List of Essential Windows Apps?

[silentmemories]

I've been using a Mac for 4 years already after switching from Windows XP and I'm planning to build a Windows desktop, so I need to refresh my memory on Windows.

What are the essential applications that you would suggest? (Gaming build)

• MSE
• Hitman Pro <-- Any good?
• Fraps
• HWMonitor <-- Any other hardware monitoring applications that you guys could suggest?
• VLC
• Handbrake
• Rainmeter
• CCleaner

Any other essential applications? Also, can MSE be installed without a connection to the Internet? I've read somewhere and it said that if you connect to the Internet unprotected, it is quite likely that you will be infected immediately.

 

[lxskllr]

I've read somewhere and it said that if you connect to the Internet unprotected, it is quite likely that you will be infected immediately.

That's nonsense. Just install your apps, and get the A/V on when you get to it. This is my default loadout on a new install...

Avira
Paint.NET
7Zip
Foxit reader
Notepad++
Foobar2000
VLC
Firefox
Thunderbird
LibreOffice
Sysinternals Suite
Nirsoft tools
UBCD4Win builder
utorrent

 

[Fear No Evil]

If you machine is behind a router with NAT you should be fine. If you put it DIRECTLY out on the internet, yeah, I could see it getting infected quickly (But not instantly).

 

[silentmemories]

If you machine is behind a router with NAT you should be fine. If you put it DIRECTLY out on the internet, yeah, I could see it getting infected quickly (But not instantly).

... :| I'm afraid my room has a direct connection to the Internet since the router is in another room. Is there any way on preventing this without purchasing a router?

MSE - I'm not exactly sure if it can be installed without the Internet. I might have mistaken it for another application, but I remember that it needed to download something before starting installation.

Does anyone have any experience with Hitman Pro?

 

[lxskllr]

Wireless? You're still going through the router.

 

[silentmemories]

Wireless? You're still going through the router.

The desktop doesn't have a wireless card. At least, I don't think so. ... Does this board have an ethernet port? I've looked through the specification and it said something about having a slot with an upgrade for a network card...

 

[lxskllr]

The desktop doesn't have a wireless card. At least, I don't think so. ... Does this board have an ethernet port? I've looked through the specification and it said something about having a slot with an upgrade for a network card...

Yea, that has ethernet. AFAIK, they haven't have a board without ethernet in a decade or so. That's pretty much a standard feature.

 

[Chiropteran]

I've read somewhere and it said that if you connect to the Internet unprotected, it is quite likely that you will be infected immediately.

That is not exactly accurate. It's more likely that you will get infected by browsing the internet without full security updates installed for your OS and browser. Just go to windows update first and fully update, then installed MSE.

 

[theprodigalrebel]

If you machine is behind a router with NAT you should be fine. If you put it DIRECTLY out on the internet, yeah, I could see it getting infected quickly (But not instantly).

This was true in the pre-SP2 Windows XP era. Like, back in 2003/04 where MSBlaster/Sasser were wreaking havoc on computers without a firewall. This is not the case anymore.

OP, I consider the following crucial on a new build:
1) Microsoft Security Essentials
2) Windows Live Essentials (lots of useful applications)
3) Adobe Reader X (Foxit is a great alternative for most users but I have occasionally had files with digital signatures and other nonsense that just wouldn't play nice with it)
4) Trillian (multi-protocol chat client that supports Facebook/Twitter/Google Talk etc., the free version is pretty solid too, you just miss some UI customization features. I prefer it to Miranda, Pidgin and Digsby)
5) Shark007 codecs - Windows 7/WMP12 have built in support for most popular codecs, including MP4 containers, MPEG-4 AVC and MPEG-4 ASP as well. However, Shark007 codecs will enable Vorbis/MKV support and throw in support for tons of obscure formats. Apart from that, you can also choose what decoder you would like for H.264 playback (options include the default Microsoft GPU-accelerated codec plus those provided by ffdshow, ffdshow DXVA, PowerDVD, DivX etc.)
6) Zune - You don't need to have a Zune or WP7 Phone. It's a kickass music player and management application.

 

[Gooberlx2]

The actual essentials:

7zip
Paint.net
Adobe Reader
CutePDF
LibreOffice
Microsoft Security Essentials
ImgBurn
Chrome
Java

Other software I like:

Digbsy
Windows Live Essentials
Haali Media Splitter
ac3filter
Avidemux
Handbrake
Audacity
Crashplan
Zune software
Notepad++
Netbeans
Filezilla
putty
dbpoweramp
Microsoft ICE
LogMeIn
FastPictureViewer RAW codecs
RawTherapee

 

[Albatross]

http://ninite.com/
Not really an app,but useful nonetheless.
EDIT
Forgot about this:
http://www.filehippo.com/updatechecker/

 

[Slugbait]

A few essentials missing from other lists...
- Secunia PSI
- Steam
- WinDirStat
- SUPERAntiSpyware (MalwareBytes has given me numerous false-positives)
- Skype
- uTorrent
- HD DVDFab
- SuperC (Handbrake is an OK transcoder, but extremely limited in comparison)
- EAC + LAME
- Recuva
- Revo Uninstaller

 

[paperfist]

I really like Hitman Pro, it picks up stuff that Norton, Security Essentials and Malwarebytes' Anti-Malware didn't catch for me.

 

[KeypoX]

http://ninite.com/
Not really an app,but useful nonetheless.

wow that is awesome i never seen that, gonna be doing a reinstall next week (sandy bridge) will use that.

Gonna have to make a sp1 iso too. Unless its already on msdnaa.

 

[Modelworks]

You can put a pc on the internet with no firewall and it will not get infected or be a problem. The key is to not have applications running that something outside can connect to. If you only have the OS running with no services or applications that accept connections the pc is safe.

All the free apps I use:

http://www.xnview.com/en/index.html
http://www.voidtools.com/
http://www.tracker-software.com/product/pdf-xchange-viewer
http://www.7-zip.org/
http://legroom.net/software/uniextract
http://akelpad.sourceforge.net/en/index.php
http://www.nirsoft.net/utils/index.html

 

[silentmemories]

I really like Hitman Pro, it picks up stuff that Norton, Security Essentials and Malwarebytes' Anti-Malware didn't catch for me.

... Does it really work? Some reviews online say that it isn't effective. (It's kind of like Theatfire, isn't it? That was the big cloud AV 4 years back. The website's appearance seems to be the same though - it's probably dead.)

Anyone have any experience with Acronis TrueImage WD Edition? It's apparently free to anyone who has at least 1 WD drive in their desktop.

Is there anyone here who runs their apps inside a Virtual Machine? (I was thinking about that - installing CS5 inside a VM to 'contain it' without risking damage.)

 

[theprodigalrebel]

wow that is awesome i never seen that, gonna be doing a reinstall next week (sandy bridge) will use that.

Gonna have to make a sp1 iso too. Unless its already on msdnaa.

Yeah, had never heard of that before. Looks pretty kick-ass, apparently it installs all software with the defaults and automatically says no to all toolbars and bundled extras. Very nice!

 

[Rackmountsales]

Palm Desktop
Slickrun
Mapsource
Stickies
NoteTab Light
ExpertGPS
RealVNC
WinSnap
Profont
SlingPlayer
CCleaner
Process Explorer

 

[Zargon]

... Does it really work? Some reviews online say that it isn't effective. (It's kind of like Theatfire, isn't it? That was the big cloud AV 4 years back. The website's appearance seems to be the same though - it's probably dead.)

Anyone have any experience with Acronis TrueImage WD Edition? It's apparently free to anyone who has at least 1 WD drive in their desktop.

Is there anyone here who runs their apps inside a Virtual Machine? (I was thinking about that - installing CS5 inside a VM to 'contain it' without risking damage.)

I've used the WD edition, its not bad, its been a while but I dont recall it offering much for options over the new backup built into windows though

 

[silentmemories]

I've used the WD edition, its not bad, its been a while but I dont recall it offering much for options over the new backup built into windows though

Ah... The backup system that I used in Windows XP 4 years ago wasn't that good and I resorted to manual copying and pasting. Has anything changed since then in Vista/7?

(I'll be using Vista Business)

 

[Zargon]

if you are on vista then get the WD one.

Win7 has a new system(licenses from acronis I believe)

 

[jzodda]

http://ninite.com/
Not really an app,but useful nonetheless.
EDIT
Forgot about this:
http://www.filehippo.com/updatechecker/

Just built a new system-found this thread and your links.

needless to say I am very happy

thanks!

 

[uberman]

People are reccomending "7Zip." I have many things that I've Winzipped and saved on CD or DVD.
Will "7Zip" unzip Winzipped files?
Thanks

 

[lxskllr]

People are reccomending "7Zip." I have many things that I've Winzipped and saved on CD or DVD.
Will "7Zip" unzip Winzipped files?
Thanks

I've never had it fail to open any non corrupted archive.

 

[Modelworks]

People are reccomending "7Zip." I have many things that I've Winzipped and saved on CD or DVD.
Will "7Zip" unzip Winzipped files?
Thanks

7zip can open just about any compressed file format that is public. There is a fairly new format called zipx that it will not open. Zipx is different from previous formats because it adapts compression based on the content type. If the folder contains jpegs and text it will use different methods for each file type. It compresses to sizes about like that of a lzma file but isn't as compatible with other software.