MSConfig

To access: Start>Run>MSConfig or search for and run msconfig.exe

Shows all the programs which load into system memory upon booting your system. In truth you don't need any of these. WinXP can start and operate 100% without any startup items. For a full list of common startup items and what they do, see this guide or this one. Untick as many of these items as possible. Programs which load at startup take up memory and often cause conflicts while running in the background, especially virus scanners.


You can boost up your startup greatly by unticking these items.

DVD Shrink

DVD Shrink is a versatile freeware tool for fitting a DVD-Video disc on a single DVDR disc.
It is perfect for taking backups of your own DVD's.

Download here!

AutoGK

THE tool for DivX / XviD backup utility. With support of DVDs, MPEG2, MPEG1 sources along with AVI/DV sources encoding into your favourite MPEG4 format was never as easy as now!

Download here!

The Gimp

The Gimp is a free image manipulation program. It works on many operating systems and in many languages. Download the Gimp here