N00b: New pc needs the best Software

[GLeN]

Ok Im making this thread to help people like me who want to know the best software such as antivirus or firewall etc to install on their new pc or what not. Everyone should say which product they use and why its great. I put out some sections to help start.

Anti Virus

Firewall

Disk Defragmenter

Can you suggest more?

[Kursah]

Antivirus I have been using for years, free too, is Avast...it's a great AV imo.

Firewall, I have used Zone Alarm a lot, and it does it's job just fine.

I use Diskeeper Defragmenter when possible (have to purchase), but there are free defrags out there that do a good job.

You should also get Spybot: S&D, great program.

There are many others that will be recommended, those are just a few I could think of quickly.

:toast:

[zekrahminator]

Here's what I use...

Antivirus: Avast (Spyware is taken care of by Ad-Aware 2007)

Firewall: I don't use one, all my PCs are behind a router. All wireless routers have a hardware inbound firewall built in. If you feel insecure about your (or whoever may be using the computer's) surfing habits, then Zone Alarm should do fine.

Disk Defragmenter? I don't defragment that much, because the NTFS file system rarely gets cluttered anyways ;).

Legal music downloading: Rhapsody.

CD/DVD burning: Nero 6 (came with DVD burner :D)

Legal game downloading: Steam

Internet: Firefox 2

That's what I use, and I love it :D.

[JC316]

Avast for sure, Spybot Search and Destory for the Adware.

[OrbitzXT]

I haven't used any kind of anti virus or spyware for years. As long as youre an intelligent surfer you shouldn't need it. Why wear a condom all the time when you're just walking around? There's only one time I ever got infected with something, and it was something I downloaded at 4am...an uh...adult educational video.

[[I.R.A]_FBi]

Here's what I use...

Antivirus: Avast (Spyware is taken care of by Ad-Aware 2007)

Firewall: I don't use one, all my PCs are behind a router. All wireless routers have a hardware inbound firewall built in. If you feel insecure about your (or whoever may be using the computer's) surfing habits, then Zone Alarm should do fine.

Disk Defragmenter? I don't defragment that much, because the NTFS file system rarely gets cluttered anyways ;).

Legal music downloading: Rhapsody.

CD/DVD burning: Nero 6 (came with DVD burner :D)

Legal game downloading: Steam

Internet: Firefox 2

That's what I use, and I love it :D.

http://smiliesftw.com/x/xmasorlyowl.gif

[Ripper3]

Anti-Virus: Avast or AVG (I have Avast on main PC, and AVG on laptop, mostly out of laziness, cos I had AVG's exe on the lappie already, but also because I rank them equally), and Spybot (always have Spybot around)

Firewall: I'm behind a router, so no need

Defragmenter: Vista's defragmenter is working fine, just like XP's, plus, it does its job automatically, and I've never noticed performance problems with it, when its doing its thing, so I just leave it be.

Torrent downloader: uTorrent is what I use on all PCs, and is brilliant, much lighter than Azureus, and does its job quite well. Love the WebUI

CD/DVD burning: Nero 7 Ultra, which someone gave me (they ended up getting 2 legal copies somehow), it's brilliant, works more than well enough, but failing that, Nero 6 comes with, or used to come with, most CD/DVD-RW drives, and is more than adequate. Nero also has a free Burning ROM download on its website, but I can't find it most of the time.

Web browser: Right now, I'm on Internet Explorer 7, but only until opera 9.5 is released. I even use Opera Mobile, and every system, I've used within the past two years has had Opera, either because of my U3compatible drive running it, or cos I installed it proper. Great web browser.

Photo/Image editor: Depending on the task, I have GIMP, Paint.NET, and Photoshop CS2 (students get a huge discount, if anybody didn't know)

Media player: WMP11 works just fine, but I normally have WinAMP in use. I tend to stick to older versions, which come without the bloat.

Other: Blender3D, I like to do a bit of 3D modelling occaionsally, nothing special, and I ended up getting used to Blender
ShareKMC, use a laptop, or another computer, as an extra display. Completely free, works with Vista, next to no lag, even over wireless network.

[PVTCaboose1337]

AV - NOD32
Firewall - Router, no need
Defrag - Diskeeper
Torrentz - Utorrent
Web - Firefox 3 beta
Photo - Photoshop CS3 Student Edition
Media Player - VLC
Other - Pidgin (AIM replacement)

[sixor]

antivirus: free avg (very lite, doesn´t eat ram)
defragg:free jkdefrag http://www.kessels.com/JkDefrag/ (free, fast, lite)

[zekrahminator]

Photo - Photoshop CS3 Student Edition


Ah yes, as far as photo editing goes...I use the photo-editor built into Vista. I know, I used to play with photoshop all the time. Unfortunately, I no longer have access to a computer with photoshop on a regular basis :(. The thing built into Vista is fine for normal photo editing/cropping. I still want to legitmately play with photos though. I really wish I had a valid copy of Photoshop CS2... :).

[Chewy]

I use Nod32 Antivirus, and I love it the most from all Ive tried.

I had issues with other ones, but AVG is great too just had some compatibilty type problems with it and my rig.

[FatForester]

Yea, the stuff people have listed here. AVG, ZoneAlarm firewall, CCleaner (owns disk cleanup), and for photo editing use the Gimp. The Gimp is a free alternative to Photoshop and it doesn't murder your computer in the process!

[[I.R.A]_FBi]

my list

crap cleaner: ccleaner
a/v: symantec av
defrag: diskeeper or O&o
firewall: symantec client firewall/router
media player: winamp

[desadarius2002]

Anti-Virus:Avast
Firewall: router
Burning:nero 6
Backup movies: anydvd & clonedvd 2
Media: wmp11 for mp3 -Nero showtime or power dvd 7 for movies
AVI files: VLM player
Internet: Firefox 2.0.0.9
Torrent: Utorrent

[GLeN]

Wow this thread has alot of good info in it, like I didnt knew that if you had a router a firewall wasn't nessecary.

Since alot of open source free software is out there like avg, what posesses people to buy norton for example

I use:

Anti Virus: Avg free edition
Firewall: Zonealarm on the blown up pc and windows firewall on this laptop, Im behind a wireless router
Media: iTunes(for ipod love the gui too) and winamp for random mp3s and radio
Torrent: Bitlord
Internet Browser: FireFox
Gaming: Steam
Image Editing: Photoshop CS2
School stuff: Microsoft Office

[DanTheBanjoman]

There is a recommended software thread that got stickied.

[panchoman]

defraggler.com

great defragging progam

[theonetruewill]

NOD32 - Antivirus - very light on resources
Comodo Pro Firewall - annoying at first with all the alerts but tone this down in the settings and it's highly effective
Diskeeper Lite - fast and free defragmenter

[sneekypeet]

There is a recommended software thread that got stickied.

And for the lazy at heart....here it is.....http://forums.techpowerup.com/showthread.php?t=17777

[Grings]

NOD32 - Antivirus - very light on resources
Comodo Pro Firewall - annoying at first with all the alerts but tone this down in the settings and it's highly effective
Diskeeper Lite - fast and free defragmenter

ooh, i didnt know there was a lite version of diskeeper, cool

[hat]

Registry Clean Expert does cost money, but it will get rid of bad entries in your registry that slow your computer down, it will defragment your registry, and it will do the job of Ccleaner/disk cleanup/etc all in one lightweight program.

[AphexDreamer]

Well might as well tell you guys what I use.

Anti Virues- AVG

ad ware- ad aware 2007

Games- steam

Instant messaging- Aim

Overclocking apps- Clockgen, ATI Tool, AMDGPU Clock Tool, AMD Overdirve and Riva tuner

RAM Timings- A64

Internet Browser- IE7


FireWall- AVG, but since I have a router I guess I don't need it.

Torrent Downloading(when needed;)) Utorrent

Disk Defragmenting- Disk Keeper, oh and I also use Tune Up Utillites 2007 for Registry cleaning and stuff like that.

OS- Vista