Free Software

I was originally going to compile this for students, but then I realised that it would be useful for anyone who lacks an unlimited budget.
I have been using all these programs for a while now, and they are all quite good.
They can be downloaded for free from the sites listed below:

Open Office - replacement for MS office
http://www.openoffice.org/

PDF Creator - Acts as a printer to create PDF documents.
http://sector7g.wurzel6.de/pdfcreator/index_en.htm

Classic Ladder PLC simulator, also looks like it may one day develop into a viable soft PLC.
http://www.sourceforge.net/projects/classicladder
Or
http://www.multimania.com/mavati/classicladder

QCad - Good cad software, almost to the AutoCAD LT standard.
Free Ware
http://prdownloads.sourceforge.net/qcad/
Pay Ware
http://www.ribbonsoft.com/qcad.html

Dia - Another drawing program, good for flow charts and simple electric circuits.
http://www.gnome.org/projects/dia/

The Open CD - contains a compilation of some of the above software, plus other useful programs and a few games.
http://www.theopencd.org/

Hope you find this useful,

Doug

some more...

IZArc - free file zipping/unzipping program
get it here

Firefox - free Internet Explorer alternative w/more features/security
get it here

Thunderbird - free email program alternative to Outlook, Eudora, etc. Good security, disables image tracking by default, built in RSS reader, etc
get it here

Cutepdf - another free pdf file creator
get it here

Filezilla - free ftp program
get it here