[colby]

I'm bored, and I figured this forum needed at least one useful thread in it. Recommend any free applications that you find useful (Win32 or Linux), and provide a brief description for each one.

Ad-Aware - Yeah, everyone knows this one. One of the best programs for detecting and removing spyware/adware.

Spybot - Search & Destroy - Another popular program for getting rid of spyware/adware.

Audacity - A open source audio editor and recorder.

AVG Free - Great Anti-Virus Software.

Avast! - Another great Anti-Virus Software.

Irfanview - An awesome app for viewing and editing pictures.

Mp3Tag - Makes editing ID3 tags so much easier.

IZArc - From their site:
"IZArc is the ultimate archive utility supports many archive formats like: 7-ZIP, A, ACE, ARC, ARJ, B64, BH, BIN, BZ2, BZA, C2D, CAB, CDI, CPIO, DEB, ENC, GCA, GZ, GZA, HA, IMG, ISO, JAR, LHA, LIB, LZH, MDF, MBF, MIM, NRG, PAK, PDI, PK3, RAR, RPM, TAR, TAZ, TBZ, TGZ, TZ, UUE, WAR, XXE, YZ1, Z, ZIP, ZOO."

OpenOffice - A great alternative to Microsoft's Office Suite.

http://www.free-codecs.com/ - Has many awesome apps including Real Alternative, which allows you to play realmedia files without Real Player, and Quicktime Alternative, which allows you to play quicktime files without Quicktime Player.

CDex - One of the best CD Rippers around. (Get the newest version of the LAME mp3 encoder at free-codecs.com, r3mix preset FOR THE WIN)

RegCleaner - Useful for cleaning out your registry and startup processes.

HijackThis - The BEST program for managing Windows's startup processes.

poop