RossCo Designs - Your One Stop for Custom Graphics

Hall of Fame
Adobe Reader www.adobe.com	This simplest of Adobe's PDF programs lets you do just about anything PDF-related (besides create new ones), including online collaboration. It includes a host of features to aid users with disabilities.
Audacity audacity.sourceforge.net	Whether you're recording or editing, Audacity is all about audio in practically any format
Firefox www.mozilla.com	This Web browser has been on top of the heap since version 1.5 came out in late 2005
GIMP www.gimp.org	The GNU Image Manipulation Program (GIMP) does most of what Photoshop does; the Gimpshop project (plasticbugs.com) even makes it look like Photoshop. .
OpenOffice.org www.openoffice.org	You can spend a lot for Microsoft Office or nothing for this suite with full-function word processor, spreadsheet, database, presentations, even an equations editor.
Thunderbird www.mozilla.com/thunderbird	Mozilla's no-cost e-mail alternative is extensible, fast, and easy to master. And a wealth of free add-ons means there's not much this program won't do, from calendars to encryption.
WinAmp www.winamp.com	After a decade of playing music, the "skinnable" WinAmp has several versions, including one with full CD ripping and burning.
Operating Systems
AjaxWindows www.ajaxwindows.com	A virtual operating system (aka Web OS), it uses Asynchronous Java-Script and XML (AJAX) programming to mimic the look and feel of a Windows desktop in Firefox or IE. It stores files (using Gmail) and runs its own applications, plus Web apps like Meebo and Google Maps. If you can launch a Web browser, you can get work done through ajaxWindows
EyeOS eyeos.info	This Web OS has ultra-simplified applications, including an RSS reader, satellite maps, a word processor , even a browser—yes, for browsing the Web while on the Web.
Freespire 2.0 www.freespire.com	This community-driven OS is based on Linspire (formerly Lindows)—a Linux distro that looks like Windows, with an emphasis on compatibility with other platforms.
Glide www.glidedigital.com	Sleek style sets this Web OS apart, as does the ability (using a separate utility) to sync files, bookmarks, and e-mail from your real OS.
gOS www.thinkgos.com	Ubuntu-based and powered by Google's apps (just don't call it Google OS), gOS comes with the $200 PCs from Wal-Mart, but you can download it for any PC
Antivirus/Anti-Malware
Avast! 4 Home Edition www.avast.com	Spiffy-looking avast! notifies you by e-mail or IM if it catches a virus . You can't schedule scans, but its recovery database can help if a virus damages your files. Read our full review of avast! 4 Home Edition
AVG Anti-Virus Free Edition free.grisoft.com	Its control center is awkward, but AVG scans files on demand, upon access, on a schedule, and in e-mail. Its rescue disks will help you recover from disaster.
Avira AntiVir Personal Edition Classic www.free-av.com	AntiVir scans files on demand, upon access, and on a schedule; it doesn't scan e-mail attachments until they're saved, but it does go to work on rootkits. It's especially good at coexisting with other security software . Like most good AV software, it has the Virus Bulletin's VB100% award and certification for virus detection from ICSA Labs
HijackThis www.trendsecure.com	Run HijackThis, save a log, and then post the log on sites that support the program. You'll quickly get personalized expert help to remove any malware
NanoScan www.nanoscan.com	In less than a minute, NanoScan can analyze all processes running on your computer and identify viruses, Trojan horses, spyware, or other malicious programs.
ThreatFire AntiVirus www.threatfire.com	ThreatFire detects the bad guys by their behavior, not by outdated virus signatures. It's surprisingly accurate and a good companion to standard antivirus apps
Trend Micro HouseCall housecall.trendmicro.com	Use the venerable HouseCall online scanner to get a second opinion, or use the app for cleanup when malware prevents installation of a local antivirus utility.
Firewalls
Comodo Firewall Pro www.personalfirewall.comodo.com	This protective dragon for XP and Vista keeps hackers out of your system, controls which programs can access the Net (its whitelist of about one million means you get fewer pop-ups), and blocks tricky "leak test" techniques. It's both tough and good-looking
ShieldsUP! www.grc.com	Be sure your fire-walls are keeping your always-on Internet connection hidden from attackers. Shields-UP! provides a quick confirmation.
SmoothWall Express www.smoothwall.org	Got a spare PC running a Pentium 200 MHz or higher with 128MB of RAM? Turn it into a dedicated network firewall with this open-source download.
ZoneAlarm Free www.zonealarm.com	The free edition remains a useful protector against hack attacks and against programs that abuse your Internet connection.
Security
EULAlyzer www.javacoolsoftware.com	Wonder what you're agreeing to when you click "I Accept"? Don't worry; just drag EULAlyzer's target icon onto the EULA for a quick report on any troublesome language
Hotspot Shield www.anchorfree.com	Create an instant virtual private network (VPN) tunnel between your laptop and the router at any Wi-Fi hot spot to protect your data from snoops on the public airwaves, even if you're using extra encryption. If you're on a network that limits the use of certain apps (such as Skype), the VPN could give you unfettered access. It even works with your wired connection for an extra layer of security.
Kruptos 2 www.kruptos2.co.uk	Kruptos makes a file accessible only to someone who knows the password; it includes a file shredder.
PC Flank www.pcflank.com	While ShieldsUP! tests your firewall's ability to stealth all ports, PC Flank performs surgical strikes that emulate specific malware attacks to verify that your firewall blocks them
SendShield www.sendshield.com	This Outlook add-on strips out extra info and tracked changes in Word documents attached to messages.
Office
AbiWord www.abiword.com	Volunteers keep this open-source word processor alive. It closely mimics the look and feel of Microsoft Word 2003 and earlier.
Gliffy www.gliffy.com	An online-only diagramming tool with more options than you can flowchart. The free version is limited to five diagrams.
Google Docs docs.google.com	Google's slickly designed office suite offers online shared word processing, spreadsheets, and presentations-and best of all, finally a solid alternative in the office-suite space to the totally dominating Microsoft. Upload or e-mail your current documents for storage and editing.
IBM Lotus Symphony symphony.lotus.com	A much prettier version of OpenOffice.org, Symphony is prepped for presentations, spreadsheets, and word processing in a single window (but lacks OO's drawing and database modules).
KompoZer www.kompozer.net	A full WYSIWYG Web-page authoring tool akin to Dreamweaver, KompoZer integrates an FTP site manager for file uploads.
NeoOffice www.neooffice.com	This version of OpenOffice.org has the same great tools and price (free), but with an interface designed specifically for the Mac OS.
Notepad++ notepad-plus.sourceforge.net	Notepad++ handles text--especially source code-in ways the basic Windows Notepad could only dream of, with embellishments like tabs and color coding.
Scribus www.scribus.net	This open-source page layout tool has features comparable to big names like PAgemaker, plus support for PDFs and scalable vector graphics (SVG).
Windows Live Mail get.live.com	Windows Live Mail not only reads your Hotmail, but also can check POP, IMAP, or HTTP mail accounts. It works as an RSS feed reader and a newsreader.
Zoho www.zoho.com	Zoho features every tool you could want-word processing, spreadsheet, presentations, database, even a wiki-and several you never knew you needed. Some are also available off-line.
Utilities
Absolute Uninstaller www.glarysoft.com	Replace the Add/Remove Programs control panel in XP to get batch uninstalls and clear out leftovers that Windows frequently misses when uninstalling.
CCleaner www.ccleaner.com	The extra C is for crap, and that's what CCleaner gets rid of: all the detritus left behind in the course of using Windows.
CoolMon www.coolmon.org	CoolMon displays all of your system's vital statistics, including use of your CPU, RAM, and hard drives, internal PC temperature, and more.
Defraggler www.defraggler.com	Defragment your entire hard drive-or just one heavily fragmented file at a time
DriverView www.nirsoft.net	DriverView lists every single device driver running on your system, with extra info on each
Eraser www.heidi.ie/eraser	Shredders are popular in the office, so why not have the digital equivalent? Eraser adds a right-click menu that will do away with a file or folder forever.
FileZilla www.filezilla-project.org	Download this FTP client for accessing multiple sites or to use as an FTP server. In both cases, FileZilla has convenient drag-and-drop support
Glary Utilities www.glaryutilities.com	Glary offers a ton of utilities for cleaning, optimizing, and securing Windows in one package.
Microsoft Virtual PC 2007 www.microsoft.com/windows/virtualpc	Install anything-DOS, OS/2, or any earlier version of Windows-as a virtual machine. It'll run in a separate window on your Vista or XP desktop.
SandBoxie www.sandboxie.com	Place a layer of "transient storage "-a sandbox-between your applications and your hard disk to stay safe.
SecureZIP www.securezip.com	Compress and decompress files on the fly, even in e-mail through Outlook integration, and encrypt archives as desired
Task Killer www.rsdsoft.com	Stop any Windows process dead; this is handy for clearing frozen applications
TinkerTool www.bresink.com	Get access to additional preference settings in Mac OS X to turn on hidden features.
Uniblue ProcessScanner www.processlibrary.com	You can do the Ctrl-Alt-Delete salute in Windows to see what's bogging down your PC, but can you understand the results? ProcessScanner, coupled with the online Process Library, provides extra information on each process (like whether it autostarts or not, and who makes the software in question), and even lists the security risk to your system for running it
Networking
LogMeIn Hamachi secure.logmein.com	Instantly create a free, peer-to-peer VPN connection between your computer and other people's. Download the software, create a network with a unique name, give it to friends you want to join, and start sharing files with them—even your iTunes folder.
NetStumbler www.netstumbler.com	Use it to detect any Wi-Fi network in your vicinity and see if it's open for use, or just use it to troubleshoot your own.
PrinterAnywhere www.printeranywhere.com	Share your printer with others over the Web; in turn, send jobs to other shared printers, no matter their location.