THE IMAGE

PHOTO FILTRE:  A very complete photo optimization software from France. Frames, lots of special effects, filters. Easy to use and very professional. Free.

PHOTO RESIZER:  To batch rename or batch modify photo formats. Free.

CAPTURE:  The best screen capture software. Lots of possibilities, save your capture in many different formats. A must! Free.

XERO PHOTOSHOP PLUGINS:  36 plugins for Photoshop and Photoshop Elements. A must for serious photographers. Free.

AKVIS ENHENCER:  This tool, as its name says, will optimize greatly all your photos. Restores details in high lights. Recovers lost details in shadows. 75$, but a terrific buy!

FACE FILTER STUDIO:  For face retouching in portraits. Correct blemishes, wrinkles, skin tones. You can even change the expression of your subjects through different parameters settings. By the makers of "Crazy Talk". 60$.

THE SOUND

AUDACITY:  A marvel. Complete multi-track studio superbly built, very easy to use, record as many tracks as you wish. Many post-recording effects. Record to many file formats: WAV, Mp3, Ogg Vorbis. With it, you can also record everything that comes out of your sound card. Free.

AUDIOGRABBER:  With this tool, you can extract audio tracks from CD's to your hard disk. Many formats supported: WAV, Mp3, WMA, Ogg Vorbis.

SWITCH:  Converts almost any sound formats. Free.

AUDIOACTIVE PRODUCTION STUDIO LITE: This Mp3 encoder is the best on the market. Compress all your different sound files by a single mouse click. Choose the quality of the final file: boombox, FM, CD. 35$.

LIVE 365 RADIO:  The best radio on the web. More than a thousand stations to listen to. Free, but you can eliminate all those nasty ads with the paid version (75$ one year subscription).

PRIVATE LIFE AND COMPUTER PROTECTION

AD-AWARE:  From Lavasoft group in Holland. The reference in spy ware removal. Free.

SPYBOT SEARCH & DESTROY:  Daily updates. Very performing anti spyware. Highly recommended. Free.

WINDOWS DEFENDER:  Comes with Windows Updates. Free

AVG ANTISPYWARE:  A must. Removes malwares and spy wares in an efficiant manner. Free.

A-SQUARED: Removes worms, ad-wares, key loggers, dialers, root-kits. Free.
 

PHOTO LINKS

DIGITAL PHOTOGRAPHY REVIEW:  One of the best photographic material comparison sites on the web. Dept analysis of all major brands cameras and photo softwares. A must before investing money in a new digital camera.

DIGITAL OUTBACK PHOTO:  Excellent site dedicated to digital photography. For professional or high end amateur photographers.

HASSELBLAD:  The legend, or how to use digital photography alongside with argentic photography on the same camera. If you have 25,000$ to spend on a camera.

THE EXTRAS

COPERNIC AGENT BASIC:  A super fine search engine. Free

GOOGLE EARTH:  The earth seen from space. Find your street, home, etc. from high resolution satellite photography. Once you have discovered this software, you'll become addict to it!. Free

GOOGLE MAPS:  To find addresses, streets, destinations with maps. Go from one point to the other with a few mouse clicks. Very useful. Free.