Open Office is a free alternative to the Microsoft Office suite and includes a word processor (like Word), presentation program (like PowerPoint), and a spreadsheet (like Excel). The programs can read and write to Microsoft formats (.doc, .ppt, .xls) and they parallel the functionality of the Microsoft products very closely. You are free to use it on as many computers as you like for no charge.

Firefox is a free web browser with improved functionality and security over Internet Explorer. It is updated more frequently and has extra features and a wide variety of extensions that can be installed to extend its capabilities. We recommend that you use Firefox on a regular basis, using IE only if necessary for a particular page. 

Upgrade to the latest version of Adobe Reader® software to get all the viewing, printing, and searching features you've come to rely on, plus significantly faster load times, enhanced security, and rich multimedia view-and-listen capabilities.

AVG Anti-Virus Free is a free anti-virus protection tool...for private, non-commercial, single home computer use only. Available for Windows and Linux. 

Google has packaged some of this software into one download for ease of installation. You can choose which software you want installed. Google Pack includes options to install (among other programs) Firefox, Norton Anti-virus (with free 6 month subscription), Ad-aware anti spyware, and Adobe PDF Reader. Google Pack is available for Windows XP only.