Hi guys,
Ever wonder after you reformat or buy a new computer what essential software you should get once you get the compter to keep it running smotth? Well then this is the guide for you. Here it goes:
The Essential software guide
Antivirus
First off, one of the most important things that you need to get on your computer is a good antivirus software. Antivirus softwares protect your computer from malicious code designed to ruin your computer. There are many different types out there that you can get free or buy. I will now list some good av and where to find them.
The best bet:
Nod32 antivirus
Nod32 is probably the best av out there. It has a great detection/repair rate and is not a resource hog.
Other av softwares include:
Avg (recommended)
Norton antivirus 2004
McAfee av (good)
Firewall
What is a firewall? Well to explain simply, a firewal is used to protect your computer from harmful things that can be sent to open ports in your computer (ie:a trojan virus) Think of your house, now without a firewall, it is like leaving all the doors leading outside of the house wide open while your sleeping or on vacation. With a firewall, all those doors are locked and closed so no intruders can get in.
Best bet:
Sygate personal firewall (free)
Out of all the firewalls, this one is the one that I trust most. It is versatible, lightweit and easy to configure. Even the most inexperienced computer user will find this easy.
Others:
Tiny personal firewall
Peer guardian
Spyware/Adaware
Your computer running slower than normal lately? it may be because of spyware/ad-ware. I will not explain what it is because Sharedholder has posted a nice guide on it HERE
Best Bet
Spybot s&d
Spybot is a beautiful little program designed to detect and eliminate spyware. Free and versitle makes this a great program.
Others
-Ad-aware
Disk Defragmentor
As you work and save files on your comp, You store them on your hard drive. After a while sometimes your hard drive begins to put pieces of data all over the place in no organization, making your hard drive take longer to read the files resulting in disk fragmentation. Fragmentation makes your computer a lot slower and therefore just to load even ms word will take a long time. To prevent this you must get a defragmentor, a program that will let you place all the pieces together, making it faster to load.
Best bet
-Diskeeper lite
Diskeeper lite is diskeeper 8 home edition minus some extra features. It is very fast and powerful. If you ever need to do a quick defrag somewhere, then this is the program to get.
Others:
-Diskeeper home/pro
-Perfect disk
Other programs
Programs listed here are not considered essential, but they will help you out in the long run.
Winamp
Winamp is probably the best media player software out there. It supports many audio types and streaming media. Plugins also spice it up to make it more fin.
Star downloader
Got a 56k connection that disconnects you frequently so you can't resume downloading? or are you looking to speed up your download rate? the look no more. Star downloader is an excellent free downloading program that contains no spyware or adware. *A must for 56k users*
Mozilla Firefox
The most advanced and best browsers ever. It supports tabbed browsing, plugins, and more. It is also an extremly fast browser and is usually 50% faster than the standard ie one.
Kl Codec pack
-Wondering why you can't open that .mpeg or video file? well it probably because you don't have an video decoder. A video decoder can read the varios formats of movie files and will play them nicely on your computer.
