User:Znode/Misc/Essential Win32 Software

= Minimal Essential List =

[http://www.mozilla.com/en-US/firefox/ Firefox]
[http://www.free-av.com/ Avira Antivir PersonalEditing Classic]

= Popular Software =

Internet Browser

width = "100" \| Full Browsers ! width = "400" \| [http://www.mozilla.com/en-US/firefox/ Firefox] 50px 50px ! width = "400" \| [http://www.opera.com/ Opera] 50px
	Firefox would be my primary choice in a browser. It is free, fast (enough), light (enough), and most importantly, it is highly extensible, which puts it over all other browsers because of the wide variety of third-party tools and plugins available.	Opera is the free alternative to other browsers; if you do not think you will need third-party tools and is looking for an extremely fast and light browser, choose Opera.
width = "100" \| Firefox Extensions ! width = "400" \| [https://addons.mozilla.org/firefox/1865/ Adblock Plus] 50px 50px
	The most popular ad-block implementation for Firefox. If you come from Internet Explorer, you may not know what ad-blocking is. This free add-on to Firefox will strip out most ads on pages you will encounter, and rerender the page without them.
\|\| width = "400" \| [https://addons.mozilla.org/firefox/1136/ Filterset.G Updater] 50px 50px
	Adblock requires ad-definitions, or filtersets, to operate. Adblock Plus comes with a set; however, I always add Filterset.G for optimal performance.
\|\| width = "400" \| [https://addons.mozilla.org/firefox/398/ Forecastfox] 50px
	Uses the Accuweather free service to put weather forecasts anywhere on your browser, so that you will know future weather at a glance.

Productivity

width = "100" \| Office Suite ! width = "400" \| [http://www.openoffice.org/ OpenOffice.org] 50px 50px ! width = "400" \| [http://office.microsoft.com/en-us/default.aspx Microsoft Office] 50px
	The open source office suite, designed for compatibility with the OpenDocument format. However, perfect compatibility has not been achieved with Microsoft Office.	The industry standard office suite.
width = "100" \| PDF ! Adobe Acrobat Reader Foxit PrimoPDF

width = "100" | Office Suite

! width = "400" | [http://www.openoffice.org/ OpenOffice.org] 50px 50px

! width = "400" | [http://office.microsoft.com/en-us/default.aspx Microsoft Office] 50px

The open source office suite, designed for compatibility with the OpenDocument format. However, perfect compatibility has not been achieved with Microsoft Office.

The industry standard office suite.

width = "100" | PDF

! Adobe Acrobat Reader Foxit PrimoPDF

Multimedia

= Image Editing =

width = "100" \| Full Editor ! width = "400" \| [http://gimp-win.sourceforge.net/ GIMP for Windows] 50px 50px ! width = "400" \| [http://www.adobe.com/products/photoshop/ Adobe Photoshop] 50px
	This open-source image editor can do what most people want Photoshop for; however, its interface is not particularly intuitive.	The industry standard office suite.
width = "100" \| Image Viewer ! width = "400" \| [http://www.irfanview.com/ IrfanView] 50px
	Fast and powerful image view for Windows to replace the useless image previewer in Windows.
width = "100" \| Panoramas ! width = "400" \| [http://www.cs.ubc.ca/~mbrown/autostitch/autostitch.html autostitch] 50px
	Autostitch can quickly and easily combine multiple images into panoramas; it does all the blending and perspective adjustments automatically.

= Audio Players =

Winamp

foobar2000

iTunes

= Video Players =

VLC or Media Player Classic (with one codec package from free-codecs.com)

Antivirus and Security

width = "100" \| Antivirus ! width = "400" \| [http://www.free-av.com/ Avira Antivir PersonalEditing Classic] 50px [http://www.avast.com/eng/free_virus_protectio.html Alwil avast! 4 Home] 50px ! width = "400" \| [http://www.gdata.de/gdc/us_start G DATA AntiVirusKit] 50px [http://usa.kaspersky.com/products/HomeProducts.php Kapersky Anti-Virus] 50px [http://www.f-secure.com/home_user/antivirus.html F-Secure Antivirus] 50px [http://www.symantec.com/home_homeoffice/products/category.jsp?pcid=is Norton Antivirus] 50px
	The free antivirus are just as good as the commercial; Avira Antivir, in particular, has rated higher than even commercial solutions [http://www.av-comparatives.org/index.html?http://www.av-comparatives.org/seiten/comparatives.html]. However, they usually do not come with firewall, spyware detection, and the like. Detection-wise, I believe Avira is better than avast 4, though avast has the flashier interface. \| It is difficult to say which is the best antivirus, because their capabilities fluctuate from week to week as new threats are constantly released. Suffice it to say that you probably won't go wrong with any of these. Solely from an antivirus perspective (not considering what firewall or antispyware comes with the full suite), I personally will try to aquire one in the priority of the order given.
width = "100" \| Firewall ! Norton Comodo
width = "100" \| Anti-Spyware ! Ad-Aware Antispyware Spybot - Search & Destroy

width = "100" | Antivirus

! width = "400" | [http://www.free-av.com/ Avira Antivir PersonalEditing Classic] 50px

[http://www.avast.com/eng/free_virus_protectio.html Alwil avast! 4 Home] 50px

! width = "400" | [http://www.gdata.de/gdc/us_start G DATA AntiVirusKit] 50px

[http://usa.kaspersky.com/products/HomeProducts.php Kapersky Anti-Virus] 50px

[http://www.f-secure.com/home_user/antivirus.html F-Secure Antivirus] 50px

[http://www.symantec.com/home_homeoffice/products/category.jsp?pcid=is Norton Antivirus] 50px

The free antivirus are just as good as the commercial; Avira Antivir, in particular, has rated higher than even commercial solutions [http://www.av-comparatives.org/index.html?http://www.av-comparatives.org/seiten/comparatives.html]. However, they usually do not come with firewall, spyware detection, and the like. Detection-wise, I believe Avira is better than avast 4, though avast has the flashier interface.

| It is difficult to say which is the best antivirus, because their capabilities fluctuate from week to week as new threats are constantly released. Suffice it to say that you probably won't go wrong with any of these. Solely from an antivirus perspective (not considering what firewall or antispyware comes with the full suite), I personally will try to aquire one in the priority of the order given.

width = "100" | Firewall

! Norton Comodo

width = "100" | Anti-Spyware

! Ad-Aware Antispyware Spybot - Search & Destroy

Communication

Thunderbird

IM Client (Trillian Pro, Gaim, etc.) (NOT AIM!)

File Utilities

Winrar or 7-zip

SequoiaView (Graphical HDD viewer)

Norton Partition Magic

CD/DVD Utilities

DVD Decrypter

Alcohol 52% or 120%

Daemon Tools

Nero

Linux Live Distributions

Knoppix

Ubuntu

SLAX

Google Earth

Xvid codec

Torrent Downloader

Encyclopedia/Dictionary

Hardware Accessories:

Flash memory drive (at least 1GB)

External Hard Drive

Surefire (M6 Guardian)

H&K USP or Springfield XD .45 compact

CRKT M21