New Computer, what to do

Hi all,

I just got Dell 600m with XP pro. Does anyone have suggestions about what else to put on it and/or the best ways to configure it. Is there a best antivirus program to use -- will I have to subscribe to something?

Should I cleanup and/or remove some of the things that came on the computer?

Are there good free downloads that I should get? Or other programs that you find very valuable?

Any suggestions on how to make this great would be very much appreciated.

Thanks,
Dan

 

If you need links to any of these programs, let me know.

Anti Virus: *AVG Free Edition

Firewall: *Zonealarm

Other programs:
Weather Watcher
*Mozilla Firefox
*Slickrun
*Ad Aware
*Spybot Search & Destroy
Winamp

If you want free office software:
SOT Office
OpenOffice
Abiword
602 Software

That is all that comes to mind right now, but I'm sure there is more.

*means the program is very usefull

 

Spyblaster is a must since it stops most spyware from being installed in the first place.

Also, I prefer Sygate To zonealarm, both are free for personal use, so try it out and see which one you like better. Also, from sygate you can go to their website and test your firewall for what they can see over the net.

zx5000 :: 2.4M :: 512 DDR :: 40gb 4200 RPM HD :: 15.4" :: Radeon 9600 Mobilty M10 :: Aquamark3 22,856

 

Thanks so much! Anyone else have thoughts?

 

Anti-virus, I've been using Norton Internet Security Professional which also includes a pop-up blocker. I know most people like McAffees better, but I've never gotten anything under NIS and will gladly switch once I do.

I'm a big fan of reinstalling OSs on a laptop. You usually get extra stuff that you don't use or want. Before you consider that, make sure your computer has rescue disks or a rescue function so you can restore your machine if the need arises. I would go to the Control Panel and see what is installed and remove anything you don't want...why waste the space.

Software is a personal issue. You'll find you can get 3 different suggestions on the same type of application from 3 different people. Some software is more user-friendly, others have bad GUIs, etc. etc. etc. The one utility I can suggest is DiskKeeper or another HD defragmentation utility. I like the GUI for DK and the Windows defrag util is too picky....have to scan the drive first, usually only works (for me) in safe mode, never follows the schedule...pain in the arse. Also, a good game...you never know when those meetings are going to run a little over......

 

Yeah bzflag is a good free game you can get

zx5000 :: 2.4M :: 512 DDR :: 40gb 4200 RPM HD :: 15.4" :: Radeon 9600 Mobilty M10 :: Aquamark3 22,856

 

Thanks everyone! Very kind of you.