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The Essentials – Newbie edition

A friend of mine just recently bought a new machine and I wanted to point her to my post on the essentials, but I realized there’s probably way too much on the list and too little in the way of explanation.  Here’s my newbie edition of the list, a shorter version complete with explanatory text and links.

Before going through the list, I’ll point out a site that can save time in getting and installing many of these packages:

FreeApp allows you to select a number of these packages at once, then download a single installer.  That can save you a bunch of time.  Not all of these packages are available there, but many are.

On with the list.

Virus protection

Viruses are so prevalent today, it’s almost impossible to get away without virus protection.  While many computers come with virus protection, it is usually on a trial basis, after which they want your money.  There are good free anti-virus programs out there.  Microsoft’s new Security Essentials seems to be rated the best and is free.

That covers “real-time” protection, where every file you use is scanned for safety.  But sometimes viruses get past this.  When they do, the best scanner for removing viruses and malware that I’ve found is Malwarebytes.  You have to run the program from the start menu and tell it to scan your computer, so it’s not real-time protection, but it’s good at removing infections after the fact.

On-line backup

After virus protection, data protection is the next most important thing.  Even if your machine is protected from viruses, it isn’t protected from the ravages of old age, coffee spills or small children.

There are good on-line backup services that offer a modest amount of space for free, such as MozyHome Free.  If you refer others using your referral code, they even give you more space.  If you find this valuable, you can enter my referral code when asked by the configuration tool and I will receive some extra space for my backups.  Thanks in advance! My referral code is:

84MKKD

You sign up for a free subscription and install their software, which runs in the background and periodically backs up your important data.  It is smart and configurable, allowing you to specify the directories that store your data as well as the different file types you want backed up.  You can use it on up to two computers for the same account.

Web Browsing

  • Firefox

Friends don’t let friends use IE.  If you care about your computer, use Firefox.  Two essential add-ons, once you are using Firefox:

Download statusbar replaces the silly downloads window with a statusbar that is much easier to keep track of, and XMarks saves and synchronizes your bookmarks.  Not only that, it is excellent at suggesting good web sites that other people have bookmarked too.  XMarks requires you to sign up.

PDF Viewing

You can’t get away without looking at PDF files these days.  Unfortunately, Adobe Acrobat Reader has become bloatware.  Fortunately there are free, slimmer alternatives.  PDF-XChange Viewer is very functional and you do not have to purchase the Pro version.  This “trial” version works fine as free software without nagging you.

PDF Creation

Many times you may want to “print” a document to PDF instead of a real printer.  doPDF installs itself as a virtual printer, so that when you press the Print button in your favorite program, you can select the doPDF printer and have the printed version saved to a PDF file.  Works great.

CD Burning

CDBurnerXP is a free, good, simple solution for burning CDs.  I also like InfraRecorder because it is open-source, but I give a slight edge to CDBurnerXP for usability and versatility.

DVD and Video

While I do like Windows Media Player, it has never played DVDs for me on a fresh install.  I didn’t bother checking whether this is the case on Windows 7, I just loaded the solution I know works.

In this case, it’s not another application, it’s just a set of video “filters” that allow WMP to play DVDs, DivX and a host of other formats, including audio files that WMP isn’t capable of playing by default.  This is the best of both worlds…the WMP integration with Windows as well as the formats I want.  Just load these up and run Windows Media Player.

Photo Organizing and Touchup

Picasa is the bomb.  ‘Nuf said.

Saving Web Pages and Notes

I’m always getting receipts from on-line purchases and other sensitive web pages that I can’t just bookmark.  Rather than print them to PDF, where they got lost on my hard drive, I save them to Evernote, which is the best note-taking application I’ve ever seen.  Not only is it available on my computer, all of my notes are available over the web as well if I log into their site.  The service is free but requires a signup.

Searching for Files

Let’s face it, files get lost in the shuffle.  If you know the name of the file, or even part of the name, Everything will find it wherever it is on your hard drive, in a flash.  The limitation is that it doesn’t search inside the files, just the filenames, but that’s enough for me.  Solutions that go inside the files end up filling your hard drive with hundreds of megabytes, if not gigabytes of index information.  No thanks.

Cleaning and Organizing the Hard Drive

  • CCleaner
  • Disk Space Fan

When disk space starts to crunch, or when you just need to clean up the clutter, these two tools are indispensable.  CCleaner automatically finds and gets rid of unwanted Windows crap (that’s what the “C” is) that just builds up after a while.  Note: CCleaner will try to install Yahoo! toolbar whenever you install or upgrade it.  Remember to opt out of that, you don’t want it.

Disk Space Fan helps you find the rest.  It’s a simple application for finding out what files are taking up the most space on your hard drive.  Use CCleaner to clean up the stuff that belongs to Windows and use Disk Space Fan to clean up the stuff that belongs to you.

Deleted File Recovery

If a file isn’t in your recycle bin, then honestly I haven’t had much luck with deleted file recovery.  However, since it does happen, and it’s usually something important, I’ll mention the tool I’ve used in the past with mixed success.  I don’t think it’s the tool’s fault when things can’t be recovered, but it works less often than not in my experience.  Since I like the other tools by the same organization, though I keep recommending it.  You might look for other tools for the job as well, such as PhotoRec.

Again, there may be an option to install Yahoo! toolbar when installing or upgrading.  Opt out.

Honorable Mentions

These aren’t necessarily essentials, but I find them essential as a power user.

If you need to share files between computers, Windows Live Sync is excellent, and you don’t need to be a power user to find it useful, you just need to have more than one computer.

CubicExplorer is also a very nice file manager.

Defraggler comes with the same toolbar caveat that CCleaner has.

Enjoy.