OpenOffice.org is the leading open-source office software suite for word processing, spreadsheets, presentations, graphics, databases and more. It is available in many languages and works on all common computers. It stores all your data in an international open standard format and can also read and write files from other common office software packages. It can be downloaded and used completely free of charge for any purpose. Download here

KeePass is a free open source password manager, which helps you to manage your passwords in a secure way. You can put all your passwords in one database, which is locked with one master key or a key file. So you only have to remember one single master password or select the key file to unlock the whole database. The databases are encrypted using the best and most secure encryption algorithms currently known (AES and Twofish). Download here

Mozilla Firefox is a fast, full-featured Web browser. Firefox includes pop-up blocking; tab-browsing; integrated Google search; simplified privacy controls; a streamlined browser window that shows you more of the page than any other browser; and a number of additional features that work with you to help you get the most out of your time online. Download here

Mozilla Thunderbird is an open-source, free and cross-platform mail client and news reader for most modern operating systems including, but not limited to Windows, Macintosh and Linux. It offers some advantages over other mail clients, including junk mail classification. Built from Mozilla code, Mozilla Thunderbird uses Gecko, the most standards-compliant rendering engine in existence. In addition to the feature set found in Mozilla Mail, Thunderbird has several new features and improvements to make your mail and news experience better. Download here

FileZilla is designed as a small but powerful FTP client with many features. FileZilla includes a site manager to store all your connection details and logins as well as an Explorer style interface that shows the local and remote folders and can be customized independently. FileZilla offers support for firewalls and proxy connections as well as SSL and Kerberos GSS security. Additional features include keep alive, auto ascii/binary transfer and more. A nice program for beginners and advanced user alike. Download here

Pidgin is a chat program which lets you log in to accounts on multiple chat networks simultaneously. This means that you can be chatting with friends on MSN, talking to a friend on Google Talk, and sitting in a Yahoo chat room all at the same time. Pidgin supports many features of these chat networks, such as file transfers, away messages, buddy icons, custom smilies, and typing notifications. Numerous plugins also extend Pidgin’s functionality above and beyond the standard features. Download here