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Here's a new thread where I'd like us to add on our own posts listing software we recommend for certain tasks. We've all been using PC's for years and just might know about the right tool to help someone out in a pinch.

-- Internet --

Browser
Firefox
Simply the best and safest browser there is with a ridiculous number of extensions that truly make it very powerful and even safer. It's also not chained to a company's other product lines and marketing department's whims. The must-have plugin is NoScript. Open source freeware.

File Transfer
FileZilla
An open source FTP and SFTP compatible program that's more user friendly than WinSCP, updated often, and is available as a portable version.

SCP and SFTP Client:
WinSCP
SCP clients connect to a system using SSH and then allow file transfers through the encrypted connection. WinSCP allows both SCP and SFTP transfers, and it's open source freeware. It's also highly scriptable for automating transfers.

SSH Client:
PuTTY
The free PuTTY client can connect to system using Telnet or SSH, and it also has a UI for setting up SSH tunnels.

Ping and Traceroute utility:
TJPing
Although quite old with its 1998 release date, TJPing 2.0 still works just fine on current-generation Windows systems. Use it to ping hosts, do name lookups, and perform traceroutes to see where packets are going, where along the way they're slowed down, if at all, and so on. They offer a Pro version, but the regular version is still freeware. I haven't yet found a newer replacement, but I must admit I haven't looked all that hard.

-- File Utilities --

Archiver with a graphical user interface:
7-Zip
The 7-Zip program beats out industry leader WinZip in all categories if you ask me. It touts its own 7z file format but works with several other formats and includes the ability to open some types of CAB and ISO files as well as good old gzipped files from *nix-like operating systems. Excellent Windows shell integration means right clicking anything gives you a variety of actions off of a 7-Zip context menu, and it doesn't skimp on the options for creating an archive that way. It's licensed under the LGPL.

Archiver, command-line:
Info-ZIP
Boasting PKZIP compatibility and identical command syntax across all platforms it's built for, the open source Info-Zip utilities are the best way to handle ZIP archives on the command line. There's also a DLL you can use to add ZIP reading and writing to software if you're a developer. Info-zip's utilities are open source and freely redistributable.

7-Zip
Access to the highly compressed 7-Zip format on the command line makes this a valuable utility for automating compression and decompression tasks if you want to squeeze just that much more air out of your files.

Media Player

VideoLAN
Plays a very wide variety of file formats. The latest releases sport a much better playlist UI and other elements. Comes in a portable flavor and is available for Windows, MacOS, and Linux.

MediaMonkey
A powerful and flexible music ripper, organizer, and player. If you're not going to jump on the iTunes bandwagon then MediaMonkey can organize your music files for you rather well. Commercial software.

-- Graphics --

Graphics Editor:
The Gimp
The Gimp is available for Linux and Windows. I tend to use it for dealing with screen shots and image conversions more than anything else.
http://www.gimp.org/

Photo Processing:
Picasa
Google's free Picasa program has grown remarkably over the past few years and the latest version is even available for MacOS. It has some great one-click features for balancing color in photos as well as an extremely easy-to-use and now partially automated red-eye reduction tool. If you use other Google services you'll like their even stronger integration with them.

-- Productivity --

Text Editor:
Notepad2
This text edtior is a far better text editor than the one bundled with Windows. It launches quickly, is small, portable, and has some nice features like syntax highlighting, line numbers, and more. Freeware.

-- Other Utilities --

AVG Anti-Virus

Avast anti-virus and anti-spyware

Fat32Format
Maybe you need an external drive to be formatted Fat32 for your PlayStation 3. If so, Windows XP or Vista won't let you choose that filesystem for new volumes. Use the fat32format utility instead.

Tray-It!
Got a bunch of Windows programs you keep open all the time, but don't want to have them clutter up your task bar? Tray-It! lets you specify any number of applications that will minimize to the system tray (by the clock). Freeware.

What software do you recommend?
(Original version 2006-03-25)