miktex – A free TeX distribution for MS-Windows

A distribution of TeX and friends for Windows 2000, XP, Vista and Windows 7, as well as Windows Server 2003 and 2008. Features include easy installation and configuration, and full TeX, LaTeX and ConTeXt support. MiKTeX includes a set of “canned” distributions, up to installation of ‘everything there is’. Users may update their installation manually, or they can allow MiKTeX to install new stuff automatically (as needed), from the net.

A command-line utility, ‘texify’, simplifies the production of DVI (or PDF) documents by automatically invoking LaTeX (pdfLaTeX), Makeindex, and BibTeX as many times as necessary to produce a DVI (PDF) file with sorted indices and all cross-references resolved.

A “portable” distribution is available, for users to carry in their pocket…

Users of MiKTeX commonly control their work with an editor/shell; many are available, such as the free texniccenter and the shareware winedt.