Free applications

[red_ned]

other free stuff includes

Notepad++ (just google it ffs) - a really good tabbed notepad/wordpad replacement which can spot what language you are using to highlight things - i use for everything from web editing to WoT script editing.

7-Zip: screw other compressors as this reads all formats including BZIP and TAR, Rar archives and zips so works nice on windows or linux

Gimp-2: pretty simple paint-shop program

If in doubt of buying things head over to sourceforge.net and search for things

[Smock]

I'd like to recommend the compare plugin for notepad++ too
Adds a really essential feature for comparing configs etc!

[red_ned]

New video conversion tool I found called Handbrake : http://handbrake.fr/
Used it to convert an mkv file into mp4 as it wouldn't play on my TV in that format.
No spy-ware/nag-ware and nothing to say no to in the install and then really easy to use.

Worth a pop if you need to convert some things

[Nagash]

hate handbrake, it sucks balls tbh, i have Pazera instead... if you type "Pazera filetype to filetype" (like mkv to mp4 for example) in google then it comes up. Much more simple program to use and it doesn't suck donkey balls... and you can get one program for each type of format to other format.

however i don't need it any more because Google Chromecast will play any file through the Plex, regardless of file type and codec

[Smock]

Plex on PC -> Roku on TV

One cool app online I've found, if you haven't got a copy (dodgy or legal) of photoshop installed, pixlr.com
Photo editor is basically the common toolsets in photoshop

[red_ned]

Just found http://www.bricelam.net/ImageResizer/
Really easy right click image resize program, tiny and just works on multiple files at once

[Direkneed]

ShareX

Useful image desktop tool - very powerful and can also record with input audio if you set it up correctly.
It's not the "OBS" of tools, but a perfect image sharing platform that can connect to hundreds of services that provide hosting and your own ftp if you so desire.

Not only does it do images, it does a huge services of other tasks.