Essential software for a new PC - Hardware & Software

So I'm building a new PC very soon and thought it'd be a good idea to start collecting the software and drivers I'll need. I went through and downloaded all the drivers for my soon-to-be hardware, and then started browsing for a few of my most common and necessary programs. I thought it'd be interesting and helpful to share what's on my list, and to see what's on [I]your[/I] list! You might find something handy, or if you're as forgetful as me, be reminded of something that might be handy to have. Here is my list of 'essentials' that I have chucked onto a memory stick for easy access, to get my new PC up-and-running as soon as possible. -I went to the websites of the manufacturers of all my new hardware and grabbed the latest version of all drivers. -Antivirus / Antimalware of choice -ccleaner -foobar2000 for music -Opera for browsin' -Steam -VLC I like this idea, as it means I don't have to connect to the internet on a new, vulnerable PC just to get the essentials. I can avoid using Internet Explorer to download another browser, and I can install my security before I even plug the chord in. I just copy the installers over and away I go. Okay so I just wrote all this out and I realised this is probably a shitty thread. But I thought it'd just be interesting to see what everyone else would do. Meh.

I'd just go to ninite.com and choose what you want to be on your new computer from that site. Download the installer, then pop the installer on your new computer via flash drive when it's built. All you have to do is run it and it will automatically download and install everything you wanted.

This isn't a list suggestion, but [URL="http://ninite.com/"]Ninite[/URL] is your best friend for installing the essentials. Also, the list's there, so it's worth browsing through and seeing if you missed any. You need internet connectivity to use it, since it doesn't directly bundle the apps in a huge zip archive for offline installing, but instead pulls the latest versions of the apps directly from their official download locations for you. You can download and save the Ninite installer with your custom deck of apps set, and save it on your USB stick for when Windows is installed. I suggest SpeedFan. [editline]11th March 2014[/editline] goddamnit, ninja'd! :v:

Well shit. That makes everything else pointless! Come to think of it, I vaguely remember a similar service from years ago when I last built a PC and thought "I must remember to use that next time!" Well there you go.

I came across [URL="http://unchecky.com/"]this[/URL] recently, its pretty useful.

[QUOTE='[ J ] Man;44200622']I came across [URL="http://unchecky.com/"]this[/URL] recently, its pretty useful.[/QUOTE] I'm going to install this on the computers of all my family members, forever.

It's sad that software like that has to exist, they should be unchecked by default, it's like the biggest cause of why people have shit on their computer

It sounds to good to be true: an official, free replacement for Windows task manager that totally rocks. I'm surprised Ninite doesn't know about it. [URL="http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/sysinternals/bb896653.aspx"]Process Explorer[/URL]

[QUOTE=Jebus;44200385] -I went to the websites of the manufacturers of all my new hardware and grabbed the latest version of all drivers. -Antivirus / Antimalware of choice -ccleaner [B]-foobar2000 for music[/B] -Opera for browsin' -Steam [B]-VLC[/B] [/QUOTE] Just curious, why not just use VLC for music?

[QUOTE='[ J ] Man;44200622']I came across [URL="http://unchecky.com/"]this[/URL] recently, its pretty useful.[/QUOTE] hey thanks for this man [editline]11th March 2014[/editline] [QUOTE=Jdc1197;44203182]Just curious, why not just use VLC for music?[/QUOTE] foobar looks pretty clean, but ultimately when you listen to music you aren't just staring at the program, yeah VLC works really well for both music and video.

[QUOTE=Larikang;44202684]It sounds to good to be true: an official, free replacement for Windows task manager that totally rocks. I'm surprised Ninite doesn't know about it. [URL="http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/sysinternals/bb896653.aspx"]Process Explorer[/URL][/QUOTE] From Windows Vista I found the normal task manager to be sufficient, the main thing that was missing from the one on Windows XP was the actual names of the programs. Now it's really easy to find processes and also to find viruses/weird processes that shouldn't be running

Speccy for e-penis waving and temps, Morphvox for playing music over mic, MSE for security.

[QUOTE=Teddybeer;44205004] But yes Process Explorer is useful.[/QUOTE] The entire Sysinternals suite is useful for certain things. @OP Keepass / Lastpass HWiNFO 7-zip ShareX [editline]12th March 2014[/editline] [QUOTE=Original User;44211646]Speccy for e-penis waving and temps, Morphvox for playing music over mic, MSE for security.[/QUOTE] I use MSE too, but MSE is actually quite poor compared to competitors. Avast and Kaspersky is something I'd recommend right now.

I think MSE is perfect for someone who knows what they're doing and uses ad block. It's false positives are low, it's not bad in general, and it has a ridiculously low footprint on Windows 8

[QUOTE=Levelog;44212360]I think MSE is perfect for someone who knows what they're doing and uses ad block. It's false positives are low, it's not bad in general, and it has a ridiculously low footprint on Windows 8[/QUOTE] Agreed. I can recommend it to people who know what they're doing, but for the average Joe I wouldn't recommend it at all.

[QUOTE=Levelog;44212360]I think MSE is perfect for someone who knows what they're doing and uses ad block. It's false positives are low, it's not bad in general, and it has a ridiculously low footprint on Windows 8[/QUOTE] I prefer Avast because it is both quicker and more secure than MSE (AKA Windows Defender on Windows 8.) [t]https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/7333627/ShareX/2014-03/12T14-43-17.png[/t] [t]https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/7333627/ShareX/2014-03/12T14-45-22.png[/t] [t]https://dl.dropbox.com/u/7333627/ShareX/2014-03/12T14-47-50.png[/t] [url]http://www.av-comparatives.org/dynamic-tests/[/url] [url]http://www.av-comparatives.org/performance-tests/[/url] [url]http://www.av-test.org/en/tests/home-user/[/url] [editline]12th March 2014[/editline] [QUOTE='[ J ] Man;44200622']I came across [URL="http://unchecky.com/"]this[/URL] recently, its pretty useful.[/QUOTE] This changes everything. [editline]12th March 2014[/editline] To answer OP's question, this is my essential apps list. All the Runtimes (Java, Flash, Etc.) 7z Everything.exe CCCP+MPC:HC foobar2000 ImgBurn MyDefrag Revo Uninstaller TeraCopy Paint.NET/GIMP(or GIMPSHOP) Irfanview Notepad++ SumatraPDF Avast Malwarebytes uTorrent Dropbox ShareX WinCDEmu f.lux Chrome with: -ABP -AVG PrivacyFix -Currently -Disconnect -HTTPS Everywhere -Lastpass -Webutation -Xmarks Firefox as backup Also, I like to keep Hiren's BootCD as a bootable on my USB drive. If there's something I'm missing, I can promise it's on there.

[QUOTE=Jdc1197;44203182]Just curious, why not just use VLC for music?[/QUOTE] I dunno about anyone else, but there are a two reasons I use foobar: 1. With plugins it's really simple as an ID3 tag editor 2. It's a lot cleaner of an interface because it's simply music instead of the mess of an interface VLC has So VLC and MPC-HC are my choices when it comes to vidya / music for the most part

I love foobar's library search. I don't know what magic it uses, but it's lightning fast and always seem to return the correct results even when my search terms suck.