10 Essential Apps For A New PC
November 6th, 2009
I just set up a newly purchased Windows PC, and I decided to keep track of the programs I consider important to getting up an running. Here is what I have so far, and I am open to suggestions:
- Firefox: http://www.mozilla.com/en-US/products/download.html
- VLC Video Player (this baby will play anything) http://www.videolan.org/vlc/
- Uninstall Norton Antivirus – even if it’s free. Same with McAffee Antivirus. Stay away from these bloated apps! If you want virus protection, I suggest AVG Anti-virus Free Edition: http://free.avg.com/us-en/download
- Flash Player: http://fpdownload.adobe.com/get/flashplayer/current/install_flash_player.exe
- Open Office: http://download.openoffice.org/ (you’ll need this unless you have MS Office)
- iTunes (includes Quicktime): http://www.apple.com/itunes/download/
- Primo PDF lets you print/save to a PDF: http://www.primopdf.com
- Skype: http://download.skype.com/SkypeSetup.exe)
- Pidgin multiple IM client: http://sourceforge.net/projects/pidgin/
- I usually install the following 10 Firefox add-ons. Not all will be useful to you, but the first 5-6 might be:
- Ad Block Plus (ABP) – a must for blocking ads while browsing
- Google Toolbar for Firefox
- Shareaholic – delicious and other social bookmarks and sharing
- Tab Mix Plus
- Extended Copy Menu – lets you copy as plain text without all the formatting
- Personas – lets you put skins on Firefox (I like the carbon fiber designs)
- Echofon (formerly TwitterFox)
- TinyURL Generator – I use this to shorten links for Twitter
- Web Developer
- Firebug
Optional:
- HFS explorer – Reads mac file systems from a PC, if you need that sort of thing. Great for those who run Bootcamp or are switching between mac and PC: http://sourceforge.net/projects/catacombae/
- Silverlight – This might come preinstalled on some PCs, but just in case: http://silverlight.net/getstarted/
- Adobe Reader http://get.adobe.com/reader/- Preinstalled on most PCs (PrimoPDF can also view PDFs and takes up much less space)
