What essentials programmes to install?

Neil_Jones

7-Zip comes in useful on occasion for some downoads, I have personally never seen the point of multiple clipboards in Windows as I managed to survive with just the one (the fact Windows 10 now supports them is arbituary to myself personally), and as for suggesting Handbrake... yeah let's not go there considering the OP's other posts on this computer

that

AndyPix wrote: »

Why on earth would you install all that to do internet shopping, banking and 'usual browsing' ??
Mind = boggled

Ok, the the video converter and editor stuff could be overboard, but the rest is legit for me, often much easier to take a screenshot and annotate it, and often I want to record the screen in real time too. Think you might be painting the user into a small box, rather than one which grows?

It is just a suggestion, and I am very sure she is able to work out what she wants and needs

AndyPix

that wrote: »

Think you might be painting the user into a small box, rather than one which grows?

Not really, just looking at what was asked , which was quite specific ..
I cant see how a user who specified "shopping and banking" - should be offered up handbrake as an 'essential program' lol

onomatopoeia99

AndyPix wrote: »

I cant see how a user who specified "shopping and banking" - should be offered up handbrake as an 'essential program' lol

Nor can I. I certainly wouldn't suggest it to my mother, who uses her laptop for the same things as the OP.

One essential program I installed on her computer was teamviewer, so I can log in remotely to fix things, rather than her describing what she sees on the screen to me over the telephone (or worse, me having to drive 120 miles each way to fix it in person). Best thing I ever did in proving my parents with technical support. Obviously its only helpful if one has a person at the other end of a phone call that can provide meaningful assistance using it.

Neil_Jones

Teamviewer has an annoying habit sometimes of deciding that you're using it for business/commercial purposes for no obvious reason. There are other solutions that do the same job but some of them require setting up first.

I really like TightVNC (I use it on the odd occasion where I need my desktop to do something but I'm watching something on TV as I use the TV as a monitor so I can control the computer from TightVNC) and I'd like to extend it as a backup to TeamViewer for when I can connect remotely to fix something that's stopped working at the parents house. But I need to set up port forwarding for this and the benefit of TeamViewer is you don't need any of that crap, it just works. Until the software decides otherwise...

mksysb

Keepassx and a note taking app.

Chino

Neil_Jones wrote: »

Edge (as comes with Windows 10 by default, not the later one due out today or tomorrow) sucks.

What specifically about it "sucks"? Or are you just spouting a line you feel it's fashionable to repeat?

A.Penny.Saved

There are programs that she currently will not use until the day comes when she does require them and then will have to search for something to do the job. 7-Zip is the obvious one but less obvious is HashTab. It can be very helpful to check software is free of Malware. If the OP has downloaded something which she wants to install and the built in antivirus which is usually pretty hopeless IMO, says it is clean. But is it? Virus total will provide a check with all/most available anti-malware software, around 45. The software does not need to be uploaded which takes time and bandwidth, all that is needed is a file hash which HashTab can provide. All integrated into explorer file properties, where there is an extra hashing tab.

Use Sandboxie, you might need some help setting this up to work well. Then run all your internet applications inside a sandbox which keeps any advert malware off your system. Many people have fallen foul of that type of malware, it is a risk of browsing the internet with an none sandboxed browser. Now many browsers are meant to provide some inbuilt sandboxes but I would not trust them because malware writers could always find ways around them IMO. Without proper configuration all files will be saved inside the sandbox rather than where you were saving them.

I am not using Win 10 therefore I do not know what is included by default therefore I cannot make suggestions without risk of being shot down "it's included with win 10!".

Personally I like a clipboard viewer so I know what is in my clipboard, that type of program might be included.
http://www.freeclipboardviewer.com

A browser would be a good idea. I really dislike microsoft browsers because they are so limited with very little in the way of extensions that I need. I dislike using screens with white backgrounds which are very hard on the eyes. I replace them with dark backgrounds which are far easier to read and far more comfortable. Dark Background and Light Text extension for firefox does that for me very well. A very old version is best IMO but that will not work with current firefox builds. Some people like Opera browser which is a browser that I despise.

Getting/purchasing or using an older hard disk from an older PC inside your newer PC in order to save files and to use as a scratchpad. Does your older PC have a hard drive that you could use?

SSD's should not be continually written to because it wears the memory cells out. Only use the SSD for the Operating system and program installs.

debitcardmayhem

Apenny w10 pro has a sandbox in it:o

A.Penny.Saved

Far more limited than Sandboxie like all M$ software.