Ad Muncher
I have been testing this program for several months and, I must say, it works great! Its main function is to block advertising in all forms. It blocks in-page banner ads of all sizes, popups, text ads, etc. I love it. Browsing has become much faster and more pleasant since I started using it. It's a small program and has no noticeable effect on computer speed. To increase the speed even more, I recommend that you open the program (double-click on the icon in the systray) Select the 'logs' tab, click on options, and turn off the logging. I have not tested its popup blocker very extensively, but it appears to work well. This is marked as Shareware, but I have never been prompted to uninstall it, although I have found that it runs most efficiently if you uninstall and reinstall once a month. I highly recommend this! This program is great, but if you switch to the Firefox browser, you won't need it.

Internet WayBack Machine
This is, in my humble opinion, the best thing since sliced bread. I hate following a link just to find that the site is gone. The IWBM allows you to retrieve an archived version of the page by entering the desired URL into the search box. It will take you to the last known version of the page, or you can go to earlier versions. The archive doesn't have every page, but it does have a significant amount. Perfect for finding stories or authors that have disappeared without a trace. You must have a URL, however. The Archive doesn't offer text searches. This is a great tool for us all. And, it's FREE! Check it out.

HTTrack Website Copier 3.32-2
This is a Great program! It rips the site and the alters it so you can browse through it just as if you were online, but you're not. Lovely. I have ripped several sites with it and I'm very pleased with its performance. It downloaded a 50MB site in just 2 hours on a dial-up connection! I highly recommend this software! And best of all, it's 100% FREE!

POP Peeper 2.3.5
This is a simple email notifier. I got tired of how much RAM MSN messenger took to run, so I wanted to stop using it. But I still wanted to know when I got mail. So I found this. POP Peeper supports POP3 and almost all common email providers such as Hotmail, Yahoo!, Lycos, even Gmail. You can find a full list of what providers are supported by following the link above. POP Peeper lets you preview your email titles, and delete, open, and mark as read, without actually having to open your email client or a program like Outlook. It doesn't use a lot of RAM and can give you both audio and visual reminders when you receive new mail. You can also monitor several accounts at once. It's great for Dial-up users because it checks your accounts at timed intervals and disconnects itself when it's done, so it doesn't hog the line and slow down your browsing. I've been using it for over a month and I love it. Best of all, it is FREE.

AZZ Cardfile
AZZ Cardfile is a simple database designed as a replacement for the MS cardfile.exe that came with Windows 3.1 and 98. It is simple and user friendly, and totally self-contained. All the files you need to use the program are included with the download. The databases you create are searchable, and there is no limit on how large a single card may be. You can use AZZ cardfile to organize all sorts of information. Recipes, Contacts, Notes, Links, etc. The AZZ cardfile website offers a large selection of free databases put together by users on a wide range of subjects. For the user that wants a simple, all purpose database program, AZZ Cardfile is the perfect choice. AZZ Cardfile is Nagware. It pops up a nag screen every so often encouraging you to purchase and register the software. But, the program is fully functional unregistered and there is no limit to the "trial" period. The creators offer users the opportunity to gain a free registration license by either recommending AZZ cardfile on a high-traffic area of your website or by creating  and submitting a database to their free database selection. I encourage you to visit the AZZ Cardfile website and learn more about this program.

Trillian Messenger Service
I would give this a 5 out of 5. It's a standalone service that lets you use ICQ, MSN IM, Yahoo! IM, AIM, etc. all at once. so, you can remove all those IM services from your computer and still chat with all your friends. It has an easy user interface and runs smoothly. I use it with Windows XP and it has caused no problems and has no noticeable effect on running speed. I love it! And best of all, it's FREE! Check it out.

Microsoft Reader & Plugins
For all us fan-fiction fans, Microsoft Reader & the Read in Reader plugin for Word 2002+ is a godsend. I use them all the time to turn stories into e-books that I can read offline in the comfortable reader atmosphere. It's great for long stories, or stories that have been posted in difficult to read fonts, colors, or formats. Just copy & Paste into Word, change color and font to suit, and hit the read in reader button. That's all there is to it. The plugin does the rest. You can even add images to the e-book. This gets a 5 out of 5! I use the plugin all the time and have found it to be simple and user friendly. I wouldn't want to be without it. And best of all: Both the Plugin and the Reader are FREE! You can get the Reader here & the plugin here.

IeSpell Plugin for Internet Explorer
The IeSpell Plugin for IE is a handy little browser extension that spell-checks everything in text-boxes on a webpage. I use it for email, livejournal, webpage, applications, etc. It resembles the spell-checker in Microsoft Office and is easy to use. You can build your own dictionary of words, just like in office. I just compared it to the Livejournal Spell-checker and IeSpell won hands down. If you like your posts to be neat and tidy and spelled correctly, download this plugin. It's FREE! Get it here.

Rainlendar Desktop Calendar
Rainlendar is a neat little calendar program suitable for casual users. If you want to keep track of things like trips, appointments, deadlines, etc, this is the calendar for you. It runs right on your desktop over your wallpaper and can notify you of upcoming events. Place your cursor over the date and a tooltip balloon appears with all events for that day. Once it loads, it doesn't appear to effect computer speed, and it is sleek, attractive, and easy to use. It's also skinable, although I like the default skin just fine. And, of course, it's FREE! Get it here.

Google Toolbar
I love this Toolbar. I use Google more than any other search engine, so it's nice to be able to search from any point in my browsing. The features I like best however are the pop-up blocker, form filler, search highlighter, and spellchecker. The pop-up blocker is one of the nicest I've ever used, it catches 98% of pop-ups and is easy to turn on and off. I've tested it on some of the most difficult spots on the web, including angelfire.com websites, and its performance has been stellar. The form filler is a simple and efficient way to fill in common information on forms with the push of a single button.  The search highlighter is one of the most convenient functions I have ever seen. It will highlight all the occurrences of the search term, each word in a different color, on the current page. You don't even have to do a Google search for the term first! Simply type the term in the search box and hit the highlight button. This feature is really convenient when you're searching for a story or article that contains a certain word, since you don't have to read the whole thing to determine whether or not it's relevant to your search. The newest feature is a spellchecker, offered with the 3.0 beta version. I tested it on this post and compared it to my current spellchecker, IeSpell, and while it works differently, it compared well. You simply hit the spell-check button when you're ready to use it, then use the right-click function to correct misspelled words. When you're finished, you hit the spell-check button again to turn it off. It has a customizable dictionary and auto-correct. You will find the link to the beta version of the toolbar on the download page. A final, and optional feature of the toolbar is the Google Compute function. You download this addition after the main toolbar and it allows you to donate unused processing time to worthwhile research projects. I believe the project they're working on now involves decoding a protein molecule. Because it runs at a low priority, it doesn't interfere with your other programs, and you can disable it if you need to. I've been running it for over 3 months and it has not given me any trouble. In fact, I don't even notice it. The Google Toolbar will improve the speed and efficiency of your web browsing, give it a try. It's FREE!

Picasa 2
This is a free image indexing and editing program offered by Google. It will find and index every image on your computer, and allow you to categorize them without actually moving them from their folders. You can also do basic editing and touch-up with simple, easy-to-use tools. You can burn photo CDs with ease, order prints online, email images, set images as wallpaper, and create collages.  I found images I didn't even know I had! I love it because I can access all my images easily without having multiple windows open, or spending hours searching for an image manually. Occasionally, the program will miss a folder, but all you have to do is remind it to look there, and that's easy. It's really great for burning CDs. No more moving files from folder to folder. Just Select the pictures you want burnt and Picasa takes care of the rest. This program is definitely worth trying. And it's FREE!