I find that most of the best programs out there are open source and completely free. So, I'll post some of the best ones on here:

Best Anti-Virus program: AVG. They have some commercial ones, but find the free personal use one.
Best Spyware scanner: Spybot Search and Destroy
Best browser: Opera or Firefox. I prefer Opera
Office Application: OpenOffice

MUST have programs:

CCleaner - Cleans your registry from files that you no longer use. Also delete files that you have other copies of. And a ton of other shit.

BartPE - makes a bootable WinXP disk. If your HD is fucked, you can boot with this. You can add other programs to the disk, too, like a virus scanner if your PC won't boot to Windows because of a virus.

SpeedFan - Monitors temperatures of CPU, GPU, etc..as well as set your fan speeds. An absolute must for overclockers.

WinRar - unzip/zip program. Must have. Either this or Winzip.

IrFanView - image viewing program. Faster than Windows Image Viewer.

WinDirStat - maps your HD. See what's taking up most of your HD.

VirtualDub - edit videos like a pro(Advanced users only)

VLC - a media player for those video files that won't play on Windows Media Player. Good for those who watch anime since a lot of anime are encoded in rare codecs.

Hijackthis - THE supreme spyware remover. (Extremely advanced users only)


I'll add some other stuff tommorrow. All of these programs have won praises from MaximumPC.

Are these easily found and downloaded?

;237519']Are these easily found and downloaded?

Yep. Just type em in google and it *should* take you to the home page.

Cool. Thanks man.

Good post, thanks.

Daemon tools - For mounted .iso's etc on a virtual DVd drive

Linux of couse (Ubuntu is the easiest)

KLM codec pack - massive as has loads.

Apache - Free open source web server

MySQL - Free open source database

NetStumbler - WiFi network detector

Good thread

thnks a lot man, i jus got a lap top so this will be very helpful

Don't worry about viruses with the megaupload links their mine and include serials/instructions

Your Uninstaller 2006 - gets rid of programs completely including uneeded files in the registry
http://www.megaupload.com/?d=Y326QS41

ObjectDock Plus - handy and flashy
http://www.megaupload.com/?d=54CMLHHA[

NOD32 - just like pcmaker stated pretty much teh best
http://www.megaupload.com/?d=99MTTSLA

FreeRAM XP Pro 1.52 - one of my personal favourites, monitor how much ram you're using and free up a shitload, helps even if you got alot of ram, right click logo in the system tray and "try to free 100%", works great
http://www.download.com/3000-2086-10070530.html

Security Task Manager - I usually end proccesses with windows task manager but this also quarantines them and list some that may be hidden
http://www.download.com/Security-Task-Manager/3000-2094-10246545.html?part=dl-SecurityT&subj=uo&tag=button

Everest Home 2.20 - to check full system specs, comes in handy
http://www.filehippo.com/download_everest_home/tech/

CPU-Z - in depth memory/cpu specs and up to minute overclocking stats
http://www.filehippo.com/download_cpuz/

Hijack This - unwanted running processes, trojans, spyware, just try not delete anything related to what you installed cause it might not run without it
http://www.filehippo.com/download_hijackthis/

CCleaner - quick easy tool cleans your temp and all that
http://www.filehippo.com/download_ccleaner/

Spybot - make sure you enable teatimer, I don't use this anymore because of NOD, Ad- Aware, Spyware Blaster but it's still one I'd recommend
http://www.filehippo.com/download_spybot_search_destroy/

Speedfan - change fan speeds, monitor temperatures, etc
http://www.filehippo.com/download_speedfan/

browse filehippo for more software, just be careful if yo uchoose to use daemon tools there's a bug that'll automatically restart you pc every single time unless booted into safemode, happened to many including me, but not all

Cheers Nova.

np :)

If you don't like windowblinds here is the quickest and easiest way to install xp themes lag free

http://www.megaupload.com/?d=XXIY49I download and run the patcher, easy as that
http://img295.imageshack.us/img295/4060/sdfsdfafwekd1.png

it'll allow you to install .msstyle themes, go here for some http://www.skinbase.org/section.php?sections=msstyles or google "msstyle themes"

unzip in "C:\WINDOWS\Resources\Themes"

and double click on the .msstyle theme and leave the rest

something like this should pop up

http://img295.imageshack.us/img295/9223/fasdftx1.png

click ok and you're done

----------------------------

For burning isos (burning games pretty much) here's poweriso with serial http://www.megaupload.com/?d=R5O90IAB
I would normally use alcohol but now it's bundled with this starwindservice spyware crap. Doesn't really do much but there both good anyway

The uninstaller worked like a charm,I had shit that would'nt delete,now it's gone for good.

"WinRar - unzip/zip program. Must have. Either this or Winzip."

WinRar and Winzip aren't exactly free. I'm pretty sure they are both shareware.

Try out 7-zip instead.

www dot 7-zip dot org

dvd decrypter - rips the block off your dvds so you can copy them

dvd shrink - makes commercial dvds fit the ones yoy buy by shrinking the file and removing extras

Oh yeah and dvd decrypter is also great for copying ps2 games

Is CCleaner better than Abexo registry cleaner? Can you backup the files before deleting them just in case?

Is CCleaner better than Abexo registry cleaner? Can you backup the files before deleting them just in case?

Yep you can create registry back ups.

vlc rockz

you can find everything you need here http://www.nsaneproductions.com/