Great Free Software

PDF Creator
PDF Creator allows you to create PDF (Adobe Acrobat) documents for free. It works just like a printer. Suppose you create a document using Microsoft Word, you then choose the option to print and choose PDFCreator instead of your printer, name the file, and save it to your hard drive. This comes in handy when you don't want someone to alter your document.
Download PDF Creator

K9 Web Filter
The folks at Blue Coat have made their industrial strength Web filter free for individuals, homes, and families. There's really no catch, Blue Coat offers this for free because they know people will like it so much they'll want to use it at work (it's not free to businesses and schools,
that's how Blue Coat makes their money).
Download K9

The Gimp
The Gimp is an open source powerful photo editing program similar to Photoshop. I use it in Windows XP and it works great! This page contains all the software you need to get The Gimp running. You'll need to GTK+ 2 Runtime Environment for your version of Windows installed before installing The GIMP for Windows. I really like this program.

Open Office
Admit it, $300.00 - $1000.00 is a lot to pay for Windows Office Suite. Fortunately there is a free program that is compatible with Windows Office, it's called Open Office. Calc is like Excel, Base is like Access, Writer is like Word, Draw is like Visio, and Impress is like PowerPoint. I have used Open Office in the workplace where I was in a Linux environment and had to create documents and spreadsheets in Linux that could be viewed in Windows. I admit that I use MS Office, but this is a great program for someone that can't afford what Microsoft wants for their productivity software. It's a 94 Megabyte download, which isn't too bad if you have broadband.

Download Open Office Here

AVG Antivirus - Free Version
I almost forgot one of my favorites. I use this product. It scans your computer and email for viruses. Updates are free. This is a great product and even better than some other anti-virus software you have to pay for. The deal with AVG is the same as Blue Coat's K9. It's free for homes and individuals, but you have to get a license to use it in a business setting.

Download AVG Free Antivirus