Adobe Flash Player. "Adobe Flash Player is the high-performance, lightweight, highly expressive client runtime that delivers powerful and consistent user experiences across major operating systems, browsers, mobile phones, and devices." Translation: it allows you to watch Flash Presentations and movies on your computer.

Adobe Reader. PDF files are the most common format for electronic dissemination of the written word (email and web pages notwithstanding). In order to read these documents, you must have Adobe's latest reader. Beware of what you click while installing this program, as Adobe may (will) try to sneak a couple things into the install you may not want.

AVG Free. AVG Free is probably the finest free AntiVirus we have found. Unlike some of the other ones out there it does not charge you to actually remove viruses, and (so far, at least) it's a permanent installation, not a trial.

Google Earth. This is a program that lets you look around on planet Earth via satellite. If you don't think that's just plain slick, you might be a technophobe. I looked at my grandparents' house in Monchengladbach-Hardt, Germany, zoomed in to within about a hundred yards. I could see individual roof tiles on their house and the license plate on their car. Check out Area 51, where we keep all the downed alien pilots in deep storage. Beware of what you click while installing this program, as Google may (will) try to sneak a couple things into the install you may not want.

Media Player Classic. If you are tired of all the bells, whistles, and gewgaws that come with most recent media players, MPC might be just the ticket for you. Also contains a built-in DVD Decoder, which allows you to play production DVDs without buying an expensive piece of software.

Mozilla's Firefox. One of the most downloaded applications on the internet, Mozilla's Firefox gives you a handy alternative to Internet Explorer. Lots of techs and users think it is considerably safer to use than Internet Explorer.

OpenOffice.Org. OpenOffice.org 2 is the result of over twenty years' software engineering. Designed from the start as a single piece of software, it has a consistency other products cannot match. A completely open development process means that anyone can report bugs, request new features, or enhance the software. The result: OpenOffice.org 2 does everything you want your office software to do, the way you want it to.

OOO can be installed on any operating system (eg. Windows, Mac, Linux, etc.), Best of all, OOO will open (and create) most formats of Microsoft Office and Adobe Acrobat, too.

Panda Activescan. This is a handy way to find out if your computer is infected with Spyware, Malware, or Viruses. Please, though, keep your credit card in your pocket. If you are in trouble, please don't spend $120 of your hard earned money before you come here and get professional help.

Primo PDF. Everybody knows Adobe. Everybody loves Adobe. PDF files are the most commonly used media to distribute written and graphic information on the internet. If you need to read PDF documents, you need Adobe Acrobat (shown above), but if you need to make PDF documents, and you cannot (or will not) pay for Adobe's Professional software, you need Primo PDF. Do not use this if you are a business.

Quicktime. At its simplest, QuickTime is software that allows Mac and Windows users to play back [certain] audio and video [formats] on their computers. But taking a deeper look, QuickTime is many things: a file format, an environment for media authoring and a suite of applications. Beware of what you click while installing this program, as Apple may (will) try to sneak a couple things into the install you may not want.

SpeedTest.net. You can go here and find out at exactly what speed you are connecting to the interwebs, both upload and download. Also, when talking to your Cable or DSL representative, it lets them know you are savvy enough to check around before you call and complain about your internet speeds.

Windows Defender. Designed to protect you from Spyware and other types of Malware (click here for a better understanding of what these terms mean), Windows Defender is actually owned and maintained by Microsoft (the good folks who make Windows for us in the first place).

Windows Updates. Get Windows Updates here. If you aren't fully updated, you might not be safe and secure.

XP CODECs. CODEC stands for COde / DECode and has to do with the software necessary to play certain media files. If there are media files that you cannot play, chances are you may be missing a critical CODEC.

CLIENT