Are you looking to be productive on a budget?

Here are some links to useful free software:

For Web Browser I highly recommend Mozilla's Firefox over Internet Explorer,

It is safer than Internet Explorer, because it doesn't utilize Active-X.

http://www.mozilla.com/firefox/

For Email, I recommend Mozilla's Thunderbird over Outlook Express.

It has nice Spam filters, and a built-in Spell Checker.

It handles multiple POP accounts.

http://www.mozilla.com/thunderbird/

If you need a well equipped office suite and can't spend hundred$ on Microsoft Office,

then you might want to look into Open Office, it can read/create/save in MS-Word and MS-Excel formats.

OpenOffice Writer can export your document as a PDF too!

http://www.openoffice.org/

If you need a free anti virus program for your home computer:

You might want to try avast! 4 Home Edition

http://www.avast.com/eng/download-avast-home.html

The free version doesn't have scheduling capabilities, so you have to manually scan your files, but has full time protection for web and email.

Good Luck,

Chris