Programs That Every Computer User Should Install

Intro: Programs That Every Computer User Should Install

Well I have compiled a list of programs which I believe, no matter what your computer experience, should be installed on your PC..

STEP 1: Antivirus Software

So there are three different free anti-virus programs that received high ratings, and all three are good enough to abandon your high-price anti-virus software
Avast --My personal preference
Avira  --Make sure you pick the right site (I just download it from download.com), some say that it is annoying.
AVG   --Nice quality, but once again, my personal preference is for Avast
... and I don't know why they all start with av

Another program that should be installed alongside almost any anti-virus program is ThreatFire.  This program analyzes program activity, rather than virus signatures, to detect viruses, so it performs magnificently against new threats that haven't been seen by your anti-virus company yet..

STEP 2: Hard Disk Management Tools

So I have two favorites, both from Piriform, that will help you manage your hard disk space
CCleaner--Cleans up your hard drives, deletes temporary files, etc.  Also cleans up your registry. 
--Note:  when using CCleaner, remember to only have it delete stuff you know you want to get rid of.  If you're not sure, un-check it.
Defraggler-- I personally prefer this over the Windows Defrag tool

STEP 3: Get a Browser

All right so there are four main browsers that you can get:
Interet Explorer --My least favorite, slower than the rest, less customizable, however it is still generally the industry standard for browsers
Firefox --My personal preference, small, fast, and very customizable, with add-ons galore
Safari --Apple's browser, small, fast, and I have never really used it so I can't say any more
Opera --Open source browser, been around forever,
Google Chrome --Google's browser, fast, small, different layout than the rest, with some interesting goodies including HTML5

STEP 4: Get Addons If You Got Firefox

Some addons worth looking at:
AdBlock Plus --Blocks all of those annoying ads - main reason that I haven't switched to Chrome
Cookie Monster--Lets you control how cookies are handled
Vacuum Places Improved-- clears out LSOs (aka Super Cookies)
Greasemonkey --Allows use of custom user scripts.  Install it after you've found some scripts that you want implemented
FasterFox --Makes your browsing Much faster
FastestFox --I like some of the stuff that it does, like when you select text it gives you a little button to press to google/wikipedia/youtube/etc it

STEP 5: Productivity Suites

So there are basically 2 options for full-featured productivity suites

OpenOffice.org --Free open-source productivity suite courtesy of Sun (the guys that made java) with just about as much functionality as M$ Office, and can handle most MS Office files, however, in my opinion, nothing beats Excel

Microsoft Office --Fairly expensive ($150 is as cheap as it gets, I believe) but has a whole ton of features and slightly outperforms OpenOffice.org. 

STEP 6: Other Programs

Some more that I just thought of
7-Zip -- Unzips just about any archive file you can throw at it (tar.gz, .zip, .rar, .7z, .ace, etc...)
SpaceSniffer -- Gives a nice spatial representation of everything on your hard drive, great for finding out what ate all 500GB of hard drive space...

In case you're doing a fresh install, don't forget java, flash, and acrobat reader.

STEP 7: Now Make a Schedule

Make some sort of schedule (paper or automated on the computer) to run CCleaner, Defraggler, and your anti-virus program of choice.  This can speed up your computer and keep it running speedily.  And feel free to comment about any apps/categories I should include.

Comments

[mrtape01]

avast is a great antivirus unlike Norton updates every 5 minutes i use it and win7 and have never got a virus if you go to a page that has infected files on it it blocks the site and the site will not load but if it is a site you always go on and it blocks it just refresh the page.

[lieuwe]

 you might want to add Google Chrome to your browser list, and be carefull with ccleaner, it can actually fubar your browser(it prevented autologin on just about all forums)

[killersquirel11]

How did I forget about Chrome!?!?!

Good call...

[lemonie]

I've not heard fubar used as a verb before...

L

[sedition]

SciTE is a rreat open source cross-platform editor that I couldn't work without. Much, much better than all of the default OS editors.

[whytwulf35]

The only thing I would have to add would be openoffice, and maybe GIMP.  But you can get all these really easy at www.ninite.com.  Select the apps you want installed, download the ninite installer, and run it.  Automatically installs all the apps you've chosen from the list and does it without installing the toolbars so many apps come with nowadays.