If you're looking for some great video editing software that also happens to be free, look no further. Before you start, however, I have a word of warning. The disappointing thing about free video editors is that there aren't really any equivalents of Photoscape or Audacity. There is definitely awesome video editing software out there, but unfortunately you'll have to pay for it. If you are going to edit on a regular basis, think about buying a program - check out the trial versions of Adobe Premiere, Sony Vegas or Movavi Video Suite. Who knows, you might be impressed enough to decide it's worth the cost.

If you're sticking to free programs for the moment, however, read on. This is my list of the best editing software around, easiest first.

Total beginner? Start simple with Microsoft Live Movie Maker. Some of the apps out there are really complicated but this Vista-only version of Windows Movie Maker will start you off gently. Now, before you go rolling your eyes, actually take a look at this app. Simple, definitely, but also very effective and for basic video/image mash-ups, it's a great option. It's incredibly easy to use and if this is your fist time creating videos, you'd be mad to ignore it.

Got a little bit of experience? Try VideoPad Video Editor. Whereas Microsoft Live Movie Maker is the best bet for total beginners, those of you with some experience, or maybe users who are technically able, but new to video editing, should give Videopad a try. It's got a good selection of export options, great help and makes the perfect first app.

Need an app for slightly more complex tasks? Avidemux is the one. This open source tools is perfect for tasks like cutting and encoding and it supports plenty of formats. Best of all, it has lots of information available on its wiki and forum, so even if you do run into problems or want to ask for help from more experienced users, you'll have no problem finding people to help.

Are you a user who knows what you want? VirtualDub, or sister application VirtualDubMod, are perfect. Even the developers admit that it's not the snazziest app on the block, but for fast linear clean-ups of video that will be sent to other programs for editing, you can't beat it. It's not the ideal application to make a nice video of family celebrations, but if efficiency and speed are of importance, it's fantastic.

Like to keep up with the latest software? Videolan Movie Creator is the newest of the new. VLC video player has legions of fans, but the developers have recently brought out a video editor that looks really promising. We say 'looks' because it's so early a version it's not even a beta release - it's pre-alpha - but when we reviewed it, we were sure it was destined for great things. Check it out!

Ever wished you could capture movies and turn them into still images? Well, don't worry because now you can thanks to Avidemux, a freeware program designed for cutting, filtering and encoding video. It supports all the major movie formats, including AVI, DVD-compatible MPEG files, MP4 and ASF.

Using the software you can take scenes from a film and export clips as JPEG files. You might wonder what the benefit of doing this is, but I've devised a series of creative ways to use the program that are perfect for passing time on rainy winter nights:

• Design your own T-shirts - Why not print out some stills of your favourite movie scenes and immortalise them on a T-shirt or sweatshirt?
• Personalised Top Trumps - Impress your family this Christmas by making a customised set of Top Trump cards using shots of famous movie characters.
• Build a home-made film projector - Chop up a series of consecutive frames from a film then paste them around the inside of a spinning drum to create your own zoetrope for playing films.
• Create a film website - Cut images using Avidemux then use them online to dissect a film and comment on the different scenes.
• Make a cool movie poster - Decorate your bedroom with a cool poster taken from a film. If you really want to make your mates jealous then why not rasterbate it?

Adobe are behind some of the most important technologies and applications in modern computing. Much like Google and Microsoft, it's difficult to imagine a normal working day which doesn't involve using at least one of their products. Blog posts like this beg the question - can you replace your Adobe apps with a free alternative? I say yes: why tie yourself to what is often very costly, proprietary software when there are great open-source and freeware options?

Adobe Photoshop - free alternative: The Gimp

Yes, The Gimp does get wheeled out fairly often for lists of free applications but that's because it's really good! With tons of functionality and the ability to use filters and libraries designed for Photoshop, The Gimp rocks.

Adobe Dreamweaver - free alternative: NVU

NVU (pronounced 'N-view') is a free, open-source WYSIWYG web design application. It gives you the option to work in a design layout or edit your html directly, and is generally credited with producing pretty clean, reliable code.

Adobe Premiere - free alternative: Avidemux

Widely regarded as the best free video editing application available, Avidemux features support for a large number of file types and advanced scripting capabilities. It's also a joy to use and is more than powerful enough for home users.

Adobe Reader - free alternative: Foxit PDF Reader

Who can be bothered waiting for the splash screen to disappear as this bloated beast starts up? Feature creep has begun to cripple Reader so switch to a free (if not exactly open source) option: Foxit. It's much faster.

Adobe Flash - free alternative: SMIL

This is one for the more technically capable. Flash is, undeniably, a key technology on the Internet. But it doesn't have to be that way. The Synchronized Multimedia Integration Language (SMIL) offers many of Flash's capabilities to anyone who can take the time to start using it. It hasn't really caught on yet but with the support of W3C, it's certainly worth keeping an eye on.