New Samsung Netbook - Help With Software Ideas?

After lots of research and reading reviews until I'm blue in the face, I just bought a Samsung GO N310 netbook.

Would anyone like to help with Software ideas? I want to keep it all as light as possible. So, I'm thinking it would be nice to read some of Wilders members "essential software" for a netbook. Maybe your top 5-10 pieces of software you just gotta have (not just security software).

These are the things I know are MY must-haves for my new netbook:

1. Firefox
2. Roboform Pro
3. Truecrypt
4. CCleaner
5. Eraser
6. Returnil
7. PDFredirect
8. VLC Media Player

Bring it on! What are some of your must-haves if you were in my shoes tonight? What would be some "gotta installs"?

OH! I almost forgot, as with many netbooks, this comes loaded with XP-Home.


edited to include VLC...HOW could I forget VLC?

 

What primarily are you going to use this netbook for?

 

RegCure (but you have the free ccleaner)
FRAPS (if your a pc gaming enthusist)
Digsby (your multi-IM client)
PerfectDisk 10 (my choice at the moment for defraggers)
Cyberlink Powerdvd (playing blu-rays and dvds etc)
imgburn (free burning software)
NewsBin Pro (Newsgroup needs)
and of course, a security solution - Prevx 3.0 with SafeOnline

all those are must-haves for me,

you may want to give Tweak UAC a go, its free, does not require installation into program files etc, no running processes etc, and it enables UAC but disables the pop ups, (ie. Keeps all the 'rights' etc as if UAC was enabled and keeps IE8's protected mode on without the pop ups and annoyances of UAC in vista/Win7)

 

If your netbook is an extra computer, let me suggest Vipre (a very light running antivirus.) If the netbook is your primary PC, I would suggest getting an external drive with backup software. I have a Samsung netbook also. Nice little machine .

SourMilk out

 

Mostly writing and browsing; nothing too demanding as it has only a 1.6 Ghz Atom processor. Plenty for most things, but I won't be doing anything too taxing.

DIGSBY! Thank you. Being a netbook, there's no DVD drive, but I'll watch some movies if traveling that are ripped as .avi files, but I'll just use VLC.

Thank you for reminding me about Digsby!

 

no problem, just make sure you dont tick all the rubbish in the installation as it will install toolbars and what-not.

 

It's definitely an "extra" for traveling and coffee shop sessions, etc. I have a 64GB Flash Drive (Kingston) and a 500GB portable drive for movies and such. At home I have two Samsung "Story" external drives, both 1.5TB that I rotate for backups at the bank safe deposit box (every couple of weeks). I know, Samsung product again, it was my love of the "Story" drives that made me consider Samsung's GO netbook. The reviews were great for the little thing too. Mine is "Midnight Blue" and really is a nice little piece. Can't wait to start messing.

 

you didnt mention 7-Zip, it should be in my 'must haves'

its free and sooo much better than Winzip / Winrar etc for its purpose.

 

By the way, the "Story" drives are awesome. You don't see them in retail outlets, but they are top-notch drives and very cool. They lay flat and have a dial like an old radio dial to turn the unit on/off and turn the brightness of the light up/down. The "Story" drives are a word of mouth phenom, very popular with techies. Look at the review ratings at Newegg.

I realized after I mentioned those drives in the post above that most people have probably never seen them since Samsung doesn't do too much of the retail thing (except making drives for others that are sold retail). I love 'em.

 

I keep up with 7-Zip, but have a license for PKZip's (PKWare) SecureZip. If I didn't have the license and wasn't so used to PKZip's products (originators of the Zip format!) I would definitely use 7-Zip, but SecureZip handles just about every format.

 

You know when I first bought my netbook (Asus Eee PC 1002HA) I also thought I'm going to keep it light. After a while I realized that the only way to make sense two have two working computers is to install exactly the same stuff on both, otherwise I would get disoriented. Of course I wouldn't use the netbook to do some heavy Photoshop operations, but that doesn't stop me from having Photoshop installed to be able to view certain things.

Some people have different computers for different purposes, in my case I want them to be interchangeable, portability being the only issue(I only have laptops).

I think the only things that could slow a netbook would be the choice of the OS, and installing some security suites.

 

"Must Have" software depends on what you do with it.
For just surfing and writing...

Firefox, adblock +
Microsoft Security Essentials
Latest browser plugins...flash/shockwave/java..without the "me-too" options
Your preferred PDF plugin
Microsoft Office of your flavor
Universal instant messenger of your flavor

I wouldn't go putting registry cleaners on it....they barely work for really REALLY badly messed up PCs, not need to molest/butcher the registry of a new PC.

Done

 

I disagree, i used to think exactly the same until i had registry problems a few weeks ago, i tried all the big names and none of them fixed it, until i came across RegCure.

I could either format my machine or try another > RegCure - and RegCure fixed it perfectly, so i purchased a licence for them & its been working 100% ever since.

sure, a bad registry cleaner can cause havok to someones machine, & i understand this, but when you truly do have registry problems on your machine, you 'will' then see the use for them.

its important to find a really good one

 

I've come across hundreds and hundreds of registry issues over the many years I've been doing computers for a living. Nothing a little research and regedit can't fix. But to put one on a brand new PC that hasn't even had a few years to accumulate issues yet...

...or better yet, just "be smart"...don't install/ininstall kajillions of crap software on a weekly basis, use your head, install what you need, cleanly and properly uninstall those you don't want to keep, and don't scramble things up.

 

Considerations and sites worth noting: BrightHub - LaptopMag - PortableFreeware - Pendriveapps - PortableApps

 

Some excellent replies. Thank you!

Globalforce, thanks for the links. I especially liked the BrightHub article.

As for registry cleaning, that's not why I use CCleaner. I use it to rid the computer of browser cache, temp files, etc.

Thanks again!

 

Shurley! Little forethought's worth it's weight in gold.

 

I've always liked your posts and respect your opinions - let me run this by you...

I run Deep Freeze on my desktop and have for many years. I have always run Returnil on my Dell laptop. Now that I'm transitioning to my Samsung GO netbook, what do you think about my using Returnil on that? Keep in mind, it's an Intel 1.6 Ghz Atom processor and I'm boosting the RAM to 2GB. What do you think? I was not inclined to do it with the netbook, but I am just SO used to booting up to a "perfect system" everytime that I am afraid I will have a hard time not doing so! What are your thoughts?

 

Pssst .... I'll fill ya in - I DO NOT take compliments well. Thanks all the same.

For the record I've absolutely zero experience with either netbooks or Returnil, sorry. On the other hand I see no reason you couldn't entertain your own curiosity and go through the motions. This or pitch the scenario with a "Ping: Coldmoon" thread asking the same. What you really need is a response from a netbook user with similar hardware successfully running Returnil .... all of which I'm sure you've come to summarize.