I was going for a fresh start with my computer. It’s been running slow. There’s a lot of stuff installed that I don’t need. So I did some autumn cleaning, opening the case to dust it up and then doing a fresh format and install of Windows 7 Ultimate. (All my documents, photos, videos, music, and other files are stored off the “C” drive. (See this article for more info on “Clean Starting” your PC)

Besides Office and iTunes, and this handy guide I created a while back, here are some more programs (in no particular order) that you should download and install:

10. Foxit Reader

Adobe/Acrobat Reader was a default for me for years. Every time I configured a new computer, it was one of the first programs I installed. Until now.

Thanks to MaximumPC, a magazine I’ve read and subscribed to for years, I found Foxit Reader. Apparently, 100 million other people have found it too.

It’s fast and light, allowing you to view PDFs with just 3MB of memory used. It’s free, but there’s also a professional version for $40 if you want to do some PDF editing. I think I’m in love.

One warning, when you install it, it does try to bundle a browser toolbar with it. Just uncheck that option.

9. 7-Zip

Sure every new version of Windows supports Zip files natively, but what about the occasional RAR or ISO file? What about GZIP and TAR files?

7-Zip is a tiny program that integrates into the Windows 7 shell to give you native-looking support for all these formats. It is a great program that does not hog resources.

8. Filezilla

Sure iCloud and Dropbox are great, but I back up a lot of my files on personal webservers, and I still like FTP as the way to go when it comes to accessing those files. It also comes in handy for editing website files on the fly.

Filezilla is the best way to use FTP in Windows. You can download a client and a server app for free under the GNU license. It’s a great way to handle files.

7. Notepad++

Good ole Notepad. One of the last unchanged vestiges of Windows 3.1 days. Personally, I love Notepad, but my eyes don’t. Neither does my head after a migraine induced by a difficult CSS editing session.

Notepad++ is just that. It is a basic text editor that does two things that we tech nerds need: It supports more than one document, and it highlights HTML and programming code in easily recognizable colors.

It is a smart text editor that is also amazingly fast, almost as fast and unassuming as the original Notepad. But once you install Notepad++, you’ll know why I’m never going back.

6. Audacity

This isn’t new at all, but if it is to you, then shame!

I love Sony’s Acid software for music projects and anything that requires a lot of power, but for everything else, including podcasts and streaming interviews, it’s Audacity. Audacity does for free almost as much as hundreds of dollars worth of audio software can do, and it’s so easy to use.

Audacity is a default app for Emerson College as well, and if the journalism and multimedia students are using it, you should too.

The only pain is that you have to download the MP3 plugin separately.

5. Gimp or Photoshop Elements?

Gimp is the open-source response to $500 for Adobe Photoshop. It’s very decent software. It is what Open Office is to Microsoft Office. Powerful, but lacking in the polish department. It’s also free.

If you want to buy something, Photoshop Elements is an under-$100 alternative to the full version, and it’s worth a glance. If you primarily do photo editing, retouching, and the like, Elements is really all you need. It gives you layers and most of the tools you use in the full version.

Still…I don’t use either. I admit it. I have the full version. I use it for Blast’s graphical needs, and I also need things like Adobe InDesign and Contribute.

4. Secunia PSI

This is a new one for me, but I’ve started to really enjoy it. Secunia Personal Software Inspector keeps tabs on all the software you have installed on your computer and checks them against a database of known vulnerabilities. It will tell you if you need a new patch or if your older software is at end-of-life, possibly leaving it vulnerable to exploits.

You can disable the tray icon and just scan your computer manually, but I have it running right now, it it only uses 1.2MB of memory, so I’m happy. When you’re doing a clean start install of Windows, it’s great to have this one running, because it will tell you what you still have to patch, even when you think you’re done.

3. bioPDF

Here’s another one that goes against the Adobe grain. bioPDF is a PDF Printer that lets you do just that. Everyone runs into a time when they need to create a PDF, and there are a lot of bloated or adware-filled options out there. This is not one of those. This is a quick, tiny, and free PDF creator.

2. GnuCash

We all need a little accounting software in our lives. For most people, that’s Quicken. For small business owners, it’s QuickBooks. But both cost money, and people tend to think they have to buy it new all the time, because new versions keep coming out every year.

I use GnuCash. It’s larger than your usual free app (about 400MB) but that works in its favor in this case. GnuCash is also the only title of its kind to make PCMag.com’s Best Free Software of 2011 list.

The best thing is, if you have an old version of Quicken of Microsoft Money, you can import your old backup files into GnuCash.

1. TrueCrypt

TrueCrypt is an encryption program. Not everyone needs it. Some people really need it. No matter. TrueCrypt won’t stop the CIA or a police raid on your computer, but if you want to hide sensitive, uh, photos from a snooping friend, roommate, or significant other, it will do the trick.

All snark aside, there are perfectly valid reasons to use this software. People store all kinds of sensitive information on their computers (see Gnucash) and this software lets you protect it.

Digital photography has revolutionized several industries. Photographers are no longer bound to a few dozen shots in a roll of film. Even simple things like photograph size have changed dramatically with the shift to digital.

But consumers have been slower to catch up to the new technology. A lot of people still think the best way to see their photos is to run a memory card to the corner drug store and wait for prints. That just isn’t the case anymore. A Mac or personal computer is the perfect digital darkroom.

For the average consumer, with a $200 to $500 camera, the price and the power of the software for editing and organizing photos can be intimidating. So we did some research and found four photo editing titles that will get the job done without turning your hobby into a money pit.

For the name-brand warrior, we recommend Adobe Photoshop Elements 8, a boiled-down version of Adobe Photoshop (which can cost $1,000) that won’t break the piggy bank at $79.99. If you want more of the functionality and power of Photoshop and don’t mind learning a new program, we recommend Corel PaintShop Photo Pro X3 at $99.99. For Mac users, check out Pixelmator at just $59. Finally, if you really want to save money, you must try the open source Gimp image editing software, which is free and works on Windows or Linux.

This is not a technical analysis and benchmark of the software titles, but a consumer-level look at what you can do versus how much you will spend. There are two tasks when editing digital photos. First, you need to organize your photos, sorting the good from the bad. Then you need to actually get inside each photo and edit it. A great software package will do both.

The best of the bunch was Photoshop Elements 8. While not nearly as powerful or robust as its big brother, Elements 8 is a familiar software title that comes with an intuitive organizing package that lets you rate your photos and sort them by place, event, keyword, etc. The software is family-friendly and easy to learn, with features that will correct things like red-eye, over/underexposed photos, poor lighting, and color saturation.

For a little more power, go with PaintShop Photo Pro X3, which has more of the pricey Photoshop features without the price tag. This is a good choice for a high school student who has aspirations of photography/art school. This software leaves plenty of room for tinkering with more advanced features like levels and curves. It also has a tool to create video slideshows that you can share online.

Willy King, general manager of the Bromfield Camera Co. in Downtown Crossing, recommends either Elements or PaintShop Photo Pro, giving a slight nod to Elements.

"The advantage is you can ramp it up into Photoshop Pro more seamlessly,” King said. "Although PaintShop Pro is also pretty feature packed.”

Individual titles are on Page 2.

Adobe Photoshop Elements 8, $79.99

Pros: Photoshop Elements has the name-brand recognition and reputation going for it, and the software’s stability, speed, and feature set mean it’s well-earned.

Cons: It’s definitely a consumer product. Professionals and photo students will want to explore the full version.

Final word: If you’re editing photos for any reason and are working on a budget, Elements, with versions for Mac and PC, is a great choice.

Corel PaintShop Photo Pro X3, $99.99

Pros: PaintShop Photo Pro X3 comes with tons of pro-level features priced in the bargain basement of software titles.

Cons: The software has some speed and stability issues. It doesn’t load as quickly as Photoshop or Photoshop Elements for that matter. Keyboard commands and shortcuts aren’t very intuitive.

Final word: PaintShop has been around for years. It has always been overshadowed by Photoshop, but its low price is impossible to ignore.

Pixelmator, $59

Pros: Pixelmator gives you image levels and powerful tools on the cheap. It’s also stable and fast on your Mac.

Cons: There’s no PC version.

Final word: If you can’t get a discount deal on Photoshop, you should definitely give Pixelmator a try.

Gimp, Free

Pros: It’s free. You get a powerful, portable, stable image-editing platform at no cost.

Cons: Gimp is not as user-friendly as the commercial products. There’s a bit of a learning curve.

Final word: You can’t beat free.

Scan lines add a futuristic look and feel to photos, graphics and logos. What a lot of people don’t realize is that it’s a really easy effect to create in Photoshop, and it’s a great way for graphic design beginners to experiment with a few different Photoshop tools.

There are two steps to creating a scan line effect. First you have to create a pattern of the scan lines, and then you have to apply that pattern to your properly sized image.

Let’s add some scan lines to this Halo 3 screenshot. I’m using Photoshop CS2, so there may be slight variations in different versions.

Step one: Create a Photoshop pattern

Create a new image that’s 1px wide by 3px high with a transparent background. Unless your computer monitor is a black and white television from the 80s, you’ll have to zoom in a bunch to see what you’re doing.

Using the pencil tool, set it to 1px and click the middle of the new image so that the top and bottom are blank.

Click “Edit –> Define Pattern”

Name your new pattern “Scan Lines” and save it. It will stay in your patterns forever, so you only have to do this once.

Step two: Add the pattern to your image

Open the image you want to edit. If it’s a flat image like a JPEG or GIF without layers, right click the “background” in the layers tab and select “Duplicate Layer.” With the new layer active, click “Layer –> Layer Style –> Background Options.”

Click “Pattern Overlay” and select your newly created pattern.

And there you have it. Easy scan lines in Photoshop.

Now, this looks good, but not perfect. There’s more you can do with this effect. Let’s see what happens when i size down the lines to 50 percent:

It will come down to personal preference, but this looks a little cleaner. You can also play with the opacity until you get a design you want to use.

Another thing you can do with this pattern is pump the pattern size to 1000 percent and create an easy “looking through blinds” effect:

Got a Photoshop tip? Want to know how to do something? Let me know!