Tax-Free Ten

Ten Things to Take Your Mind Off Income Taxes

Freeware caution: always scan free downloads of anything for bugs and other threats before dumping the programs into your hard drive.

The thirty-day free trial of Brainstorming Toolbox "not only allows you access to better lateral thinking, creative thinking and problem solving. It also enables you to use the techniques in a simple, structured way on a day to day basis. Brainstorming Toolbox is extremely user-friendly, so you spend more time using it than learning it. By promoting pro-active brainstorming, Brainstorming Toolbox helps you develop new ideas and solutions to bring success to you and your business. Brainstorming Toolbox makes generating new ideas and solutions extremely easy and will improve your brainstorming sessions greatly. It will even allow you to brainstorm successfully by yourself by using the computer to steer you in alternative directions" (OS: Window 98/2000/NT/XP)

Cinta Notes is a "simple program for basic notes keeping that provides a convenient way to quickly store pieces of information that are collected from other documents or websites. All you have to do is select the text to be stored and then press the CTRL+F12 hotkey on your keyboard to create a note. CintaNotes captures the text and uses the application title as the note´s title. Alternatively, you can copy/paste the text into the application and append it to the list of previous notes. You can optionally assign keyword tags that can be used to locate and identify notes at a later time. An instant search feature quickly locates keywords within notes as you type them. Other features include merging of notes and support for automatic capturing of Internet links from IE" (OS: Windows 2000/XP/Vista/7)

i*write4life™ is a "professional tool for serious journal writers. You can now get the fully functional version that used to sell for $69 for free. There are no strings attached. Chances are you will never again want to miss its lightning-fast full-text search and powerful navigation capabilities. Check out the optional iwrite.4.life extensions, too" (OS: Windows 98 / NT / 2k / Me / XP / 2003)

Keep Writing is "a word processor that works like an old school typewriter: it doesn't let you delete. If you really, really have to, you can type over mistakes just like with a real typewriter. The idea is that this will let you focus on productivity (instead of endless polishing) and on reaching your word count goals. It simply encourages you to Keep Writing!" (OS: Windows 7 / 98 / NT / 2k / Me / XP / 95 / 2003 / Vista / 2008 Server)

Pro Frequency's Names List is a "complete US Census Bureau names list data of all the US Names. Can be used in your programs for a variety of purposes, including name spell checker and card verification. Format: Data CSV. Line 1 = Male, Line 2 = Female. All updates, upgrades and lifetime support are free with frequency. Features: Complete list, all US names, CSV usability, multi-platform format, instant use" (OS: 7 / 98 / NT / 2k / Me / XP / 95 / 2003 / Vista / 2008 Server)

Scheduler allows you to "schedule tasks to perform at a particular time of day. Tasks include the ability to open any file in its default program, open a URL in the default web browser and shutdown or restart your computer. The main window can be minimised to the system tray. The uses of this range from using it as an alarm clock or reminder to shutting down your computer at a set time after any remaining tasks have been completed" (OS: not specified but it looks like Windows)

Speedy Painter is "an OpenGL based painting software for Windows. It supports Wacom digitizers to vary size and opacity of brush strokes according to pen pressure. Features: Reference view that follows zoom! Available using the F3 key; Export drawing process into a video: ready to upload it on YouTube!; Multiple layers; Ability to vary stroke size and/or opacity according to pen pressure (supports Wacom digitizers); Replay of drawing process; Import/export drawing process; Loading of most common image formats; Canvas rotation; Canvas flip; Selection mask" (OS: Windows Vista/7 [32-Bit/64-Bit])

Stellarium is "a free open source planetarium for your computer. It shows a realistic sky in 3D, just like what you see with the naked eye, binoculars or a telescope. It is being used in planetarium projectors. Just set your coordinates and go" (OS: Linux/Unix; Windows 2000/XP/Vista/7/8; 64-bit Mac OS X 10.6.8 or greater)

The thirty-day free trial of WhizFolders helps you to "begin your writing project in this writer's outliner for improved productivity. This is an outline software for writers that uses a new list-based outlining approach. Better writing involves being able to cope with new ideas as and when they strike you. With WhizFolders, you can write your ideas in pieces, outline them with drag and drop, and merge then to make a document for your word processor. If you think about it, a word processor is only needed for formatting and fine tuning your manuscript and not as a writing, outlining and research tool. Manage all kinds of notes, ideas and writing projects with this versatile outliner and organizer software. Additional features include a rich text editor, automatic pastes to collect text from Internet browser and other applications, hyperlinks to other notes, documents or web sites, boolean search, keyword tags and so on. Includes a nice tutorial to get you started quickly" (OS: Windows 7 / XP / 2003 / Vista)

The fourteen-day free trial of Writer's Blocks is a "writing program for writers who want all the bells and whistles. You’ll get the core of our program, of course, our unique Block Panel where you organize and visualize your writing with our flexible, sizeable movable blocks. Plus you’ll get our fully integrated word processor. You’ll also get our unique floating Power Panel that makes gathering material from other sources a snap. If you need to track references, we’ve got you covered with our footnotes and endnote capability" (OS: Windows 7, Windows Vista, Windows XP Home or Pro - 32 bit or 64 bit )