With kids getting back to school all across the US, they will be using computers at home more frequently for academic purposes. This means we need to update our systems to ensure that our PC's run stable and secure. Here are a few programs you should ensure are up to date to ensure our kids can have a quality and productive experience this school year with homework and projects.

Your locale versions may be different, these are based on a Windows 7/8, EN-US.

Browsers:
Chrome, Firefox, and Safari are the most popular browsers (PC & Mac), with Internet Explorer and Opera coming after. Here are the latest versions of all as of this posting:
Google Chrome: Version 28.0.1500.95 m (http://www.google.com/chrome)
Firefox: Version 23.0.1 (http://www.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/fx/)
Safari: Version 6.0.3 (http://www,apple.com/safari)
Internet Explorer: Version 10.0.9200 (http://windows.microsoft.com/en-us/internet-explorer/download-ie)
Opera: Version 15.0.1147.153 (http://www.opera.com/)

Browser Plugins:
*Java: Version 7.25.17 (http://java.com/en/download/index.jsp)
Adobe Flash Player: Version 11 (http://http://get.adobe.com/flashplayer/)
Adobe Reader: Version 11.0.3 (http://http://get.adobe.com/reader/)
Microsoft Silverlight: Version 5 (http://www.microsoft.com/silverlight/)

*It is recommended to uninstall ALL previous versions of Java on your machine, click here for an automated tool from Oracle that can affect this for you: http://java.com/en/download/uninstallapplet.jsp

Anti Virus:
For a good anti virus program, that is free and robust, try Avast, it's what I use myself on all my devices: http://www.avast.com/en-us/index. You can of course choose to upgrade to their paid Internet Security Suite if you like, but that is your choice. Costs and details are on their site. If you decide to go with the Free version, like I do, be sure you read all the prompts during installation so you don't accidentally select the paid version.

Firewalls:
For most users, the Windows Firewall included with all versions of Windows is adequate enough, but there are some paid versions that are worth looking at if you want more control of what passes through your perimeter. A lot of you have McAfee or Norton or Kapersky preinstalled from your system manufacturer and those are excellent suites. If you have a subscription, leave it alone. If you want to buy one, I highly recommend the Avast Internet Security or Kapersky Internet Security suites as they are consistently at the top of the cyber security list. You can find them here:
http://www.mcafee.com/
http://www.symantec.com/
http://www.kapersky.com/

Most operating systems update automatically now-a-days so you shouldn't need to worry about the core operating system, but it never hurts to check. 
For Windows PC's, check Windows Update to ensure you have the latest updates and Service Pack installed. 
For Mac OS, use the update tool within the system itself to ensure you have the latest version, or check on Apple's website to manually download the latest version of Mountain Lion.
For Linux, usually you can find the latest stable version on the site where you got your distro from, however you can always get the latest Kernel from http://www.kernel.org...latest/ stable version is 3.10.7.

If they will be using tablet devices, check with your product vendor for the latest versions of the OS installed (Android is 4.2.2; iOS is 6 with iOS 7 coming this Fall). Security is paramount on tablets and smart phones too, all of the solutions mentioned previously have mobile variants you can install as well, usually for no cost at all.

That should cover it, let me know if you have any questions or experiences with other products that you feel are noteworthy.

~Geek