Here's my list:

Antivirus
Kaspersky Antivirus
www.kaspersky.com/

Antispyware
AdAware SE
www.lavasoftusa.com/software/adaware/

Browsers
Opera
www.opera.com/

Downloader
Leechget
www.leechget.net/en/

Media player
Power DVD
www.cyberlink.com

Compression
WinRAR
www.rarlab.com/

All in one suite
System mechanic
www.iolo.com

Hmmmm i think ill give opera a try

EDIT: i like

I only list here, the programs that I have used and I’m satisfied with, I know there are other great programs, but these are just the ones that I use, and can verify, as being worthy.

SYSTEM INVENTORY
Everest: http://www.lavalys.com/products.php?lang=en

SPYWARE
AdAware: http://www.lavasoftusa.com/software/adaware/
Spybot S&D: http://www.safer-networking.org/en/index.html
SpywareBlaster: http://www.javacoolsoftware.com/spywareblaster.html
Microsoft AntiSpyware (XP only): http://www.microsoft.com/athome/secu...e/default.mspx

VIRUS PROTECTION
AVG Free: http://www.majorgeeks.com/download886.html

VIRUS and SPYWARE DETECTION
Ewido (XP only - trial version): http://www.ewido.net/en/
HijackThis: http://www.majorgeeks.com/download3155.html

ONLINE HijackThis ANALYZERS
HijackThis analyzer #1: (website) http://www.hijackthis.de/index.php?langselect=english
HijackThis analyzer #2: (website) http://www.help2go.com/modules.php?name=HJTDetective
HijackThis analyzer #3: (website) http://hjt.iamnotageek.com/

ONLINE VIRUS SCAN WEBSITE
Trend Micro: http://housecall.trendmicro.com/

Miscellaneous Tools
Starter: http://www.snapfiles.com/download/dlstarter.html
Icon Restore: http://www.majorgeeks.com/download4125.html
Erunt (XP only): http://www.larshederer.homepage.t-online.de/erunt/
MemTest86: http://www.memtest86.com/
A-Squared: http://www.emsisoft.com/en/software/download/
CWShredder: http://www.softpedia.com/get/Intern...WShredder.shtml

Firewall: Zone Alarm
www.zonelabs.com

AntiVirus: Avast! Antivirus Home Edition (free)
www.avast.com

Browser: Mozilla Firefox
www.mozilla.org/products/firefox

Media Player: Windows Media Player/Apple iTunes
www.microsoft.com/windowsmedia/mp10
www.apple.com/itunes

File Compression: WinZip/WinRar
www.winzip.com
http://www.rarlab.com

System Inventory: Everest
www.lavalys.com/products.php?lang=en

Windows SideBar: SmartBar XP
www.smartbarxp.com

Disk Health Monitor: Drive Health
www.helexis.com

Window Decorator: Style XP
www.tgtsoft.com/prod_sxp.php

Browser: Firefox and Flock
Email: Thunderbird
Media: Windows Media Player 9 and VLC
Messenger: Trillian
SSH: PuTTY
Desktop Enhancements: Hotkeycontrol and Google Desktop
Spyware: Microsoft AntiSpyware, Ad-Aware SE Personal, Spybot-S&D
FTP: SmartFTP
Misc: Who Lock Me?
Network Bandwidth Monitor: NetStat Live
IRC: mIRC
BitTorrent: Azureus (I might switch to µTorrent 1.2)
Text Editor (for programming): Crimson Editor

Some other good Network Bandwidth Monitors:

BW Meter
www.opalsoft.net/qos/libiptc/bmeter.html

DU Meter
www.dumeter.com

I use BW Meter.

Some of these have already been listed, but I think they are worth repeating.

Antivirus: AVG free
Firewall: Zonealarm
Antispy: Spybot S&D, Microsoft Antispyware
Photo editting: Irfanview, Jasc Paintshop Pro 8
Sound editting: Microsoft Plus! Digital Media Edition
Browser: Firefox
Email: Thunderbird
Compression: Winrar
System Utility: System Mechanic 5
Registry cleaner: Registry Mechanic

WinnerTweak
A good software for tweaking windows settings.

http://www.winnertweak.com/

Hmm another good tweaking software in the winguides one

located here