ImgBurn

ImgBurn (Image Burn) is a very useful free software that burns image files as well as files or folders on your computer to a disc. It burns all sorts of discs from cds to dvds and dual layers. It even burns blu ray discs. Go to their website for more information: http://www.imgburn.com/. This link is for a direct download: Download.

Anti-rootkit utility TDSSKiller

This is another free useful program for getting rid of malware. It scans quickly and I've used it to get rid of some very annoying malware in the past. Visit this link for more information: http://support.kaspersky.com/faq/?qid=208283363. Also If you just want to download it here is the direct download link: http://support.kaspersky.com/downloads/utils/tdsskiller.zip

Google Docs

Something great to go along with Open Office is Google Docs. Google Docs has a free document, presentation, spreadsheet, form, and drawing editor. The main difference is there is no download required and you can keep all of your files online, access them on any computer online, email them as a word format or other format, and share them with people you know. It's very useful if you're on the go. The features aren't quite as plentiful as Open Office but this is a great alternative, or even one that can be used effectively with Open Office. You can access Google Docs with a Google account which is easy to register for, and Google has a lot of good services. You can access Google Docs with this link http://docs.google.com

Open Office

For those who are looking for a good office program but can't afford Microsoft Office there is a great alternative that is free. Open Office is a very useful program that features a text, spreadsheet, presentation, drawing, and a database editor. All of them have a lot of good features and are reliable programs. They also will save in the Microsoft format for anything you need to turn in digitally for a class.

Check out more information at their website http://www.openoffice.org. Here is a direct download link http://www.openoffice.org/download/contribute.html?download=mirrorbrain&files/stable/3.3.0/OOo_3.3.0_Win_x86_install-wJRE_en-US.exe.

Slickdeals

I decided to go in a little different direction today, this is a website for anyone who loves shopping online. http://slickdeals.net/ is a very useful website if you want to find good deals. On the front page they list the best daily deals the users find, on the side are popular deals. I've used this website for years now and have bought many things much cheaper then in stores and saved a lot of money.

AVG Free Anti-virus

AVG offers a very nice Antivirus program for free. Out of all of the anti-viruses I've used I've not only found it very effective, It's free and not annoying like some other anti-viruses that constantly bother you. Go to their website to check it out http://free.avg.com/us-en/homepage. Their is also a paid version, you can look at the features and decide if they are worth it yourself but the free antivirus is almost a must for most computer users.

Spybot Search and Destroy

One of the biggest problems people deal with these days is Spyware and Malware. Spybot Search and Destroy is a great way to clean out your computer. The best part about it's though is that it is offered for free. Go to their website http://www.safer-networking.org/en/index.html for more information. Here is a link to the download of the newest version as of January 4th 2012 http://fileforum.betanews.com/download/Spybot-Search-Destroy/1043809773/1.

This is a very easy program to use, just go through the beginning steps, make sure you use this program at least once a week and make sure you update. This is a great way to keep your computer clean for free! You can email or comment any questions about how to use the program, or anything else you'd like to know about it. There is also information on their website.