An astonishingly powerful image editor, with a very well designed interface, Splashup supports layers, layer effects, blend effects, filters and other features normally found in offline apps, and usually for a hefty price. About as close as you can get to Photoshop in a browser right now. It has integration with services like Facebook and Flickr, and you can even edit multiple images at once!
The baby brother of the industry standard image editor, Photoshop Express doesn't have some of the features that other online editors do, but the interface and options it does provide are top quality.
With a well design web 2.0 style interface, Piknik is a breeze to use, and offers handy basic editing tools, as well as more advanced options for experienced users. Piknik can also import and edit images from your favourite photo sharing sites.
FotoFlexer is another well designed web 2.0 style image editor, with an icon based interface that keep things clean and intuitive. FotoFlexer even has a simple layers feature.
More than just an image editor, flauntR offers a whole suite of image editing applications, from photo retouching to text editing and special effects, plus integration with online photo sharing sites.
Pixer.us is a no-nonsense editor with a clean interface. Just go to the site no sign up or registration, and edit away. Only basic tools are offered, but they get the job done.
Snipshot offers a very tactile user interface with floating toolbars and always available resizing and zoom. Smart, practical and straightforward. Snipshot also features on open API that you can use to integrate it with your own site.
It doesn't get much more one-click than this. Upload a photo, and improveyourimages will so colour correction, fix exposure and improve the contrast of your image then spit out an improved version. Talk about no-nonsense!
Pixenate is a very clean and easy to use image editor that also includes integration with Facebook. With basic but effective tools, Pixenate is great for simple edits.
The interface is a little hard to use (but clean) and previews aren't offered for many effects, but Cellsea does have a lot of features, so it's worth a look.
An advanced image editing application that supports layers, "image pipes", advanced colour manipulation and retouching tools.
Designed with ease of use in mind, Paint.NET also packs a punch on the features side, with layers, tablet support, colour and transform effects and an unlimited history so you can always undo your mistakes.
ArtRage takes a unique approach by focusing on real-world paint effects, and does a great job at it. Play with different media types, stencils, metallic paint effects and more. ArtRage supports layers in the full version.
Artweaver is another natural media simulator. Although it's relatively new, it offers some impressive features, including layers, transparency, tablet support and image filters. There is no upgrade version, so what you see is what you get with this freeware app.
Photoplus 6 is an easy to use image editor with an emphasis on photo editing and image correction. PhotoPlus 6 supports layers, text effects, image filters and correction tools among other features.
Photoscape is a versatile app that combines an image editor, a viewer, gif animation, raw image conversion, screen capture and creative printing options. The interface is easy to use and it certainly gives you a lot to play with.
The reigning champ of free 3D modeling, Blender packs a punch that rivals commercial apps. It's also available on a wide variety of platforms.
This well respected illustration app has more features than you can shake a stick at, including many that you won't find in commercial apps. Check out their screenshot section for examples of the professional work that's possible.
An excellent, well designed image viewer that can also view RAW files from most camera brands, FastStone can also convert and batch rename images.
Google's own image viewer, Picasa takes a unique approach to cataloguing all the images on your hard drive. Picasa is very easy to use, and lets you sort image sin many different ways through its slick interface.
The current "number two" in the browser wars, Firefox is a favourite of millions of users, often leaving IE playing catch-up in terms of features and security.
Not just for the PC, Opera can be found on many devices, including the Nintendo Wii and DS. Opera holds strong as the "other" browser, beside IE and Firefox If it's good enough for Nintendo, what's not to like?
With an emphasis on speed, the Avant browser does a lot to make using the web more efficient, including support for mouse gestures and advanced ad filtering.
This highly customisable browser is solid and very secure, claiming to be 100% malware and virus free. With a ton of plugins and cool features right out of the box, this browser stands up with the best of them.
The Mac browser - now available for the PC! With the backing of Apple, this browser has a solid reputation. Featuring Apple's trademark ease-of-use and offering speedy performance, Safari is a worth a download.
SmartFTP is a great all-rounder, featuring a very easy to use interface, making file transfer straightforward. It also includes security features like SSH and FTPS.
Filezilla is an easy to use, light and fully open-source FTP app that has everything you'll need for most FTP uses. Filezilla is also available for a wide variety of platforms.
WinSCP is a secure FTP app featuring SSH transfers, a built in terminal and many more features. For advanced users, WinSCP offers a lot of bang for the (free) buck.
Competing for the title of worlds tiniest app, uTorrent clocks in at around 170KB. It's fast, it works and it won't use up precious hard-drive space. Well, except for all those downloads...
A popular easy to use torrent app that offers a lot of features.
Small, light and very effective, AVG Free gets the job done without bogging down your system.
With one of the best detection rates around, this award winning antivirus app offers great protection.
BitDefender has built a solid reputation, and the latest version even features a "Gamer Mode" that helps to keep gaming sessions free from pop-ups and other distractions. The free version is available after registering.
Avast! offers comprehensive protection even in the free version, including spyware and rootkit protection. Avast! is designed to be easy to use and even lets the user customise the interface.
Spyware Doctor is an award winning and very popular spyware detector/remover that's also easy to use.
The Google Pack is a collection of really useful software, including SpyWare Doctor and Norton Security Scan.
The Google Pack is a collection of really useful software, including SpyWare Doctor and Norton Security Scan.
Online armor is gaining popularity and recognition for being trustworthy, effective and easy to use.
An easy-to-use and effective personal firewall, previously called Kerio Personal Firewall
Not as easy to use, but known for being very effective, Comodo Firewall also works with Windows Vista