Microsoft is vigorously backing its tablet PC initiative with a slew of free software designed to entice users to switch to tablets. Here are a few of our favorite programs: The Microsoft Experience Pack for Tablet PC includes six programs for productivity and media management. Though you might not use them all, this pack is worth downloading for the Snipping Tool alone. It lets you use the stylus to select and copy a portion of a Web site, PDF, document (whatever's on the screen), add your own comments (for example, "I love this image! Can we get permission to use it?"), and paste the whole thing into a document or e-mail. Also noteworthy in the Experience Pack is the Ink Desktop, which lets you write notes directly on your desktop without launching an application (good for jotting down a phone number or reminders).

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The Microsoft Education Pack has five programs designed for students, some of which are useful in business settings, too. If you work with numbers or complex formulas, use the Equation Writer to convert handwritten math equations into neatly typewritten images. GoBinder Lite, a day-planner and note-taking program, lets you integrate notes and deadlines for multiple simultaneous projects. And the Send to Microsoft Office OneNote 2003 program circumvents a ton of cutting and pasting, letting you send almost anything--including Web pages or files--into OneNote for annotation.

Microsoft offers a handful of applets, similar to Apple's dashboard widgets, called Power Toys, for tablets including a dictionary tool, a Web search tool, a calculator, and a font creation tool. There are also a number of free OneNote templates for calendars and planners, business tip itineraries, meeting minutes, and more.

Other free software
These programs will get you off to a great start, but if you work in a specialized industry or have other specific needs, you should browse through the many third-party applications that are available for the tablet PC. You can find many of them at CNET Download.com.