Essential Freeware

Firefox – web browser
http://www.mozilla.com/en-US/firefox/personal.html

Firefox plugins

7-zip – file compression/decompression library
http://7-zip.org

CutePDF – virtual printer: print to a PDF
http://www.cutepdf.com

Avast – antivirus
http://www.avast.com

Picasa – picture and video organizer
http://picasa.google.com/

Using VCDControlTool on Vista to mount an ISO or IMG file

Need to mount an .iso or .img as a virtual cd/dvd on Vista? The free Microsoft Virtual CD-ROM Control Panel works pretty well. The only caveat, you have to run it as an administrator (e.g. Right-click -> Run as Administrator). After you have your drive image mounted, you also have to run the “CMD” prompt as administrator to access the virtual drive.