JFileRecovery

Have you been copying data from cd's or dvd's and found you have a disc that is too scratched to recover your data back from? You get this "cyclic redundancy error" message from your computer and the copy process aborts, leaving you without a copy of the file in question. It's pretty horrifying, especially if it's something very important or valuable. Well this program fixes the main error you get when you have this problem "cyclic redundancy error", allowing you to copy most if not all of the file, usually providing you with a usable copy.

From their site:
JFileRecovery is a free Java Web Start application that can copy files from damaged storage devices and media, skipping over problematic regions that typically cause copying to fail. If the file is listed, there is a good chance that JFileRecovery can salvage much of the data with minimal corruption. For many media files such as MP3, MPEG, AVI and JPEG, corruption is often not even noticeable. Copying large video files from scratched CDs and DVDs often results in CRC errors, aborting the process and making transferring the file impossible. JFileRecovery can bypass these CRC errors, with minimal data loss which may only be noticeable as a single bad frame in the video.
How Recovery works: JFileRecovery is not based on low level disk reading but on the observation that damaged areas take longer to read. The multi-threaded design of JFileRecovery makes it possible to abort reads from slow responding regions and continue the copy process. Additional attempts at recovering bad regions can be made as required.
JFileRecovery was developed to recover large video files from CDRs with scratched top surfaces. Blocks of 1KB in size are not noticeable in most video files unless they occur at the very beginning or end of the file.

Warning

JFileRecovery should not be used to recover executable files. A single error in an executable file is very serious and could potentially damage your computer.

This program requires Java to run.

MediaMonkey

 This program will replace all the crap you don't need like Windows Media Player, iTunes and a few others. This program has it all, just get it and see. The free version of MediaMonkey has more than enough features to qualify it for this blog but I could do a whole other blog about the paid version! I can't say enough great things about this excellent program. If you have an iPod or other portable listening device, this program will work with it. If you have a massive music collection this program will work with it. If you have a lot of badly tagged and organized music this program with help with that. This is the best audio player you will find. If you want to play video use VLC!

From their site:

MediaMonkey: The Music Organizer for Serious Collectors

Manage small to very large collections of audio files and playlists (50,000+), whether on a hard drive, network, or CDs. Lookup missing information and album art online, tag almost any audio format, and automatically rename/re-organize tracks on your hard drive.

Threatfire

Threatfire is a great tool to have in your pc protection arsenal, just as the website says. Unlike many other protection programs Threatfire can run with other antivirus programs running. It uses a different type of detection than most antivirus programs and it can catch malicious programs simply by their behavior. The free version is completely worthy of downloading. This program does a good job too, try it and see.

Spyware Terminator

Spyware Terminator is a freeware program that will help keep your computer protected from spyware. It has real time protection which can be turned off and has plenty of control options. Unlike some other free applications this not only detects threats but also removes them free of charge. Does a lot for you and doesn't dent your wallet!

AfterWorkHistoryCleanup

Just to make sure CCleaner didn't miss anything I also use After Work history cleanup. This tool removes all the private or otherwise sensitive information left on your PC when you've been working on it.

Torrent Harvester

While you may know about Utorrent (as it's no big secret), you may not have heard of the less-popular Torrent Harvester. This tool collects torrents from many different sites and brings them all to your desktop depending on what your search results turned up. Just search out the torrents you want, then open them with Utorrent. Enjoy!

Cheatbook Database

Cheatbook database is an excellent program for anyone who plays video games and has a computer. This program is loaded with cheats for nearly all consoles. No more digging through magazines, books or websites looking for the perfect cheat, this does all that for you. Make sure to grab the updated version every year so you have the latest cheats.

Phlox File Renamer

Phox File Renamer is a mighty nice tool. This tool is simple, easy to use, light and functional. Best of all it's free. What it does is allow you to rename a file (In XP) with a simple tap of the F2 button. Even neater is that it doesn't pick up the file extension which saves you that valuable couple of extra seconds. Those seconds add up when you're doing lots of work and I've found that I use this tool far more than I originally thought I would. If you're an o.c.d. organizer like me this tool is a must.

Phlox is a system tray application that provides Windows Vista style file renaming to your Windows XP. Phlox replaces classic F2 function on desktop and explorer windows. It selects only filename; not with extension.

Tiny PDF

Have you ever spent an evening combing through forums looking for that one little post you need, only to lose it again for whatever reason? Well this program helps with that situation. TinyPDF makes it easy for you to archive that one little spot you want that's buried within all the junk. Simply find the area of the site you want to archive and hit "print"! Then send it to TinyPDF and it saves it to a .pdf file for you! This is just one useful application for this program!

Tiny PDF is a nice freeware tool that allows you to create [.pdf] files from anything you can send to a printer. This is useful for making ebooks, for logging web sites you don't want to forget about and any other reason you may have for creating a [.pdf]. It works just like a printer so you are not really limited much on what you can include in your [.pdf] files. Enjoy!

Damn NFO Viewer

DAMN NFO Viewer is an utility designed for viewing text files containing ASCII Art (e.g. nfo files),

While you can open the [.nfo] files with notepad, they often are unreadable and jumbled. Damn NFO Viewer opens them to be viewed as they are meant to be viewed, complete with the ascii art that notepad won't show correctly.

Mem32

I like this program because it shows me constantly how much physical memory is being used, and if I don't agree with the usage amount I can simply use it {with either a right click or double click} to recover some memory for the task at hand.

Publishers Description:
Use this tool to increase performance of your system by recovering or auto-recovering physical memory. It shows real-time amount of available physical memory and the amount of space occupied in pagefile. You may set appearance as you want. Also you may specify hotkeys for different actions.

Utorrent

Utorrent is a great program that nearly everyone knows about already, but just in case you don't have it yet...

From the site:

What Is µTorrent?

Micro-Sized Yet Feature Filled

µTorrent is the world's most popular BitTorrent client. Most of the features present in other BitTorrent clients are present in µTorrent, including bandwidth prioritization, scheduling, RSS auto-downloading and Mainline DHT (compatible with BitComet). Additionally, µTorrent supports the Protocol Encryption joint specification (compatible with Azureus 2.4.0.0 and above, BitComet 0.63 and above) and peer exchange.

Resource-Friendly

µTorrent was written with efficiency in mind. Unlike many torrent clients, it does not hog valuable system resources - typically using less than 6MB of memory, allowing you to use the computer as if it weren't there at all. Additionally, the program itself is contained within a single executable less than 220 KB in size.

Skinnable and Localized

Various icon, toolbar graphic and status icon replacements are available, and creating your own is very simple. µTorrent also has support for localization, and with a language file present, will automatically switch to your system language. If your language isn't available, you can easily add your own, or edit other existing translations to improve them!

Actively Developed and Improved

The development team puts in a lot of time working on features and making things more user-friendly. Releases only come out when they're ready, with no schedule pressures, so the few bugs that appear are quickly addressed and fixed.

Google Desktop - Sidebar

Google Desktop is a great addition to any XP desktop because of its ability to adapt to any user. The seemingly infinite number of gadget tool add-ons make this a very useful tool. I personally use the sidebar feature with the following gadgets: weather / calendar / wikipedia search / clock / notepad / windows dock / volume control. This leaves plenty of room to add gadgets as I see fit. Other neat gadgets include: Utorrent monitor; games; keystroke counters; image viewers; and the list goes on and on.

Just install and then enable the sidebar option. The sidebar will be virtually blank and ready for you to add and remove gadgets as you see fit. Enjoy!

Ccleaner

C.Cleaner is short for Crap Cleaner. This program eliminates all the extra files and junk your computer collects and stores for various reasons. These files slow down your PC and take up valuable resources you may need for useful projects. CCleaner has 3 valuable tools all in one. 1st is the cleaner area that removes junk files. 2nd is the registry area which scans for errors and obsolete data in your registry and removes any unnecessary data. 3rd is the tools area which has both a uninstall tool and a start-up function tool, this can be used to eliminate anything irritating or unwanted which starts up with your pc. Use the registry cleaner button with caution as there are conflicting opinions on whether the Windows registry should be cleaned or altered at all.

Avira Antivirus

Avira Antivirus is a free and very decent antivirus program. Avira will keep you protected and do it for free. Protects your computer against dangerous viruses, worms, Trojans and costly dialers.

Peerblock

PeerBlock lets you control who your computer "talks to" on the Internet.  By selecting appropriate lists of "known bad" computers, you can block communication with advertising or spyware oriented servers, computers monitoring your p2p activities, computers which have been "hacked", even entire countries!  They can't get in to your computer, and your computer won't try to send them anything either.
And best of all, it's free!

Here is the link to the blocklists Pheonix Labs Provides:

Blocklists

Soulseek

Soulseek is a filesharing program that has been around since about 2002. It's invaluable for finding rare, hard-to-find, bootlegged and indie label music. Soulseek is a tool for musicians to get their music heard on a large scale. All you have to do is install and add your shared & incoming folders and you're set. Enjoy this great music community and be aware of what you share and download.

If you're an artist of any kind this program will be invaluable to you. I find it especially useful for talking to friends and family who live far away and who live abroad. You can chat with your mom while uploading your latest song, painting, photo etc to her computer. When the download completes she can open the file while not missing a beat on the chat. Perhaps you're a filmmaker and you want to spread your work around to get opinions on it... here you go. Soulseek is a great community of great people, please respect everyone when you get on and especially in chat rooms if you visit them. Oh that reminds me! Another great thing about Soulseek is you can make your own chat room and even make it private if you want, you can have just your friends in one room and just your family in another room and have all of them in a third room, with all rooms moving at the same time! All this while uploading that family photo to your mom, and don't forget to send her the video of her grandchild's first steps and the audio file of the kid's first word!

From their site:
Soulseek® is a unique ad-free, spyware free, and just plain free file sharing application.
One of the things that makes Soulseek® unique is our community and community-related features. Based on peer-to-peer technology, virtual rooms allow you to meet people with the same interests, share information, and chat freely using real-time messages in public or private.
Soulseek®, with its built-in people matching system, is a great way to make new friends and expand your mind!
Soulseek® does not endorse nor condone the sharing of copyrighted materials. You should only share and download files which you are legally allowed to or have otherwise received permission to share. By using this network you agree to this and the other rules which are linked to from this page. The intention of Soulseek® is to help unsigned and/or independent artists find a place in the ever-growing music industry, in a place where discussion and the creation of music can take place. Use of this network for illegal or infringing purposes is not permitted. Please share responsibly and help make Soulseek® a place where all artists can find a common ground.

VLC Media Player

VLC media player is perhaps the most useful and complete media player there is. Any music or movie lover will likely tell you the same. While it does not have the flashy user interface that Windows Media Player or WinAmp has, it does have the unique ability to play nearly ANY file including incomplete files AS they are downloading. This Freeware is definitely one worth getting.

Audioshell

This freeware tool is called Audioshell & is one of the best tools I've found. It helps you tag your music files more thoroughly, with the ability to add art and change all aspect of the files' tag. Not only that but when you've installed it you'll notice right away that when you hover your mouse pointer over an mp3 file, Audioshell shows you MUCH more information than you'd see not having it. Enjoy!!