http://www.google.ca/ [for Canada] or http://www.google.com [for the web in general] - Great search engine. I especially like the ability to search for pictures - then locate those pictures using the map feature http://www.google.ca/imghp?tab=wi&q=&ie=UTF-8&oe=UTF-8&hl=en&meta=. For other search engines go to Google and type in "search engines" to get you started on about search engines. Also check out Google Scholar for a more scholarly approach to references on the web. For more data on search engines and how to use them go to http://www.searchenginewatch.com/ and check out their material. Useful reading could include:

1. Web Searching Tips - Learn how to search better and how major search engines work from a searcher's perspective.
2. Search Engine Listings - Find major search engines, meta search engines, news search engines and more.
3. Reviews, Ratings & Tests - Find reviews, see which search engines are most popular or check out tests and statistics.

http://www.copernic.com/en/products/agent/index.html - you can download the basic version for free -    It is a customizable free metasearch tool which queries many engines, removes duplicates, and validates the results. Its only downfall is that it only looks at about the first 20 or so results in each of the 9 or 10 search engines it searches. That means buried or obscure references will usually not be found.

http://www.avast.com/en-ca/free-antivirus-download - this is a great free antivirus program you might consider if you have no virus protection.

http://www.piriform.com/ccleaner - - CCleaner is a freeware system optimization and privacy tool. It removes unused files from your system, exactly as it states in the above ad.

http://www.lavasoft.com/products/ad_aware_free.php - Ad-Aware is designed to provide advanced protection from known Data-mining, aggressive advertising, Parasites, Scumware, selected traditional Trojans, Dialers, Malware, Browser hijackers, and tracking components. With the release of Ad-Aware SE Personal edition, Lavasoft takes the fight against Spyware to the next level.

http://www.safer-networking.org/en/index.html - Spybot - Search & Destroy can detect and remove spyware of different kinds from your computer. Spyware is a relatively new kind of threat that common anti-virus applications do not yet cover. If you see new toolbars in your Internet Explorer that you didn't intentionally install, if your browser crashes, or if you browser start page has changed without your knowing, you most probably have spyware. But even if you don't see anything, you may be infected, because more and more spyware is emerging that is silently tracking your surfing behaviour to create a marketing profile of you that will be sold to advertisement companies. Spybot-S&D is free, so there's no harm in trying to see if something snooped into your computer, too :)

http://www.libreoffice.org/download/  -  Libre Office is a multiplatform and multilingual office suite and an  open-source project. Compatible with all other major office suites, the product is free to download, use, and distribute. If you don’t have Microsoft Word, get this product.  LibreOffice is the power-packed free, libre and open source personal productivity suite for Windows, Macintosh and GNU/Linux, that gives you six feature-rich applications for all your document production and data processing needs: Writer, Calc, Impress, Draw, Math and Base. Support and documentation is free from our large, dedicated community of users, contributors and developers. Version 3.4.3 is the latest version.

http://www.irfanview.com/ - IrfanView - Freeware Graphic Viewer - The best little viewer around and it is free and very fast.  You should also get the plugins so that virtually any picture, audio or video file can be played. This is a must have program!

http://picasa.google.com/ - Picasa is a free software download from Google that helps you:

1. Organize  Manage your photos in one place, and find photos you forgot you had
2. Edit Eliminate scratches & blemishes, fix red-eye, crop and more
3. Create Turn photos into movies, collages, slideshows and more
4. Share Upload seamlessly to Picasa Web Albums to share with friends, family & the world

This is the only photo organizer I use!

Get the Nitro PDF Reader to create PDF files, comment, review and collaborate PDF forms, save PDF forms, extract text and images, type text directly onto the page, and more. It is faster than Adobe and does more than the Adobe Reader does [see also the Nitro Instruction Page on how to create PDF's]

The last free version, the one I’m using for creating this page is found at http://www.aplusfreeware.com/categories/mmedia/FastStoneCapture.html and is version 5.3. Later versions are shareware and do cost about $20. This is a very worthwhile addition to your software library if you need a screen capture utility. A tutorial from FastStone software can be found at http://www.faststone.org/FSCTutorial.htm

Check out this magazine on-line for the latest in software ratings - both free and pay versions. As an example try http://www.pcworld.com/article/234969/musthave_downloads_for_school.html

An Oldie, but good password manager is Whisper 32. Here are the Instructions of how to install and use this very useful program. This program uses very few system resources and can be easily run from a USB Flash Drive. Security on the go.