Seems like bloated applications are the order of the day for Windows. And if you want to know what bloated means you just need to try Nero 7 and iTunes. 
So here I present a list of lightweight, memory efficient applications for Windows XP. These applications do what they are supposed to do without eating up on your system’s resources. 
And there is one for almost every need. Another good news, all of these applications are free.
1. PDF Reader - Foxit PDF Reader
Still using Adobe PDF Reader to read PDF files ? Then you got to try Foxit PDF reader. This super light PDF reader launches your PDF documents in a matter of 2 seconds to the maximum.
Download Size : 1.67 MB
Memory Footprint : 8MB
2. Audio Player - foobar2000
A must try application for users who like to have their media player designed to their needs. Do not get fooled by its lean looks. For a simple example of what you can do with foobar2000, have a look here.
Download Size : 1.60 MB
Memory Footprint : 2MB (Default install)
3. Instant Messenger - Miranda
Why keep YIM, WLM, GTalk and many more keep running in the background when you can use just one application to connect to all these networks and even more. Use Miranda IM. As the Miranda home page says Smaller, Faster, Easier.
Download Size : 1.09 MB
Memory Footprint : 1.6 MB (Default install)
4. BitTorrent Client - uTorrent
One of the best torrent clients available for Windows. Loaded with all features you will ever need, yet takes less than 1MB of RAM while running.
Download Size : 646 KB
Memory Footprint : < 1 MB
That’s all for now, I will keep on adding / updating this list as I find new ones. And if you want some of your apps to be on this list, do not forget to leave a comment. 
5. Video Player - VLC Media Player
Not exactly light on resources, but definitely better than the Windows Media Player bundled with Windows. VLC has a load of features and also plays almost all the video files thrown at it without the need for additional codecs to be installed.
Download Size : 9 MB
Memory Footprint : 32 MB
4 comments ↓
Also Free/Open Source software for Windows tend to light on system resources. Compare Mplayer, VLC player with Windows Media Player or Gimp, Inkscape, blender with other commerical counterparts.
Hi Arky.
You are right. Most of the open source software on Windows perform better than their commercial counterparts.
Don’t forget about Opera - it’s faster than any other internet browser. And it also doesn’t use much memory.
@ Lesniev - Just wait for Firefox 3. It is going to beat Opera.
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