Weekend Open Forum: What are your software essentials?

User Comments: 77

1. October 16, 2011 6:41 AM
   Guest said:

   Avast, uTorrent

   

   Reply
2. October 16, 2011 6:50 AM
   fpsgamerJR62 said:

   Browsers - Opera, Chrome, Firefox, IE ( including betas and nightly builds )

   Utilities - CCleaner, K-Lite Codec Pack Full, Auslogic Disk Defrag / Defraggler, Iolo System

   Mechanic Professional

   Anti-Virus - Avast, Malwarebytes, SUPERAntiSpyware, Windows Defender

   Office Suite - Libre Office ( used to be Microsoft Office but you can't beat the price of this suite )

   Also trying out Kingsoft Office, free for 1 year and claims to be 100% compatible

   with MS Office 2007 / 2010

   Reply
3. October 16, 2011 8:05 AM
   Kraemepoo said:

   Firefox

   Winamp

   MSE

   Adobe reader

   Adobe Flash

   7-Zip

   Steam + associated games

   Speedfan

   RSA Secure ID

   CDex

   Malwarebytes

   Irfanview

   Reply
4. October 16, 2011 8:05 AM
   

   Chris Cornell said:

   Avast! antivirus, Steam, CC Cleaner, Chrome and Opera

   Reply
5. October 16, 2011 8:14 AM
   Atham said:

   In no order:

   Chrome

   MS Office 2007

   Windows Explorer

   ImgBurn

   AMD Overdrive

   DVD Maker

   Game Booster

   Fraps

   Reply
6. October 16, 2011 8:27 AM
   Guest said:

   I use Mozilla Aurora, a beta that I'm surprised that more users haven't listed. I also use Avant and Comodo and Ausologics free downloads. My computer is a Maingear Vybe with I5-2500 and 120SSD.

   Now some energetic soul should sort this material and list most popular by category.

   Felix

   Sanibel, FL

   Reply
7. October 16, 2011 9:31 AM
   Guest said:

   Browser Mozilla Aurora

   Browser Sea Monkey

   AV Avast

   Firewall Comodo

   Email Thunderbird

   Regis Cleaner Ausologics

   Defrag Ausoligics

   Word process Open Office Org

   Spread Sheet Open Office Org but I was rasied on Lotus (The Best)

   Reply
8. October 16, 2011 9:33 AM
   rick4651 said:

   rick4651 after windows 7: avast,open office,advanced system care, registry fix 8, lastpass,skype, teamview 6, Chrome

   Reply
9. October 16, 2011 9:56 AM
   ET3D, TechSpot Paladin, said:

   It depends on whether it's my main machine or not. The base list is:

   - Microsoft Security Essentials

   - Flash

   - Adobe Reader

   The rest is fluid based on machine. On my laptop I use IE9 for browsing and gmail for mail, but on my desktop I use Firefox (3.6) and Thunderbird. On my laptop I only have City of Heroes and Everquest II Extended installed as games, but on my desktop I have Steam for most games, and would consider it essential (but of course also has CoH and EQ2X).

   Still, I think the desktop is the representative, so here's a list (not comprehensive and in no particular order):

   - Firefox

   - Thunderbird

   - IZArc

   - SoftMaker Office

   - Paragon Hard Disk Manager (for backup)

   - Steam

   - Skype

   - Visual Studio

   - VirtualBox

   - Irfanview

   - Paint.NET

   Reply
10. October 16, 2011 11:19 AM
    Guest said:

    Mozilla Firefox

    Photoshop

    Dreamweaver

    Flash

    Notepad ++

    Context

    VLC (To play things windows can't)

    Convert X to DVD

    XAMPP

    Windows Live Messanger

    Skype

    Trillian

    Steam

    Wireshark

    Microsoft Office 2010

    Kaspersky Internet Security

    CCleaner

    Daemon Tools lite

    Adobe Reader

    Flux (Great little tool if you don't really like bright screens)

    Fraps

    Google Chrome

    HD Tune

    IMG Burn

    iTunes

    Malwarebytes

    Nero

    Spybot S&D (Only use this and Malwarebytes as additional scanners)

    Ventrillo

    Winrar

    X-Fire

    Dropbox

    Defraggler

    Virtual Box

    Peerblock (One of the coolest programs ever can't believe no ones mentioned it :[ )

    Utorrent

    Reply
11. October 16, 2011 2:11 PM
    Guest said:

    Xubuntu Restricted Extras.

    Reply
12. October 16, 2011 3:24 PM
    Staff
    

    Rick, TechSpot Staff, said:

    M1r said:

    Chrome

    AVG

    Flash Player

    Porn

    You can shorten your list by 25% since Flash Player is integrated into all Chrome releases.. That leaves more room for porn (ie. the essentials)

    Reply
13. October 16, 2011 4:53 PM
    ET3D, TechSpot Paladin, said:

    I forgot to list folding@home.

    Reply
14. October 16, 2011 11:53 PM
    Guest said:

    Great question! My choices are:

    Avast antivirus

    CCleaner

    Maxthon Web Browser

    Malwarebytes

    Utorrent

    Open Office Suite

    Nero Home Essentials

    Winamp

    Of course that's just after a clean install. Shortly after I'll also install Adobe Reader, Photoshop, and a good quality DVD burner like 1 click DVD Copy Pro, with the DVD43 decrypter plug in, only for backing up purposes.

    Reply
15. October 17, 2011 3:01 AM
    

    captaincranky, TechSpot Addict, said:

    and a good quality DVD burner like 1 click DVD Copy Pro, with the DVD43 decrypter plug in, only for backing up purposes.

    Of course, we knew that.

    Reply
16. October 17, 2011 7:25 AM
    Guest said:

    I'm constantly reviewing and updating applications so my list is in flux. With that said after a clean install of Windows, I install Microsoft Security Essentials, Firefox, Thunderbird, Adobe Flash, Adobe Reader. I have many small .exe utilities that don't require installation but I have them on the system, after that I again I review and update applications on a regular basis.

    Reply
17. October 17, 2011 9:17 AM
    UnknownSky said:

    Alrighty

    Driver Genius

    7-zip

    Teracopy

    Notepad2

    Imgburn

    VLC

    K-lite

    MS Office

    Opera Web Browser

    Open Freely

    Other numerous applications.

    Reply
18. October 17, 2011 9:30 AM
    Staff
    

    Erik said:

    Biggest change for me is ditching Firefox for Chrome.

    Reply
19. October 17, 2011 9:40 AM
    Mudvayne819 said:

    firefox 3.6

    winrar

    open office

    utorrent

    vlc

    daemontool

    notepadplus

    trillian

    mirc

    divx

    ventrilo

    networx

    inputdirector

    mouse w/o borders

    virtualbox

    malwarebytes

    magiciso

    Reply
20. October 17, 2011 9:42 AM
    Guest said:

    Windows

    AVG, Office, Visual Studio, MS Sql, Windows SPs & updates, WinRar, iTunes, Trillian, Firefox, Power2Go, Shisen-Sho, VNC, Flash, JRE, Acrobat Reader, VLC, DiskImage, PefectDisk, dbPoweramp, Thumbsplus, EditPad Pro, SpybotSD, VmWare, Family Tree.

    Kubuntu

    Updates to OS and KDE, avogadro, clamav, clamav-daemon, clamtk, empathy, evolution, firefox, freshclam, kalzium, krename, kphotoalbum, kshisen, playonlinux, synaptic, thunderbird, vlc, x264, mysql-server, php5-mysql, flashplugin- nonfree, ubuntu-restricted-extras, workbench, VmWare

    Reply
21. October 17, 2011 12:07 PM
    bavon said:

    Mine are:

    Internet Explorer IE8

    Microsoft Security Essentials

    Malwarebytes

    Tcpview

    Autoruns

    Process Explorer

    CCleaner

    Word

    Abi Word

    Adobe Reader

    SIW

    VLC Media Player

    Windows Media Player

    I also have the following availabe on my desktop

    Notepad

    Services.msc

    Dfrg.msc

    Event Viewer

    Devmgmt.msc

    Reply
22. October 17, 2011 12:47 PM
    

    LNCPapa said:

    Windows:

    Microsoft Security Essentials

    Spybot?

    Winrar

    TweaksLogin

    Chrome

    Firefox

    Pidgin

    FileZilla

    Putty

    Notepad++

    Foobar 2000

    Audacity

    XBMC

    VLC

    Picasa

    Foxit Reader

    Nero BR

    Steam

    If there is any productivity on this machine then include:

    MS Office

    Adobe Creative Suite

    Mac

    GeekTools

    Chrome

    Firefox

    FileZilla

    iLife

    Audacity

    Plex

    VLC

    Adobe Creative Suite

    Microsoft Remote Desktop Client

    X11

    Linux

    gParted

    Chromium Web Browser

    Firefox

    FileZilla

    Pidgin

    OpenSSH

    Samba

    XBMC

    VLC

    Open/Libre Office

    K3b

    Remmina

    Reply
23. October 18, 2011 12:44 AM
    Guest said:

    - Hardware Drivers (Xtreme-G NVIDIA Drivers, Uni-Xonar ASUS Xonar Essence STX Drivers, Razer Mamba + BlackWidow Ultimate Drivers, Mobo drivers)

    - SRWare Iron + Synced to Google with AdBlock, AdSweep, SpeedDial, FastestChrome and Scroll-to-top Button Extensions

    - HostsMan

    - PeerBlock

    - Avast!

    - 7Zip

    - Adobe Flash

    - Daemon Tools Lite

    - Foxit Reader

    - Java

    - K-Lite Mega Codec Pack + 64-bit version

    - LibreOffice

    - LockHunter

    - Windows Updates and MS Essentials (eg VB Runtime Files, .NET, Silverlight and associated updates etc)

    - PerfectDisk

    - KMPlayer

    - WinPatrol

    - WinRAR

    - VLC

    - XMPlay

    Reply
24. October 18, 2011 2:31 AM
    Guest said:

    Opera

    Firefox

    Chrome - may decide to drop it next time, as it updates without permission)

    Alcohol 120%

    PDF readers (I use several)

    Photoshop

    7-zip

    Avast

    Malwarebytes

    Bandwidth monitor

    ClocX

    Dropbox

    Easeus data recovery wizard professional

    Microsoft reader

    MS Office

    Open Office (if I need it; plan on testing LibreOffice sometime)

    NetLimiter

    RMVB player

    Skype

    VideoGet

    VLC (yes I'm aware it sucks, but I use it regardless)

    Winamp

    New in testing:

    Defraggler (used Auslogics before but defraggler should be better)

    A note too all the other commenters on this site about CCleaner:

    -Registry cleaners don't do anything, except break something.

    -Old unused info in the registry is just that; unused.

    -No memory loss, no speed loss.

    Do yourselves a favor and uninstall CCleaner and never use it again, if you value the usability of your computers.

    A note to all those who use AVG:

    -AVG was good in 2008, it's not longer good. Get a better antivirus. Recommendations: Avast, Avira, MSE, or if you're paying: Nod32

    A note to all those who use WinRAR: 7-zip has been superior for a long time. WinRAR is old, time to switch over.

    Reply
25. October 21, 2011 10:05 PM
    

    Night Hacker said:

    Windows 7, Notepad++ has been an awesome notepad replacement as I program and it will treat .C, .H files appropriately and highlight, colorize the code, it remembers documents you had open when you run it and opens them again automatically, love that feature more than I realized I would. Firefox (tried Chrome, hated it) and Thunderbird for email. Codeblocks for my programming, Agent and I still use an OLD version of FTP95 (for Windows 95) that still runs beautifully on all versions of windows.

    I don't run any anti-virus on my PC, never get a virus. I will run one once a year or so and never find anything, I'm very careful, haven't had anything I don't think since my windows 95 days, even then... I find the virus checkers a bigger pain.

    Reply

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