Anti-Virus / Anti-Spyware / Security

Every PC needs to have a basic selection of security products installed (Mac users insert laugh here). Companies like Symantec and McAfee make it their business to secure your computer - for a fee. However, there are viable alternatives out there that are completely free.

• AVG Anti-Virus Free. This is probably the most popular free anti-virus out there and it is quite good. It can take some clicking to find it on their website, so this will get you right to it.
• avast! 4 Home Edition. Another full-featured anti-virus, free for home and non-commercial use.
• Avira AntiVir PersonalEdition.
• ClamWin. An open source, free anti-virus app.
• Nmap. A free port scanner for Windows. Helps to find holes in your network security.
• Windows Defender. A freebie by Microsoft.
• Spybot Search & Destroy. Gets pretty continual good reviews from the leading tech magazines.
• Sunbelt Software Personal Firewall. Used to be by Kerio, but Sunbelt bought it. They have a free version of it, with some limitations.
• ZoneAlarm.  A popular personall firewall.
• HiJackThis!. A popular utility for detecting and preventing hijacking of your web browser (cough! Internet Explorer)

Graphics / Images

Most of us like to use our computers to play around with graphics or store our digital photography. We need some software to help us do that, too.

• GIMP. An open source app that rivals Photoshop, although I find the interface a little more clunky.
• Paint.Net. Another very powerful image editor, this one with an interface that is nicer than GIMP.
• Inkscape. An open source vector graphics editor.
• Blender. A very powerful, free 3D modeling program.
• Picasa. This freebie from Google is a very nice, visually appealing photo organizer.
• Irfanview. Another great image organizer.
• FastStone Image Viewer. Despite the name, this can do a lot more than simply view images.

Internet / Email

The internet is the one resource that makes any PC today such a useful tool. You need some software to take advantage of it, and free software is good.

• Firefox. The popular, venerable alternative to Internet Explorer.
• Opera. Another widely popular web browser which, for some reason, seems to have a hard time competing with Firefox. But, that’s not because its lacking in any department.
• Avant Browser. Another alternative, but based on Internet Explorer.
• Mozilla Thunderbird. I might be an Outlook user, but Thunderbird would be my go-to email client if I ever decided to switch.
• RSSReader. A free client for reading your news RSS feeds.
• BlogBridge. Another RSS reader. The one I personally use most of the time.