years.
Download it here.