Hi !

Usually I find that many don’t have the very basic essential Software’s installed in their system or they would have installed a crap-ware or bloatware .. or a software which have seized to exist years back. Software is an area where there is a constant upgrades and new innovative features are introduced . Its always vice to stay updated. This topic/article after a year or even after few months may become obsolete. That is the nature of the software.

Many years back i was a big fan of Norton Anti virus(AV) , and used to wait for hours to get update (which where usually on Tuesday/Wednesday) , simply coz it was fun but now i would say a big “NO” to Norton AV. It was a bloated software at that time.. but we didn’t have many option. Other Av include Mcafee and Panda AV.
Fast-Forward 5 years … We now have hefty number of AV`s and each touting to be the best. I usually follow the AV comparison done on various reliable website. Each time a comparison is on the air , each time a new winner arises. Last time when Arstechnica did a comparison test , a new winner rose to the top spot and previous winner where around in 8th spot. But AV department is somehow complicated and with rising number of different worms and Trojan , its difficult to be on top.

Lets take another example, Video Player. 6 years back I had very few option like WMP or Reaplayer or Inter video Player. time zap to 2009 you find Video players in hundreds. And few software’s like Netscape ( Once top browser like Firefox ) have vanished.

Lets cut to the point. If you are new to the PC world and have a fresh laptop or PC , here is my recommendation of software which will help you a lot . I have worked around with many software and this list is the best as far as i know.

Media Player :

This is were many have different opinion , Few like Real player because it helps in Youtube downloading. But its a bloatware and there are many alternatives to it. Take it or not here are the best player at present

1.) VLC Player :

Why ?

It is very light weight and can handle nearly all music / video file formats. If you are interested , you can skin them too….

Where to Download ?

http://www.videolan.org/vlc/download-windows.html

2.) K-Lite Codec :

Why ?

This is the codec pack to play nearly all existing video/music file on earth ! Even though support to RM files is poor , but still who uses the crappy RM files nowadays ?

Where to Download ?

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

Install these two software and you will have nearly all music and video file playability!

Browser :

Again many think Internet Explorer is the one and only and most reliable Browser , for your kind information , IE is a bloatware and no knowledgeable internet user use IE !

Firefox :

Why ?

Firefox is simply the best and almost 80% of tech savvies use Firefox. Firefox is first of all a open source software. and secondly mainly because of it hundreds of useful add-on which make ones life pretty easy on net , Many prefer FF .

Where to Download ?

http://www.mozilla.com/firefox/

Chrome :

Why ?

This is the new iteration from Google and currently gaining a good momentum with recent opening of the Add-on feature in chrome , Many have seen chrome as a good contender for Firefox . But still i would suggest all to go for Firefox !

Where to download ?

http://www.google.com/chrome

Worth mentioning Software :

Opera :

Why ?

Opera is the best browser in the area of fast page loading , if you using airtel gprs or bsnl or whatever , just install opera and enable ” Turbo ” mode at the left bottom , and see the speed increase !

Where to download ?

http://www.opera.com/

Anti-virus

This is a controversial area and suggestion is based solely in the performance of the software in the recent times. No AV is prefect and cant detect all virus/Trojan/worm. and there are always new worms and Trojan for which there are no signatures and no removal tools ! That said , protecting yourself at least against the current database should be the prior intention. Always install a AV and a firewall ( if you are on Windows 7 or vista , you can omit installing a firewall as the default one is pretty good ! ) if you going to hook your system to internet !

Kaspersky Anti-virus / Internet security :

Why ?

Kaspersky has shown a good result in recent comparison and its one dependable company . Go anywhere on the net and ask for a advice on AV , they would simply say kaspersky , even though it paid software , its not that costly either.for 500 Rs you get 3 license key which you can share with your friends for 1 year ! Thats a good deal if you ask me .More over the detection rate is pretty good . And constant updated also helps you in tackling the latest virus and other malware.

Where to download ?

This is trial version : http://www.kaspersky.com/trials
For Original : Get it from local dealer.
My best advice is to run the trial version for one month and as the month gets over go to the nearby dealer ands get the key and install , this way you will get 13 months of AV , instead of 12 months !

Worth Mentioning Softwares:

AVIRA AntiVir
G DATA AntiVirus 2010

These two are also good ones. Avira is a Free version (Personal Edition Alone )

Download Manager:

Download Accelerator Plus is good software , but its free version sucks a lot. Its best alternative are Orbit and Flashget Downloader. Both are free.But Flashget is pretty better than Orbit Downloader

FlashGet:

Why?

A Decent Download Manager with feature like inclusion within the browser , make youtube downloading easy.

Where to download ?

http://www.amazesoft.com/index_en.htm

Torrent Client :

Torrent is current hot topic in all colleges and among young teenagers. There are many option in this area

UTorrent :

Why ?

For starters to get started , this is the best one.It resembles a download manager and simplifies all the procedure for you. With under 500 KB size , this is the lightest app around !

Where to download ?

http://www.utorrent.com/downloads

Worth Mentioning Softwares :

VUZE :

Touted as “King of HD(High Definition) ” this is for more advanced users and for those who seek High definition.Its user community has loads of High definition contents from music videos to trailers to podcast , its fun filled community. If you want to expand your reach in HD , try VUZE!

Few other software’s which must be installed or worth installing are

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[NOTE:All the download links are given within the Name , Click on the below names to download the softwares]

1.) CCleaner :

Helps in cleaning all those unwanted stuffs which gets piled up after some month of usuage !

2.) Auslogic Disk Defragger :

As time goes , the hard disk gets cluttered with data scattered all around making the Operating System and the Disk reader longer time in fetching the files . Use this software to increase the speed .. Useful after few months of usage ! not intially and also how much you store and delete stuffs from hard disk

3.) Foxit Reader :

Forget about Adobe PDF Reader , its a Bloatware , Install Foxit Reader which is free , open source and fast !

4.) Burnaware Writer :

If you think Nero is only burning software , you are wrong. Burnaware is a free software and does all the work nero does .Nero takes nearly 1GB of space and it consumes huge amount of memory . Give Burnaware a try and reply back …

5.) SUPER © :

If you ever thought that converting video to mobile , look no further than this software . This software supports wide range of inputs and can spit it into anything you want. just add the Video you want to convert and set the output at the top and this will do the rest. Even though the controls and UI are little complicated , feature wise its superior than the usual crap Xillisoft software. I will try to write a guide on how to use this software in near future..

6.) MyphoneExplorer :

Exclusively for Sony Ericsson User . This free app , is the best SE phone manager. It can do all the wonders . just connect your SE phone and sit back and do all the things from your PC / Laptop. Write msg , send it to multiple friends , start music player , transfer files , install java apps , backup phone books , check the battery status etc etc..

I have tried my best to stay on with free apps so that you wont need to spend money or uninstall after some trial period gets over.
If you are person who cant spend , they definitely choose the software which are free. Google is your best friend. If you are trying to install a app , just Google about it and see if there is any better free alternative to it . this way you can know that you wont be having trouble later on. My advice is always try to use Free- Open source software’s .Its always better on the long run.

Even though i have missed many useful softwares , i dont want to trash all the software on the system . Not many PC/Laptop are high end and installing too many apps will only make it much slower.

This is not a complete list . These are basic software you will need. A Antivirus ,Browser, Music/video Player , PDF reader , Video Converter, CD/DVD Writer , Phone Manager , Torrent Downloader and Download Manager

If i had missed anything , please do mention it in the comments below , so that i can add them.

Thanks again for reading through ..

-Urs Siva