What are your "must have" programs?

Curious to hear what you guys install first and foremost when you set up your PC. What are the products you consistently find useful?

 

Since absolutely no one else cares for this and I'm all alone here I have to mention Privoxy

 

Damn near every time, the first place I go is to Avast. (We'll ignore the fact I'm using Panda at the moment...I'll be back, Avast. I miss you)

 

I know exactly what you're talking about, dw.
I ran avast for over three years, and put it on friend's computers as well.
There's a lot to like with avast.

 

Useful (and necessary) daily:

• Microsoft PowerToys: SendTo; DosHere
• NoteTab Lite
• Cetus WordPad
• Metapad
• LeeServices Scratchpad
• ScanSoft PaperPort
• Pixelab XXcopy

----
rich

 

Everything I have is "must have". Everything else gets removed fast. I have no particular order.

On a Windows 7 Home Premium x64:

Portable programs:

• PortableApps.com Platform
• Mp3Tag dev
• uTorrent
• Sumatra PDF
• Lightscreen
• SIW
• Firefox Beta + several extensions + Flash Player
• Stickies
• VLC Media Player
• Ant Renamer
• QtWeb
• TCPOptimizer
• Tor Browser Bundle
• Hitman Pro (x86/x64)
• SafeKeys

Installable programs:

• EaseUS Todo Backup Free
• Malwarebytes' Anti-Malware Free
• TrueCrypt
• 7-Zip x64
• CCleaner + Winapp2.ini
• System Mechanic Standard
• CleanMem Free
• Macroplant Adapter
• Windows Live Messenger
• PFPortChecker
• xp-AntiSpy
• Desktop Lighter
• Flash Player (plugin/activex/x86/x64)
• Java SE (x86/x64)
• NET Framework
• DirectX
• KC SUMo Lite

And, of course, many games and gaming apps/tools (some portable, some not/partially portable).

 

If I'm using the computer:

Malwarebytes' Anti-Malware Free (this the only security software I use, and never given me as false positive)
Maxthon or Avant Browser
FlashGet (I use it daily to check for updates for 200 programs)


I use Maxthon or Avant for my browser instead of more popular browsers like FireFox or Chrome, because I can't configure either FireFox or Chrome to work how I want them to. I always have my browsers configured to open any url entered in a new tab, and to open all new tabs next to the current tab, rather than at the end of all tabs. Also I like that Maxthon and Avant store configuration and bookmarks online - so I just install them then enter my username and password and then have the browser configured just how I want.

Also, I use no kind of real time protection except for me occasionally testing new releases of antivirus/security suites.


If I'm configuring a computer for someone else:

Malwarebytes' Anti-Malware Free
Avast! Free



Nothing else comes to mind at the moment.

 

Well, I don't buy new/set-up computers very often, but when I do, I will download, probably in this order: MSE, Firefox, SeaMonkey (as back-up in case anything happens to Firefox), Iron/Chrome (one backs the other), Opera (just because I like to play with it occasionally), VLC, LibreOffice (originally I used OpenOffice), Google Earth, Stellarium, AbiWord & PDF-XC.

 

My OS is XP.

I no longer run an AV or 3rd party firewall unless I'm just trying it.

Every install includes Comodo Time Machine version 2.6 and the free version of Sandboxie, Malwarebytes, and Keyscrambler.
-Also, WinPatrol Plus.

Finally, I always include CCleaner, Temp File Cleaner from ADDPCs.com, and the free version of Glary Utilities for additional cleaning and HDD analysis.

I consider all of these indespensible.

 

Software I can't go without or I find consistently useful (so I install them always): Opera, WinRAR, XnView, ImgBurn, Malware Defender, MyDefrag, uTorrent, Notepad2, foobar2000 and even Oracle VM VirtualBox, although that last one isn't as good as I would like it to be but it's still the best compared to the rest (except VMware Workstation of course but I can't afford it).
I do have a few other programs but they aren't nearly as difficult to replace as these.

 

I must have CCleaner, puran defrag and Sandboxie.

 

Portable:

AIMP3 (music player)
Autoruns
CCleaner
Google Chrome
HW Monitor (temperature monitoring)
Image for Windows
PC Chrono (stopwatch/timer)
PDF Xchange viewer
PicPick
Pnotes
PolyEdit (text/word processor)
Skype
System Explorer
Thunderbird
uTorrent

Installed programs:
Directory Opus
Hitman Pro free
Just Gestures
Look n Stop firewall
Password Depot
Puran Defrag

 

Thanks for all the info.

 

An Internet browser
An unzipper
Winpatrol
System Explorer
A backup/recovery prog.
Nirsoft toolbox
Notepad++
MS Office

 

On a new Windows installation I usually install the following before anything else:
Shadow Defender
Google Chrome
Avira
Look'n'Stop
CCleaner
Puran Defrag
ShadowProtect Desktop (cold image)

As for working programs:
Word and PowerPoint (lately Kingsoft Office 2012)
Photoshop
Google Earth
Foxit reader
ImgBurn.

 

Security programs of my choice (AV/IS/FW/Scanners)
Web browsers (Google Chrome, Mozilla Firefox)
Instant messaging (Skype, Yahoo!)
Windows Live Essentials
Adobe Reader
Adobe Photoshop
Microsoft Office
CCleaner + CCEnhancer
Puran Defrag
Revo Uninstaller
VLC media player
Media Player Classic + Combined Community Codec Pack
Nero Multimedia Suite
Nokia Ovi Suite
WinPatrol

 

I always install Security first, so I get my Emsisoft install ready with Online armor . then I install my web browsers, IE9 & Chrome & Firefox (install the add-on's I use, like: Smooth Scroll, trafficLight, WOT etc.)
Then Ccleaner, defragler and Microsoft Office.
Also Xion music player, VLC, peaZIP and destroy twitter.
After that I tweak the windows UI with custom skins and my dock (rocketdock).

 

I see you use aimp3, Try Xion... If you like aimp3, you wil love Xion.

 

Do you use Maxthon 3 or Maxthon Classic?

 

Well, i use AIMP and i really like this Xion player
I tried some extra skins included yours, i didn't really like any of them, but i love the default one.
The player supports drag & drop, i threw at it a folder with huge amount of mp3s and it loaded it instantly
The problem is that it is i think more CPU intensive that i'd like from a little audio player, and when i closed it the total ram usage dropped down 50 megs or something, even though task manager showed that it uses 3-4 megs
Anyway, i'll keep it for a while, try some more skins, see how it goes...

 

does it support Winamp plugins?

 

Xion hasnt been updated in over a year .. il stay with aimp

 

I use Maxthon 3 - I really like it, but feature wise I consider Avant to be fairly comparable. I essentially have both browsers configured to work the same, but I just have some custom searches I set up in Orca (which are also working in Avant - published by the same people, but development has stopped on Orca), which I not go round to setting in Maxthon yet.

 

Open Source
Open Office
Sumatra PDF
KeePass
Firefox
Thunderbird
Process Hackor
7Zip
Notepad++
Virtualbox

Freeware
Ccleaner Slim
VirtualCloneDrive
IrfanView
Q-dir
Bullzip PDF Printer
Malwarebytes' Anti-Malware
Macrium Reflect Free

Others
Sandboxie

 

Virus /Malware Remover goes to Avast & MBAM
Cleaner goes to CCleaner
Defragger goes to Puran
System Optimizer goes to TuneUp Utilities
Burner goes to Ashampoo Burning Studio
Browser goes to Chrome
Media Player goes to KMPlayer
PDF Reader goes to Foxit
Uninstaller goes to TU
File/Folder Explorer goes to Q-Dir and
MS Office