GIMP-Very good photo-editing software. Totally free. No obligations. It does the same things that programs like Ulead photo-impact do.

Spybot search and destroy-Great anti-spyware. Free. They except donations. Excellent support. Free updates. Better and faster than McAfee Personal. Uses a lot less resources.

FreshUI-Optimize the hell out of your PC. Free of charge. Ultra fine settings for all Windows OS's. Free of course. Excellent knowledge base. Excellent tweaking.

Firefox Browser-WOW!!! Very fast. Much better than Internet Explorer. Firefox does it all. They have free plug-ins like Pic-lens a 3-D Photo-browser. Internet speed tweaking for the greatest of upload/download speeds. Fully customizable. Uses a lot less resources than Internet Explorer, also more stable and has better protection against attacks. My Favorite browser ever. I have tested every browser from IE to Opera, Flock Etc. Firefox all the way.

Advanced system care 3-Very good program. It's free. It scans your registry for errors and fixes them. It prompts you to make a back-up of your registry and system which is a great feature for trouble-shooting. It has the capabilities to block spyware. It has the ability to optimize your system for the best possible experience. Free updates also. Supports most Windows OS's. It also utilizes SMART defrag tec

So without further ado (thanks Jesse), I present to you:

Yeah, I know this is a no-brainer and is listed on just about every single freeware list on earth. But think about it... I used to use Internet Explorer until this came around and after switching I refuse to go back. I've also tried out Safari, Opera, K-Melon, and yes even Google Chrome.

The thing I like most about Firefox is that it comes across as versatile while allowing me to customize to my hearts content through the use of add-ons. So take a moment and install the latest version of Firefox, because the next part of this list will be the Add-Ons that I have installed which make my browser an elite and powerful program.

Download Latest Version of Firefox

Now, let's work on the essential Firefox Extensions. These are the same ones that I have installed by default and are the very same ones I simply cannot live without. Your tastes may vary, of course, but again we're focusing on the things that I have personally installed and refuse to live without.

Firefox Extensions:

404: File Is Not Found? Now It Will Be!

Download

I wish this extension was around about ten years ago... so what does this do? Well, when you hit a page that throws you a 404 error (file not found) it pops up a dialog in Firefox asking if you want it to check Archive.org to see if they have a cached version of it on their servers. So essentially, if the site or page is missing today, there may be a good chance that it wasn't missing awhile ago and there is an archived copy of it.

Very useful indeed.

Adblock Plus!

Download

This is a staple for me, and pretty much a god-send. Does essentially what it says: Blocks popups, pop unders, and even advertising banners (if you tell it to be totalitarian about things).

AutoAuth

Download

AutoAuth automatically submits HTTP authentication dialogs when you've chosen to have the browser save your login information. (If you've already told the browser what your username and password are, and you've told it to remember that username and password, why not just have it automatically submit it instead of asking you each time?)

If you don't have a username and password saved for a subdomain (e.g., foo.bar.com), AutoAuth will give you a list of suggestions for that domain, based on other saved usernames and passwords for similar subdomains (e.g., bar.com or *.bar.com). Just choose which username to use from the list, and hit the Autofill button. [This feature is only available in Firefox 2.]

Better Gmail 2

Download
Add useful extra features and skins to Gmail, like hierarchical labels, macros, file attachment icons, and more.

Better Gmail 2 compiles the best Greasemonkey user scripts for Gmail into a single package. All scripts copyright their original authors. Click on the script homepage in the About tab for help and more information. Only compatible with the new Gmail interface.

If you are a Gmail user like I am, you'll find this add-on invaluable. It has a settings interface which lets you further pick and choose which options you would like for it to apply to your gmail account when you log in. Some things I have enabled, others I've left out. Give this a shot and see if it suits your tastes.

GMail Notifier

Download

The original notifier for Gmail.  Supports checking multiple accounts as well as Gmail Hosted accounts. It adds a GMail icon to the bottom right corner of the browser with a little number on it. Every 15 minutes or so it checks to see if you have new mail, and if you do, displays the number of new messages.

Clicking the little icon loads GMail in a new tab (if you set it to do so). Since you need to give it your login information to check for new messages, clicking it will automatically log you into your GMail account.

Again, this is a must-have for GMail users.

BlockSite

Download

BlockSite is an extension, which automagically blocks websites of your choice. Additionally, this extension will disable all hyperlinks to these websites, by just displaying the link text without the clicking functionality.

Ever run into a website that you simply do not want to see again? We'll say for example YTMND.com or maybe some stupid site you stumble across... This plugin allows you to literally stop it from ever loading in your browser again. It's that simple.

Colorzilla

Download

Advanced Eyedropper, ColorPicker, Page Zoomer and other colorful goodies.

With ColorZilla you can get a color reading from any point in your browser, quickly adjust this color and paste it into another program. You can Zoom the page you are viewing and measure distances between any two points on the page. The built-in palette browser allows choosing colors from pre-defined color sets and saving the most used colors in custom palettes. DOM spying features allow getting various information about DOM elements quickly and easily. And there's more...

If you are a designer like I am, or simply have a need to pick out colors for things, then this is uber-useful.

CustomizeGoogle

Download

CustomizeGoogle is a Firefox extension that enhance Google search results by adding extra information (like links to Yahoo, Ask.com, MSN etc) and removing unwanted information (like ads and spam). All features are optional and easily configured.

GoogleGears

Download

One of the few Firefox addons that aren't locted on the actual Mozilla site. GoogleGears allows web applications interact naturally with your desktop, store data locally in a fully-searchable database, and run JavaScript in the background to improve performance.

Something I can imagine uses this right off the bat is GoogleDocs, which comes in super useful when you get an email attachment in Gmail which is a document&183; Instead of downloading it, then opening it, you can simply open it right up in GoogleDocs and edit it - then send it back with revisions.

Google Preview

Download

Simply put, it adds thumbnail images to search results in Google showing you what the page looks like ahead of time. While I have this installed and have had it for quite some time, this function is a 50/50 mix for me.

Check it out and see if you like it. If not, no big deal :)

Download Embedded

Download

Downloads all or selected embedded objects on a webpage. Can be used for downloading movies, mp3s, flash, quicktime, or other embedded files (although this does NOT work on video embedded in flash [ youtube, video.google.com, etc.. ]

Of course, what kind of person would I be if I didn't hook you up with something that did actually work for places like youtube?

Video Download Helper

Download

DownloadHelper is a tool for web content extraction. Its purpose is to capture video and image files from many sites.

Just surf the Web as you are used to, when DownloadHelper detects it can do something for you, the icon gets animated and a menu allows you to download files by simply clicking an item

For instance, if you go to a YouTube page, you'll be able to download the video directly on your file system. It also works with MySpace, Google videos, DailyMotion, Porkolt, iFilm, DreamHost and others.

Thank me later

DownThemAll!

Download

You simply cannot live without this one, and neither can I.

DownThemAll is all you can desire from a download manager: it features an advanced accelerator that increases speed up to 400% and it allows you to pause and resume downloads at any time.

DownThemAll is fast, reliable and easy-to-use! It lets you download all the links or images contained in a webpage and much more: you can refine your downloads by fully customizable criteria to get only what you really want!

DownThemAll is absolutely freeware and open-source. No Adware, no Spyware.

Fission

Download

Fission combines address bar and progress bar (Safari style). This makes the progress bar more visible and allows for a nice visual effect.

FullerScreen

Download

This extension enhances the Full Screen mode into a really full screen mode, hiding the remaining toolbars and statusbar and making them visible again when the mouse pointer hits an edge of the screen.
It also offers a slideshow mode, enabling @projection CSS rules in a document when full screen mode is turned on. Navigation between slides in implemented in the extension and a slide manager showing thumbnails for the slides is available through shift-F11.

Grab And Drag

Download

Enables Adobe Acrobat-style grab and drag scrolling, Flick gestures, and Momentum scrolling in Firefox, Thunderbird, and Flock. Why worry about grabbing the scrollbar on the side when you can just grab the page itself and flick it up or down? This addon is my personal favorite.

  Greasemonkey

Download

Well duh. Of course I have Greasemonkey installed! Cmon! This single addon for Firefox lets you literally go hog wild with the web and change sites around to your hearts content!

Allows you to customize the way a webpage displays using small bits of JavaScript. Hundreds of scripts, for a wide variety of popular sites, are already available at Download.

IE Tab

Download

Ok, let's face it. Sometimes you absolutely positively are faced with a site that requires you to use Internet Explorer. I know it's not as often as it used to be in the days of old (thank god), but there are still times when you need to.

If you are using Windows (Apple and Linux folks can sit this one out), this usually means cranking up the Internet Explorer and staring in horror as it eats your sou- I mean resources.... But this is the answer to that horror.

Using IE Tab, you can integrate only the bare requirements of the IE Engine into Firefox in an "on-demand" manner. All the IE ability (like Microsoft Windows Website Downloads) and none of the hassle that actually running Internet Explorer brings.

Cooliris (formerly Piclens)

Words really cannot explain what Cooliris does. So what I will do is ive you a basic description, followed by a video of it in action. Hands down, this is the greatest plugin I have ever seen.

Full-Screen, 3D -- Cooliris (formerly known as PicLens) transforms your browser into a visually stunning experience for searching, viewing, and sharing online photos and videos. Our "3D Wall" lets you effortlessly search and zoom your way around thousands of images, videos, news feeds, sports feeds, and more. To share stuff with friends, just drag and drop.

Extended Statusbar

Download

Adds an Opera-like statusbar that shows:

• percentage of the page loaded,
  
• number of loaded images,
  
• bytes downloaded,
  
• average download speed,
  
• load time.
  

Stumbleupon

Download

Think of Stumbleupon as an infinite improbability drive for your browser. You can click the button and it will randomly bring you to a website page that is in your defined interests. You can rate what it gives you with a thumbs up and thumbs down, which allows it to get to know what you like over time, thus bringing you more of what you like and less of what you don't.

This is definitely a great time waster, as well as an excellent way to be exposed to content that you normally would not have simply found through normal searching. One of my personal favorites.

Translator

Download

Don't let the simple name fool you, translator is web translation extension that allows you to translate any web page into nearly any language at the click of a button.

Currently supports the following online translation services:

• Google Translation
  
• Babelfish
  
• PROMT
  
• freetranslation.com
  
• Altavista
  
• Im translator

I have this installed and use it often, because let's face it, the Internet is not always written in your native language.

That's it just for Firefox... but of course this excludes the common things like the latest version of Flash, PDF Reader, etc that is an automatic installation.

Now it's time to move along and get to the rest of the programs that I recommend, and also have installed.

FileZilla!

Download

It's a free and open source FTP client. Over the years, this has proven to be not only the best in my opinion but also my favorite one to use. I also keep a copy on my USB Memory stick when doing random work on a computer that isn't my own laptop, because you never know when you'll need a digital swiis army knife.

Spybot Search & Destroy

Download

It's either this or Adaware, but in either case, spyware and other things that simply crap up your computer and make life a pain in the butt for you is a reality. Clear that stuff out of your system and keep it clean using this program.

AVG Antivirus

Download

Depending entirely on your personal preferences, a virus scanner is still a must. Personally I run AVG Antivirus, and haven't had an issue yet. Since anti-virus software for Windows is a must, I will not limit the recommendation to just AVG, an instead will offer a couple of leading free options to take care of this.

Alternatives to AVG:

1. Avira Antivirus: Download
   
2. Avast! Home Edition: Download
   
3. Clamwin: Download

Pidgin Instant Messenger

Download

What to do when you have friends who use YIM!, GoogleTalk, MSN, ICQ, AIM, IRC, and others? The first answer is usually to download and install all of the above seperately just to keep in touch, but I'm here to offer you an open source alternative.

Pidgin is a multi-messenger client that is lightweight and lightening fast. It allows you to connect to all of those networks in a single client, but also is stripped down so essentially all you get is a text mesenger. This means no Video or Voice functionality, of course, but in the end most people don't really need all of that bloatware to begin with. If you are looking for a multi-messenger, you may want to give this one a try - or one of the following:

Trillian: Download

Digsby: Download

OpenOffice.org

Download

The name says it all. It's an open source office suite made by Sun and features pretty much every office type program you will ever need. No need to run out and buy Microsoft Office, because this can do everything and more for free.

Irfanview

Download

This is my swiss army knife for converting image formats. It can open nearly any image format and convert it to nearly any other format. Also supports batch processing which makes converting whole folders a breeze.

Auslogics Defrag

Not like you needed a full explanation of why you should defragment your hard drives regularly, but there is a specific reason why I use Auslogics Defrag instead of the built in Windows Defragmenter.

Personally I think Auslogics is simply a better program for the job, and also it actually shows you what it's doing while it's doing it (which for some reason is no longer the case in Vista from XP).  I'm an old school geek and still like to see those little squares lighting up and moving around like the old days of Windows 3.1 and Windows 95 Defrag.

Give it a shot and see if you agree with me on this one.

Auslogics Registry Defrag

Download

If you thought just your hard drive could get mucked up with adding and deleting things, think again. If your computer is running slowly, another culprit may in fact be a messy registry in your operating system. So grab a copy of Auslogics Registry Defrag and so some maintenance on your computer today.

Format Factory

Download

Ok, so we've covered the swiss army knife of graphics (Irfanview) but what about video and audio conversion? I cannot tell you how many times I've been around the Internet only to see innumerable posts all over the place begging for a good and free video converter.

Since nearly all available converters cost money or simply don't work, this can spell out a ton of downloading and uninstalling for the computer user who doesn't know any better. If this is the case, then see also the prior listing about Auslogics Defragger ;)

Format Factory is my personal choice for a Video and Audio Swiss Army Knife. It converts nearly anything to anything easily (at least within useful formats) and can even rip a DVD straight to AVI format if you want.

While it is true that I also have Goldwave Pro installed, Goldwave is an audio editing program and costs money so it is excluded in this list.

Inkscape

Download

Looking to create Scalable Vector Graphics? Inkscape is what I have installed just for this purpose. What can I say other than it just gets the job done and is free :)

Gimpshop

Download

Ok, so I lied. I do not have Gimpshop installed on this computer, but not because I wouldn't recommend it. What I use for general graphics happens to be Photoshop CS3 and Paintshop Pro 8. Both programs are not free and so would not work for this list So what I *can* offer is the rough equivalent for free which happens to be Gimpshop.

There is also Paint.NET which I actually have installed too, but do not use as much as Photoshop or Paintshop.

Skype

Download

The obvious choice if you want to do Voice chat online (and if you are a Pidgin user like I am).

ZScreen

Download

ZScreen is an open-source screen capture program that allows for region/window/full-screen screenshots. It can FTP screenshots and put the URL in your clipboard in a single keystroke. It supports automatic custom naming conventions with variables. It can also interface with image editing software. It is a C.NET 2.0 program hosted on Sourceforge.net and built by BrandonZ.

Reader Submitted: FastStone (Portable Freeware Version)

uTorrent

Download

If you are going to download torrents from the internet, I suggest uTorrent. It's lightweight and feature packed. Of course, I don't condone illegal file downloading... *coughs*.

What I would recommend if you didn't mind spending money

Hands down I would recommend getting your hands on Tuneup Utilities. I have a copy of it and it works wonders for keeping the hard drive cleaned up and purring like a kitten.

Also for website creation, I would recommend Dreamweaver CS3 and Flash CS3. While there are a handful of WYSIWYG website editors out there that are free, I haven't yet found one as good as Dreamweaver. If you have the cash to spend, I would also recommend Photoshop CS3 as well.

Of course there is the alternate method of just grabbing them from a torrent online using uTorrent, but you assume all risks involved with going this route and I wouldn't recommend it.

Well, that's it (finally) for my comprehensive list of things that I have installed on my computer that I recommend to you. This list of programs comprise what I actually have installed and use on a near daily basis, so you know they have to be pretty good. I know I've excluded things like the obvious media players (Winamp and VLC) or video editing software like Audacity, but Audacity isn't installed on this computer, while Winamp and VLC are both no-brainers.

I hope you've enjoyed this list, and the programs listed here come in handy for you in your daily routine.

Till next time...

Free vs Paid

First, you need to understand what is a freeware. It is a software that you can download, use, copy, upgrade and share unlimited at no cost. Sometimes, freeware website ask you for voluntary donations. When you use commercial software you paid for use, download, copies, licenses, and upgrades. Examples of freeware programs are OpenOffice, Gimp, Open Workbench, alternatives to Microsoft Office, Adobe Photoshop and Microsoft Project , respectively.

Paid Support vs Collaboration communities

When you buy a commercial software, the seller gives support about installation, manuals, uses, extensions, etc. This support can be online, by e-mail, by phone or personality, depend of the company, contract agreement with the client and locations of his offices. If you use freeware programs you can get support in collaboration communities or forums in the freeware websites. Manuals, extension, etc. are prepared by voluntaries of the community. In several freeware websites if you consider forums or collaboration community supports is not enough you can ask for paid support in their website.

Full version vs Limited version

There are commercial software programs that have a freeware-limited versions. They limit some characteristics like: functions, numbers of items, file sizes, impression formats, etc. You can use this software with educational proposes or small projects. Also, there are old versions of software programs which are freeware programs. Sometimes several tasks you can do with one single commercial software, you need more than one freeware programs.

Standalone vs Collaborating Group

Some software programs are freeware for standalone or solitaire user. If you want to work in the collaboration environment, using intranet or internet, with more than one person working in the same projects, at different places, you have to pay for that application and its support services.

There are  several questions about freeware programs: Are they secure? Are they trusty? You can consider a freeware as alternative, if you are a student, freelancer or small company that cannot afford commercial software programs and manage small projects. You easily learn to use commercial software when you have used freeware programs. There are freeware programs very similar to commercials. On the other hand, using commercial software programs you give better image to your company.

The last thing, that I recommend to make a decision to use a freeware or not: Investigate in the internet the information about it, advantages, disadvantages, user opinions and forums of freeware downloads websites.  

Invest in Anti-Virus Software

Don't ever consider this as a waste of money, or don't get annoyed with the repetitious anti-virus software updates. This is the single most effective way of protecting your computer. Whenever you insert a USB drive, or go online, read an email, open a website etc., you are making your computer vulnerable to virus invasions. That's why it's important to keep your anti-virus software updated and your firewall always up. Don't overlook this.

Buy A Cooling Pad For Your Laptop

A cooling pad is a special gadget that you place under your laptop and it does just that -- cool your laptop. It is common knowledge that user electronics perform lesser and lesser when you frequently let them go overheat. With a cooling pad, you can keep your laptop cool and fully functional at all times.

Don't Just Install Any Software Just Because It's Free

There's lots of freeware and shareware online. These are types of software that you can download for free, or use a 7-Day Trial with. The problem with these types of downloadable programs is that lots of them contain malicious scripts, backdoor Trojans, worms, tracking cookies, and malware. All those terms mean one thing: Danger for your computer. Sometimes, these sneaky bugs and tracking scripts can steal your credit card information!

Unless You Have Sufficient Technical Knowledge, Leave Hardware Installation To The Experts

Don't try to reinstall hard drives, tweak the motherboard, or replace sound cards and video cards UNLESS you are confident that you know what you're doing. Don't take risks here. You can always solicit the help and opinion of Bill the Computer Whiz and Sam the Chip Master from next door. Or better yet, have your computer 'tampered' by a legitimate technical personnel from the computer shop.

Perform a Disk Clean Up And Defragmentation At Least Once Every Month

Disk clean up and defragmentation are all available options from your Windows Control Panel. Make sure you use these disk checking tools at least once each month so your computer can fix disk software errors. Usually, the computer will figure out what's wrong on its own. Disk clean up will delete unneeded 'cookies' and temporary files from your computer. Defragmentation, meanwhile, will rearrange file allocations and caches in your hard disk. Best of all, don't try to figure all of these things out. Just do it.

Apart from this, it also comes with some handy presentation features. You can view them as a slideshow, with your own comments. Equally, you can display multiple pictures as part of picture collage, as multi-exposure, or a picture pile of some description.

Its image editing, admittedly, is probably not as comprehensive as you will find in a commercial package. But, it is still good, with all the basic fixes like crop, straighten and contrast. Plus, effects are available with soft focus, sharpen and color saturation amongst numerous available.

If you are seeking greater image editing options, then Paint.Net is an alternative worth consideration. While it has the more traditional display, it has a greater number of special effects you can use to alter the photo. Particularly novel are its artistic effects, which can change your photo to resemble more of an oil painting, ink sketch or pencil sketch. Likewise, you can make numerous adjustments to such aspects as hue saturation, contrast etc. Color levels can also be tinkered with.

Aside from the photo editing features, Paint.Net also has paint and artistic features, which can allow for more artistic editing. You can paint, draw, or add shapes.

GIMP is not a package I have tried. However, it is stated that this is a free alternative to PhotoShop - one of the best commercial products. Such is the status of the freeware, that it has its own website.

It boasts features such as a customizable interface, photo enhancement, barrel distortion and digital retouching. All sounding very impressive, in addition to good hardware support and multiple platforms supported from Linux to Mac OS X. It also has documentation available on site.

The best thing about these 3 photo editing packages is indeed the freeware factor. They are not shareware limited to 30-day trial periods. Any limitation of one package is probably overcome by the other free alternatives, and collectively they surely must equal the value of a commercial product. So, browse, download and enjoy these freeware software, the best free photo editing has to offer.

Launchy 2.0

Launchy indexes the programs in your start menu and can launch your documents, project files, folders and bookmarks. If you download Launchy, you can simply forget about start menu, the icons on your desktop and file manager.

Download it from here.

TurnOff

TurnOff enables you turnoff your computer at a specific time. With it, you can set your computer to either hibernation mode or standby mode at a specific time.

Download it from here.

TimeRecorder

TimeRecorder enables you remind of anything what you did in one day or one week. With this you can set exact time for everything; as it can alarm periodically there is no chance of forgetting. But you can run it only 45 minutes continuously.

Download it from here.

OneClick Cleaner 1.00.712

OneClick Cleaner is a free disk cleanup tool. It scans and cleans junk files on your computer. It is very simple to use and easy to install or uninstall.

Download it from here.

Kampachi 1

Kampachi allows downloading files easily. With this, you can download a folder of files from any apache server that has options indexes turned on.

Download it from here.

URL Organizer Free 1.4

URL Organizer allows you to store and manage a large collection of URLs (up to 2000). You can add, delete, edit and re-name URLs. It supports three different web browsers. But you need to register to use it which costs nothing.

Download it from here.

RAMBooster 2

RAMBooster monitors usage of RAM and CPU. It helps to run your PC faster and smoother and you won't have to reboot your PC often. It supports RAM up to 9999 MB.

Download it from here.

Strange 0.5

As the name suggests it is really strange. Strange shows a gallery of Clifford Attractors. You can find many sets of coefficients to produce different images. This freeware is licensed under GPL.

Download it from here.

TyphoonPassword 1.0

TyphoonPassword is a free password manager. It supports all browsers and lets you store all of your passwords in one secure program.

Download it from here.

EatCam Webcam Recorder for ICQ 2.0

EatCam Webcam Recorder records webcams to AVI files and helps you to watch whenever you want. With this you can record both audio and video streams (audio from any source like microphone or speakers). This Webcam Recorder enables you replay your favorite moments.

Download it from here.

Veoh Video Downloader 3.11

Veoh Video Downloader helps you to download several files at the same time. With this you can save videos from Veoh to your PC, iPod, Mobile, PSP etc and save them into several formats like .avi, .mpeg, .wmv and .flv files.

Download it from here.

Orca Browser 1.1 Aplha 3

Orca was made by the owners of Avant Browsers. This web browser was designed based upon Firefox 3. Orca supports for about 20 languages and has many excellent features like Ad Blocker, Proxy server, Auto Filling forms, Mouse Gestures etc. It is said to be faster than Firefox and Opera. As it is the latest browser we have to wait for some time to know its efficiency.

Download it from here.

4Neurons Magnifying Glass 1.0

4Neurons Magnifying Glass is a high quality magnifying tool that magnifies advanced image zooming. This tool increases readability by displaying the magnified portions of the screen that are smooth and sharp.

Download it from here.

Umopit Aura 2.6.5.113

Umopit Aura brings nature sounds (birds, wind etc.) closer and you can enjoy a relaxing forest sound collection. Other features include alarm clock and muting time.

Download it from here.

PreWarn 1.6

PreWarn enables you start other programs with a simple click. If you start another program through PreWarn, PreWarn will pop-up a message window with a warning. Then, there are certain buttons with which you have to choose whether the requested programs should be started.

Download it from here.

Anti-Virus Software

An offering from Grisoft, the AVG Anti-virus is possibly the best antivirus solution available for free. The difference between the free version and the Pro version that comes at a cost are additional options such as spyware remover, firewall etc, But since we will look at other free and better options for the same below. There is no difference between the free version and the paid version of the antivirus though. Automatic updates of virus signatures are available for free. I would rate this better than most antivirus solutions available for a price. It runs on a lot lesser memory, improving your PC's overall speed and performance.

Web Browser

If you have an antivirus, you can be satisfied with it only when you do not have a Internet connection on your PC. If you do, then the first point of entry of malware into your PC is the web browser. Firefox is by far the best around, not only from the point of view of security but usability as well. Avoiding Internet Explorer itself reduces your chance of getting infected by at least 20%, the ubiquitous IE is more targeted. For additional security, addons are available in the official site. Do read through the reviews before you choose an addon.

Adware/Spyware/Scumware Remover

I recommend the Windows Defender offering from Microsoft which is available as a free beta. The defender may not be as effective as other solutions available for money. But It is pretty reliable and combined with scans with AVG Antivirus, It is very effective. The one problem seems to be that it consumes a lot of PC resource while scanning. If you are using a new PC, upwards of 128 MB of RAM then it should not be a problem, but anything lower and it could significantly affect your system performance.

Browser Protection Utility

In spite of using the best browser, It is not always possible to escape browser hijacks, which is more of an irritant than a security threat. But not all scumware stop with that, some can even monitor keyboard strokes. So if you deal with sensitive information then I would recommend the browser protection utility. From Windows 2000 or later, for safe browsing a free program called Sandboxie is available that creates a special contained "sandbox" environment on your PC. While browsing within the virtual sandbox provided by Sandboxie you are totally corralled off from other parts of your PC. So any files you download are isolated to the sandbox. Similarly, any programs that are executed only do so within the sandbox and have no access to your normal files, the Windows operating system or any other part of your PC effectively cutting off any damage because of these scumwares.

Anonymous Surfing Services

There are lots of reasons people have for wanting to surf anonymously, ranging from simple paranoia to stop being monitored by their meddling government. Whatever the reasons, services that offer anonymity are doing real well. The best service is probably JAP, it is totally free. It is the ultimate anonymous surfing service. So next time you want to protect your identity online, check out JAP. JAP acts as a local proxy between your PC and the Internet.

1. GIMP

   It's a lot like Photoshop without the huge price tag. Free! Originally designed for Linux, it has been made for Windows as well. Works great for Vista where older Photoshop versions and other issues of compatibility don't exist!
   

2. Namo WebEditor

   So you want to create a website and may or may not know some html. Not a problem. Namo is structured similarly to Dreamweaver and again without the huge pricetag. This software runs $100 and comes with Namo FreeMotion and Namo FreeCanvas. I'm more impressed with FreeMotion as it's a flash based program and the instructions included make it easy enough for an amateur to use. Namo FreeCanvas isn't bad but I wouldn't pay anything extra for it. Worth checking out as part of the bundle. If you already own another web editor, there is typically a rebate for $20 off.
   

3. Pinnacle Studio

   Do you like editing video clips? If you do this program is reasonably priced and though not as fancy as Adobe's Premiere it's also much cheaper! Versions range from the original studio through Plus and Ultimate based on your needs. If you're editing standard video you can pay as little as $50. High Definition will cost you $100 and Studio Ultimate which allows for Dolby 5.1, fx editor, and a few other features be prepared to dish out $130. Typically Studio allows for an upgrade version and/or rebate based on your previous purchase.
   

4. Paint.net

   Again another photo editing software similar to Photoshop but easier to navigate for those that aren't advanced users. Free software again, can't complain there. The interface is easy and it doesn't lack features

1. Get an Antivirus Program

   This is a very important step to take. Viruses such as Trojans and worms can not only slow your computer to a crawl, they can do serious damage to files and even steal information from your computer. Antivirus programs don't have to be expensive, either. As the title of this article indicates, many free programs are available. Download.com has an extensive collection of virus scanners, most of which are free. Downloading one of these programs can keep your computer protected and running faster for quite some time.

2. Get a Spyware Dectector

   Spyware and addware can be loaded onto your computer from almost any web site on the Internet. What's more, more often than not you won't even know it's been installed. Like a virus, these programs can wreak havoc with your computer and even steal information, so getting one of these programs is essential to having a healthy computer. Again, free software is readily available on the Internet.

3. Defrag Your Hard Drive

   Ever once in a while, defragmenting your hard drive can really help speed up your computer. Defragging is a simple process that involves your computer moving files around to allow itself to run faster. The program is a part of Windows and can be found under the AccessoriesSystem Tools menu. Defragging once every month or so can increase your computer's speed by a large amount.

4. Keep Tabs on Your Hard Drive Space

   Hard drive space can disappear very quickly. As it does, your computer will run slower. This problem is easy to avoid; simply check to see how much space you have left on occasion. To monitor your drives more in-depth, a program such as FileAnt can give you a complete breakdown of where your hard drive space is going and can help you identify things tat can be removed to save space.

5. Clean Up Your Hard Drive

   Also a Windows program, the Clean Up feature checks your hard drive and finds information that is not necessary to keep, such as temporary internet files, deleted items in the Recycle Bin, and so forth. Usually the space saved here is minimal, but even small amounts can help speed your computer back up.

6. Avoid Double Saving

   Double saving is rarely intentional, but sometimes duplicates of files end up in places you wouldn't think to look for them. Unless you wanted to create a backup of a file, these files take up space and slow down your computer. Using the Search feature can help you find places where Windows creates a backup that isn't needed.

7. Get a Popup Blocker

   Popups on the Internet are usually harmless but they take time and memory to load. They are annoying, they slow down your computer, and they can be avoided. Free programs are available to block popups, and some Internet browsers such as Firefox have built-in popup blockers and add blockers for a faster, more enjoyable Internet experience.

These are just a few tips, but following them will keep your computer running faster and more effectively for as long as you follow them.