free useful software for you

Firefox

Internet Explorer (IE) is a competent browser with enough features to meet the needs of most users but is difficult to recommend due to on-going security concerns. In the past IE has been a focus for security attacks.

There are several excellent alternatives with the new Mozilla Firefox a solid first choice. It's safer than IE, so safe in fact that many users have reported no spyware infections since they started using the product. It also browses a tad faster than IE, is very stable and is more standards compliant.

Thunderbird 2

A brilliant email client - instead of using Outlook Express or Microsoft Outlook this can be used and configured to suit you and has built in junk mail facilities also.

Paint

Paint.NET is free image and photo editing software for computers that run Windows. It features an intuitive and innovative user interface with support for layers, unlimited undo, special effects, and a wide variety of useful and powerful tools.

Suitable for beginners.

Picasa

Picasa is a free software download from Google that helps you:

* Locate and organise 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.

Gimp Shop

Photo manipulation software intended to replicate the feel of Adobe Photoshop. It's primary purpose is to make users of Photoshop feel comfortable using GIMP so you should be a reasonably experienced computer user or photoshop user to use this.

AVIRA ANTI VIRUS

Basic protection: Protects your computer against dangerous viruses, worms, Trojans and costly dialers.

AVG ANTI VIRUS

Free basic protection from AVG
The solution that more than 70 million users trust.

GOOGLE SPYWARE DOCTOR !

Did you know that Google now offers a free spyware doctor ?
Make sure that you only tick the relevant bits that you'd like to install.

SPYWARE TERMINATOR

Spyware is software that may display ads, collect your personal information, or change the settings of your computer without your consent.
Everyone is at risk of losing their privacy and seriously damaging their computer.

Don't worry! Spyware Terminator™ will help protect you.

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.

You can use this to write letters, spreadsheets, presentations, etc. if you do not have Microsoft Office installed on your computer !

This is a difficult category as ordinary computer users need products that are easy to use and most free spam filters are way too complex.
MailWasher is the best free option for most people.

MailWasher is an email preview utility that allows you to check your email on your mail server before you download it to your PC. The advantage of this approach is that you can kill unwanted messages including spam, viruses and large attachments before they get anywhere near your computer.

Whether you use a modem or broadband, you'll get a faster connection if you tweak your connection's TCP parameters.

Among the most important of these is MaxMTU which, in simple terms, needs to be set to the largest value possible without your data being broken up into smaller chunks en-route. This is definitely not for beginners.

There are commercial programs that will do much the same thing but TCPOptimizer does it just as well and is totally free. There is no program help, however, you'll find a useful FAQ at the SpeedGuide website.

CCleaner is a freeware system optimization and privacy tool. It removes unused files from your system - allowing Windows to run faster and freeing up valuable hard disk space.

It also cleans traces of your online activities such as your Internet history. But the best part is that it's fast (normally taking less than a second to run).

ATnotes is a freeware program which creates Post-it like notes on the Windows desktop.

The best bit is that you can set single or repeated alarms for each note with visual and audio alarm signal so you'll never forget an important task again!!

7-Zip is a file archiver with a high compression ratio.

This unzips or zips up large files usually for sending via your email and can unzip most files types that people will send you i.e. .zip or .rar, etc

Fancy a go at designing a website yourself?

KompoZer is a complete web authoring system that combines web file management and easy-to-use WYSIWYG web page editing.

KompoZer is designed to be extremely easy to use, making it ideal for non-technical computer users who want to create an attractive, professional-looking web site without needing to know HTML or web coding.

Google Toolbar

Add buttons to the Toolbar to search your favorite sites.
View button gallery
Bookmark frequently visited pages and access them from anywhere
Search smarter with instant suggestions as you type in the search box
Share web pages with friends via blog, email, or SMS.