Top 10 Software Titles Every Home PC Needs?

eabell asks: "I'm buying a new mid-grade laptop computer, which I plan to dual-boot between Windows XP Home and Mandrake 9.x. Before its arrival in a few weeks I'm trying to think of what 'essential' software I'll need to make a usable home system. In general I'd like to spend as little money as possible (free is good). As far as my needs, think 'typical family PC' without an emphasis on gaming. I know I can get something like Open Office for word processing, presentation, etc. needs, but is there such a good thing as a good free virus checker? A good free email client? A handy web browser? What would you consider the top 10 (or so) pieces of software for a new home system, bearing in mind that I need software for both the Windows and Linux side of things?"

Comments

If you are too cheap for an AV program....

[jawtheshark]

For a free Antivirus software go for AVG Anti-Virus. Free for non-commercial, non-networked use. It's what I install on people's machines when they are low on cash, and want to continue running Windows.

Re:If you are too cheap for an AV program....

[cK-Gunslinger]

I will second this comment, as I like AVG.

I keep a CD of free Windows software for people (helpful when I build them a new PC.)

AVG Anti-Virus (AV)
OpenOffice (Office)
Firebird (Browser)
Thunderbird (email)
AdAware (Spyware seek-n-destroy)
Winamp (Multimedia)
3DMark (benchmarking)
some game demos
etc...

Re:If you are too cheap for an AV program....

[mechugena]

I personally would add Spybot - Search & Destroy to that list. It has some of the same functionality of AdAware, and even supercedes it in some cases. My laptop and home system run them concurrently, and I'm gradually throwing it on the systems at work. I hate having to go around removing all that spyware manually. When will the users listen?

Re:If you are too cheap for an AV program....

[gpinzone]

Try Irfanview instead. It's free.

Re:If you are too cheap for an AV program....

[blibbleblobble]

"I keep a CD of free Windows software for people (helpful when I build them a new PC.)"

A good version of this is The OpenCD for people who want ideas, or to check your own "useful programs" CD against what other people are using.

(disclaimer: one of my programs was on the suggestions list for theopencd)

Re:If you are too cheap for an AV program....

[hkmwbz]

I mostly agree with you, but I also have to break it to you: Firebird and especially Thunderbird are not to be considered as "production" software. This might sound like a troll, but the response you will get if you visit the MozillaZine forums for example, and complain about the lack of an installer, certain issues with extensions and so on, is that you should consider using another browser. Also, a lot of Firebird enthusiasts are actually hesitant to spread the word too much, or to convince people to use Firebird if they are not aware of the state it is in (such as posting glowing reviews on download.com). I am not saying that it is a bad browser, but it is still at 0.x, and needs some work before Joe Blow can use it without problems.

And Thunderbird is so far from completed I wouldn't recommend it to anyone who is not willing to put in a lot of effort to actually test and report bugs for the program.

I think the Mozilla suite/SeaMonkey might be more down most people's alley.

Top ten Windows apps to install.

[EggMan2000]

Here is my top ten list (in no particular order) for Windows. I'll let everyone argue about the Linux tools.
CygWin the Linux-like environment for Windows.
Mozilla naturally.... Use this for mail, news, and browsing if you like.
WS FTP Light a FREE, FTP client that works great.
PuTTY a free SSH client for Windows.
VNC remote controll software, NOTE: the location is no longer on the ATT Labs UK site.
GNU-EMacs for Windows. I usually install it, but use Vi more.
Dev-C++ a free C++ compiler. I use VC++ 6.0, but this is free, and I think it's pretty good.
NetHack You MUST have NetHack installed on everything...
Free-AV free Anti-Virus software for Windows.
Boingo to see where the closest hotspot is. (free) you don't need the service.

Re:Top ten Windows apps to install.

[cavemanf16]

I completely agree with the above poster's advice. Add in:
OpenOffice 1.1
and
Winamp 2.x for audio/video usage in Windows, or
XMMS 1.8 for audio/video usage in Linux.

Re:Top ten Windows apps to install.

[EisPick]

A few (free) alternatives:

• Instead of Mozilla, I prefer the leaner Firebird for browsing and Eudora for email. If you take the time to learn how to use the Filters feature, Eudora's pretty good at filtering spam. Especially if you crank up the size of the History of addresses you sent to and store your contacts in the address book. You can then filter messages whose sender "doesn't intersect" your address book or history into a spam folder.
• Instead of WS FTP, I prefer Filezilla, which is truly free (you have to pretend to be a student or a non-profit to use WS FTP for free) and does sftp as well.
• TTSSH is a much less clunky ssh client than PuTTY.

Also:

• If you use a Palm, PalmEudora Sync keeps your addressbooks synchronized (which will help with those Eudora spam filters).
• Mark's Adding Machine is much better than the Windows calculator for balancing checkbooks.

Re:Top ten Windows apps to install.

[Eil]

TTSSH is a much less clunky ssh client than PuTTY.

Less clunky? C'mon. I haven't used TTSSH in a long time, but I remember having nothing but troubles with it. PuTTY configuration is easy (if a little odd at first), the binary is small, and is dead simple to install.

TTSSH:
* Download Teraterm
* Install Teraterm
* Download TTSSH
* Unzip TTSSH
* Run TTSSH

PuTTY:
* Download PuTTY
* Run PuTTY

Also, I note that on the TTSSH pages it still says that TTSSH does not support SSH v2 and never will. PuTTY does, which is useful for me, because I use v2 pretty much exclusively on my network.

Some windoze essentials

[T-Kir]

AVG Free edition

Zonealarm

Winamp Classic

..they are the first things I install.

Re:Some windoze essentials

[millahtime]

Don't install Zone Alarm. It can cause your internet connection to stop working and is a pain to fix. There are several documented issues with it and to fix it is a total pain. They used to have some of these issues and fixes documented at their site but pulled them. One of their reps told me that the only fix for one of the problems was a reformat and reinstall of the OS because they were never able to trace the problem.

Re:Some windoze essentials

[Ost99]

NEVER ever install ZoneAlarm!
It corrupts downloads, uses a *lot* of system resources and shuts down connectins at random (IMAP is a real pain with ZoneAlarm).

Use Kerio instead. It's free, and just as easy to set up.

- Ost

Re:Some windoze essentials

[NexusTw1n]

I used to rave about ZA being the king of firewalls.

However I've now seen with my own eyes several machines totally screwed by ZA - and yes, by trial and error I've proven it was ZA that was causing the problems.

It can do weird things to the TCP/IP stack that can only be undone under XP with an NETSH IPRESET command, or by uninstalling and reinstalling the protocol in 2000/ME/98. The problem will reoccur as soon as you reactivate Zone Alarm.

I wouldn't recommend it, even in it's free form anymore. Which is a shame, because it used to be damn good.

Re:Some windoze essentials

[EinarH]

Or Sygate

Much better than ZoneAlarm.

And do not think that "XP allready got a firewall" because that firewall don't stop outgoing connections. So when one of those trojans has snagged all your banking information the Xp firewall won't help you stop it.
Having a firewall that detects outgoing connections is vital to learning about new spyware/malware/trojans/virus on your computer.

Quicken or equivalent

[mccalli]

I came out of University ten years ago, got a job and wondered why I was still broke at the end of every month. I finally bought a spanking new 486 as development/Doom machine, and decided that for that amount of money I'd better try to do something useful with it too.

Quicken.

Now, I have no real experience with alternatives so this is a rant about using financial software in general, not Quicken in particular. However, the use I've got out of that piece of software is astounding. The information it gives you for planning is just priceless. You always know where you are, roughly what to expect, can play with what-if's to check how your situation might change...it's excellent.

Get a home finance package, and get into the habit of using it about once a week. I guarantee you won't regret it.

Cheers,
Ian

Pricelessware

[cybermace5]

Go to the Pricelessware site maintained by the alt.comp.freeware Usenet group. On the group, they post and evalute freeware, and the winners make it on to the pricelessware list. Nagware, adware and shareware are frowned upon; the vast majority of the programs listed are no-strings freeware.

Spyware stuff

[zapp]

The best Ad-ware / Spyware removal tool I've found is
SpyBot Search & Destroy

There is also Ad-Aware though.

Other stuff (non spyware related):
Winamp(2x is best)
Trillian/Gaim
Browsers (and mail): IE6, Mozilla, Opera are all fine

I've found both SlickRun and PopupPopper from Bayden Software to be useful as well.

My top ten picks

[guacamolefoo]

Sorry for the repeats of others' picks, but you wanted my advice, and here it is:

1. AVG Antivirus - free for home users with free updates
   
2. OpenOffice.org 1.1 (office suite)
   
3. Irfan (for image viewing)
   
4. Mozilla - tabbed browsing, pop-up blocking and email filtering
   
5. Pegasus Mail (an alternative email client if you hate Mozilla's)
   
6. Winamp for audio playing (I prefer the 2.x versions)
   
7. CDex (for making MP3 files from CD)
   
8. MAME (for playing old arcade games)
   
9. Nero (for burning CDs)
   
10. Qcast media player (lets my PS2 read video, photo, and MP3 files from my computer so that it can display same on my TV rig)
    

Other tools that I use extensively, but which are not necessarily "home user" applications are:

1. Putty (for ssh connections to servers)
   
2. WS-FTP (ftp - free for non-commercial use)
   
3. VNC (lets me take control of other machines remotely using the GUI, also lets me control my home machine remotely the same way)
   

As far as entertainment titles go, it really depends on your preferences, but mine are:

1. Baldur's Gate I/II
   
2. Neverwinter Nights (tons of free modules extend the playability tremendously)
   
3. Civil War Generals II (very, very cheap and it's a neat (American) Civil War game, also lets you create scenarios to play. The stuff they give you is really easy to beat, though. I'd like to see a third edition of this title.)
   

Re:ZoneAlarm

[YomikoReadman]

I've read over half a dozen posts like this so far, but this is the last on my viewables, so I'll post my reply here.

Personally, I don't see why everyone is bashing ZA. I have been running it since they started releasing a free version, and have never had a single problem ever. On the other hand, I have watched BlackICE, Tiny, Sygate, and every other personal firewall I have tried let everything through that I didn't want coming in. Can ZA be a bit of pain as far as configuration goes? Yes, it can. I personally find it to be a bit of a pain whenever any of my MMOs are patched, because I have to reallow access. On the flip side of that, do I have to worry about script kiddies getting in through my mail or FTP ports? No, I don't because if an IP isn't on my ZA allow list, it doesn't get through, period. As far as an Uninstall bug goes, I have never run into that, while I have had that problem with all the Firewalls I mentioned.

Re:Total Commander

[Murdoc]

I have to agree with this one here, I've been using TC since it was still called Windows Commander (after Norton Commander) but M$ sent them a "nasty" letter about using the word "windows". Rather than fight them at all they just changed the name because they felt that it was limiting them anyway, so now they can go cross-platform. I love it when someone can turn a disadvantage into an advantage. Best ability you can have in life!

One feature you didn't mention was the wicked FTP client. Since the program is two-pane, the ftp client works virtually identical to your local files. Not to mention the file sorting tools, the multi-rename tools, MIME en/decoders, etc. And the built-in packer treats zip and arj files like directories. Thus, I don't need Win Explorer, WinZip, or an FTP client. All combined in one easy package!

And btw you can get it here.

Good free software for Windows

[doodleboy]

Despite Microsoft's press releases to the contrary, Windows machines are not secure and need decent firewall and antivirus software. I see others have already mentioned the Kerio firewall, so I'll just add that it can be easily extended with Sponge's excellent, freely available filters. (I'm using set 2, but there are versions that are both more or less rigorous). I've also AVG Antivirus installed it seems to work well enough.

Some other useful free utilities:

Tclockex
A small utility that greatly increases the usefullness of the system tray clock. You can have the date as well as the time, as well as a resource monitor that lets you know at a glance how the system is doing.

AboutTime"
A little applet that sets the system clock from a list of time servers. Works well and unobtrusively.

7-zip
An easy to use explorer plug-in that understands most kinds of compressed files.

CDex
A great tool for ripping / converting CDs and mp3s.

X-teq>
A very powerful utility that lets you change pretty much everything that's changeable in Windows. Allows you to set Windows update registration done, which would only be useful to pirates and won't be mentioned here.

The Proxomitron
A web proxy that strips out ads, pop-ups and other garbage.

I'm more familiar with Redhat, but I have no doubt Mandrake will come out of the box with programs that are functionally equivalent to the ones listed here.