If you make software decisions for the employees who work for you, it's important to be sure that the software you pick can take lots of abuse and get the job done, too. We think it's especially important to make sure that the cubes in your office stay virus-free and fully functioning. After all, every minute of technical downtime is a minute of productivity lost.

We've picked four pieces of software that will keep your employees' workstations safe yet functional. Trillian Pro is the best way for your employees to keep in constant--and quick--communication with the rest of the office. FileMaker Pro is an easy way to serve up necessary data, and Norton GoBack and Trend Micro PC-cillin keep your workers' PCs clean and ready to work. We also recommend Microsoft Office for day-to-day productivity tasks.