So, you’ve got your operating system up and its being backed up and its protected like fort knox. By now you should have done a Windows Update to get all those hotfixes. If you haven’t, then do this now before we venture out to install more software. For many years I really struggled with the notion that I need any more than the core Microsoft applications give me. My belief is that, when it comes to software, it’s best to try not to have any duplication; multiple media players, multiple image managers, etc. But, as is common practice these days, software gets larger and larger and everyone wants to take over your computer. That being said, here are my picks for Internet Software.

1. Web Browser: Firefox. Cost: Free! Hands down the greatest thing to happen to the web in the past year. If you aren’t using Firefox today, download it now by clicking on the banner to the right of this article. As of this writing they just released version 1.5, which is more secure and has increased performance. For those unfamiliar with FireFox, it offers many benefits over its already bundled in rival. Tabbed browsing is probably the biggest. We all surf from page to page to page and its just plain stupid to keep all the windows sitting in the taskbar with no relation to one another. With Firefox, I can open my browser with the intention of paying bills. One click will bring up all my banking sites, each labeled in its own tab and all stored in one neat window. Then i get interrupted and decide to check the news, one click can load 3-4 different news sites and have that in its own window. Another great feature of Firefox is the ease in which you can add extensions to the browser. Want to see the weather all the time on bottom of the browser? Free, easy, get ForecastFox. Want to have increased google searching capabilities? Google toolbar is available as an extension as well. And these “extensions” are very easy to add and remove. They aren’t separate installations to your computer as is the case with IE.
2. Instant Messaging:Trillian Pro Cost: $25. If you’ve been on the net for any amount of time, I’m sure someone has wanted to chat with you via IM. Unfortunately for us, the big three companies providing this service, Yahoo, Microsoft and AOL don’t talk to each other. Google on the other hand, has adopted an open standard, good for them. Now you have a choice here, install 5 (yes FIVE!) different internet instant messaging clients on your PC, each one filled with their own attention grabbing ads and annoying “added features” OR you can install one application to manage all of your contacts, regardless of provider. Trillian Pro does this SO well I am sorry I didn’t find it sooner. Even if you only have 2-3 friends online, what are the odds they are on the same service? I have friends and family who prefer different chat clients for different reasons. I say let them decide, and I’ll still be able to talk to them. Cerulean Studios frequently updates their software and its easy to install, maintain and use. And yes, it even works with Google. Be sure to “disable” MSN’s built in client. At the top of your start menu you should see “Set Program Access and Defaults”. This is where you can do it.
3. Email: Microsoft Outlook, Cost Varies. If you are an office user, and most of us are, then you’ll get outlook bundled with your Word and Excel. Outlook manages multiple email accounts plus your contacts, calendar, tasks and memos all in one place. This is a good thing. If you’re not already, you eventually will want this information in an organizer or maybe your phone. Having it all in outlook already will ease the pain of synchronizing with either a Microsoft Smartphone or a Palm PDA. Outlook has just become such a universal standard and I’m all about making things easy. The wizards for setting up new email accounts are a breeze to work with and their antispam and security features are excellent. You can also export your “approved senders” list to your next pc or next time you rebuild.
4. FTP: BulletProof FTP. Many of you won’t ever need an FTP client, so you can skip this section and come back to it later on. Firefox and IE can read files from FTP sites with no special work from you, you’re probably doing it already and not even realizing it. But if you ever get your own domain or want to start building web sites, it would be helpful to have special FTP software so you can manage the files on your remote server with ease. Right now I’m using BulletProof FTP, which was recently updated with a cleaner, fresher interface and some enhanced options. It doesn’t go over the top and is very straightforward to use. Your files are on the left, the server is on the right, start dragging and dropping. Cost is reasonable at only $29.