Like most people I have come to rely on the computer and rarely a day goes by that I don't use it. We rely on it for emails, online research to work related activities. With the growing reliance on the computer here are some useful software tools which can make your computer and yourself more efficient and effective in your day. Best of all these tools are Free.

Google Desktop – The most popular search engine creator has now provided a software that can be downloaded to your desktop computer. It enables you to effortlessly search your computers hard drive and locate information quicker than the embedded microsoft search feature. The advantages include being able to quickly search your computer for emails, web history and files. Use your desktop sidebar to conveniently view news, photos, emails and more.

Firefox - Firefox is a wonderful alternative and once you use it you won't find yourself going back to IE anytime soon. It offers a faster and more pleasant web experience. It has tab browsing, pop-up blocker and one of handiest features is the ability for firefox to remember your passwords to sites so you don't have to keep re-entering them in all the time.

MyYahoo - Other main portal sites offer a similar rss agregator but I've found Yahoo to be the simplest as I have a Yahoo email account. It enables you to subscribe to RSS feeds from other sites and have the headlines displayed on your one Yahoo page. It also provides a snapshot of your emails in your Yahoo Email account. Using RSS feeds is a great and convenient tool to keep up to date with what's happening in your topics of interest without having to visit the individual pages seperately. As the sites update with new articles the headlines and a short teaser is displayed in your Yahoo page and if you are interested you can click on it and it will take you to the article to read.

Free Mind - FreeMind is a premier free mind-mapping software written in Java. It allows you to organise your thoughts into mind maps right onto your computer. Mind mapping has been considered a great way to distil your thoughts into cohesive segments that you can then further work on. Freemind is a small simple tool and best of all it's free.

AVG Anti-Virus - No computer connected to the internet should be without an up to date anti-virus software installed. AVG is a great free anti-virus software that has received great reviews. It is easy to use and whilst it isn't as flashy as it's commercial counterparts it get's the job done. The popular AVG Anti-Virus system, you will get a reliable tool for your computer protection against computer viruses. Scanners, Resident Shield, Email Scanner - all in one package.

Windows Defender - We all detest spyware and if you are connected to the internet chances are you are infected. That is why it is so critical to have a dedicated spyware protector running on your computer. Windows Defender (Beta 2) is a free program that helps protect your computer against pop-ups, slow performance, and security threats caused by spyware and other unwanted software. It features Real-Time Protection, a monitoring system that recommends actions against spyware when it's detected, and a new streamlined interface that minimizes interruptions and helps you stay productive.

WinZip - This is probably the most well known and popular compression utility for your windows driven computer. This tool comes in handy when you need to compress large files on your computer to send to someone via email or through a USB drive.