Starting this thread in hopes that others that find good free things come in and tell us about it and why it is great. I do not have the time to test as much as I used to and cleaning up after a bad install takes some serious time also.
Please post freeware only, no warez or cracked programs.
Things that I been using recently and like so far:
Comodo Internet Security: Most people dont like to pay for firewall and anti virus software so I usually slap AVG or Avast and Zonealarm on for them. To me, Zonealarm has always been heavy on system resources and I like the "Internet security" idea of having one vendors firewall and anti virus in one control panel like McAfee, Norton and the other costly names. So far I have only used this on XP and it CLAIMS to support XPsp2/Vista. The machine I use it on is XPsp3 and all is well with it.
http://www.personalfirewall.comodo.c..._firewall.html
On the strange side of things, talking with someone I have known for years he told me about a FIX-IT-Program, I usually avoid them at all cost but he talked me into it. I have only used this on XP machines with astounding results. USE THESE PROGRAMS AT YOUR OWN RISK, but I like the features. It offers to make backups for you when you click most any option the first time, and it offers on first run also. I suggest you use the backup option it offers if you try this.
Advanced System Care:
http://www.download.com/Advanced-Sys...-10407614.html
Most of the other free tools I know about are basics pretty much everyone knows about, as mentioned above I hope to see other people tell about things they find and like, even give warning about programs if you want.