Finally...
Ok, for those who don't know, my computer crashed. It has been quite a task getting back up and running. I think the problem is with my motherboard, the os will not load without having the cd in the drive for some reason. I was thinking about gettting a new motherboard but have decided to wait and more than likely build a somewhat new system with new mb, cpu, and case sometime soon. Anyways, with getting my computer back up and running, I've tried to use as much freeware/open source software as possible. Here are some of the programs I have used and would reccomend.
Avast! Home Edition - This is a great free antivirus. Everytime I hear of someone buying Norton or McAfee I shrug and wonder why they didn't just use this.
Spybot Search & Destroy - Great program for spyware removal. Use this with Ad-Aware.
Ad-Aware - Another great spyware removal program.
iTunes - Great for playing your mp3's. With my soon to be arriving iPod (hopefully), this should also help with this. The latest release also includes pretty easy use of podcasts, which is really cool!
Sysmetrix - A great program to monitor your system right on your desktop.
Objectdock - A great shortcut program for your desktop. Adds a Mac style shortcut bar.
7-Zip - This is a pretty sweet program used for compressed files. Handles .zip, .rar, and other formats.
Azureus - Program for handling Bit-Torrent downloads.
E-Donkey - The P2P I'm using at the moment.
Doom9 - Not a program here but a great place to get codecs for your media files.
Damn NFO Viewer - Easily view those .nfo files
Tweak XP - Do things with xp. I use this to take the recycle bin off of my desktop.
Fire Fox - Last but certainly not least, this is the best web browser out there. If you still use Internet explorer it's time to make a switch. You'll thank me. I strongly reccomend looking through the available extentions for Fire Fox to make it even more powerful.
Don't forget to make sure your system is up to date. Install all updates directly from Microsoft. I also strongly reccomend updating drivers. Also get the latest Windows Media Player. Any questions or comments please leave a comment below.