VLC media player

This is the greatest free media player that I think is out there, VLC will handle just about any media format that you throw at it. also VLC is not just limited to windows, it is also available on Linux and for the mac owners. the player can play from a directory, network stream, or you can even view your webcam in it. It can also be used as a sever to stream in unicast or multicast in IPv4 or IPv6 on a high-bandwidth network. download link is available here: www.videolan.org/vlc/download-windows.html

Gimp 2

"Gimp 2" is a software for people that don't really feel the need to pay for photoshop or just about any other expensive photo editing software that is out there. Gimp can also be used on multiple platforms not just windows, so you are not limited by the type of OS that you are running. Gimp offers many options for editing photos, with time you could achieve type of woork you could in photoshop. The link to download gimp is available here: http://www.gimp.org/downloads/