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Review: The Must Have Windows Programs?

T

TheNewGuy8

Limp Gawd
Joined
Feb 12, 2006
Messages
182
I'm going to be building a PC again soon, mostly for gaming and intensive work. I've been on a mac for the past 2 years, and love it, but I miss many things from Windows (gaming, for a big one).

Anyway, I'm very unfamiliar with the software side of things on Windows at the moment. I'll be getting Vista Home Premium x64.

What is the defacto virus protection scheme now? A few years ago it was a paid subscrip. to Norton or McCafee with Spybot and Adware. Windows Firewall turned on. I even used Zone Alarm for a while, what an annoyance that was.

But I'm unfamiliar with the new built-in tools that Windows has.


So security: what are the best programs people use?

utilities: things like Nero or Alochol?

Biggies like Adobe suite and Office I've got covered.
 
You're asking a question that doesn't have any definitive answers. There are several good free AV software packages, as well anti-spyware packages as well. There's been countless threads on these very topics in the Software forum, so if you read through them, you'll get a feel for what's recommended the most.

As for other utilities, no one really can answer that because no one else knows what you plan to do with your computer or how you need to use it. There are plenty of free burning apps as well, such as CDBurnerXP, BurnAware, etc.
 
Like Deacon said we have a lot of good options for software even on the free side and checking out the forum should help you decide what you want to try.

For a paid anti virus I personally love and have used Trend Micro for over 6 years now maybe longer. Personally nothing made by Norton has been allowed to touch my PC in that time. I just got fed up with the problems. I am sure the business software they offer is great but all my needs are covered with out it. NOD32 is often looked upon as one of the best and lightest AV but I am happy with Trend Micro.

On the free side I recommend AVG to the people I know personally who wont pay.

For my burning needs I still use Nero and Alcohol but a lot of good free options out now. To me it all comes down to the interface so I use what I know.

While it isn't something you mentioned Vista will handle things like defrag on it's own just fine if you don't mess with it. In fact leave it alone is my motto when it comes to tweaking Vista. I am running a Vista 64 install that is almost 2 years old now with out experiencing any OS related problems or slowdowns.

But again do your self a favor and read over the forums here and decide for your self. I have had personal experiences with Norton and McAfee AV about 6 years ago that with out a doubt impact my personal option of these products.
 
Stript the bloatware that comes with the system

NOD32 for paid antivirus, for free antivirus AntiVir. Especially if you're into gaming..Avast is heavy, AVG is useless (and kills systems a lot with false positives lately)

As for other software..hard to answer...it's different for everyone...depends on what you mainly use your system for.

I prefer firefox for browsing, because of the adblocker utility.

Built in Windows buring for CD, or if you want more..CDBurnerXPPro...does everything I need, runs well, doesn't hose up systems, and it's free.
 
Some people say Avast is heavy but I have to disagree, runs well on my system I don't think it bogs it down at all. NOD32 is not what it used to be.
 
number69 said:
Some people say Avast is heavy but I have to disagree, runs well on my system I don't think it bogs it down at all. NOD32 is not what it used to be.
Click to expand...

I used to think Avast was heavy, but now I think its pretty good. AVG was good to me till version8 which sucks imo. And I agree NOD32 is not what it used to be... nor AVG for that matter.
 
DeaconFrost said:
You're asking a question that doesn't have any definitive answers.
Click to expand...

Absolutely. The answer to the "What software do I need?" question is "Depends upon what you plan to do!"


YeOldeStonecat said:
Stript the bloatware that comes with the system
Click to expand...

I honestly think that, nowadays, that's irrelevent advice and that it has been so for a long, long time. The inclusions in the Windows OS that some people like to call 'bloatware' do add the tiniest of tiny 'footprints' in the form of background services. Some of them, anyways. But whilst that tiny footprint can be 'measured' as being there, it really doesn't degrade performance to any sort of perceptible level. It really doesn't 'matter'. Hasn't really done so since back about, to put an arbitrary figure to it, the time when we all started having 1GHz+ CPUs and 512Mb+ RAM in our rigs.

Nowadays people removing OS inclusions are really only doing so because it irks them to see the things there, and people claiming that it makes their systems 'work better' are really only remarking upon placebo effect.



TheNewGuy8,with your move to Vista don't start by stripping stuff out of the OS and adding lots of software that people recommend you 'need'. Instead, start with a default install and use/explore that thoroughly over a period of at least several weeks, to get a 'feel' for what it can do for you. And as you do so, add only the software you find you need to do the tasks you want to perform and the things that the OS won't itself do for you.

One of the biggest benefits Vista brings is that you need less of a 'junkyard assemblage' of third-party software and tools. Avail yourself of that advantage and you'll potentially have less chance of making your system clunky and unstable or problemmatic.



Initially you'll need AV protection. For personal, home use a freebie such as AVG free or Avast free is perfectly good enough.

Check out the burning capabilities of Vista itself, because it's quite likerly that some of your requirements will be met well enough just by the OS, but I'd suggest a fully featured burning suite is a good addition. I like including Nero Premium in the standard arsenal. The 'bloatware soapboxers' pooh pooh that'n, but it undeniably adds a helluva lot of functionality to the rig. Not just burning, but also better-than-basic image, audio and video editing and management tools. And if you ensure that, when installing and configuring it, you have the thing configured to run 'on demand' rather than loading at startup and running in the background, having it doesn't really create detrimental 'bloat'.

I also like to add a hardware monitoring/reporting tool to the rig, so that temps etc can be monitored. I personally use Everest Ultimate, because I personally think it to be the best on offer. Again, though, I have it running 'on demand' rather than auto-loading and running all the time. I fire it up every few days, to check that the hardware health is still in good order, or maybe run it for more extended periods during unusually hot weather. (Iverclocking is fun, but anybody constantly running their rig so far overclocked that temps have to be monitored 24/7 is a bloody goose!)



That's about it, far as I'm concerned. Whatever else software you need on YOUR system depends upon what you plan to do on your system!

:D
 
Here's my list of must-haves: All of these are free, most are open source.

CD Burning: InfraRecorder - handles creating ISOs as well

Image Viewer: IrfanView - also useful for cropping, rotation, etc.

Paint.net - Best free image editor ever. I think if more people knew about paint.net, there would be a lot less pirated copies of Photoshop in use. (not that its a complete replacement for Photoshop, but unless you're working professionally, Paint.net should be sufficient.)

IZArc: Use this instead of WinZip. Handles .rar files and doesn't pester you to register.

Launchy: Launch programs with the keyboard instead of pissing around in the Start menu. Trust me - try this one out.

VLC: My personal favorite media player - for movies, anyway. I still haven't found anything I really like for music. I end up going back to WinAmp by default.
 
Whe the hell said anything about Windows services? "Bloatware" is the useless crap that many OEMs install on the PCs. "Trialware", tons of brand specific utilities and drivers, ad-ware, etc. Purchase any new Dell home PC, or look at Lenovos laptops lately. There's about 88 useless and nagging packages you can uninstall. Dell even has Ad-ware!

It's gotten so bad there are even programs out there now to remove this stuff...Google search "PC DeCrapifier".

Many people who have the knowhow, when they get a new PC, prefer to wipe it, and build it clean from the OS CD installing only what they need.

Catweazle said:
I honestly think that, nowadays, that's irrelevent advice and that it has been so for a long, long time. The inclusions in the Windows OS that some people like to call 'bloatware' do add the tiniest of tiny 'footprints' in the form of background services. Some of them, anyways. But whilst that tiny footprint can be 'measured' as being there, it really doesn't degrade performance to any sort of perceptible level. It really doesn't 'matter'. Hasn't really done so since back about, to put an arbitrary figure to it, the time when we all started having 1GHz+ CPUs and 512Mb+ RAM in our rigs.
Click to expand...
 
Misunderstood what you were saying then, YeOldeStonecat. Prolly because the topic isn't about a preinstalled, proprietary system. It's about a system which the bloke is building himself, and gonna be installing Windows to as a clean install!
 
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