Gimp is an excellent, open source alternative to Adobe's $1,000 Photoshop software. It has most of the same features, and even some that Photoshop doesn't have. They also make a portable version.

  Xampp is the full featured, open source, web developers server software. It has all the needed elements to host your own website, FTP service, Mail service, and Database service on your own computer. It's great if you need to create/edit your own webpage on your home computer before uploading it to a remote server. They even have a portable version. If you plan on using Xampp, keep in mind that it comes fully functional, and because of that, the makers of Xampp recommend that you don't use their software for hosting purposes, only for personal use. We recommend visiting their website to learn more.

  phpBB is the industries leading bulletin board/forum software. It's free, and it's very easy to use. It has alot of options, and installation is simple in that it walks you through step-by-step. It does require a 3rd party database handling software. Xampp, which we have listed on this site is an excellent candidate for that.