Software you just must have

sevlow

I have just completely cleaned down my PC and now it's as fast and lean as the day I first set it up.I just can't believe how slow the old girl had got but now I want to ensure it stays that thay and only install software that will earn its keep and not sap my own or the PC's resourses. so what would you suggest under the following general headings. Feel free to expand the headings the benefit of others - I have a PC but anything for the Mac would be nice to.


SECURITY....> Firewalls, Virus Checkers, Anti Spyware and combined utility suites. Purchase or free downloads? Wjat about XP's own.

MEDIA PLAYERS ...> Use Windows Meduia Player or one of the altenatives such as Winamp?

BROWSERS .... IE or Mozilla. Can IE compete anymore - who still uses it and why. Any ne kids on the block who oldies who can still do a job.

EMAIL....> Is outlook the greatest. I'd want to pill in my hotmail and POP 3 mail into one organiser.

BACK UP ...> What could be simpler and as efficient that dragging "my docs" to me external drive every week. Do I need to pay for some fancy application 9/10ths of which I'll never use.

PHOTO ORGANISERS ...> I guess most of us have an expanding image catalogue with digital becoming mor popular, but how to organise. Read about ACDSee and Photo Album 6 (corel) and of course Adobe elements. But If I am going to invest my valuable time building up a keyword structur then I expect to be easily able to save and backup my images along with the database structure.

JACK OF ALL TRADES...>You know system optimizers/mechanics packages, pop up blockers etc etc. Mungrels or marvels.

BASEMENT BARGAINS ..> Anything else free or exceptional value for money we should be using or supporting.


Looking fwd to your advice/comments. L:ets see if we can draw up the definitive list of must have packages for the perfect PC.

Seagull

EMAIL
I'm using online services more and more as messages are stored online and I can access them from any pc, Gmail and MSN are my choice.

SECURITY
I have a built in router firewall but choose to use the free Sygate personal firewall, this allows me some control over which installed software can access the internet.

Norton Antivirus 2005, not free and not everyone's cup of tea but I'm very happy with it.

Spybot, a useful free download for routing out spyware etc.

OTHER STUFF
I also use:-
Netmeter, a free tool for logging and displaying network traffic i.e downloads and uploads, also show's monthly / weekly totals, handy if you're on a capped service.

Skype, for free pc to pc voice calls.

Browntoa

lots of these questions answered in the sticky here

http://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/showthread.html?t=25780

crankup

Email - Mozilla Thunderbird http://www.mozilla.com/thunderbird/

Kerry_o'keefe

Sevlow,

How did you completely clean down your PC ?

Ta

Kerry

hobo28

Security: Zonealarm, Avast, Spybot/Windows Defender

Photo: Picasa / MS Digital Image Suite

Backup: Either manual or use MSBackup (XP Pro)

Browser: IE7 beta or Firefox

E-Mail: Outlook Express or Mozilla Thunderbird

Media Player: Windows Media Player (Good enough)

Miscell: Apps I can't do without
Nero, WinRAR, UTorrent, Limewire, Acrobat Reader

Astaroth

Security: Zonealarm, kaspersky anti-virus

Photo editing: GIMP

Browser: IE and Firefox

Email: Outlook 2003

Other: CCleaner, 7-zip, Win2PDF

Website tools: Arelis, Weblog Expert, Microsoft Visual Web Developer, SQLyog, MySQL

wiraone

Linux? Fedora Core 5 may be .. or even better, Ubuntu

sevlow

Kerry_o'keefe wrote:

Sevlow,

How did you completely clean down your PC ?

Ta

Kerry

My PC came with a utility accessed by pressing F10 during boot up. This then provides the option for a "clean" installation of XP(i.e the PC is restored to the state when purchased) or you can opt to keep a copy of your current set up - in which case your pc is restored but this time with a folder containing a copy of your drive including windows, programmes and my docs.

The PC did not come with a copy of XP which concerned mne when I first opened the box. However if I were looking for a new PC today I would certianly like this option.

Anyone know any other manufacturers who provide this?

IvanOpinion

The only important pieces of software to me are
- Microsoft office
- browser (they are all much of a muchness .. which ever one suits your purposes)
- Visual Studio
- Half Life 2, Doom3, Quake 4
- Notepad ++
- axcrypt
- Yahoo mail, gmail (no need for Outlook)

Everything else I load and remove as required.

Ivan

[Deleted User]

I usually make a list before I clean down a PC, too me, these are important

FreeAV (great free virus killer)
WinZip
Crimson Edit (my text editor of choice)
MS Office
WinAmp (mp3/video/anything player)
Skype (free phone calls)
IrfanView (quick photo viewer)
Microsoft Messenger
Firefox
ZoneAlarm (firewall)

There's also some good freebies here:
http://pack.google.com/

Of those, i'd probably install Google Desktop (to find work docs), Ad-Aware SE Personal (spyware remover), Picasa (photo gallery) and maybe Google Earth (fun with maps)