Treepad pretty much stays at the top of my "great apps" list. Zero install (you just unzip into a folder and run it), it can be used as a word processor, personal database, PIM, creativity tool, and all sorts of things. It can even serve as a pretty passable web site generator. Give the free version a try - it's pretty great in and of itself - and then pop the 40 bucks for the "business" edition. You'll be glad you did.

HTML NotePad is about the only html editor I use anymore. It's so simple, compared to the neato programs out there, that it seems almost disabled. But it's easy to use, it's fast on its feet, and it lets you focus on learning and using HTML, rather than dealing with the obnoxious learning curve of overpowered software like Dreamweaver and things of that ilk.  An observation: Most of us are still using dialup connections. Programs like Dreamweaver and such almost seem to invite excessively large and slow-loading web pages. Why not just make it simple?

Freebyte, based in the Netherlands, is a great source of free software, including the aforementioned Treepad. They've got tons of very useful small apps, all with the same design philosophy: Keep it little, functional, and don't let it mess with the user's system more than neccesary. I'm particularly fond of the directory printer and the address book I found there.

Tiny Apps is a site devoted to just that: Tiny little applications which do what they are needed to do, and not a darned thing more. I wish more people would celebrate small efficient tools, rather than the overpriced, overpowered and troublesome monsters the software industry wants to sell us.

FrameIt is a little (zero install) utility that quickly generates framesets for your web pages. I use it constantly. Saves me a lot of time, and it's fun and easy to use, too. That's the link I got it from, but I think you can get if from Simtel too. Simtel is a nice collection of shareware and freeware. I waste way too many hours checking out all of the cool things they archive.

Sarah Hatter has a lovely blog, one I can't avoid checking in on regularly. Good writing matched up with a good heart is such a treat. I can only view her blog in Netscape - in IE, it formats weirdly and this strange floating box blocks almost half of the page. One of the unfortunate side effects of my fondness for old versions of software, I suppose. It was reading Sarah's weblog that inspired me to try to keep one of my own. It was reading her postings that gave me my first experience of that weird sense of intimacy you find in online diaries - feeling like you know someone you've never met and never will. Thanks, Sarah.

Rachel Rein. A fascinating person and a great site to explore. Beautifully designed. She's also responsible for a wonderful online catalog of moos: Rachel's Super Moo List, which has been a great help to me over the years. Rachel has what she admits is a compulsion to make all sorts of lists, a disorder I share. That only makes exploring her list of lists all the more enjoyable.

The Electronic Frontier Foundation is constantly working to protect your rights in the face of attacks from the media companies (trying to essentially control technology for their own profit and make it illegal for you to own devices that they don't approve of) and from the government, with its increasing attacks on your privacy rights. Everyone should be checking out their site, getting on the mailing list, and getting into action. They make it easy, and they're good people.

In the same vein, you might want to check out these activist sites: DigitalConsumer.Org and Stop Policeware - both busy fighting the restrictive legislation that the entertainment industry is trying to shove down our throats. If you don't think it will affect you, think again. Check out the EFF and these other sites.

If you want to know why your representatives in Congress are acting the way they are, you might want to see who's paying them off. It's an eye opening experience. Open Secrets is a great place to do a little research. I find it as addictive as Google. You do use Google, don't you?

Blogger, for all of its reported problems, is to my mind the easiest way for those of us who are technodolts to use blogging technology for keeping a website updated. It's been said that "freedom of the press belongs to him who owns one", and the internet makes it damned easy to "own" a press. There are other weblogging systems which are much more flexible and powerful - such as Movable Type, Radio Userland and others, but they take a fair level of technical sophistication. And as I said, Blogger is easy for the tech-deprived like me. Sign up - it's free - and start mouthing off. Maybe someone will listen. (maybe not)

And speaking of blogging:
Here is a good book on the howto's of blogging.
Here is another one.
Here is a list of good blogging books, including the ones above.

Elizabeth Castro has, in my opinion, the absolute best book out there on creating web pages: HTML For The World Wide Web. It's inexpensive, fast to use, and you can learn to get yourself out there with just this book and a text editor. If you've any interest at all in putting yourself on the web, for whatever reason, buy this book.

If you're ever in the market for a domain of your own, please consider using Domain Direct as your registrar. I've dealt with Verisign (formerly Network Solutions) and a couple of others, but Domain Direct is, hands down, the easiest bunch to deal with, and they give better value for your money than any other operation. They've got a great system to allow you to administer your domain(s), it's easy to upgrade to other services, and - unlike any other place I've been - their help system actually has the answers. What a concept. Oh, and they've come up with a very sensible solution to the bandwidth problem (assuming you're buying space from them), to avoid those ugly bills people get when their sites draw enough traffic to overcome the bandwidth limits. That'll never happen with Domain Direct.

Sam Brown does wonderful drawings, and is the man behind the Red Robot. He'll do a little sketch from just about any phrase, and he updates constantly. Buy one of his books or shirts or something. Creative people need support, so they can keep working and growing.

Egg: The Arts Show is one of the coolest little shows on TV, all about contemporary artists you've never heard of. It shows up at weird times, like 4:00am on a Saturday morning in my area, but it's worth setting your VCR (before the entertainment industry succeeds in making that illegal, that is).