Some "must-have" programs and sites.
NJStar Word Processor - very good word processor with a kanji dictionary inside. Very good program, only drawback is way too expensive (if not wrong around 200 US$).
NJCommunicator - Good IME program, to write kana and kanji. It is very similar to the one provided by microsoft so I wouldn't spend the money (if this one is very expensive).
Readwrite Kanji - Don't remember the price, but you can download it online for free as evaluation with a limit of 10 or 50 kanji. Full version contains all 1945 basic kanji. Allows you to build your own list (as in you decide what kanji to work with and adding them when you are ready to go on) and offers exercises with the kanji in the list. Amongst the exercise there are multiple choice question about the meaning of kanji, ON reading and KUN reading, the radical of the kanji, the order of strokes and more.
Wakan - Completely free program. Dictionary of kanji (for Chinese, Japanese and Korean languages) with example phrases. The Japanese dictionary contains over 6,000 kanji.
Grammar site:
guidetoJapanese I can say one of the most complete grammar online. I like it above all coz reduces to a very minimum (almost nothing) the use of romaji. Getting used to learning with romaji in my opinion slows down a lot the learning process.
Japanese-Online.com Another very good grammar online which provides also written dialogues as examples, much better than a single phrase.
Just my 2 cents...