After five years with my old Win98 computer, I finally purchased a new computer a week ago and received the package today. What are some essential things I should download, especially security programs and things that I should do? I already have Firefox. Winzip? Other essential apps?
-
Hey, guest user. Hope you're enjoying NeoGAF! Have you considered registering for an account? Come join us and add your take to the daily discourse.
Just got my new computer, what should I do?
- Thread starter Akira
- Start date
- Status
CDex is a great free cd ripping program a must have! http://www.cdex.n3.net/
MrAngryFace
Banned
adultpass
You already have Firefox, so that takes care of #1 on the list. Don't forget to install all of the "browser enhancement" programs, like Flash Player and Adobe Acrobat Reader.
Some other mostly free applications you might enjoy:
Firewall: Zone Alarm (free; $$$ for ZA Pro)
Spyware checkers/cleaners: Ad-Aware and Spybot: Search & Destroy (free; you need both)
Email: Thunderbird (free) or Eudora ($$$)
Music: iTunes (free) or Winamp (free)
Chat: Trillian (free; $$$ for Trillian Pro)
OpenOffice is decent if you can't afford MS Office, but I absolutely hated it when I used it. It wasn't worth my time and frustration to relearn a user interface that I've been using for over a decade.
I don't think you NEED Winzip if your new PC has Windows XP installed, since it can read ZIP files, but YMMV.
If you do any kind of digital photography, it's probably worth it to invest in a copy of Photoshop Elements 2.0.
Don't forget about the free PowerToys available from Microsoft. TweakUI is useful, and the XP PowerToys include a really nifty graphing calculator.
Finally, you don't mention if your new PC has any kind of 3-D accelerator, but you might download and enjoy Wolfenstein: Enemy Territory (which is free) if you like first-person shooters. The Unreal Tournament 2004 demo is also free, but you'll want to buy the full game if your PC can handle it.
Some other mostly free applications you might enjoy:
Firewall: Zone Alarm (free; $$$ for ZA Pro)
Spyware checkers/cleaners: Ad-Aware and Spybot: Search & Destroy (free; you need both)
Email: Thunderbird (free) or Eudora ($$$)
Music: iTunes (free) or Winamp (free)
Chat: Trillian (free; $$$ for Trillian Pro)
OpenOffice is decent if you can't afford MS Office, but I absolutely hated it when I used it. It wasn't worth my time and frustration to relearn a user interface that I've been using for over a decade.
I don't think you NEED Winzip if your new PC has Windows XP installed, since it can read ZIP files, but YMMV.
If you do any kind of digital photography, it's probably worth it to invest in a copy of Photoshop Elements 2.0.
Don't forget about the free PowerToys available from Microsoft. TweakUI is useful, and the XP PowerToys include a really nifty graphing calculator.
Finally, you don't mention if your new PC has any kind of 3-D accelerator, but you might download and enjoy Wolfenstein: Enemy Territory (which is free) if you like first-person shooters. The Unreal Tournament 2004 demo is also free, but you'll want to buy the full game if your PC can handle it.
Saint Cornelius
Banned
MAME
BlackSalad
Member
DoW Beta
i just reinstalled XP a week ago, so i'm in a similar situation.
Somewhat in order of importance, all free:
Sygate Personal Firewall
Firefox and Thunderbird (or if you want integrated web/email/news/IRC, Mozilla)
Spybot Search & Destroy and Ad-Aware
Winamp (iTunes is good for easily tagging files, but beware of the "keep music organized" feature)
Zoomplayer for video (more streamlined than Windows Media Player
Irfanview for viewing damn near any image format
Zipgenius if you need compression support beyond ZIP
Deepburner and/or Burnatonce for CD/DVD burning (not sure if BAO does DVDs)
Filezilla (if you need a good FTP program)
Open Office is a great office suite comparable to MS Office. You will need to spend some time learning the interface though. If you don't want to do that and still want a legal office solution, drop by a computer show or check online for Office 97. It's got the best feature to bloat ratio of all the MS Offices, and can be had for roughly $35. i'm still looking for a good freeware word processor that is compatible with Office and more open formats.
Bitcomet is my current Bittorrent program at the moment. Nice interface, and the upload/download speed limiting is extremly accurate. Only downside is that you can't set limits to exactly how much you seed.
Anti-Vir and AVG are two freeware virus apps. But i haven't had a virus since '96, so i'm not too worried about reinstalling them now.
Zone Alarm and Norton Antivirus are off of my list of recommended apps due to serious problems using them. ZA killed my internet access completely, and NA had a nasty uninstall the left files (one loaded with Windows) and when i deleted the folder, it killed my internet connection as well. Had to edit the registry to complete delete it.
Exact Audio Copy is my CD ripper. Tons of features and can rip and encode to MP3 quite easily. If you need a good format to rip to and can spare the hard drive space, check out FLAC. Lossless compression for true CD-quality sound, though filesizes are roughly 5MB per minute of audio.
i'd also recommend setting a system restore point immediately.
Somewhat in order of importance, all free:
Sygate Personal Firewall
Firefox and Thunderbird (or if you want integrated web/email/news/IRC, Mozilla)
Spybot Search & Destroy and Ad-Aware
Winamp (iTunes is good for easily tagging files, but beware of the "keep music organized" feature)
Zoomplayer for video (more streamlined than Windows Media Player
Irfanview for viewing damn near any image format
Zipgenius if you need compression support beyond ZIP
Deepburner and/or Burnatonce for CD/DVD burning (not sure if BAO does DVDs)
Filezilla (if you need a good FTP program)
Open Office is a great office suite comparable to MS Office. You will need to spend some time learning the interface though. If you don't want to do that and still want a legal office solution, drop by a computer show or check online for Office 97. It's got the best feature to bloat ratio of all the MS Offices, and can be had for roughly $35. i'm still looking for a good freeware word processor that is compatible with Office and more open formats.
Bitcomet is my current Bittorrent program at the moment. Nice interface, and the upload/download speed limiting is extremly accurate. Only downside is that you can't set limits to exactly how much you seed.
Anti-Vir and AVG are two freeware virus apps. But i haven't had a virus since '96, so i'm not too worried about reinstalling them now.
Zone Alarm and Norton Antivirus are off of my list of recommended apps due to serious problems using them. ZA killed my internet access completely, and NA had a nasty uninstall the left files (one loaded with Windows) and when i deleted the folder, it killed my internet connection as well. Had to edit the registry to complete delete it.
Exact Audio Copy is my CD ripper. Tons of features and can rip and encode to MP3 quite easily. If you need a good format to rip to and can spare the hard drive space, check out FLAC. Lossless compression for true CD-quality sound, though filesizes are roughly 5MB per minute of audio.
i'd also recommend setting a system restore point immediately.
DaCocoBrova
Finally bought a new PSP, but then pushed the demon onto someone else. Jesus.
Nice i was gonna ask this very same question next week.
I do have one question though. Where can you get a Video and Audio codec pack that has just about everything in it? I hate not being able to play some stupid file just cause one driver screws it up for all the rest.
Also SP2 should i install that first before i configure anything else once i'm done doing a fresh install?
I do have one question though. Where can you get a Video and Audio codec pack that has just about everything in it? I hate not being able to play some stupid file just cause one driver screws it up for all the rest.
Also SP2 should i install that first before i configure anything else once i'm done doing a fresh install?
The Bookerman
Member
al4a
- Status