my recommendations for great free software

• AVG free anti-virus software at http://free.grisoft.com/.
  
  For a review of half a dozen free anti-virus programs see http://askbobrankin.com/free_antivirus_programs.html
  
  
• Free firewall software -
  ZoneAlarm http://www.download.com/3000-2092-10039884.html
  Comodo at http://www.personalfirewall.comodo.com/
  
  
• OpenOffice at http://openoffice.org. A complete alternative to Microsoft Office.
  
  
• Firefox at http://www.mozilla.com/en-US/firefox/. A great Web browser. Be sure to check out the "extensions" you can add on to Firefox.
  
  
• xplorer2 at http://www.zabkat.com/. A greatly improved file manager compared to Windows Explorer.
  
  
• Text editors better than Microsoft NotePad
  NoteTab Lite at http://www.notetab.com/. Excellent, with lots of features.
  Syn Text Editor at http://syn.sourceforge.net/
  NotePad2 at http://www.flos-freeware.ch/notepad2.html
  NotePad++ at http://notepad-plus.sourceforge.net/uk/site.htm. Especially good for writing computer code because it includes syntax highlighting for HTML, XML, Javascript, PHP, Pascal, C++, and many other programming languages.
  PDPad at http://www.pspad.com/en/pspad.htm. Syntax highlighting, templates, FTP client to edit files from your website, macro recorder, hex editor, and more.
  
  
• Hex Editor XVI32 for programmers at http://www.chmaas.handshake.de/delphi/freeware/xvi32/xvi32.htm
  
  
• IrfanView, great image viewer/editor for daily use at http://www.irfanview.com/. Also plays video files, slideshows, and more.
  
  
• GIMP image editor, an alternative to Photoshop at http://www.gimp.org/windows/
  
  
• 7-Zip alternative to WinZip or WinRar http://www.7-zip.org/
  
  
• Audacity editor for sound files at http://audacity.sourceforge.net/
  
  
• TrueCrypt file encryption at http://www.truecrypt.org/
  
  
• NVu HTML creator, an alternative to Dreamweaver at http://nvudev.com/index.php
  

There are lots of freeware websites. Some, however, waste your time by listing trialware as well as genuine freeware. An example of a good freeware site is FreewareHome at http://www.freewarehome.com/

Sites for open source software include The OSSwin project: Open Source for Windowshttp://osswin.sourceforge.net/. This might be a little overwhelming.

Examples of sites listing open source software and freeware are Jason's Free Useful Software at http://www.jasonchen.com/free_software/ and 272 resources on Windows opensource and/or freewarehttp://www.listible.com/list/windows-opensource-and2For-freeware