Software Essentials?

[The Vinyl Adventure]

Just going through the final stages of installing all the software I need on the laptop

"Lightroom" & "photoshop" for photo editing
"Filezilla" for ftp
"notepad ++" for writing/editing code
"open office" for word processing etc
"chrome" for web browsing
"avg free" for virus protection
"drop box" for file sharing
"soluto" for turning off start up crap - as recommended by someone on here
"spotify" for music
"itunes" for the iphone

I think thats all my essentials

what are your essentials
are there any gooduns out there for getting the best out of 64bit windows 7 home premium
anything anyone else would recommend

[Techno Commander]

I would get rid of avg and use avast (http://www.avast.com/en-gb/index) instead.
I used to be a happy avg user, but a couple of years back, it became very bloated and much slowed the pc down. Installed avast and havent looked back.

[Reid Malenfant]

I'm not sure if it'll work on windows 7 but Spybot Search & Destroy would be on my wish list as well as CCleaner. Both are free...

A good defragmentation program would be a must as well, from what i have seen all windoze defraggers are a pile of poop :eyebrows:

You could try looking to see if there happens to be a Win7 defragmentation program from the same people that released VoptXP, trust me it'd be worth paying for it if it's as good as this that i'm using ;)

E2A:- Vopt used to be available on a 30 day free trial, you have little to lose & a lot to gain if things are still as they were..

[spendorman]

My list would also include Spybot/ Adaware/ Malwarebytes, Ccleaner, Defraggler, Winamp, VLC Player and prob some others.

Mind you, on my Linux Mint setup, a lot of stuff useful is already there, eg Open Office.

[spendorman]

I would get rid of avg and use avast (http://www.avast.com/en-gb/index) instead.
I used to be a happy avg user, but a couple of years back, it became very bloated and much slowed the pc down. Installed avast and havent looked back.

Much the same thoughts here, but trying AVG again recently, think it has improved. However, I do like Avast.

[smurfbrain]

Auslogics disc defrag program is much better than windows built in and its free as well.

[spendorman]

Auslogics disc defrag program is much better than windows built in and its free as well.

I would have recommended this one, prefer it slightly over Defraggler, but I could not remember the name! and I'm using laptop with Linux at the moment, no need for a defrag prog with this as far as I know.

[Tim]

I'm not a fan of AVG or Avast and always pay for Anti-Virus, perosnally I think it's a must to buy one. NOD32 is very good IMO and has a very small footprint.
Other stuff I like
VLC
Ccleaner
Defraggler
Speccy
IMGBurn
EAC & Foobar2000
Allway Sync for backups
Daemon Tools for virtual CD/DVD drives, plays ISO's etc.
Eraser for secure removal of data
Truecrypt for secure storage.
FastStone Capture and Photo Resizer are very good tools too.

Finally, if you don't want to pay for A/V etc, Microsoft Security Essentials is a one stop package that works very well http://www.microsoft.com/security_essentials/

[Welder]

Media Player Classic and Reclock...............forget about the rest ;)

[slate]

Never used AVG; but have Avast running on my PCs and the ones I maintain.
Hearing good things about Microsoft Security Essentials.

CCleaner - for the monthly cleanup; watch your cookies
TotalCommander - files, zipping and sync of music library+backup

VLC; the media armyknife... if it just supported hardware accelleration for more formats than one

Soluto - for my PCs. When it leaves beta it will be used for others

SlimDrivers - been using this for a month; looks promising; works better than Driver Easy

CPU-Z, GPU-Z, SpeedFan for pooking around

TeamViewer - remote support for parents, uncles, brother in London, sister in Spain, others...

[Alex_UK]

CCleaner definitely. An AVG alternative - I've been trialling Microsoft's free AV software recently, and IMO it is very good - Microsoft security Essentials: - small footprint and low impact on performance, and so far no Malware problems at all. Not a good option if you hate Microsoft though!

[Tim]

Not a good option if you hate Microsoft though!
You mean there are people out there who don't like Microsoft? ;)

[Jac Hawk]

Avast is great and free so why look anywhere else, as far as other software, most people have suggested the main things, but a few that aren't on the lists are MGTEK dopisp for connecting your ipod to any other media player than itunes, dbpoweramp is just the best piece of software i've come across for CD ripping and general dicking around with yer toons, DVD-A solo is a great disk burning program and one of the only ones that will burn DVD-A.

[Tim]

Avast is great and free so why look anywhere else, as far as other software, most people have suggested the main things, but a few that aren't on the lists are MGTEK dopisp for connecting your ipod to any other media player than itunes, dbpoweramp is just the best piece of software i've come across for CD ripping and general dicking around with yer toons, DVD-A solo is a great disk burning program and one of the only ones that will burn DVD-A.
Avast maybe free, but that does mean it has limitations? If you want a free package, then Microsoft Security Essentials is a better option. But to be honest, I would never trust my A/V to a free product, but that's just me. But I do see the results of these so called 'free alternatives' everyday at work. They don't often protect you as well as you would think?

[aquapiranha]

No need for anti-virus on this laptop as I use Ubuntu on it. You can ave AV on Linux, but mostly to stop spreading virus rather than catching one, if you see what I mean! As for essentials, well there is always pr0n! :lol:

[Jac Hawk]

Avast maybe free, but that does mean it has limitations? If you want a free package, then Microsoft Security Essentials is a better option. But to be honest, I would never trust my A/V to a free product, but that's just me. But I do see the results of these so called 'free alternatives' everyday at work. They don't often protect you as well as you would think?

I've used AVAST without any ill affects for the past 3 years, there are NO AV products that are 100%, at the end of the day it's down to what you trust, AVAST hasn't let me down as yet, is inobtrusive and ohhh yes it's free.... think i said that last bit already:lolsign:

[The Vinyl Adventure]

Previous to AVG I'd used mcaffee or norton or whatnot, but they seemed to take over your pc ... AVG seemed so much quicker and less intrusive by comparison. I'd not thought about looking at anything else really ... The Microsoft idea seems interesting... I dot really have issue with Microsoft like some do?
Ccleaner looks good!
Db power amp I have on the home pc...
Is defragging really worth while is it ... I just remember it taking an age and not doing much...

[goraman]

Hammish,
You should get TruCrypt(FREE) and Quicken.
If you use Itunes get Tuneup comanion it's worth it just for finding the artwork alone.

[The Vinyl Adventure]

I tunes is just to sync the iPhone to back up the apps in case I loose the phone ...
What I don't get is how you are supposed to back up on a new computer ... I can autherise a new iTunes on a new computer to work with this iPhone ... But when I o to sync it tells me it's going to take the apps from pc and remove the ones from the phone ... That's not syncing that's deleting the content of the phone .. Anyone else suffered this shite?

[Tim]

I tunes is just to sync the iPhone to back up the apps in case I loose the phone ...
What I don't get is how you are supposed to back up on a new computer ... I can autherise a new iTunes on a new computer to work with this iPhone ... But when I o to sync it tells me it's going to take the apps from pc and remove the ones from the phone ... That's not syncing that's deleting the content of the phone .. Anyone else suffered this shite?

Charlie Brooker once said "The most fun you can have with an iPhone, is to poke its insufferable owner in the eye" ;)

I'm not a lover of iPhones........ :cool:

[The Vinyl Adventure]

I agree with the man!
He has an iPhone too though you know ... Or at least he has owned one ...

Unfortunately I think they are one of the best inventions of the 21st century ...
I can now do stuff I never knew I even wanted to do ... Like taking a shit and watching eastenders at the same time!! ;)


Charlie Brooker is a very funny man, he is one person I rarely disagree with ... But he does also sum up everything that is wrong with our society ... Very quick to point out all it's flaws ... But does fuck all about it ... He is the perfect example of a product of our time! Bloody funny though!

[Tim]

Bloody funny though!
That he is, makes me chuckle all the time......... and I guess one day I may have to get one, but as I don't watch Eastenders I think I can get by for now ;)

[The Vinyl Adventure]

Did you watch newswipe?
If so did you see doug Stanhope on there ... Sort of US equivalent of Charlie Brooker ... Another very funny man!

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[The Vinyl Adventure]

On the iPhone again, I used to say they were for suckers and boring people ... Until I bought one for work ... I took my comments back promptly ... I got so much greif off my iPhone using mates!!

[jbloggs]

My essential freeware would be:

Avast (http://www.avast.com/free-antivirus-download) use this on 3 of my comps, find it better than Microsoft Security Essentials, and wouldn't bother with AVG.

Malwarebytes (http://www.malwarebytes.org/) don't bother with Spybot as it got quite bloated.

Spywareblaster (http://www.javacoolsoftware.com/sbdownload_setup.html)

CCleaner (http://www.piriform.com/ccleaner)

Feeddemon (http://www.feeddemon.com/)

Media Player Classic Home Cinema (http://www.xvidvideo.ru/media-player-classic-home-cinema-x86-x64/)

VLC Media Player (http://www.videolan.org/vlc/)

Windows 7 Codecs (http://shark007.net/win7codecs.html)

For those interested a decent list of freeware utilities can be found Here (http://forums.overclockers.co.uk/showthread.php?t=17701152)

[spendorman]

This is one I forgot, Volumouse:

http://www.snapfiles.com/get/volumouse.html

I find it very useful