Must have programs

[Shycte]

Long story short, I have a new laptop. A HP Probook 6450b. I have gotten Ccleaner, a good defraggler and all the normal stuff. But I was wondering if there was any good programs that The Escapist might think it is a good idea to get.

I would be delighted by any suggestion.

 

[FallenJellyDoughnut]

Steam

 

[rabidmidget]

Bumptop is pretty awesome but I think it got bought by a different company, but you could probably find a copy lying around somewhere.

Cave story and Alien swarm are some pretty good freeware games.

 

[Dommyboy]

Mozilla Firefox (Browser)
7zip (extractor)
Advanced Systemcare (cleanup)
Peerblock (A spawn of Peer Guardian)
Avast (PC Protection)
K-lite codec pack (codecs)
GIMP (image editing + more)
and Update Checker


That's all I can think of at the moment. All good programs that I use a fair bit, personally. I actually always run Peerblock and use Firefox as my browser.

 

[thylasos]

The free programs that I regularly suggest are OpenOffice.org, Mozilla Firefox and VLC Media Player, also known as the trifecta of open-source programming.

Agreed.

Also, ZDoom.

 

[Shycte]

Chrome.

7zip.

GIMP.

7zip? Kinda like WinRar?

 

[Shycte]

The free programs that I regularly suggest are OpenOffice.org, Mozilla Firefox and VLC Media Player, also known as the trifecta of open-source programming.

Agreed.

Also, ZDoom.

What is that?

 

[Tharwen]

The first thing I put on any (Windows) computer is AVG. Not using antivirus software is just stupid.

I then get iTunes, CCleaner, Firefox/Chrome, N, Steam, GIMP, Visual Studio, Google Earth, Your Freedom and Handbrake.

 

[gl1koz3]

The free programs that I regularly suggest are OpenOffice.org, Mozilla Firefox and VLC Media Player, also known as the trifecta of open-source programming.

Agreed.

Also, ZDoom.

What is that?

Doom port for Windows. Seems to add some features.

P.S.
http://www.google.lv/#hl=lv&biw=1599&bih=909&q=zdoom&aq=f&aqi=g5&aql=&oq=&gs_rfai=&fp=628a93ce7d72043f

 

[Lacsapix]

let the browser-flamewar begin...
ot: Firefox(choise is yours still),7zip,ccleaner,gimp
kinda like everyone is yelling here

 

[EHKOS]

Jdownloader, CCCP codec pack, Google Chrome, Camstudio, magicdisk, and it's not free but Kaspersky internet security.

 

[Steppin Razor]

7zip.
Combined Community Codec Pack and Media Player Classic Homecinema.

 

[Shycte]

The first thing I put on any (Windows) computer is AVG. Not using antivirus software is just stupid.

I then get iTunes, CCleaner, Firefox/Chrome, N, Steam, GIMP, Visual Studio, Google Earth, Your Freedom and Handbrake.

Okay, I know what like half of those thigns are. Never heard of N, your freedom and handbrake.

 

[Tharwen]

The first thing I put on any (Windows) computer is AVG. Not using antivirus software is just stupid.

I then get iTunes, CCleaner, Firefox/Chrome, N, Steam, GIMP, Visual Studio, Google Earth, Your Freedom and Handbrake.

Okay, I know what like half of those thigns are. Never heard of N, your freedom and handbrake.

N is an awesome little freeware game.

Your Freedom is a program that uses VPN tunnelling to bypass internet proxy restrictions.

Handbrake is an application that converts media to different formats and rips DVDs.

 

[thahat]

let the browser-flamewar begin...
ot: Firefox(choise is yours still),7zip,ccleaner,gimp
kinda like everyone is yelling here

indeed @ browserwars..
but simply put:
if you want stuff to work your way firefox
if you want it to be skinny but functional chrome
if you want it to be skinny, functional and SAFE you want opera

i personally have firefox ( with about:config pipelining on, and maximages set to 20 or something ) (makes it faster )

 

[brunothepig]

The free programs that I regularly suggest are OpenOffice.org, Mozilla Firefox and VLC Media Player, also known as the trifecta of open-source programming.

I second these suggestions.
Steam, obviously. Then get Alien Swarm.
7zip is also useful.

 

[thylasos]

The free programs that I regularly suggest are OpenOffice.org, Mozilla Firefox and VLC Media Player, also known as the trifecta of open-source programming.

Agreed.

Also, ZDoom.

What is that?

A slightly fatuous suggestion. It allows you to mount the old .wad files for Doom (and II and Final Doom) and play them in windows, with a couple of modern additions. It is one of my first priorities when I get a new computer, though.

 

[thenumberthirteen]

Most have already been said and I second them.

A few I haven't seen mentioned yet

<url=http://www.erightsoft.com/SUPER.html>SUPER a free program that converts almost any type of movie or audio file into any other.

and

Overdisk it scans your hard drive (or any other drive) and shows disc usage in a nice pie chart. Not so useful for a new PC, but you can clear off a lot of unwanted files this way. I once had an 8gb file as a result of a crashed video project buried away in some subfolder. Good tool for a PC spring clean.

EDIT: Also Core Temp it shows CPU temperature and load. It supports multiple cores so you can see how load is spread across a multi core CPU. It is extra useful if you're having overheating problems. If you have a Logitech G13 Gameboard or G15 Keyboard then it displays the results on the LCD screen.

 

[Marter]

I personally like Paint.NET better than GIMP, so you might want to give that a shot. Loads much faster, but does have fewer features.

 

[freedomweasel]

If you haven't looked at lifehacker.com before, they have some pretty good suggestions, top 10s, and the like for windows, osx and linux.

I don't use windows much, but when I do (see what I did there?) I use:
foobar for my music, VLC for video, EAC for ripping, I use abiword or googledocs for my office needs, chrome, 7zip, and steam. I think that's about everything.