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The 32 Totally Essential (and Free) Apps for Every New PC

maximumpc.com — You have to admit, Windows is a pretty barebones operating system, feature-wise. After a fresh install of XP or Vista (perhaps following a Clean Start), you're faced with a barren Start Menu and an empty desktop that's beaming with limitless potential.

Who dugg this? Made popular Feb 19, 2009

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  • drbadass, on 02/19/2009, -2/+310I like the part where the list is about free apps and the 2nd app on the list isn't free
  • dtstuff9, on 02/19/2009, -6/+158Yay!!! My post made the front page and I'm not a power user!!!
  • amk29j, on 02/19/2009, -5/+102In a nutshell:

    WinDirStat
    AnyDVD
    Foxit PDF Reader
    VMWare Server
    Steam
    Dropbox
    Copernic Desktop Search
    TrueCrypt
    Skype
    Fraps
    Firefox
    CPU-Z
    GPU-Z
    Media Player Classic + ffdshow-tryouts
    Filezilla
    SyncBack Free
    IsoBurn
    KeePass
    OpenOffice.org
    Speedfan
    Handbrake
    Notepad++
    Digsby
    Avira AntiVir
    Malwarebytes Anti-Malware
    uTorrent
    foobar2000
    Picasa
    Secunia PSI
    Audacity
    7-zip
    Gimp
    Synergy
    RipBot264
    Google Earth
    PuTTY
    VLC Player
    Thunderbird
    Boxee
    Virtualdub
    TinySpell
    Recuva
    InstallPad - it'll install all the above for you when you feed it the setup.exe files!
  • V1ncent, on 02/19/2009, -4/+73Like all lists the contents are subjective amongst different users but I though it was a good, not totally perfect job,
  • whiteknives, on 02/19/2009, -10/+72Bury me if you will, but after all these years I still LOVE Winamp.
  • twiztidsinz, on 02/19/2009, -18/+75Paint.NET > GIMP
  • gamben0, on 02/19/2009, -12/+6290% of those are completely impractical for the average PC user. They're not all web developers, programmers, or gamers.
  • Falldog, on 02/19/2009, -22/+71Seven pages for only 32 things? wtf
  • jessenoob, on 02/19/2009, -1/+48Oh man, you're gonna hate books.
  • phlux, on 02/19/2009, -1/+44http://www.maximumpc.com/print/5333
  • jgtg32a, on 02/19/2009, -2/+41Honestly that's not really that bad, there's a decent sized SS and description.
  • apocalypselater, on 02/19/2009, -5/+43http://www.opensourcewindows.org/ may have a shorter list, but it's all good stuff, and it's all on ONE PAGE.
  • Asten77, on 02/19/2009, -4/+39Heh. Of course, the reason Windows is "barebones" is that if they tried to add anything, they'd get sued so fast they wouldn't know what hit them.

    While MS certainly played the part of a nasty bully in the past, most of the indications I've seen are that they are behaving themselves these days. The part that really drives me nuts is that if MS tried to ship half the stuff with their OS that Apple or Ubuntu shipped with theirs, they'd be ostracized by the tech community, sued by the DoJ and/or the EU. Apple does it, and gets lauded.

    Double standards are fun!
  • cplusplus, on 02/19/2009, -0/+30You don't need WinDirStat to find whats using the space ... its C:\porn
  • mwalker05, on 02/19/2009, -3/+31hey, did you notice how the 2nd app isnt free? better go make a comment about it!
  • stufflebean, on 02/19/2009, -0/+27It really whips the llama's ass.
  • merreborn, on 02/19/2009, -7/+32I'm particularly fond of the 3 DVD rippers and 2 media players. You really only need one of each.

    Totally essential my ass.
  • saifatlast, on 02/19/2009, -3/+25Man, this is a lot of useless crap for a brand new box.
  • opensourcer, on 02/19/2009, -0/+20can I suggest ccleaner and cdburnerXP. Good list nonetheless. I got couple programs on those list already but I might check out some other ones.
  • kupa, on 02/19/2009, -5/+20Paint.NET's learning curve is so tiny campared to GIMPs. It's sad people are burying you, but the truth is it's easier for someone to pick Paint.NET up rather then GIMP.

    I'm all for OS alternatives, but GIMP isn't really something I'd suggest to someone who's looking to make a cool sig or cool banner or something else equally innocuous.
  • FeynmanPoint, on 02/19/2009, -3/+18There is nothing more fetching then a clean windows install. Of course the first thing to go on is usually some sort of game followed by a pirate version of office. Then using IE to download Firefox.... etc etc...
  • Ajajadude, on 02/19/2009, -0/+14Yeah, I got a little excited that AnyDVD was finally free (the more, the merrier), and then I read their blurb. Lame.
  • inactive, on 02/19/2009, -1/+14What's that thumbnail got to do with the article?
  • benologist, on 02/19/2009, -2/+14More than just subjective, some of it is very specific niche stuff.... VMWare Server is not an essential app for every new PC. Neither is TrueCrypt, Frapz, CPU-Z, GPU-Z and a bunch of other stuff.

    This is really just 32 random apps that are better than most in their category.
  • jihadjohnson, on 02/20/2009, -2/+13It's a MAXIMUM PC article, not AverageUser PC
  • MikeWanDo, on 02/20/2009, -0/+11I use both Media Player Classic and VLC player depending on what I need to play; I think they complement each other well so I wouldn't really complain about that aspect. Not that the list is perfect by any means.
  • ileftfark, on 02/19/2009, -2/+12"Mind-Bowling" is going to be the next superhero power I master.
  • minoss, on 02/19/2009, -2/+12Yea, way better than most lists.
  • coheedcollapse, on 02/19/2009, -6/+15This doesn't make sense. The title of the article is "32 Totally Essential (and free) apps for every new PC" and literally the second thing on the list is 50 Euros for the standard edition which is what, like $70 US? That's incredibly far from free.
  • inactive, on 02/19/2009, -2/+11awesome list I love that it starts with WinDirStat I love that app
  • CylonsOfTheLamb, on 02/19/2009, -0/+9Yep, they list all of them on one page, except for the ones listed on PAGE 2.
  • FLarsen, on 02/20/2009, -0/+9You store porn amongst the other files? I store the other files amongst the porn.
  • Puppetx, on 02/20/2009, -2/+10Yeah lame, buried for lies.
  • xerox, on 02/20/2009, -0/+8...a what?
  • arcooke, on 02/20/2009, -0/+8My only complaint was IsoBurn.. ImgBurn is also free and MUCH better, and has a ton more features but isn't the slightest bit bloated.

    Otherwise, I was pretty impressed by this list. WinDirStat is definitely a must-have.
  • Gizza, on 02/20/2009, -0/+8You store your porn on C:? Pff, I've got an entire hard drive dedicated to porn.
  • Duffle, on 02/20/2009, -0/+8Scrolls, man..
  • Slym, on 02/20/2009, -1/+9iTunes doesn't allow you to play quite a few different song formats so no it should not be on the list.

    Instead, it mentions foobar2000 which is quite a good replacement imo.
  • ethana2, on 02/19/2009, -0/+8They should be, but somehow Microsoft managed to bring them into glorious harmony..
  • brad112, on 02/20/2009, -0/+7or C:\WINDOWS\system32\printerDrivers\Big_Jubblies.avi
  • tinkafoo, on 02/20/2009, -0/+7Here's some more software that makes life in XP a lot easier:

    -- Taskbar Shuffle
    http://www.freewebs.com/nerdcave/index.htm
    This allows you to move programs on the taskbar – just pick them up and drag them around! This is one of those things that’s so mindless that you will wonder why Windows didn’t have it in the first place. (Just remember to turn off the splash screen. That gets annoying after a while.)

    -- Sizer
    http://www.brianapps.net/sizer.html
    Allows you to resize windows to a preset size. Great for running apps in specific sized windows.

    -- AllSnap
    http://www.cs.utoronto.ca/%7Eiheckman/allsnap/
    Snap the edges of your windows together when they close to each other. (i.e. – Adobe/Macromedia tool boxes)

    -- Power Menu
    http://www.abstractpath.com/powermenu/
    Adds these options to a sub menu on every application:
    • Always On Top
    • Minimize To Tray
    • Priority
    • Transparency

    -- Prio
    http://www.prnwatch.com/prio.html
    Adds extra functionality to Task Manager:
    • Set the priority of an application, and have it remember the next time you start it (a really basic version of Workload Manager for MVS).
    • Color-code running tasks as “safe” or “unknown”.
    • The ‘Services’ tab allows you to manage Services without having to go to My Computer/Manage.
    • The ‘TCP/IP’ tab allows you to manage TCP/IP connections without having to open a console and type “netstat”.

    -- Clipomatic
    (I don’t use this much anymore It’s a bit clunky, but it’s still a good idea.)
    http://www.mlin.net/Clipomatic.shtml
    Hold multiple things in your clipboard and paste them individually later. Instead of going “copy, switch window, paste, go back, copy something else, switch window again, paste”, you can do this “copy1, copy2, copy3, switch window, paste1, paste2, paste3”. Remember, it does not replace the paste function, it uses “ctrl-alt-v”.
  • inactive, on 02/19/2009, -3/+10Winrar!
  • kkm3, on 02/20/2009, -3/+10the word you are looking for is "geeks"
  • bjs3171, on 02/19/2009, -0/+6what happened to windows being bloated. now its barebones? aren't those two the exact opposite?
  • davin510, on 02/20/2009, -1/+7Yeah, last thing you want to do with a new PC is to load it up with 32 pieces of software just because some website said so.
  • twiztidsinz, on 02/20/2009, -2/+8with hella more adware!
  • nevinl, on 02/20/2009, -0/+6lol....

    anyone else think that the music player for the iTouch/iPhone is a POS? Why hasn't someone developed something better?

    Suggestions:
    -ff/rw a movie without re-hashing 10 minutes or using an stylus
    -setup playlists in < 4 clicks, get into a playlist name mode < 2 clicks
    -enqueue
    -rate songs
  • Zachhhhhhhh, on 02/20/2009, -0/+6Digsby is open-source and so it ASKS you if you want to install the toolbars because ad-providers give Digsby revenue so the devs can continue to work on it. It isn't malware at all and it runs amazingly and has webcam support something that none of the multi-protocol IM clients have and twitter works great in it as well.
  • mabsark, on 02/19/2009, -4/+10Just went to install Digsby, and it wanted to install about 5 extra toolbars. That malware piece of crap aint goint on my PC .
  • Farmer77, on 02/20/2009, -0/+5Dugg for dropbox.
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