Best free and lightweight applications to install on Windows 7

All of the applications listed here are what I would consider essential, meaning that you should have these regardless of what kind of user you are.

Firefox + strongly recommend Adblock Plus addon
While Internet Explorer 8 has made great strides, there is a reason that Firefox is still gaining more and more of the browser market. It's still a lightweight and feature packed browser. When you add to the browser the plethora of community built Add-Ons that make the browser even better, I would suggest giving it a try at least if you are still using IE.

Foxit Reader
You need a PDF reader on your machine. PDF documents are all over the place these days. If you are still using Adobe Reader, do yourself a favour and download FoxIt reader. This reader is much more lightweight than Adobe's own offering and is better in many areas, such as searching.

Avast! Anti Virus
Microsoft recently released their own anti virus software, but unless you like to be an early adopter on these things, I would suggest going with Avant. Their product is mature and well supported. The install is also fairly lightweight.

7-Zip
Another application almost every machine needs is a way to open compressed files such as .zip and .rar files. 7-zip is another lightweight application than can open any compressed file format under the sun. It can also package and compress files for you as well. While windows 7 has built in support for the .zip format, it doesn't help you with .rar or others, so this is a good idea.

Spybot
While you have firewall and anti-virus, the third piece of protection you need is spyware/malware detection. Spybot is yet another lightweight program that can monitor and scan your machine to check for spyware/malware. It's a mature product as well and should meet all you needs in this area.

VLC
If you are looking for a media player instead of the packages Windows Media Player, VLC is definitely the way to go, especially if you like to watch high definition clips in .MKV format as Windows Media Player can't currently handle these files. VLC can handle this type of file, as well as every conceivable video format out there.

K-Lite codecs
If you download and look for videos around the internet, you'll realize there are many different ways that people produce their videos. Everyone uses different codecs and there is nothing more annoying than opening a file and finding out that you can't play the clip because you don't have the proper codec. Just download this and you will be set as it includes basically every codec you would ever need!

iTunes
If you own an iPod or iPhone, you don't really have a choice but to use iTunes.

Winamp
Yes, Winamp still exists and it still a good player, especially if you want to play high end file such as the FLAC format which you can't play in iTunes or Zune players. While Winamp has become a fairly bloated piece of software, just download the basic player as that will serve the needs of the majority of users.

Zune
While iTunes has a huge market share due to the ubiquitous iPod/iPhone, the Zune player has quietly become a favourite around here. With a cleaner interface and more customization, this player isn't just for those who have a Zune.

uTorrent
There really isn't a better torrent software than uTorrent. It's small and lightweight and does the job well.

FileZilla
While other FTP software just got bigger and more bloated, FileZilla has been able to continue to be a lightweight program while packing on more features that are actually useful. While

I would list a ton of more tools, but really, these are all you need in terms of essentials. These have all been tested to work in Windows 7 as well. If you have other suggestions, please feel free to leave a comment and share your thoughts.

All of the applications listed here are what I would consider essential, meaning that you should have these regardless of what kind of user you are.

Firefox + strongly recommend Adblock Plus addon
While Internet Explorer 8 has made great strides, there is a reason that Firefox is still gaining more and more of the browser market. It's still a lightweight and feature packed browser. When you add to the browser the plethora of community built Add-Ons that make the browser even better, I would suggest giving it a try at least if you are still using IE.

Foxit Reader
You need a PDF reader on your machine. PDF documents are all over the place these days. If you are still using Adobe Reader, do yourself a favour and download FoxIt reader. This reader is much more lightweight than Adobe's own offering and is better in many areas, such as searching.

Avast! Anti Virus
Microsoft recently released their own anti virus software, but unless you like to be an early adopter on these things, I would suggest going with Avant. Their product is mature and well supported. The install is also fairly lightweight.

7-Zip
Another application almost every machine needs is a way to open compressed files such as .zip and .rar files. 7-zip is another lightweight application than can open any compressed file format under the sun. It can also package and compress files for you as well. While windows 7 has built in support for the .zip format, it doesn't help you with .rar or others, so this is a good idea.

Spybot
While you have firewall and anti-virus, the third piece of protection you need is spyware/malware detection. Spybot is yet another lightweight program that can monitor and scan your machine to check for spyware/malware. It's a mature product as well and should meet all you needs in this area.

VLC
If you are looking for a media player instead of the packages Windows Media Player, VLC is definitely the way to go, especially if you like to watch high definition clips in .MKV format as Windows Media Player can't currently handle these files. VLC can handle this type of file, as well as every conceivable video format out there.

K-Lite codecs
If you download and look for videos around the internet, you'll realize there are many different ways that people produce their videos. Everyone uses different codecs and there is nothing more annoying than opening a file and finding out that you can't play the clip because you don't have the proper codec. Just download this and you will be set as it includes basically every codec you would ever need!

iTunes
If you own an iPod or iPhone, you don't really have a choice but to use iTunes.

Winamp
Yes, Winamp still exists and it still a good player, especially if you want to play high end file such as the FLAC format which you can't play in iTunes or Zune players. While Winamp has become a fairly bloated piece of software, just download the basic player as that will serve the needs of the majority of users.

Zune
While iTunes has a huge market share due to the ubiquitous iPod/iPhone, the Zune player has quietly become a favourite around here. With a cleaner interface and more customization, this player isn't just for those who have a Zune.

uTorrent
There really isn't a better torrent software than uTorrent. It's small and lightweight and does the job well.

FileZilla
While other FTP software just got bigger and more bloated, FileZilla has been able to continue to be a lightweight program while packing on more features that are actually useful. While

I would list a ton of more tools, but really, these are all you need in terms of essentials. These have all been tested to work in Windows 7 as well. If you have other suggestions, please feel free to leave a comment and share your thoughts.