Best Firewall

Agnitum Outpost FREE - Outpost is not just a free firewall. By using plug-in technology, Outpost adds popup window and cookie killers, email attachment filters, and a DNS cache that will speed up Internet browsing.

Best Usenet Reader

XNews FREE - If you download Usenet binaries, then you need a newsreader designed specifically for binaries. XNews is not for newbies, but neither is Usenet.

Best Web Browser

Mozilla Phoenix FREE - Phoenix is a slimmed-down version of the open-source version of Netscape Navigator. This is a crash-proof browser with common sense privacy and security features like popup window, cookie, and Java control. Install Phoenix and you can uninstall Internet Explorer, if such a thing were possible.

Best Instant Messenger

Trillian FREE - You can go ahead and delete Yahoo Messenger, MSN Messenger, ICQ, and AIM. Trillian can run all of your IM accounts, so you don't need three or four IM clients lurking in your task bar and sucking RAM.

Best Clock

TClockEX FREE - TClockEX is just a simple Windows taskbar clock enhancement.

Best Usenet Feed

NewsGuy.com There are a lot of subscription Usenet providers, but NewsGuy has nearly perfect binaries completion. If that weren't good enough, NewsGuy is the only Usenet feed that has a web-based control panel that gives you real time control of you account.