picasa 2
good photo managing download

Picasa
ZoneAlarm Firewall
Ad-Aware Personal Edition
Opera
SIW

I use AVG antivirus and antispyware (better than symantec which tends to be memory hog) ad aware is okay, but avg can automatically delete cookies where as ad aware wants you to keep re-deleting them (last time I had the program) avg also has a bunch of helpful options like disabling error reporting (if nothing else it saves you from clicking cancel).
As for a free vista theme google bricopack vista inspirat 2. Even if you don't have a high-end PC you can still enjoy many of vistas features, since you can disable the rocket dock, shadows and transbar

GBPVR - HTPC - PVR - Supports many capture cards, and MediaMVP
www.gbpvr.com
forums.gbpvr.com

an it's free...

Open office
Mozilla and Firefox web browsers
7Z
thunderbird
sunbird

These are my faves.

I can say that CDBurnerXP Pro is good!

Code::Blocks and SmartSVN are also good!

FastStone Capture.

It's small, simple and easy.

Can't say it's the best. Haven't used others.

avg ftw, best bang for the buck obviously.