BootVis: Use this software to speed up the time it takes for windows to boot to the desktop. It used to be official Microsoft software but is no longer available from their website. Microsoft also claims that the software won’t improve boot times but my experience has shown otherwise.
Daemon Tools: This is a CD/DVD-rom emulator. Use it to mount an ISO disk image you have downloaded without burning actually burning the CD/DVD which I find more than useful. I recommend installing version 3.47 instead of version 4 which I have had problems with.
DAMN NFO Viewer: This program allows you to view ASCII art like that found in .nfo files which are usually included with Torrent files downloaded from the Internet. It’s not a critical addition to windows but it’s a nice touch.
EasyCleaner: This is a registry cleaner that finds invalid registry entries, but it does lots more like delete false entries in Add/Remove programs, find duplicate files, find unused files, edit startup items, clear cache files and more.
Foxit PDF reader: Adobe’s PDF reader is slow and dials home then tells me there’s a 30MB update available every time I start it, even though I have unchecked the check for updates option. Foxit’s PDF reader is small, fast and displays PDF’s without any of the other crap.
PDF Creator: I’ve met people that have been forced to pay for this sort of software because they couldn’t find this free alternative. I’ve also met more than a few apple fanboys that claim only a mac can save files as a PDF. Don’t believe them, this software will allow your PC to save files as PDF’s just as well as any mac and is completely free.
PrintScreen: Gadwin’s PrintScreen is the best freeware screen capture utility I have found. All the other utilities I have used are either clunky, buggy or commercial but with PrintScreen you can take full screen, single window or selected area captures in seconds.
Statbar: Statbar is a resource meter that places a customizable toolbar at the top of the screen. You can configure it to show RAM and CPU usage, incoming and outgoing network traffic as well as control volume and other settings.
TClock Light : This is a small utility that allows you to customize the taskbar clock. I like it because it displays the full date next to the clock instead of having to hover the mouse pointer over the time to check the date. There is no installer so put it in the Program Files folder then place a shortcut to tclock.exe in the startup folder.
TweakUI: This is one of Microsoft’s PowerToys for Windows XP. You can use it to make all sorts of customizations to windows, but the most important is the Autologon feature. By using autologon you can set a strong password for your Administrator user account and have windows automatically enter the password every time windows starts. After installing you run it by typing “tweakui” from the run dialog or from a command prompt. The download link is on the right hand side about half way down.
WinDirStat: This utility will give you disk usage statistics. Perfect for finding files which are hogging hard drive space.
Xnview: This is my favorite image viewer. It has a windows explorer style interface and can do basic editing like cropping, resizing and format conversion. If I want a more overall view of all the images on my system I use Google’s Picasa.
[xplorer²]: This is a windows explorer alternative that is invaluable. It features a dual window view which is perfect for re-arranging files and a preview window that can display images, text files and HEX preview of multimedia and executable files.