Essential Software

When you have a computer with an internet connection, the basic software that you will need are anti-virus programs and anti-spyware programs. To know more about PCs, see PCWorld.

I would recommend avast! 5. I haven't had much problems with it, although avast! sometimes marks false positives and can be memory-intensive. Currently, I'm using avast!, but I also use Avira on one laptop because an error caused avast! to stop running and I couldn't solve the problem even after scanning & removing malware and re-installing avast!. What I would not recommend is Norton. It basically screws up your computer settings, can't detect viruses well and easily gets infected by viruses. The latest version of Norton works better and has more customisations but can be confusing for a basic user. However, Norton is still a paid subscription program and it can be rather pricey, so I'll be sticking to the free yet effective alternatives, thank you.

The following is a list of software you might like to consider for various purposes. I haven't tried other anti-virus softwares yet, but I have included those that have been recommended by other internet users in the list below.

Anti-virus/spyware software
Ad-Aware
avast!
AVG Free
Avira AntiVir
Sophos
Threatfire
Comodo (or go to homepage)
Free anti-spyware software available
Windows Defender

Free online virus scanners
CA
Kaspersky
Trend Micro House Call
Microsoft Online Safety Scanner
Virus Total
Yahoo Security Centre

How to speed up your PC

• Check the C:\ Drive meter
• Transfer files into CDs or removable drives
• Clear Internet cache
• Scan and remove viruses, spyware and malware
• Purge old programs
• Defragment the drive

Optional

Additional PowerPoint features:
iSpring Pro (Converts PowerPoint files to flash files; inserts flash files into PowerPoint slides)

Audio editors:
Advanced Audio Recorder
Audacity
CyberPower Audio Editing Lab
Reaper

AVI splitters:
AVI Split Classic (or go to homepage)

Burning Programs:
BurnAware Free/Home Edition
Nero Burner

Codecs:
Free-Codecs
ZC Video Codecs

Colour pickers:
ColorPic
ColorSchemer

Deployment tool for the bootable unattended Windows installation:
nLite - Windows XP
vLite - Windows Vista configuration tool

Domain name search:
WhoIs Lookup & Domain Name Search

Download managers:
FlashGet
Free Download Manager
Orbit Downloader

DVD rippers:
Aplus DVD Copy/Ripper
Xilisoft DVD Ripper Ultimate 5

File recovery:
Easeus (Use it only if you are an advanced user)
Recuva
Restoration 3.2.13

File upload sites (Some may require registration):
FileFront - Unlimited
ImageShack® - Image Upload
MediaFire
Sendspace - Max 1.2 GB
YouSendIt - Max 100 MB

Fonts:
1001 Free Fonts
Acid Fonts
dafont
Famous Fonts
FontFreak
Fonts101
FontSpace
High Fonts
Lord Kyl's Fonts

Freeware/Shareware:
AVSMedia
Click-Now
DirectX (or go to homepage)
File Hippo
Flash
Freebies dotTech [.org]
Freeware Files
Game Giveaway of the Day (only on weekends)
Giveaway of the Day
Internet Explorer
Matroska (For .mkv files)
Microsoft DreamSpark (Microsoft software for students)
Microsoft Office Online
Shockwave
SyncBack Freeware - free data backup software
WinCustomize
WonderShare E-Learning Software

Graphic accelerators:
Radeon Omega Driver 3.8.360

Instant messengers:
Windows Live Messenger (Add-ins: MsgPlus Live)

Location maps:
Google Earth 4.2

Media players:
DivX Player (or go to homepage. For older versions of DivX, go here.)
RealPlayer 11 GOLD
Windows Media Player 11

Mindmap editors:
Bubbl

Cmap
FreeMind
Inspiration

Music:
Beemp3.com
Free mp3 music download
PianoFiles
Royalty Free Music (see homepage)

Music score editors:
Finale Notepad 2008
MuseScore (Open source freeware)
MusicScore School 5.x

Online file converters:
YouConvertIt

Online image editors:
Pixlr

Splashup
Sumopaint.com beta

PC maintenance (e.g. registry cleaners):
CCleaner
Glarysoft
Total Privacy
Uniblue

PPT-to-video converters:
Acoolsoft PPT2Video Converter
mediAvatar PPT to video
Wondershare PPT to video

Software uninstallers:
Revo Uninstaller Freeware

Statistical software:
Stat Pages

Torrent managers:
BitTorrent
uTorrent

Video converters/downloaders/editors:
Any Video Converter
Free Video Dub
KeepVid
Kiss YouTube
Lightworks Beta
Media Converter
Plato Video Converter
SUPER ©
VideoGet

Vidtomp3

Vixy
Xilisoft Video Converter 3
ZC Video Converter

Zip Manager:
WinRAR