Best free essential software for a new laptop

[waddler8 10]

also, i'd avoid microsoft security, its not very good at what its (meant) to do..

 

Based on....? I've heard plenty of reports to the contrary.

 

 

http://www.winsupersite.com/win7/mse.asp

Microsoft describes MSE as a "thin layer on a deep technology stack." It's comprised of a user mode service and a kernel mode driver, so it can handle malware no matter where it lives in the system. It's all backed up by a series of web services, including telemetry data through the SpyNet service, Microsoft Update, and a separate signature update service.

 

Thanks to the 450 million people who automatically download security updates every month from Microsoft Update, the software giant has a unique and gigantic feedback loop from which they can quickly identify new attacks and react aggressively. On the client itself, the MSE real time protection mechanism operates at the kernel level to examine the behavior of unknown binaries and then sandbox potential malware before it can do any harm. And thanks to a new Dynamic Signature Service, MSE can immediately query online to see if there is anything that matches what its seeing on the PC. Because of its kernel mode hooks, MSE can also detect kernel mode rootkits and, in many cases, even clean them out after they've rooted their way into the system.

[buck 11]

Ha ha. Microsoft is one of the most hated companies in the world, with hackers deliberately targeting their OS and web browsers. What makes you think their AV software will be immune and perfect?

I like AVG for anti virus. You can get it free for basic protection, but I invested a little money to get more. OpenOffice costs nothing, and surplants the expensive Microsoft Office. Its more versatile as a word processor if that's all you need.

[alchresearch 208]

Antivir is also free, but I pay for ESET's NOD32. It hardly costs a bundle and is a great AV application.

[steev 10]

Based on....? I've heard plenty of reports to the contrary.

 

http://www.winsupersite.com/win7/mse.asp

 

Saying there's plenty then posting one that's written by MS's no 1 fanboy doesn't really help your case though. There are independent tests that rate it quite well, as discussed on that other thread here the other night (that I can't be bothered to find), but that bloke would give a favourable review to something left in the toilet by Bill Gates.

 

Despite some decent independent reviews though I'd still be reluctant to use any security software by MS, they're still the biggest target for hackers.

[Greybeard 10]

 

Adobe Reader (a necessary evil) - http://get.adobe.com/uk/reader/

 

 

Evil ? possibly - bloated malware door certainly but necessary ? - no.

 

The are several good, small and fast pdf readers available that don't phone home or have periodic vulnerabilities. I use Foxit reader, there may be better ones but it does all I want.

[Kingmaker2 10]

And a sandbox to tun your browser in. Sanndboxie free version has a nag screen but it's a small price to pay for the protection it gives.

 

I would put Sandboxie at the top of the list for getting the best Free protection for your computer right off the bat.

http://www.sandboxie.com/

 

Online Amor Firewall is also high on the list as it has good protection against Key Loggers.

 

http://www.tallemu.com/products-online-armor-free.php

 

Other Useful programs

 

Google Picasa

For sharing photos with friends very easily.

 

http://picasa.google.com/

 

Skype to speak to friends and family around the world for free.

 

http://www.skype.com/intl/en-gb/

[sccsux 10]

were is the best place to download from does anybody know a link?

 

K-Lite (mega) codec pack is available from here (you want the "K-Lite Codec Pack 5.8.0 FULL").

 

and do people agree that real player is rubbish?because im thinking about removing it:confused:

 

Yes, it's rubbish (and overkill).

[orbrey 10]

Infrarecorder. Best CD/DVD burning software I've found, and it's free.

[[Matt] 10]

hello:hihi:

 

I have recently bought a new laptop and have installed the following free software....

 

Real player......to watch videos mp3 etc

 

microsoft security......anti virus

 

malwarebyte...... anti malware

 

Mozilla firefox.......for internet

 

Ashampoo........... burning software

 

cleanup!........for cleaning

 

 

have i missed anything?what have you installed on your machine? and what software do you recomend from your experiences?

 

Real Player is cack. Use a combination of the K-lite codec pack and VLCplayer for video and music.

 

http://www.free-codecs.com/download/K_lite_codec_pack.htm

http://www.videolan.org/vlc/

 

For an antivirus program i would instead recommend either AVG or my personal recommendation Avast!

 

http://www.avast.com/free-antivirus-download

 

In my opinion the best malware and spyware removal tool on the market is Ad-Aware.

 

http://www.lavasoft.com/

http://download.cnet.com/Ad-Aware-Free-Anti-Malware/3000-8022_4-10045910.html?part=dl-ad-aware&subj=dl&tag=top5

 

Firefox is decent but its getting a little clunky these days. Give google chrome a go or even opera. Both are superior if you ask me.

 

http://www.google.co.uk/chrome

http://www.opera.com/

 

You also cant go wrong with infrarecorder for CD burning.

 

http://infrarecorder.org/?page_id=5

[[Matt] 10]

...as for everything else check out this humongous list of only the best and free open source software.

 

http://www.winaddons.com/top-300-freeware-software/

 

^absolute goldmine i tell you^

 

[Draggletail 51]

Irfanview is something I've used for years - one day when I feel a bit richer and less tight, I really will use their 'donate' button and send a few quid (saying a lot for me)

IrfanView is a very fast, small, compact and innovative FREEWARE (for non-commercial use) graphic viewer for Windows 9x, ME, NT, 2000, XP, 2003 , 2008, Vista, Windows 7.

 

It is trying to be simple for beginners and powerful for professionals.

 

IrfanView is trying to create new and/or interesting features in its own way, unlike some other graphic viewers, whose whole "creativity" is based on feature cloning, stealing of ideas and whole dialogs from ACDSee and/or IrfanView! (for example: XnView has been stealing/cloning features and whole dialogs from IrfanView, for 10+ years).

 

IrfanView was the first Windows graphic viewer WORLDWIDE with Multiple (animated) GIF support.

One of the first graphic viewers WORLDWIDE with Multipage TIF support.

The first graphic viewer WORLDWIDE with Multiple ICO support.

 

Some IrfanView features:

 

* Many supported file formats (click here the list of formats)

* Multi language support

* Thumbnail/preview option

* Paint option - to draw lines, circles, arrows, straighten image etc.

* Toolbar skins option

* Slideshow (save slideshow as EXE/SCR or burn it to CD)

* Show EXIF/IPTC/Comment text in Slideshow/Fullscreen etc.

* Support for Adobe Photoshop Filters

* Fast directory view (moving through directory)

* Batch conversion (with image processing)

* Multipage TIF editing

* File search

* Email option

* Multimedia player

* Print option

* Support for embedded color profiles in JPG/TIF

* Change color depth

* Scan (batch scan) support

* Cut/crop

* IPTC editing

* Effects (Sharpen, Blur, Adobe 8BF, Filter Factory, Filters Unlimited, etc.)

* Capturing

* Extract icons from EXE/DLL/ICLs

* Lossless JPG rotation

* Unicode support

* Many hotkeys

* Many command line options

* Many PlugIns

* Only one EXE-File, no DLLs, no Shareware messages like "I Agree" or "Evaluation expired"

* No registry changes without user action/permission!

* and much much more

[segasonic 11]

K-Lite (mega) codec pack is available from here (you want the "K-Lite Codec Pack 5.8.0 FULL").

 

 

 

Yes, it's rubbish (and overkill).

 

Here's an alternative codec pack for Vista/7 users. I've had it on for ages with no probs.