Firefox. http://mozilla.org IE is like riding a giant wild AIDS virus that will give you AIDS while doing awful things. Awful things.
Google Chrome has joined the party and it's pretty cool.
Opera is an excellent alternative to Firefox, and is now free.
The best Anti-Virus package:
NOD32
A very good free AV package
Microsoft Security essentials. The other stuff isn't as good.
An IM Client:
Pidgin http://www.pidgin.im/
Trillian http://trillian.cc
Miranda IM http://www.miranda-im.org/
A good audio player:
http://www.musikcube.com/
http://www.foobar2000.org/
Videolan, in case that stupid video doesn't work
http://www.videolan.org/vlc/
To upload images to websites without using the silly web interface:
http://filezilla.sf.net
Crap Cleaner. Because everyone has crap on their computer that needs cleaning. CCleaner removes old temp files and other unnecessary junk, freeing up tons of room. For most people, CCleaner will often find anywhere from 300mb-2GB of useless junk the first time it runs.
IrfanView. A VERY small and quick image viewer/editor/resizer/everything. Awesome program.
http://www.irfanview.com/
Don't have Photoshop? Bashing your head against MS Paint?
Paint.net or The GIMP can help you out.
Bookmarks