You need a vacation, and trips are sometimes expensive. Fortunately, you can find lots of services to plan your vacation that won't cost you a dime.

The Internet is like a fancy Hollywood party with lots of swag: You can get tons of stuff for free, but not all of it is good. Still, some of the Web services, apps, and downloads out there are great, and don't require you to pay a cent. Our 17th annual roundup of free stuff includes dozens of no-cost services, apps, and programs that are worth your time. To help you find the most valuable freebies, we've categorized them based on which types of people they'll help most. Enjoy the free life!

Megaupload.com isn't going back online anytime soon, but the founder of the file-sharing site that was shuttered in January may get his computers, documents and trove of vehicles back.

A computer is only as useful as the software you run on it, so you should keep your PC's software current--and not necessarily with the latest version of a program that's getting long in the tooth. Sometimes, switching to a new application can help you speed up your work or make your system more efficient.

People often think of software as either commercial (including shareware), or free (including open-source offerings). But somewhere in between lies another large category of software: donationware. The creators of such programs give the software away for free, in the hope that appreciative users will donate to support the application or a cause the developer wishes to promote. In this article I cover lesser-known gems.

Apple mobile device users looking for the nearest haunted house this weekend, there’s an app for that, too.

Nifty, free Firefox add-on Email this! is great for anyone who wants to share Web page URLs with others via email software. When you're on a Web page whose URL you want to share with someone, click a button, and the add-in launches your default email client--whether it's a desktop mail client, such as Microsoft Outlook, or Web-based one, such as Gmail--creates a new mail message, and inserts the URL into the body of the message, and the title of the page into the subject line. At that point all you need to do is fill in the recipient's address, type in any message you want, and send off your email.

Utilities and security apps are two of the most important categories of software that PC users download. From keeping your operating system slim and bloatware-free to eradicating cookies and spyware, these apps amply reward you for downloading them. And best of all, they're free!

Twitter is all about keeping things brief. It is, after all, a microblogging service, one that limits you to 140 characters per post. But while Twitter promotes a less-is-more approach, the same can't be said of the market for Twitter apps and services.

Microsoft Word is ubiquitous: It's the standard word processor in most places of business, and it often ends up installed on home PCs due to compatibility and familiarity. It isn't the only choice, however. Whether your main concern is price, complexity, specialized functionality, system footprint, or some combination of the above, you might have many reasons to look beyond Word.

ConTEXT is a powerful, free, and open-source text editor squarely aimed at programmers. Its feature set makes it especially useful for system administrators, toolsmiths, and Web mavens, all of whom often have to juggle many small files written in a variety of languages or markups.

Your hard disk is a time bomb, waiting to go off. If you're lucky, like most people, it will never detonate. But if you're unlucky, like some people, you could lose all of your files, works, and applications, with no warning when your hard disk crashes. Acronis Drive Monitor (free) promises to give you warning before that crash, so that you can take action before you're hit with disaster.