Just finished my first build!

[PizzaDude]

Thanks to a bunch of you guys here on the forums, I just finished building my first computer(by myself) and without the help of a friend at my side. I'm pretty excited and wanted to say thanks.

Here's what it looks like:

mobile Athlon 2400+ XP
Shuttle AN35N-Ultra
512mb pc3200 Kingston DDR
GeForce4 Ti4200 128mb
Santa Cruz
Zalman CNSP 7000AlCu HSF
dvd-rom
dvd-rw
antec case w/ 350w PS


Now, I plan to overclock this pretty soon. Is there anything I need to know or do before I do this?

Also, what free programs do you suggest every computer needs(I got AIM, Ad-Aware, dvd shrink)?

 

[sharq]

Gaim (for being an AIM, MSN, Yahoo chat client)
Open Office (as a replacement for MS Office)
Mozilla (instead of IE)
AVG (anti-virus software)
Sygate/Zone Alarm (Firewall)
Winamp
Filezilla (free ftp software)

Anyways, the list can go on and on. Ask what you're looking for and we'll guide you. No idea on the OC though.

 

[howdyduty]

Get familiar with the bios settings first. Identify the jumper to reset your bios. You might want to overclock first using a boot floppy and no hard drive connected...thats what I do. After you found the general max speed of the cpu, then set to default and install the OS and major programs. Then, start overclocking again.

 

[mechBgon]

[*]FilZip (freeware similar to WinZip)
[*]Drag it off to Windows Update a few times for whatever Critical Updates it might need, as well as Windows Media Player 9 if you like
[*]Also enable the Automatic Updates so it stays up-to-date
[*]Adobe Acrobat Reader
[*]Microsoft Baseline Security Analyzer
[*]Spybot Search & Destroy 1.3