Absolutely essential software..

[John Corn]

I was wondering what software you folks install as must-have's when you get a new system....I'm not talking about massive, specialized software packages that are great (Photoshop), but programs every single person should have on their machine. Programs that when you see a computer without it you just say to the owner---you fool! ;)

Can be free or shareware or commercial, but they should be essential and something you want on your computer seconds after you boot into your OS for the first time.

A couple of mine are:
1. IrfanView for viewing images
2. Callwave internet answering machine

[gcutler]

1) Anti-Virus (with active subscription) should be on every PC.

2) Some form of backup program To Tape or CD-RW/DVD-RW (Seagate Backup or Ghost)

3) Firewall SW (if have a firewall router and only at home ok, but if travel absolutley)

4) A WinZip/PKZip type program.

Can't think of anything else, Perhaps a Norton Utilties type program for repair, but many utils now included in OS

[Mark Holtz]

It varies. I usually end up putting in TweakUI or a variant thereof just to remove the "Shortcut To" and that silly arrow.

I used to put in TimeRC to set the clock under Windows through the Internet, but Windows XP has basically included a time setting utility.

For terminal programs, I install TeraTerm Pro. Not only is it a telnet client, but it also allows you to communicate through a COM port..... handy when setting up equipment. I also use PuTTY, which is a freeware Telnet client that includes SSHv2 support.

WinAmp is a definate must, as it plays all sorts of music formats. Kinda better than Windows Media Player, but I haven't played around much with WMP9.

Adobe Acrobat is also a definate must, as it is a de-facto standard in reading on-line documents.

I've also replaced the standard Notepad program with a better freeware program called NotePad Plus, which has more functionality and allows me to have several text files open at once.

[Timco]

WinZip - I don't know how to survive without it...

[MarkA]

GIMP
Mozilla
Voyetra Turtle Beach AudioStation
OpenOffice.org

[Steve Mehs]

MS Office XP Pro
Dreamweaver MX
Kazaa Lite
NAV

[MarkA]

"WinZip - I don't know how to survive without it."

Use pkzip/pkunzip or get Windows XP?