It's amazing what you can pick up while flying through cyberspace. There are all sorts of programs you never knew you needed just waiting out there to be snagged by some savvy computer geek so he can grin at his peers and proclaim, "you paid how much to do what?!"

OpenOffice

The heavyweight of this group is OpenOffice (free from www.openoffice.org).

This office suite offers a decent word processor, database, drawing program and a program to generate presentations. Although it doesn't have all of the whiz-bang features of the higher priced spreads, there's enough here to satisfy the needs of the average computer user who really never needs all of the advanced tools. Plus, being truly "open," it will run with any of the major computing platforms.

Microsoft Office 2007 Beta 2

If you want a look into the not-too-distant future, you may want to download a copy of Microsoft Office 2007 Beta 2 (free from www.microsoft.com).

According to the Boys from Redmond, this has all of the features that will be included in the retail version of the product and is in the final stages before being thrust upon the public later this year.

Now, be aware that this is still a beta version of the product and still has a few bugs in it, which Microsoft is hoping users will tell them about. And, as a general rule, you should back up all of your essential files before installing it. It's also a complete revamp of Microsoft Office, including a bevy of new tools, a new user interface and a "ribbon" that gives you more information and access to tools than you'll ever need.

Microsoft Internet Explorer Beta 2

Also free from Microsoft is Internet Explorer 7 Beta 2, which offers a slew of new security tools, tabs (which resemble those found in Firefox), and other new features. Again, be aware that this is a beta version, although I've found it to be more stable that the version that came with my computer.

Siber Systems GoodSync

GoodSync (free for the basic version and $19.95 for "Pro" from www.goodsync.com) and RoboForm (free for the basic user and $29.95 for extra features from www.roboform.com) from Siber Systems are a couple of tools that you never knew you needed.

Goodsync allows you to synchronize files between desktops, notebooks, USB drives and other devices. Now, this is true file synchronization, which means you have an exact duplicate of the files you synchronize on your second device instead of just a copy, which prevents data loss and deletion of files. You can also synchronize multiple jobs at once.

Siber Systems RoboForm

RoboForm is basically a cyberwallet on steroids. This program remembers passwords to all of the Web sites you may have subscribed to during your trips through cyberspace and also holds essential data to fill out forms for the must-have purchases you make over the net. So far I've found this to be identity-theft proof, I but I still urge caution when using the wallet functions.

QueTek File Scavenger Ver. 3

File Scavenger Ver. 3 (free for a demo and $49.00 for a full version from www.quetek.com) is a disk recovery program from the QueTek Consulting Corp. that is designed to recover deleted or lost files from almost any disk drive. Plus it can be used to recover files from a reformatted or corrupted hard drive, which is something your average undelete program can't do.

MediaMonkey

For those of you that have music files scattered all over your hard drive, there's MediaMonkey (free for a basic version and $19.95 for additional features from www.mediamonkey.com). This neat little program automatically finds and organizes all those files and will even convert MP3 files into other music formats.

SoundSpectrum G-Force

Finally, if you're into spectacular visualizations to go with your music, there's G-Force from SoundSpectrum (free for a trial version, $20 for Gold and $30 for Platinum from www.soundspectrum.com). As with all of these programs, you have to pay to unlock extra features.

G-Force delivers everything from animated visualizations and other visual effects to album art and can be used while you're working with other applications on your computer via a toolbar.

There are just a couple of things to remember when trolling the Net:

1) Make sure you're downloading software from a reliable distributor. The demons of the Internet have been known to attach viruses and other malware to "free" programs.

2) When installing beta versions of software, remember to backup older versions and valuable data.

Other than that, happy surfing!

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