Necessary Software I Put On My New Computer

April 11, 2009 | In: Computers, Internet, Software

dell I got my Dell Studio XPS 435MT last week and didn’t get it set up till Sunday to start loading software I needed for my computing needs on a daily basis. The system is 64 bit running Windows Vista Home Premium. It was nice to have the dual monitors because I could keep my old computer set up on one monitor and my new computer set up on the second monitor. That way any software I needed to deactivate on one computer I could do and set up right away on the new computer without losing the ability to use an application.

So, here is the software I now have on my new computer. Where I paid for a lot of my software I have offered free alternatives that I know exist.

Firefox (free)- This was the first piece of software I put on my new computer. I much prefer Firefox over Internet Explorer. Firefox is a free web browser with many add-ons to customize it to make web browsing easier.
IZArc (free)- This is a utility that zips and unzips files in a mutlitute of formats. It is freeware and I like it much better than WinZip.
Microsoft Office 2007 Pro (paid) – I’ve been an Office user for years so I just keep upgrading my version. I am an avid Word, Excel and Outlook user but also use Publisher and Powerpoint. Free Alternative: OpenOffice, a great free option and is compatible with Office formats.
Adobe Acrobat (paid)- I use this program constantly for work. I create and email files to clients using Acrobat and couldn’t live without it. Free Alternative: CutePDF.
Adobe Photoshop (paid) – I use Photoshop to edit photos for my blog and fun. Free Alternative: Gimp
executor (free)- This is a program, folder, file, basically anything you want launching application. I very rarely use the Start button on my computer and I don’t use the Quick Launch toolbar since I have this program on my computer. You just type in the name of the program, site or what you have added to executor and it is launched for you.
Syncing.net (paid)- I use this program to sync my Outlook files between my laptop and my desktop. I was sick of cleaning my email off of both computers and wanted a way to have my Outlook files the same on both computers including email, contacts, calendar and tasks. It works well but is not free. The home edition which runs on 3 computers costs $149. The program also syncs files but I was already using another program to do that so I only use it for the purpose of keeping my Outlook files synced.
Live Mesh (free)- This is the program I use to keep files in sync between computers and online. This is not file sharing per se, more that you have the same files on each computer and when you make a change it is changed on the other computer(s) as well and online. It’s nice that the files are online as well in case I need to access them when I am away from home.
TweetDeck (free) – I love Twitter (a microblogging kind of service I’ll write about soon) and TweetDeck makes it easy to see what others are tweeting, who has responded to me and any direct messages. It also now does status updates for Facebook. In order to run TweetDeck you will need Adobe AIR and will be prompted to download it if it is not on your computer.
Evernote (free and paid versions) – This program is great. It is a wonderful way to keep track of notes on your computer(s) and the web (also your smartphone or iphone). Keep separate notebooks for separate tasks/topics. Clip information from the web and save it to a notebook. There is a desktop client to run on your computer so you don’t have to be online to get your notes but by syncing your notes you have them online and can download them to other computers. A really great notetaking application. Check out this video. A Quick Introduction to Evernote

Skype (free and paid)- I use this for video calling with friends and family. The house I live in with my father is so big we Skype each other all the time. It is free to make calls between other users of Skype, they don’t have to be video calls. It does cost to make calls to non-Skype users but many find it is a great way to make international phone calls.
iTunes (free)- I prefer to use other music players than iTunes but I have an iPod Touch and I need to use iTunes, especially to access the application store. If you don’t need iTunes I suggest you check out Winamp and MediaMonkey as media players which both offer free and paid versions.
Snagit (paid)- This is a screen capture tool. It is great for sending screen shots to people of sites, error messages, your computer desktop and more. This program costs money. Free Alternative: WinSnap.
uTorrent (free) – A bittorrent client to download television shows and such. I use it to download shows from a British torrent site that has BBC shows not shown in the U.S.

There is more software that I will be adding to my computer. But, at this point, my computer is running with what I need. As I add programs I will share them with you.

What software was necessary for you to get your new computer up and running? What software can’t you live without? Are there free programs you know about so we don’t have to shell out so much money to make our computers productive?