Great OSS: The Open CD is a nice collection of cream-of-the-crop OSS for Windows: Install it, or just use it as a directory of proven jewels. OpenOffice is not as polished as Microsoft Office, but it's just as capable. nvu is a free DreamWeaver. Tidy cleans up Word's HTML. Gimp is a free PhotoShop. GimpShop looks and works just like PhotoShop!

Security: Microsoft Office passwords are easily breakable (google "password recovery"). Windows encryption will lock you out of your files when Windows crashes. Biometrics (e.g., palm prints) die in accidents. Instead use True Crypt to view encrypted files in "unpartitioned space" on your USB key. Generally, security scales with password length. To create a memorable short password, take a phrase (e.g., NIPCC meets at Shooters), abbreviate it (NMAS), then tweak it (#M@5).

Music: Generally, favor mp4 ("aac") over mp3: mp4 was developed five years later, and sounds better than mp3 at any given bitrate. iTunes rips great sounding mp4s, and mp4 will play on the preinstalled software of any pc, mac, or ipod. Choose mp3 only if you use an old hardware mp3 player; Then use Exact Audio Copy to easily run LAME, which makes the best-sounding mp3s. For the highest quality, use FLAC (lossless CD quality at half the bitrate): iTunes'll automatically losslessly transcode it to Apple Lossless, which plays on iPods.