Useful System Applications Links
AllChars Free - easy foreign language accents, and much more!
Audacity Free - a versatile audio capture and edit package from the the open source community.
AVG Virus Protection Free - Grisoft try hard to make you buy the 'upgraded' version but the free version can be found with a bit of patience.
Ccleaner Free - clean out and spruce up your Windows machine. This utility can scrub hard so make a restore point before using - just in case.
Core FTP LE Free - a full function file FTP package for managing web site files.
CutePDF Free - install this to add a PDF document generator to all your packages that can print.
DiskTective Free - presents disk/folder usage as a pie chart. Find out what happened to all that disk space you thought you had.
Firefox Free - the 'other' web browser of note.
NoteTabPro Buy - an invaluable and powerful text editor. A delight to use.
Open Office Free - does more or less whatever Microsoft's Office package does, and is compatible with Office. In my opinion, easier to use too.
PixResizer Free - a very useful batch photo size convertor.
Thunderbird Free - email handler for those who still have pop-based email rather than web based email such as Yahoo or Googlemail.
Super Antispyware Free - you'll be amazed how many people are monitoring your internet activity - and slowing your machine. Clean up your act with this utility.
Super@ Free - a quirky but extremely powerful and useful file format convertor. Invaluable for all manner of audio and video conversions.
Wordle Free - not a package as such, rather a web site that you use to use text in an artistic way - useful as well as good fun.
SyncBack Free - a very smart file backup control software package
ZIP Central Free - compress files into a zip archive or unzip any archive received.
 Multimedia Software Links
Blurb Publisher Free - this software allows you to design your own quality books with photos and text. Unfortunately you do then have to pay for any book(s) you order!
MoviePlus X3 Buy - a really powerful multitrack video editor with HD capability. Excellent value.
Pictures2e Buy - use to generate top quality AVs - like PhotoStory above but far more powerful.
PaintShoPro8 Buy - PSP is now at version 12 but I think this is by far the best value release. Not current so try eBay. It's really fast and provides 99% of what you would want from any photo-editor, Elements/Photoshop included!
PhotoStory Free - a simple but effective slide/music/commentary generation package from Uncle Bill.
Swish Buy - Generate Flash animations in no time at all (well, almost) with this cost effective Flash substitute.
Poser Buy - realistic 3D figures for stills or animation.
POVray Free - programable 3D for amazing stills or animation. A very slick piece of software and a good way to learn your way into programing as you get instant results.
PROCESSING Free - the Processing language is ideal for generating interactive audio-visuals. Easy to get into. You can even generate Android phone Apps with it!
VLC media player Free - a no-nonsense player that handles most video & audio formats - HD included!
Vue D'Esprit Buy - create your own virtual 3D world. The Vue 8 Pioneer intro package is free!
Software
 
These are some of my favorite software packages. Most are free downloads, which endears them to me all the more. None are expensive.
 
The free ones can sometimes take a bit of teasing out of the web site, understandably the supplier is sometimes keen to sell you the slightly improved version.
 
None of these packages needs a manual, just load, use and learn. The sign of good software design!