Here’s a list of 13 of my favorite rated-G things you can get on the Internet. No breaking the law required. I’ve included some poker and non-poker items in my list. They’re in no particular order, other than the fact that they are split into poker and non-poker stuff.

Firefox (get it from my site – yeah, over there on the right).

There are some neat features with Firefox you just don’t get with IE7, like all the plugins. There are blogging plugins, page manipulation plugins, plugins to use your Google mail folder as internet drive space for uploading files for your blog or whatever. It’s also faster than IE7, and seems to handle pop up advertisements more easily. You should really consider switching. If you get it from the link on my site, I get paid…

Google.com account

You can use it for Gmail, for customizing your Google portal page, blogger.com account, Adsense account, Google Docs, Google Notepad, a free web page, and on and on. You’re crazy if you don’t get one. The only thing I wish they had was a better chat client. Then I would ditch Windows Live and Hotmail all together. (Actually, that’s not true, you need a Live ID in order to access some Microsoft advanced support web sites.

Google Pack

Free software, including Picasa, a great picture manager with some simple editing features. Also included are Adobe Reader, some security tools, and some other stuff.

Linux (various flavors)

I hesitated to include this, because it’s really for a certain target audience (geeks), but it is really one of the coolest things on the Internet. You can
download an entire operating system for free. Granted, it isn’t 100% compatible with everything you might want to do (You have to use a Windows Emulator in Linux to play most games, and that squashes performance), but if you have a spare computer, or are interested in doing anything computer related as a profession (programming, web design, graphic arts, database admin, networking), you should definitely download a version (I recommend Fedora or Ubuntu) and get to work. I don’t think I’d install it as my main operating system, but if you’re looking to get into a computer-related technical field, it’s the only way to go. My pal Stu, who is a talented freehand artist, always said that the cost for getting started in graphic design was too high, you need a powerful computer and very expensive software, but Linux eliminates those barriers to entry with GIMP. He’s too lazy to learn it though. All things considered, I still think Windows is the better way to go right now because it’s the de facto standard, and the hardware/software compatibility, but all my secondary computers run Linux. It will be on my daughter’s machine when she gets a hand me down.

Microsoft Visual Studio Express

Another IT dork-centric cool free thing, you can download free versions of Microsoft’s programming environments. Handy if you want to teach yourself VB, C++, or HTML.

Audacity

If you’re into creating music, and recording, this free software turns your computer into a multitrack recorder. Granted, you need some kind of musical instrument to use it, but it works great. I wish I would have had something like this 10 years ago when I was playing in bands. I have a Line 6 Guitarport, and I can use Audacity to record all my cool riffs.

Myspace.com

MySpace gets a lot of bad press because of weirdo stalkers, but it’s actually pretty cool. I’ve found a lot of old friends by signing up and searching for them. It’s pretty easy to maintain contact with people through it, but once you find them, you can just use email. The thing I like best about it is checking out the band pages. If you’re into music, you can listen songs by popular artists for free by going to their page. If you’re in a band, it’s an
easy way to maintain an online identity and keep everyone up to date on where you’re playing. Gone are the old days of maintaining a mailing list.

Poker Freerolls (various)

Of course there’s going to be some poker in here. I love poker freerolls. All the major sites – PokerStars, UltimateBet, FullTilt, have them daily. Even
if you don’t want to deposit money online, you can be like Chris “Jesus’ Ferguson, and turn $0.00 into $10,000 online by turning a freeroll win into a couple dollars, and playing the .01/.02 no limit tables for that site into a few bucks, and grinding up the limits. Free games where you potentially can earn money, you can’t beat them. I recommend PokerStars for freerollers. You need a legitimate email (I’d recommend GMail – see above).

PokerGrapher

If you use PokerTracker, and want a free utility to graph your stats, this is the tool to use.

Gametime Plus

This creates a heads up display – a graphical overlay over your poker tables if you’re using PokerTracker. It allows you to get an idea of the amount of hands your opponents play, how often they see the river, and how generally aggressive or passive they are. Great for multitabling. It won’t guarantee that you’ll be a winner, but it’s great to use when in a borderline situation and you have no additional information.

Pokerstove

Allows you to calculate hand vs. hand or hand vs. hand range probabilities for Texas Hold’em. A great learning tool. If you don’t know the basic preflop odds, you’ll be hard pressed to win any tournaments. When the stacks get short, you’ve got to know your options. No additional software required.

ThePokerDB

Used to be independent, now owned by Bluff Magazine, it allows you to look up the multitable touranment results of online players. You have to sign up and give them a legitimate email address, but it’s nice to see your tournament results, as well as your opponents. No additional software required.

Sharkscope

Similar to ThePokerDB, but it maintains Sit ‘N’ Go results. You can do simple searches for free, but if you want to use some in depth tools, there is a fee for signup. Just knowing how often your opponents play and how often they win can give you an advantage over them. No additional software required.

Take the time to check them all out, I think it’s worth it.