OT: Essential Software for Notebook Users

Hello. I have an a8js on order and I'd like to hear from people what are essential peices of software to get. I'm going to ask around in other forums too and hopefully make a nice guide that keeps track of good software.

I would prefer people to list free software, but go ahead and list for-pay software too (esp. for firewalls/anti-virus type apps). Software can fall into the following categories

(I will edit this post to add items as they are mentioned)


General Applications

Mozilla Firefox Web Browser
Get this.

Zip-7
Free. Excellent file compression/decompression tool. Tons of file types supported.


Benchmarking Tools

PCMark05
Limited/Free versional available. Gives composite score.

3DMark03
3DMark05
3DMark06
Limited/Free version available. Staple benchmark for GPU's

Sisoftware Sandra
Lite/Free version available. Lots of system benchmarks and information tools.

Fraps
Framerate and video capture tool for benchmarking. Free.

Super PI
CPU Benchmark

HD Tune
Free Hard Drive benchmark.


Hardware Management Software (battery/HD/temps/voltage/etc)

RMClock
Free. Allows clock speed manipulation of CPU's

Notebook Hardware Control (NHC)
Free. Monitoring and control of hardware for managing battery life, heat, performance.

MobileMeter
Free. Monitors cpu clock/temp, battery charge/discharge, HDD temp

CPU-Z
Garthers detailed computer information on components, voltages, clock speeds, etc. Free.



Windows / Driver Tweak Utilities

TuneXP
Tweaking utility for XP. Free.

JV16 Powertools
Assorted tools for cleaning your computer and optomizing performance.

CCleaner
Cleans up unwanted internet files, registry entires, program 'garbage', etc. Speeds up performance.

Eusing Registry Cleaner
Free tool to eliminate invalid registry entries, boost system performance.

RegScrubXP
Free. Another registry cleaning tool.

Auslogics Disk Defrag
Free disk defragmentation software.

BootVIS
Utility to reduce boot-up time.



Security Software (anti-spam/spy/virus, firewall)

Zone Alarm Firewall
Free/Lite version of basic firewall software. Best way to keep things out of your system in the first place.

Comodo Personal Firewall
Free full-featured personal firewall.

Avast Home Edition
Free version of anti-virus software

AVG Free
Anti-Virus software. Free.

Avira Anti-Virus
Another free anti-virus package.

Ad-Aware Personal SE
Free. Purges your system of awful aware.

Spybot Search & Destory
Eliminates horrid spyware from your system.

Windows Defender
MS Free/Beta real-time pop up and spyware protection



Media Software, GUI tweaks, other software

VLC - Media Player
Free media player, supports many digital types. Built in DVD software!

Winamp
Excellent free media player. Better than WMP, itunes, and it won't take over your computer!

Media Player Classic
Free. Looks like the old classic WMP but has lots of modern functionality.

CDEX
Free CD ripping tool with CDDB access. Nice minimalist programming, works flawlessly.

CDBurner XP Pro
Free software for burning all types of CD/DVD media.

IrFanView
Image viewing and basic manipulation software. Free.

ffdshow
Audio/Video codec encoding/decoding software.

K-Lite Codec Pack
Lots of codec + assorted AV utilities.

Alcohol 120%
Limited Use 30-day Trial. Creates CD/DVD images.

StarDock GUI
Free versions available of many desktop GUI changes. ObjectDock/WindowsBlinds in particular.

Mp3 Tag
Free. Sweet tool for rewritting filenames and/or tags for mp3 files. Helps clean up and organize music.

Daemon Tools
CD/DVD virtual drive software. Watch out for possible adware built in.



Let me know if there is a category that needs to be added. I've never owned a laptop before, so please help me (and many others) out.

 

MobileMeter, VLC, ad-aware, spybot, CCleaner, CPU-z, CDBurner XP Pro...

~ Brett

 

Thank you, added those up!! I'll have to check them out.

 

Alot of the benchmarking apps really bloat your system.

Also I recommend a combo of Lavasoft Ad-Aware SE Personal and Windows Defender along with AVG Free.

Spybit misses alot of things...

Anyways alway, Auslogics Disk Defrag(Free!), CCleaner, and Eusing Registry cleaner..

 

I'd suggest AVG Free for an Anti-Virus.

 

Seconded, Avast is worth a mention as well...

~ Brett

 

I use Avast, it seems to work a bit better then AVG in a lot of cases

 

ZoneAlarm. Having a good firewall keep trouble from entering your computer in the first place.

 

I third the notion of Avast antivirus... protects a little better than AVG, and it's free.

 

All these are free, and great...

Hardware Monitoring / Undervolting:
RMClock
Notebook Hardware Control

Tweaking:
TuneXP - lots of good registry tweaks
RegScrubXP

Security:
Avira AntiVir
Comodo Firewall - also have other free security products

Multimedia:
IrfanView - amazing free image viewer
Media Player Classic - great lightweight video player with lots of advanced features
+ ffdshow - premier video codec

GUI tweak:
The MS Royale Theme for WinXP - far and away better than the default XP skin.

 

Ill tell you what i have that is essential to me:

1. TuneXP
2. Media Player Classic w/ K-lite codec pack (decimates all, even VLC.)
3. Alcohol 120%
4. ObjectDock
5. WindowBlinds
6. utorrent
7. Opera
8. Mozilla Thunderbird
9. NHC

 

More files added. I have some other programs I use that I will post soon too.

 

I recommend JV16 Powertools for registry cleaning/compacting, dupe file finder, privacy controls, supports multiple languages, disk wipe, etc. Very stable on Windows. Free to try, $29.95 to buy.

From Macecraft at http://www.jv16.org/.

 

I'm sure you'll need this

Great post, keep it coming.

 

Thanks. I'll keep trucking along...

 

I see WindowsBlinds being mentioned again, but from what I could understand it's not free... is the demo worth downloading? is it limited in time?

 

... *Does the tap*

 

I didn't download the demo, i just saw it on my friends laptop and bought it. I would give the demo a try, you may like it enough to justify buying it.

 

I think Picasa2 is worth mentioning as a photo organization/viewing program, makes it so bloody easy to find every photo on your computer, and also makes it simple if you have a lot of photos you want to host on an online album and show to others, and has some nice basic photo enhancement features.

Google has quite a bit of interesting and useful software.

 

Agreed - pretty much anything on the Google Products page is worth a look. Also, if it hasn't been mentioned, OpenOffice.org is a great, free, full-featured MS Office alternative.

~ Brett