I am good at programming and would like to make a program in C# 2010, but I cannot figure out what kind of program to do, seems everything there...virus scanners, word processors, zip programs etc... how do you get ideas on what to make? I know that some ideas can come from finding out you need something that doesn't exist, but don't think that will happen to me.

What type of programming do you like.
If your into technical try some low level 16 bit asm e.g. writing a bootloader.
If your into graphical try writing a 2d game... or something along the lines of minecraft.
Encryption is also a good area to research and develop in.
IMHO

You could get a Windows Mobile or Phone 7 device and have your self written beauty always with you.

The application types you mention are heavily based on complex algorithms and definitely not a one-person job. More often than not, C# is not a language of choice for such applications. For me, I can come up with an idea usually from exploring others people programs or reading about technologies and thinking of ways of how to put them to work and take advantage of them.
It usually works differently for every person but if you like programming I'm sure you're going to find your way.

What's your motivation? Technical challenge or making some money?

For technical challenges, I typically find myself building small apps\tools to make something in my life a little easier, especially some routine task I do frequently.

Try some of the newer stuff that is still coming out - Silverlight 5 beta was announced today at MIX (and is available now too) and MVC 3 has been out for a few weeks now too. Find a big dataset somewhere on the web (the data from speedtest.net is a huge dataset you can download for free) and see what kinds of stuff you can do with it.

Once the creativity starts flowing, ideas will come easier.

If you're trying to make some jack, I'd suggest focusing on making something usable first - then get feedback from friends\family\communities\etc. I've found that it's apparent when someone's primary focus for an application is money.

Hope that helps.

Start looking around forums to see what problems people have that cannot be solved with existing software. Usually niche software are hard to find. Or, take software whose development has ceased, and re-write it to it's compatible with newer Operating Systems and has new features.

Well started to get a few ideas. I originally had the idea for something else (non software based) but I can do this software app to go along with it (don't want to give away what I am going to do). Working on a end user database program for a conservation charity here and if the program works and gains some interest, it can make money for the charity which would be good.

Thanks all for help

Read articles on what is needed to do on what is asked for. Usually that is what I work on to keep my passion for programming going.

That's a very good idea. I have been starting to look at several different programs and seeing what I would want them to do vs what they actually do and seems to help. Thanks

My suggestion is that you do something that is in your fields of interest, since you will know a lot more about the problem that is being solved through your software.