OpenOffice.org is a multiplatform and multilingual office suite and an open-source project. Compatible with all other major office suites, the product is free to download, use, and distribute.

Good to have the latest version of this installed.

If you can't afford Photoshop, this is the best overall substitute I know of. If you're accustomed to Photoshop, it will probably drive you crazy.

I don't use this very often, but it's 1) impressive (as in, "Woah!"), and 2) potentially powerful in certain situations (finding a spot to watch the fireworks, learning about a vacation spot before going there, ...). Or, it's just a fun way to waste time and maybe learn a little geography.

OK, I haven't actually used this yet. I'd like to find time to play with it though--maybe make a 3-d model of my house so I can visualize a remodel before doing it. Now that would be cool. (If you have kids, get them to do this for you. ;-) )

helps you:

• Locate and organize all the photos on your computer.
• Edit and add effects to your photos with a few simple clicks.
• Share your photos with others through email, prints, and on the web: it’s fast, easy and free.

 Another alternative is http://www.pdfforge.org/. It's open source vs. commercial, which is always good. Also trustworthy friend has had good success with it; I just haven't gotten around to trying it.

Excellent way to keep track of your passwords. You need this program!

You may not want to bother with this if you use the Keepass utility. It does have its advantages though, and I continue to use it for some sites. I prefer the "Greasemonkey User Script" variety (Firefox + Greasemonkey required for that)

TreeSize Free tells you where precious space has gone to. TreeSize Free can be started from the context menu of a folder or drive and shows you the size of this folder, including its subfolders. You can expand this folder in Explorer-like style and you will see the size of every subfolder. Scanning is done in a thread, so you can already see results while TreeSize Free is working. The space, which is wasted by the file system can be displayed and the results can be printed in a report. TreeSize Free is freeware for Windows 9x/NT/2000/XP.

Does one thing Irfanview won't do: read and convert emf's (enhanced meta files).
That one feature was a life saver when I needed to convert PowerPoint into good quality (anti-aliased) jpg files.

I don't use it much, but for international calls, it's highly effective and economical. You'll also find that international folks are very familiar with it -- meaning you can speak to many of them for free with this tool.

Sometimes I've even paid a few cents to use it for domestic calls, just so I could use a comfortable headset instead of my cellphone. (the sound quality is also better than my cellphone, making for better communication with no lag.)

 I'm told that Copernic desktop search is even better. I'll have to try it sometime.

I've come to the point of not recommending perpetual scanning for spyware with anti-spyware tools. However, when you're suspicious that you've got something strange on your machine, use all three of these tools to scan and clean your computer. (No one of them is really good enough.)

Warning: this takes a bit of tinkering to get set up--no big deal if you're a computer geek, but probably intimidating if not. Just send me an e-mail for some friendly assistance. (I might even publish some instructions and helpful files to streamline the setup.)

There is a nicer version of Settlers at http://games.asobrain.com, though it can't be installed to run offline.

just as addictive as Tetris

Internet Explorer 7

Of the Windows XP Powertoys, I use about 2, and they're probably different than the ones you would choose. They're worth a look-through.

WinDump is the Windows version of tcpdump, the command line network analyzer for UNIX.

PuTTY is a free implementation of Telnet and SSH for Win32 and Unix platforms

 I don't actually use this one yet, but if I ever set up a second monitor, I want to give it a try.

an installer which contains IE3 IE4.01 IE5 IE5.5 and IE6