productivity and creativity

Adobe

Expansive selection of top-tier development and creativity applications.

www.adobe.com/products

Audacity

Free, easy-to-use audio editor with robust recording, editing, and conversion tools.

audacity.sourceforge.net

FastStone

Free image browser, converter, and editor with outstanding red-eye removal.

www.faststone.org

GIMP

Free open source software for drawing, photo retouching, and image authoring.

www.gimp.org

Google Docs

Create and share online documents, forms, presentations, and spreadsheets.

docs.google.com

Microsoft Office

Leading, de facto standard productivity suite from Microsoft.

office.microsoft.com  |  Also see: Office Live

Open Office

Open-source productivity suite sponsored by Sun Microsystems.

www.openoffice.com

TechSmith

Inexpensive, easy-to-use screen capture and recording software.

www.techsmith.com

Thinkfree

Online platform for document storage and collaboration.

www.thinkfree.com

ZOHO

Leading provider of free online productivity and collaboration apps.

www.zoho.com

personal organization

Evernote

Index and search text, images, and media clipped from local documents and the Web.

www.evernote.com

Zotero

Firefox extension for collecting, managing, and citing resources.

www.zotero.org

web browsers

Chrome

Features a minimalist design and fast performance. Developed by Google.

www.google.com/chrome

Internet Explorer

The current market-leading Web browser from Microsoft.

www.microsoft.com/ie

Firefox

Popular browser with thousands of available add-ons. Developed by Mozilla.

www.mozilla.com/firefox  |  Also see: Firefox Add-ons

Opera

Feature-rich browser with tightly integrated web services.

www.opera.com/browser

Safari

Default browser on Apple platforms with a very simple user interface.

www.apple.com/safari

email

Thunderbird

Mozilla.

www.mozillamessaging.com

Windows Live Mail

Successor to Outlook Express for Microsoft Windows.

download.live.com  |  Also see: Microsoft Outlook

security

Ad-Aware

Free anti-malware software from Lavasoft.

www.lavasoft.com

avast! Antivirus

Free antivirus and anti-malware program from Czech-based ALWIL Software.

www.avast.com

AVG Free Anti-Virus

Free antivirus and anti-spyware security software for Windows.

free.avg.com

Malwarebytes Anti-Malware

Outstanding, free anti-malware software with a very small installation footprint.

www.malwarebytes.org

Microsoft Security Essentials

Free, real-time security software for Microsoft Windows.

www.microsoft.com

Norton Internet Security

Best-in-class among subscription-based comprehensive security packages.

www.symantec.com

Spyware Doctor

Inexpensive spyware protection, detection, and removal. Developed by PC Tools.

www.pctools.com