If you’re like me, you spend a whole lot of time on your computer. Whether you are on it for work, school, or just surfing the net, here are ten free applications that you would probably enjoy:

1. Objectdock. Whenever someone uses my laptop, they always ask me how I added the Mac-style dock to a Windows machine. With Objectdock, it’s simple. After installing the application, you just choose the theme that you want, and from there it’s as easy as dragging and dropping. Want to add your My Documents folder to the dock? Simple, just drag it up to the dock. It’s a nice program to have, because once you’ve fully customized it you don’t need any icons on your desktop. Too many icons on a desktop is the PC equivalent of a messy office desk, and no one likes that.
2. Mozilla Firefox. It amazes me how many people still aren’t using Firefox. About one-third of Premiership Talk‘s visitors still use Internet Explorer, which tells me that they just haven’t been introduced to Firefox yet. If you haven’t made the switch yet, do it. Today. I used to be extremely stubborn about using Explorer; it was what I was familiar with and I never had any problems with it. When I finally switched to Firefox, I saw how much faster, secure, and customizable it was. I rarely get an error message, and every website works with Firefox (on Explorer I used to get script error messages). Firefox’s plugins also separate it from Explorer, as you can get Firefox to do more than just browse the web.
3. P2P Streaming. Unless you’re a huge soccer (football) fan, you probably won’t be needing many peer-to-peer applications, but if you want to watch the best soccer matches live then you need these programs. Using applications such as Sopcast, PPMate, and TVAnts you can watch all of the live sports that you’d ever dream of, whether it’s the English Premier League or the Sri Lankan league. Just by going to myp2p.eu you can view all of the latest streams, and these programs can play them.
4. Skype. While AOL Instant Messenger used to be the best way to communicate instantly online, Skype has quickly taken that top spot over. Businesses and individuals alike use Skype now, and for very good reasons. Skype has a text based instant messaging system, but what separates it the most is its calling features. Using just a PC microphone and your speakers/headphones, you can communicate instantly with anyone in the world – whether they use Skype or not. Calling to Skype users is free, which is awesome considering you can talk to someone a continent away for free. If they don’t use Skype, you can still call any number worldwide for an extremely low price (as low as $0.02 a minute). One of my favorite features is that if both callers agree to it, you can record calls using Pamela, an add-on for Skype. This is great for phone interviews and such.
5. Crossloop. Have you ever been at home on your computer when you realized you needed help from that know-it-all friend? All too often this happens to too many of us, but Crossloop is the new solution. Crossloop is a small application that allows you to grant temporary remote access to a friend or specialist to your computer in order to help. As long as both of you have the application open, you just give the helper your access code (which changes every few minutes for privacy protection) and you both hit connect within two minutes of each other (once again for protection). The person can take control of your computer, and you can see them moving the mouse right on your screen, so you can see exactly what they are doing. Once you’re done, you or the helper can just hit disconnect. More and more companies are beginning to use Crossloop for technical service, and there’s no reason not to have it.
6. AdBlock Plus. Alright, so maybe this isn’t an application, but nonetheless it makes this list because it’s that good. AdBlock Plus is an add-on for Firefox that will make you forget how littered the internet is with advertisements. Hate those Google ads you always see on websites? AdBlock Plus does, too. The addon automatically blocks advertisements from displaying on websites, so all you’ll see is the true content of the site. When you visit sites like ESPN, you’ll become so used to the clean, ad-free version that when you go on someone else’s computer you’ll be shocked at how distracting all the ads are. AdBlock Plus also blocks all popups, so you’ll forget they ever annoyed you.
7. Filezilla. If you own a website or blog, chances are you do a lot of file transfers from your computer to your server. There are a lot of free services out there to do this, but none better than Filezilla. Filezilla is fast, lightweight, and simply gets the job done.
8. Portable Apps. If you’re a laptop user, then Portable Apps should be your best friend. Install Portable Apps to a USB stick, and anytime you leave your laptop it’s like you have your entire PC on your USB. Portable Apps has a start menu, so anytime you plug your USB into a different computer it will load your most important applications (like Firefox, a mail client, and more). So when you are using a different computer, you can still browse the internet on your own version of Firefox, and when you walk away you take all your personal information, browsing history, and cookies with you. Using Foxmarks you can synchronize your Portable Apps Firefox with your home one.
9. Foxmarks. Like AdBlock Plus, Foxmarks is an add-on to Firefox, but it’s so useful that it made its way on this list. As mentioned above, Foxmarks can synchronize your home Firefox bookmarks with your Portable Apps version or a different computer. You can have the same bookmarks at home as you do at work, or from two different computers at home. When I need to use a public computer, it’s nice to be able to use Portable Apps with Foxmarks, so it’s just like I’m at my own computer. It can even remember saved passwords for you, which are fully encrypted for security.
10. Ad-Aware. Lavasoft’s free version of Ad-Aware is probably the best in the industry. If you’re computer is running slow, chances are its being bogged down by adware and spyware. Adware and spyware infect computers everyday just by browsing the internet. There’s no real way to avoid being infected, so it’s important that you take care of it. Running an Ad-Aware scan once a week pretty much solves the problem, as the free software is thorough and quick.

I hope you enjoyed this list. It is made up of ten free applications that I personally find extremely useful, and I’m sure there’s something here for everyone. Give them a try, and let me know if you come across any other useful free applications. Just use the comment field below.