Essential software to have on your laptop

In order to help those who are new to laptops I thought it might be nice for people to give their "two cents worth" about what software is essential for a laptop owner. Things to be considered are program size, speed, ease of use, multiple tasking, importance, security, etc.

Here are a few free programs to start things off-

Open Office (MS Office replacement)- http://www.openoffice.org/
Free Commander (file manager)- http://www.freecommander.com/
Spybot (anti-spyware software)- http://www.safer-networking.org/en/download/index.html
Irfanview (multimedia viewer)- http://www.irfanview.com/
Izarc (zip encoder/decoder archiver)- http://www.izarc.org/
Belarc Advisor (detailed PC profiler)- http://www.belarc.com/free_download.html

Check these out.

I hope this helps someone in need.

Anyone else have some suggestions?

 

CCleaner (General Cleaner) - www.ccleaner.com
Spyware Blaster (Spyware prevention) - http://www.javacoolsoftware.com/spywareblaster.html
Foxit Reader (free and faster than Adobe Reader) - http://www.foxitsoftware.com/pdf/rd_intro.php
NOD32 (not free but an excellent Anti-Virus) - www.eset.com

All I can think of really right now

 

Here is a nice program for anyone who has trouble finding things on their computer. This program gives you easy access to all the controls and hidden items within XP. It's free also.
XPSysPad (controls tool)- http://www.xtort.net/xtort/xpsyspad.php

Here is a great tool for checking out your system and benchmarking your setup.
PC Wizard (system setup and benchmark utility)- http://www.cpuid.com/pcwizard.php

 

acronis for image backup
mozy for free internet data backup
hamachi for file/print sharing over the internet
logmein for remote control
gotomeeting for screen sharing
skype for voice/video calls

 

IE7 - I like Firefox, but on a laptop (mine's a 15.4 inch widescreen), a great many websites have type that is too small to read without a magnifying glass. After just a month of trying it out, I can't give up IE7's page zoom feature. Unlike Firefox, which can only increase the size of the text, IE7 zooms the entire page, rarely breaking anything in the process. In my opinion, this is an indispensable feature on a laptop.

OpenOffice - agree with others about that, although I'm mostly a words person, and I could easily live with just Abiword.

Mozilla Sunbird - for my calendar and to-do needs.

Ccleaner - for cleaning up after those inevitable uninstalls.

Evernote - the free version. Absolutely indispensable once you've used it, don't forget to add the Evernote clipping tool to either IE or Firefox.

Real and Quicktime Alternatives - just for the browser plug-ins, unless you really need the bloated Apple and Realplayer software.

I like MicroTrends PC-cillin for my antivirus protection, just because I've been using it for years. However, I could live with the free Avast or AVG.