recommended

Firefox is a web browser, produced by Mozilla. It's generally accepted that Firefox is more stable and less prone to the exploits of viruses and Malware compared to Internet Explorer (the most popular web browser). Firefox is also free software, and benefits from a huge library of add-ons that extend its functionality.

Briefly, from Mozilla's Mission:

Thunderbird is a fully-featured email and contact manager application. It can be compared to Microsoft Outlook; they share many of the same features (Thunderbird is definitely a step above Outlook Express, if that's what you're used to). One significant difference is that Thunderbird is free...there is no paid version. No advertising, no tricks. No kidding.

Briefly, from Mozilla's Mission:

OpenOffice is a software suite that works great on Windows and Linux machines. I like it as a free alternative to Microsoft Office, which can easily run into hundreds of dollars per person. From the OpenOffice.org web site:

Google Docs is an online (free) service that allows you to create, edit, and share documents. In many ways, it's like Microsoft Office (or OpenOffice) on the web. You can edit text documents (like Microsoft Word docs, OpenOffice Write docs, Rich Text Files, etc) and spreadsheets (like Microsoft Excel and OpenOffice Calc) right in your web browser. Best of all, you have access to those documents from any Internet connection!