25 Products We Can't Live Without

There's no safer way to surf or to try out new software (including operating systems) than from within a virtual machine--that is, a PC emulator running inside a window. Download Microsoft's free emulation product, Virtual PC 2007, or VMware Server, which is also free. Install your VM host, configure your virtual machine (easy), and then install an operating system. (VMware Server calls the virtual machine a Virtual Appliance, by the way.) With a VM running, my main operating system is safe: If malware attacks or if I don't like the software I installed in the VM, I simply close the VM without saving its state, and the unwanted software will be gone next time I start up.

--Jon L. Jacobi, contributor