Free Software Guide

The following is a guide to the best free software available to perform various tasks.
Internet Related

Web Browser: Mozilla Firefox
Features tabbed browsing, a good security record and many extensions allowing you to tailor it to your specific browsing habits.

Email Client: Mozilla Thunderbird
Built on the same basic code as Firefox, Thunderbird also has many extensions available, as well as the ability to handle multiple email accounts and keep them separate, and junk mail controls.

FTP Client: FileZilla
For those dabbling in web design, this is a superb free FTP program.

Media

Music Player: MusikCube
Simple and lightweight, low on system resources making it perfect for new and old PCs alike. It features dynamic playlists inlucding favourite artist and top 10 tracks.

Video Player: VLC Media Player
VLC also plays music files, however MusikCube does the job better. VLC really comes into its own playing videos, with features including playing the videos as your desktop wallpaper. For those with widescreen monitors you can change the aspect ratio for a fullscreen video experience with no letterboxing effect.

Sound Editing: Audacity
You may be thinking, "What possible use could a sound editing program be to me?". Well, if you have a few old LPs lying around, plug your turntable into your PC's microphone socket (should be colour-coded pink on newer PCs), and Audacity can record it, clean up the hisses and crackles (if you wish!) and output your music as mp3s.

Word Processing, Spreadsheets, etc.

Office suite: Open Office
A free alternative to Microsoft Office

Text editor: Notepad2
A fantastic little text editor, complete with full syntax highlighting for various programming languages.

Computer Maintenance and Security

Spyware scanners: AdAware, SpyBot
Get them both and run their scans regularly. If one misses something the other ought to catch it.

Anti Virus: AVG Free, Avira AntiVir Personal
Both of these anti virus programs are freely available. It is recommended to choose only one, running more than one anti virus program can cause your computer a severe headache.

Firewall:
If you're connecting to the internet through a router, check if it has a firewall built into it. This will save you a lot of problems particularly if you run a home network. I cannot personally recommend any software firewall.

General PC Maintenance: CCleaner
Standing for Crap Cleaner, it does exactly what it says on the tin.