Welcome to the SOFTWARE ZONE! Here, you can learn about some software and whether it's a good idea to have it or not. Some software require that when you download it, you can try it for a while (usually 30, 60 or 90 days) and see wether you like it or not. Then you have to either uninstall it or pay for the full version. That is called 'shareware'. Sometimes shareware lets you use it for as long as you want (with annoying ads or banners telling you to buy it) until you actually buy the product. (And that will remove the ads or message boxes.) 'Freeware' is completely free, no catches. You can just download the product from the website and use it forever and ever until you either sell your PC or if it crashes for any reason, that is, unless you use ASR (Automated System Recovery which isn't really automatic) which is built in to the Windows XP Professional (Backup doesn't come withe XP Home and if you install Backup on Home Edition, well, it doesn't have ASR, unfortunately). Freeware usually doesn't have technical support. 'Open Source' software is a piece of software that lots of programmers work on (and they are of course kind enough to share their source code!) and then it is available for free download from the internet, just like freeware. The main difference between freeware and open source is that freeware usually doesn't have Technical support and open source usually does have technical support.

Have a good time looking and playing around with the software! These are some software programs that I recommend:

MOZILLA FIREFOX 1.0.6
Type: Web Browser, Open Source
Company: Mozilla, http://www.mozilla.org
Tired of Internet Explorer? If you are, then get Firefox! Firefox is better then Internet Explorer by leaps and bounds! Since it's less popular, it is less vulnerable to worms and viruses. It has excellent security and easier management of cookies, passwords and saved form entries. It also supports a new technology called 'tabbed browsing' which lets you open multiple web pages without taking up extra memory by opening each web page as a tab. Themes, which you can download from the Mozilla web site changes how Firefox looks. Very good browser.

AVG 7.0 PROFESSIONAL
Type: Antivirus, Shareware
Company: Grisoft, http://www.grisoft.com
Looking for a good virus protection system? Then get AVG! I rate AVG First Place in virus protection as it has the following features: Automatic updates, 2 modes of protection, scheduler (run a scan at a certain time), right-click scanning of files, easy configuration, rescue disk creation and more! And best of all, you get a licence to run it for 2 years! With AVG, your computer will always be safe from viruses!

ASTRO AVENGER
Type: Game, Shareware
Company: Sahmon and Divo Games (Distributed by Reflexive), http://www.reflexive.net
Don't you think that some space shooters aren't realistic enough? I do because usually, when you destroy an enemy ship, it just seems to disappear with some orange stuff. In Astro Avenger, they break up into pieces and other realistic things happen at different times. Best of all, this game has a good storyline and 50 levels of intense action! It is also quite fun to play!

LIBERTY BASIC
Type: Programming Language, Shareware
Company: ShopTalk Systems, http://www.libertybasic.com
Looking for a nice and easy programming language? Liberty BASIC, a version of BASIC, sounds like a good choice! Use Liberty BASIC's easy commands to create all sorts of programs, including ones using graphical user interfaces (GUI)! The shareware version allows you to make programs and test them but not distribute them.

ZONE ALARM
Type: Firewall, Freeware or Shareware, depending on which version you choose
Company: Zone Labs, http://www.zonelabs.com
Zone Alarm comes in two versions. A freeware one and a shareware one. The shareware one has some extra features such as e-mail protection. The freeware one is just the firewall, but it is still two way and it will still protect you very well.

SPYBOT – SEARCH AND DESTROY
Type: Spyware and Adware detection, Open Source
Company: Safer Networking, http://www.safer-networking.org
This is the last one I'm going to discuss because then this web page will be TOO BIG! Spybot is a good spyware detection system and it is one of the best. Best of all, it's free! It has a nice interface and is very easy to use. Spybot's owners are very quick at distributing spyware database updates, keeping you from the nasty items of spyware.

I hope you enjoyed playing around with the software. Unfortunately, There are way too many programs these days so I only discussed a few. This is a good place to look for software: http://www.tucows.com.