What essentials programmes to install?

A.Penny.Saved wrote: »

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.