Computer Software

1. CCleaner - www.ccleaner.com - good and well proven software for flushing out caches, registry and uninstalling unnecessary software.
2. Defraggler - http://www.piriform.com/defraggler - good defragmentation program. In most cases this has worked as good or better than the Windows defragmentation software.
3. Advanced System Care - http://www.iobit.com/advancedwindowscareper.html - Good general system care includes anti-malware, anti-hacks, defragmentation, file cleaner. The free version is good. The paid version is only $20 bucks and well worth it. Get free anti-virus then buy this for $20 bucks. IOBIT has some nice utilities just be careful with installing extra toolbars or other software.
4. Microsoft Anti-Virus - http://www.microsoft.com/Security_Essentials/ - Microsoft finally releases its own anti-virus. It's free and works on all legitimate copies of Microsoft operating system's from XP to the latest Windows Operating Systems on the market.
5. AVG anti-virus and anti-spyware - http://free.avg.com/ - This anti-virus and anti-spyware is free if you just fish through the website and look for it. Some of the download sites listed below have it for download also.
6. Microsoft Powertoys - http://www.microsoft.com/windowsxp/downloads/powertoys/xppowertoys.mspx - from Microsoft themselves. Added some goodies that extend XP's capabilities beyond what it normally does.
7. Open Office - http://www.openoffice.org/ - is downloadable pretty much anywhere. Very compatible with Microsoft Office 2003 and somewhat with Office 2007. If you can't afford the Microsoft Office package and require something that is portable, this is an excellent Office package.
8. Filezilla - http://filezilla-project.org/ - Download client for file transferring to and from FTP servers. Download Server for easy setup of an FTP server on your home or office computer.
9. Adobe Reader - http://www.filehippo.com/download_adobe_reader/ - Easier to download from filehippo.com but belongs to adobe.com and is a free PDF reader designed to work with most internet browsers like Internet Explorer and Firefox. A must have for anyone who reads alot of PDF files.
10. Adobe Flash & Shockwave - http://www.adobe.com - The Flash and Shockwave programs are very important for almost any type of online gaming, viewing of certain types of video or moving graphics. Be careful here as Adobe always wants to install some toolbar for a major corporation like Google, MSN, or Yahoo.
11. 7-zip - http://www.7-zip.org/ - .Recently installed this on a Windows 2000 computer and it worked very well. No spyware and unzipped files just fine. XP and Vista both have their own Zip/Unzip programs integrated and this type of program is not required in those operating systems.

Find free software everywhere but I'll mention a few good software repositories.

1. www.filehippo.com - really like file hippo for it's ease of use and design. Most software still pretty safe. Recommend this site for utility downloads.
2. www.majorgeeks.com - old school download site. be careful what you download here, lots of powerful programs but lots of spyware too.
3. www.download.com - lots of stuff here. more difficult to use, don't like search designs. This is very commercialized, lots of ads.
4. www.portableapps.com - lots of portable stuff to carry around on your flash drive. Here's the future of computers.

1. Freeware - Software that is offered literally free and without cost. Beware for Freeware is often spyware or viruseware. Don't be fooled.
2. Shareware - software that is offered on limited terms. It can be free for a number of days with payment required for further use. Also a "limited" version can have some of it's major functions unavailable until user pays full price.. Often times it's best to pay the $10 to $50 bucks and get a paid for version.
3. Buyware - Pay to use software. .