Bass multi effects software

I'm new to the whole daw thing so forgive my ignorance in my questions. But what I am wanting to do is to setup my windows 7 64bit Dell precision 6400 laptop as a bass effects processor to be used live. I have an m-audio USB interface but that's it. I am wanting people's opinions on what software to use and possibly any additional hardware (like a USB pedal board if there is such a thing). I am really wanting to get back into using effects for my playing and really don't want to go out and re-buy a bunch of pedals or drop $500+ on a rack unit. I figure I have this bad ass laptop (3.5GHz 2xdual core processors (4 cores), 12gigs of Ram not to mention 10k mirrored drives) that I really don't use much so why don't I make this a dedicated multi effects system for my rig? I don't really want to do recording with it just use it to run effects for my bass. Any one got any ideas?
Thanks,
Ryan