Ignore one or a few of the free Windows XP extras that are available, and no one will blame you... but ignore them all and you're really missing out.


    - Google Desktop Search: "...search the full text of your email, files, viewed web pages, and chats...", much the same way you use Google to search the Web.  More here.
    - XPlite and 2000lite: lets you add and remove XP components (e.g. screen savers, wallpaper, Movie Maker, Help Tours, games, sound schemes ++).  The free version is quite powerful... the Pro (commercial version) is even more so.
    - Service Controller XP: "...allows you to control your Windows (NT/2000/XP) services. You can instantly see which ones are running and view detailed information about all the standard Windows services. In addition, the program provides information that lets you decide whether to enable or disable a service..."
    - XP Syspad: "...provides quick access to many Windows management features, as well as programs, system folders and more, without having to use the Control Panel or click through multiple menus to get there..."
    - QuickRes for Windows XP: "System Tray Utility to Change Screen Resolution"
    - XP-AntiSpy: "XP-AntiSpy is a little utility that lets you disable some built-in update and authentication 'features' in Windows XP."
    - Microsoft PowerToys for Windows XP:  TweakUI is the best of the bunch, in my opinion.  If you use only one XP tweaking tool this year, make it TweakUI.  Hey that was original... not.  TweakUI is a good place to start making Windows XP's user interface look and act the way you want.
    - Windows Media Bonus Pack for Windows XP
    - Desktop Sidebar: similar in purpose to XP Syspad, only with more eye candy
    - CursorXP: This one installs as a tab in Control Panel / Mouse... It lets you switch and customize mouse cursors by theme or individually.
    - XP Remove Hotfix Backup: removes the backup folders and Add/Remove entries created when hotfixes, service packs, patches, updates etc. are added to Windows XP.  The folders (usually found in C:\Windows) have names similar to $NtUninstall.  The Add/Remove entries are found in Start Menu / Control Panel / Add or Remove Programs.  More info here
    - AutoStreamer: automates the process of slipstreaming a service pack into an XP installation cd
    - ERUNT & NTREGOPT: XP Registry recovery utility & optimizer respectively
    - Windows XP Prefetch Clean And Control: cleans out the Prefetch folder and lets you change Prefetch behavior
    - BootVis: boot optimization tool


Other freebies -- Unlike the programs above, these are meant for multiple versions of Windows, including XP.

    - Google Picasa: This program is just too kool, imo.  Lets you do all kinds of things with photos and graphics stored on your computer.
    - AVG Free Edition: antivirus
    - Windows 95 Power Toys: Some of these will work on newer versions of Windows as well, like Win98, ME, and XP.  See this faq at Windows Support Center.
    - Word Viewer 2003: "View, print and copy Word documents, even if you don't have Word installed... "  You can also view Word Perfect 5 and 6 documents, rich text (rtf) files, text files, web documents, and others.
    - EndItAll: "...quickly and easily closes all or selected running programs with a single click..."
    - Windows Installer CleanUp Utility: "... remove a program's Windows Installer configuration information. You may want to remove the Windows Installer configuration information for your program if you experience installation (Setup) problems..."
    - Add/Remove Pro: "displays the entries in the Add/Remove Programs list of Windows Registry, checks if each is valid, and uninstalls the selected program or removes the entry from the list"
    - Double Killer: finds duplicate files based on name, size, date, CRC32, or a combination of these
    - Copernic Desktop Search: far better than Google's, imho
    - HijackThis!: "Detect and remove components that help hijackers change your browser's home page..."
    - AM-DeadLink: scans Internet Explorer Favorites and Opera/Mozilla/Netscape Bookmarks for dead links and duplicates.  It has other talents as well.  See the link for more details.
    - TClock Light: TCL can act as a replacement for the standard clock that is part of Windows.
    - Winuscon (Windows User Console): "...unearths many of Windows' most useful features and sets them neatly on your desktop..."
    - Opera: This one is what's called 'ad supported freeware', which may be a contradiction in terms, but it's a good browser, still better than Firefox and IE imo.  If you want to get rid of the ads (at least for that session), press F11.  That should let you enjoy the browser while you make up your mind about buying it or living with the advertising.
    - Mozilla Suite: web browser / emailer / html editor / chat client / this / that / the other thing / etc
    - Mozilla Firefox:This free browser has been improving a lot lately, enough that I almost respect it the way I used to respect Netscape
    - Mozilla Thunderbird: another Mozilla product with another lame name, but the emailer itself is not bad
    - Quick Change Directory: command-line based directory (folder) navigator
    - Restoration: file undelete utility
    - Spell Checker For Outlook Express
    - PureText: "This text utility strips formatting, HTML code, and other unwanted tagalongs from the text you paste into your clipboard."
    - Email Cleaner: removes quotes, headers, html and other gunk from emails, such as forwards
    - Iconoid: preserves Desktop layout (icon placement)
    - Irfanview: image viewer
    - Keynote: personal information manager
    - Disk Pie 2: view a disk's free and used space as a pie graph
    - Scanner: similar to Disk Pie, only it might be better suited to earlier versions of Windows (e.g. Win98).  On my XP machine, Scanner wouldn't show the Documents and Settings folder.
    - CDex: CD audio extractor ("ripper") / converter
    - CD-DA X-Tractor: similar to CDex, but more compact and easier to use
    - Winamp: music player... still the best there is, though its development has stopped.  Older versions of Winamp can be found here at oldversion.com.
    - MP3Gain: evens out volume levels in MP3s
    - MP3Decode: does basically one thing-- turns MP3s into WAV files-- no fuss, no extra frills, no cost
    - TurnFlash: turns Flash animations on or off in Internet Explorer
    - IE New Window Maximizer: "This program will automatically maximize new Internet Explorer and Outlook Express windows for you. It also includes a function for hiding/closing all IE windows with a user-defined hotkey.You can also open new IE windows and automatically have them sent to the background.  The program is also capable of closing popup windows"
    - Zone Alarm: firewall
    - Easy Cleaner: Registry cleaner / junk remover
    - RegSeeker: much the same
    - Ad-Aware: spyware/adware/scumware/malware remover
    - Spybot S&D: see above
    - TCP Optimizer: Internet connection speedup tool
    - F-Prot Antivirus For DOS
    - ReadPlease 2003: text-to-speech software
    - FileZilla - FTP (File Transfer) program
    - NoteTab Light: an alternative to Windows Notepad.  Imho, it's THEE alternative. :)