10 Must Softwares for a Freshly Setup Windows Computer
Think back to the time when you got yourself a new computer. Remember that feeling of pride about its breakneck speed and the amount of free space on the hard-disk.
But eventually, as time passes, the computer is no longer an apple of your eye as it loses speed, deteriorates in functionality and reaches a stage where throwing it out of the window seems to be the best option. You are left with no option but to reformat and give it a fresh breath.
One of the causes is trying thousand softwares. Instead, here is a list of 10 Must Have softwares that should start your computing on a different plane; the Zen plane, which will help your computer address most of the issues that arise in a new computer. So here goes…
1. AVG Anti-virus Free
Let’s clear a myth about anti-virus software straightaway. You don’t need to pay to be virus free. Freewares are doing the job well enough. Fortunately, this is not going to be a difficult choice as long as this software is available. Install it, get a first complete system check done for the sake of it and forget it. The only thing to remember is to upgrade the virus database on a daily basis which is an automated process, so it shouldn’t be too difficult.
2. Comodo Firewall Pro
Anti-virus saves you from your own computer and other external storage devices but to get secure from the internet you need a firewall. This acts as a filter between your PC and the internet. The best free option is Comodo. Even if you are not connecting to the internet, it is better to have it.
3. Spybot - Search & Destroy
A computer is not completely secure with an anti-virus and a firewall alone. You need a softwareto take care of spywares and adwares which are not necessarily harmful but can disrupt your surfing experience. Spybot is the best free alternative.
4. CCleaner
CCleaner is an excellent tool to completely uninstall any software from the system and also to erase all your internet surfing data. Very useful when you are working on an alien computer as well.
5 .WinRAR
You will probably be knowing about it already. An excellent compression tool for .zip and .rar files. It’s even better than the famous WinZip as it allows you to extract and compress files without even getting into any kind of interface.
6. VLC Media Player
An all-purpose, all-extensions viewable video watching software. A must if you are a movie buff.
7. IrfanView
Just as VLC Media Player is for video, IrfanView is for images. So have one on your computer immediately.
8. Mozilla Firefox
If you are surfing internet on your PC, which you must be and are using Internet Explorer then STOP. It is a security threat even if you may be using the latest version. Shift to Firefox which is faster, safer and in all respects gives a better internet experience. Even if you find it a bit difficult to move at first, be persistent and you will soon feel at home with firefox.
9. RSS Reader
If you are a regular internet surfer and have still not gotten into RSS then you are missing something big. It is the best and easiest method to learn from the internet, which we all want to do anyway, don’t we? Make a list of all the websites that you regularly visit. Register yourself on Google Reader which is the best online RSS reader. Then subscribe to each website. Now you won’t have to visit those websites to keep track of their latest content. It will come to you.
10. PowerISO / CDBurnerXP
You should have a CD/DVD burning software always at hand. PowerISO is a good utility which also features virtual drives so that you need not burn a CD everytime. But it is a paid software. CDBurnerXP is a free alternative, though not as good as PowerISO.
With these softwares at your disposal right from the start, your computing experience would not be hindered by lack of good softwares. Now, you shouldn’t find a lot of unknown files in your system at all!
Be up-to-date with your computer. Subscribe to our RSS feed!
If you enjoyed the post, please digg it, stumble it or delicious it.
Related Post
- No Related Post
Trackbacks & Pingbacks
10 Must Softwares for a Freshly Setup Windows Computer…
Think back to the time when you got yourself a new computer. Remember that feeling of pride about its breakneck speed and the amount of free space on the hard-disk.
But eventually, as time passes, the computer is no longer an apple of your eye as it l…
Subscribe to XSRealities via RSS
You have some pretty decent suggestion here for pc users after a nice re format! I think my favorite and a must have for xvids is VLC media player! I recommend this player to all reader of this blog and blogengage for sure!
VLC literally plays any type of media! firefox and Power iso are also great applications!
Nice list!
Thanx Brian! Yup VLC media player is my personal favorite as well!
By the way, you are doing a great job at blogengage.com… Keep it up!
Re: Number 8…
I think you may have missed an ‘f’ in the word ’shift’
@ Abhinav Thanks for the kind words and the tracback!
Cheers and ope to see you around!
@ FrostCoolSlug … Oops! What a miss! Will correct it now.. Thanx!
You need to fix you’re link for infanveiw it is going to vlc
web site the other link is here http://www.irfanview.com/
Maybe you should add a spelling and grammar checking program?
WinRAR, is technically shareware even though you can use it forever without registering. I much prefer 7-Zip, which is not only freeware, but also supports more compression types:
* Packing / unpacking: 7z, ZIP, GZIP, BZIP2 and TAR
* Unpacking only: RAR, CAB, ISO, ARJ, LZH, CHM, MSI, WIM, Z, CPIO, RPM, DEB and NSIS
I hope you check it out and if you like it, maybe even change it on your list of must-haves.
I still don’t understand why people insist on installing redundant software, such as a firewall application. I’ve *NEVER* had a virus in the 20 years I’ve been in the industry. The past few years, all I have *EVER* used are Windows Defender, Windows Firewall and Avast. No other program is ever needed. (No, I do not work for Microsoft).
Agreed, i let Windows firewall do it’s thing like yourself, only difference is i install AVG instead of Avast. I prefer WinRAR to 7Zip as it seems to give me less hassle when opening split archives, etc.
Though i took this list as a kind of ”any system with or without Windows” suggestion. As i wouldn’t install quite a few of these apps on a Windows PC myself, and just use the regular MS stuff.
If i had my own list comparing to your own, it wouldn’t look so different i think.
1. AVG. (Also good for 64bit OS users, so i read)
2. None - Use Windows firewall.
3. Spybot SD.
4. Tweaknow Regcleaner- Cleans the registry of uneeded crap.(For the privacy side, a Windows PC with Firefox can do most/all of the important cleanups)
5. WinRAR. (As i said above, as good as 7Zip/Winzip imo, and better at split archives)
6. None - Windows Media Player plays everything with codecs installed from http://www.cccp-project.net . The pack comes with Zoomplayer which is another free video player which is as good as VLC, GOM and any others, imo. Infact, i find GOM to be the best of the lot when working on dual screen displays, just as a note of interest to anyone who has them.
7. None - Windows Picture Viewer (or Windows Photo Gallery on Vista) works fine, why would you need a new app? Unless you wish to edit them, but if so… say pic editor, not a pic ‘viewer’ as it isn’t needed for simply viewing. (At least not on a Windows box)
8. Firefox 3. Also, install the Adblock addon from the Addons site if you’d like a little more protection. NoScript addon if you want super serious browser control/protection.
9. RSS Reader, really neccessary? I have tried the Windows and Firefox ones and didnt really think much of them. With all my favourite links on Firefox’s ‘Bookmark Toolbar’ all my most visited news sites are 1 click away anyway. Plus RSS only picks up the channels you ask it to, i often like exploring other bits/links i see when i visit any page.
10. Daemon Tools is good for drive emulation, for burning? Can’t say i do much burning since i just use harddrives for backup. They’re cheap enough nowadays. I would say DVD Flick is nice for movies, from experience… but for regular burning? I haven’t tried freebies out, since i have Nero.
Hope i mentioned a few alternate ideas. Software is pretty much a personal choice tbh, whatever you find easiest yourself.
“Fat”, VLC is a better alternative to WMP, and just because you can use 3rd party codecs to make it better doesn’t mean it wouldn’t be easier to just download VLC, and Windows Picture Viewer can’t open a large number of image files, lots of people need to open more than 2 or 3 types of images.
@mike Thanks.. Fixed!
@James Oh I am sorry that you think so… I will try my best to improve.
@Steven Yup, 7-Zip is also a good software but the reason I recommended Winrar is that it is a very light-weight and quick tool and everything can be done without even going into the interface of the software. It supports most of the extensions including Linux as well.
@BrianThe only reason I don’t use Windows Firewall is because it doesn’t give any information. With a software like Comodo, you know what all is happening with your computer and the internet and you have complete control.
@Fat That’s a very good list. CCleaner includes registry cleaning as well. Its a complete tool and hence I included it in the list.
Windows Picture Viewer does the job pretty well, but I recommended Irfanview because it is again a complete tool in itself with exhaustive information about the image you are viewing and batch processes which lets you do simple editing in a jiffy. Irfanview has helped me a lot.
I will look into GOM and other softwares. Though VLC has established itself as the best for various types of movie extensions.
Bookmarks are fine buddy, but RSS Feeds serve a different purpose. With it, you can stay updated in your area of interests and also of latest news. I don’t think there can be any alternative to RSS. You need not stop looking for new websites. Social Media does that.
@Boing Agree with you…
Another nice app to decompress is UniExtract (http://www.legroom.net/software/uniextract). It allows you extract almost anything which has compression(installers and stuff included). If it can’t figure out how to decompress it can guess or you can select a compression kind.
Did you know that AVG v8 scans the internet when your PC is inactive? I don’t like that.
Sorry for double comments, but maybe this is better choice:
http://www.free-av.com/
AVG is a scam…I bought the download upgrade for 72.00, never recived it. I tried everything, could not get it off my credit card, and the Company does not respond, ever. Beware. Try Windows One Care…excellent product.
i m looking for such article. thanks.
f*ck WinRar 7-Zip way better!!!!!
also i prefer avira anti virus
Is it really necessary to download an image and movie viewer separately? And don’t most PC’s come with some sort of program for at least viewing movies and images on a basic level? Seems a little unnecessary to me.
@Sealy Mattresses Yes Windows comes with its own image and video viewer but the above software enhance the functionality by giving new features. Try them out and see the difference for yourself!
It’s funny I just downloaded VLC for my old lady’s laptop and it is jam packed with crap now. I must have said no thanks to about 10 applications when installing it!
nice article…
but dont u think u shud add KLM codec there… even after having VLC u sometime need it.