I just got a dell PC, I was wondering what cool and must have stuff i should be putting on it.?

Question

windows xp operating system 160gb and 512 ram. It's a empty slate just about. cleared out the aol stuff and other junk. now wanting to get some fun stuff and use items i have an antivirus, And a yahoo stuff windows messenger standard i guess, adaware. real arcade.

Answer 1

Firefox

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

Answer 2

Throw the dell out the door and buy yourself a good computer with a warranty they have the worst customer service that I have ever talked to you wanted to get some fun stuff for it good luck in ordering it,if you get it ordered hope they sent the right stuff.I have A dell and a acer the acer is the best has the best customer service the warranty is the best.Never had but one problem the sound card,They got fed ex to come to my house pick it up 6 days fed ex brought it back 3 year warranty no charge not dell if you can get threw to dell you get someone you cant under stand from who knows where.Dell is the worse.

Answer 3

Dell makes a great product. Get the free stuff others recommended: ad-aware, spyblaster, AVG (free anti-virus progam) and use microsofts Defender(free and excellent). Set you computer for auto update. The first 3 free software you will need to update definitions yourself.
Run only 1 anti-virus program.

Answer 4

Antivirus and a firewall is the fist thing you should put on it then get a Photo editing software like photoshop cs2 now just go online and play games watch porn chat with people other than that your here answering questions

Answer 5

Geeks Perfer Linux... But there's stuff for non-geeks, too! Get a free copy of something like Kubuntu Linux from their website, burn a CD from the ISO, and you can be on your way to open-source stuff.

There's good stuff, like SuperTux for Mario-ish fun, OpenOffice (also available for windows) as a free office alternative, and much much more!

Answer 6

This really depends on how you plan to use the computer. What do you want to do with it?

Personally, I'd start with firefox, followed by Itunes.

Answer 7

SELL IT AND BUY A MAC! JEEZ if you want to do cool things like edit photo images do some video editing and such. Itunes is already installed... PC's suck.

Answer 8

AVG free. Excellent protection available from: http://www.Grisoft.com

Don't use two antiviral products together as they may be incompatible. If your Antiviral trial has run out, then remove product from your computer and get the AVG installed.

Anti-spyware (all free)

O.K. Some quick links to get you out of trouble

Essential products are: Adaware SE from: http://www.lavasoft.com

Spybot SD http://www.safer-networking.org/en/spybotsd/index.html

Spywareblaster http://www.javacoolsoftware.com/spywareblaster.html

Windows Defender - http://www.microsoft.com/athome/security/spyware/software/default.mspx

Spycatcher
http://www.tenebril.com/consumer/spyware/spycatcher-express.php
Ewido http://www.ewido.com

PC starter kit at download.com 20 of the best recommended programes for people new or less advanced in computers. Check all three pages, at bottom see Security/Tools/Fun

http://www.download.com/PC-Starter-Kit/2001-12350_4-0.html?tag=dir

C Cleaner.http://www.ccleaner.com/

This will tell you a lot about what is on your computer, such as running programmes,cookies, History, settings etc. and will help you clean up and remove unwanted items. Be careful how you use it as it is a very powerful programme and you should read the help index before you do anything with it.

Hope this information is of help to you and others.



Whats on my PC.

This software once downloaded will Identify a lot of information about the components and Manufacturer's of things on your computer.
http://www3.sympatico.ca/gtopala/
System info SIS BY GABRIEL TOPPA

Office Applications

Open Office has an extremely good free to use and distribute product at http://www.openoffice.org

It contains programmes fully functional in Word-processing, Database, Spreadsheets, Drawing and Presentation. It looks and feels like Microsoft Office and can even make PDF's
OpenOffice.org is more than a collection of five superb tools.
Unlike some competitors, this suite was not created from a collection of separate pieces of software. From the start, it was designed as one complete office package.
All the packages have a similar 'look and feel' making them very easy to use, with common 'learn once use everywhere' tools like the Styles and Formatting. OpenOffice.org takes its 'look and feel' from your computer - if you change your desktop, OpenOffice.org will change to match.
The same tools are used consistently across the suite - for example, the tools you use to work with graphics within Writer are also found in Impress and Draw.
You don't need to know which application was used to create a particular file - you can 'File Open' any OpenOffice.org file from anywhere and the correct application will be launched.
All the packages share a common spell-checker, etc.; and if you change an 'Option' in one package, it's changed in them all.
Information can be transferred easily between all the packages.
All the components save in OpenDocument format, the new international standard for office documents. This XML based format offers substantial disk savings compared to common competitors' formats. It also means you can access your data from any OpenDocument compliant software.
All the packages are installed in one single operation, using the installation process you are used to on your computer.
All the packages are released under the same open licensing model - there are no hidden charges now or in the future.
Everything you need in an office productivity suite

or Picasso. http://www.picasa.google.com/
Find and enjoy the pictures on your computer in seconds.
A free software download from Google.

Picasa is software that helps you instantly find, edit and share all the pictures on your PC. Every time you open Picasa, it automatically locates all your pictures (even ones you forgot you had) and sorts them into visual albums organised by date with folder names you will recognize. You can drag and drop to arrange your albums and make labels to create new groups. Picasa makes sure your pictures are always organised.

Picasa also makes advanced editing simple by putting one-click fixes and powerful effects at your fingertips. And Picasa makes it a snap to share your pictures – you can email, print photos home, make gift CDs, instantly share via Hello™, and even post pictures on your own blog.

For advanced and fully functional photographic manipulation gimp2 is very similar to Photoshop and is available from http://www.gimp.org

The GIMP (GNU Image Manipulation Program) is a freely distributed piece of software suitable for such tasks as photo retouching, image composition and image authoring. It is a powerful piece of software with capabilities not found in any other free software product. It can be used as a simple paint program, an expert quality photo retouching program, an online batch processing system, a mass production image renderer, and an image format converter.

Graphics/design

http://www.freeserifsoftware.com/?SP=FSSPPSEW

Page Plus SE.
A free software download thats very good.

Browsers and E-mail programmes.

Can recommend Firefox for browsing and has many safety features installed and is self updating.

A Better Web Experience
Firefox 1.5 has an intuitive interface and blocks viruses, spyware, and popup ads. It delivers Web pages faster than ever. And it’s easy to install and import your favorites. Packed with useful features like tabbed browsing, Live Bookmarks, and an integrated Search bar, Firefox will change the way you experience the Web, for the better.
Faster Browsing
Enjoy quick page loading as you navigate back and forward in a browsing session. Improvements to the engine that powers Firefox deliver more accurate display of complex Web sites, support for new Web standards, and better overall performance.
Automatic Updates
The new Software Update feature makes it easy to get the latest security and feature updates to Firefox. Firefox automatically downloads these small updates in the background and prompts you when they are ready to be installed.
Tabbed Browsing
Use tabbed browsing to open multiple Web pages in a single browser window, and quickly flip back and forth. Drag and drop open tabs to keep related pages together.
Improved Pop-up Blocking
Firefox’s built-in pop-up blocker has been enhanced to block more unwanted pop-up and pop-under ads.
Integrated Search
Tap into the power of the Web’s most popular search engines with the built-in Search bar, and easily add new engines.
Stronger Security
Firefox keeps you more secure when you’re browsing the Web, closing the door on spyware, worms, and viruses. The Firefox community of developers and security experts works around the clock to monitor security issues and release updates to better protect you.
Clear Private Data
Protect your privacy with the new Clear Private Data tool. With a single click, you can delete all personal data, including browsing history, cookies, Web form entries and passwords.
Live Bookmarks
Stay up to date with your favorite Web sites and blogs. Use Live Bookmarks that update themselves automatically with the latest content from the Web.
Accessibility
Firefox 1.5 delivers easier navigation for everyone, including those who are visually or motor-impaired. Firefox is the first browser to support DHTML accessibility, which, when enabled by Web authors, allows rich Web applications to be read aloud. Users may navigate with keystrokes rather than mouse clicks, reducing the tabbing required to navigate documents such as spreadsheets. Firefox 1.5 (Windows version) is also the first browser to meet US federal government requirements that software be easily accessible to users with physical impairments.
Customize Firefox
Select new button controls for your toolbars, install extensions to add new features, or change the look of your browser with themes - the way Firefox looks and works is under your control.
Next Generation Web Support
Innovative new Web applications and services deliver a richer Web experience. Support for open Web standards in Firefox ensures you can get the most out of this emerging class of Web-based tools.




and for a general e-mail programme,(non-web based)

Thunderbird is very good. Go to: http://www.mozilla.com/products/

Full-Featured Email
Simple to use, powerful, and customizable, Thunderbird is a full-featured email application. Thunderbird supports IMAP and POP mail protocols, as well as HTML mail formatting. Easily import your existing email accounts and messages. Built-in RSS capabilities, powerful quick search, spell check as you type, global inbox, deleting attachments and advanced message filtering round out Thunderbird's modern feature set.
Junk Mail Filters
Each email you receive passes through Thunderbird's leading-edge junk mail filters. Each time you mark messages as spam, Thunderbird improves its filtering so you can spend more time reading the mail that matters. Thunderbird will also use your mail provider's spam filters to keep junk mail out of your inbox.
Anti-Phishing Protection
Thunderbird protects you from increasingly common email scams—also known as “phishing”—which try to fool you into handing over your passwords and other personal information. Thunderbird will tell you when it thinks a message might be a scam.
Advanced Security
Thunderbird provides enterprise and government grade security features including S/MIME, digital signing, message encryption, support for certificates and security devices. Attachments are never run without your express permission, protecting you from many worms and viruses.
Automatic Updates
The new Software Update feature makes it easy to get the latest security and feature updates to Thunderbird. Thunderbird automatically downloads these small updates in the background and prompts you when they are ready to be installed.
Customize Thunderbird
Select new button controls for your toolbars, install extensions to add new features, or change the look of your browser with themes—the way Thunderbird looks and works is under your control.



Fun and helpful programmes

Have a look at Calendar Magic, http://www.stokepoges.plus.com/calendar.htm


it has lots of Scientific, Geometry, Factor and Expression calculators as well as Global distances, Sun and Moon Data, a Pregnancy Calculator, Time Data and Alarm clocks as well as an extremely comprehensive range of Calendars in about 27 different formats from Afghanistan to Vietnamese, including Chinese and Hindu.


File Decompressors /Compressors

WinRAR is a 32-bit Windows version of RAR Archiver, an archiver and archive manager. RAR files can usually compress content 8 percent to 15 percent more than ZIP files. WinRAR's main features include strong general and multimedia compression, the ability to process non-RAR archive formats, ZIP compression and decompression, long filename support, programmable self-extracting archives (SFX), damaged archive repair, authenticity verification, embedded file comments, and encryption. Unicode is supported in archive filenames, allowing non-English filenames to be handled painlessly.
You can manipulate the parameters of many archives at once and view a volume sequence as a single archive. WinRAR is able to convert other archive formats to RAR. It supports the Find command, allowing search for specified text and files in archives. The latest WinRAR version can rename files inside of RAR archives and preserves file time using the high precision NTFS time format.
http://www.rarlabs.com/download.htm

7 Zip
http://www.7-zip.org/

7-Zip is a file archiver with high compression ratio.
7-Zip is free software distributed under the GNU LGPL.
The main features of 7-Zip:
High compression ratio in new 7z format with LZMA compression
7-Zip is free software distributed under the GNU LGPL
Supported formats:
Packing / unpacking: 7z, ZIP, GZIP, BZIP2 and TAR
Unpacking only: RAR, CAB, ISO, ARJ, LZH, CHM, Z, CPIO, RPM, DEB and NSIS
For ZIP and GZIP formats 7-Zip provides compression ratio that is 2-10 % better than ratio provided by PKZip and WinZip
Self-extracting capability for 7z format
Integration with Windows Shell
Powerful File Manager
Powerful command line version
Plugin for FAR Manager
Localizations for 63 languages


http://www.paehl.de/english.php

Simplyzip is a FREEWARE multi archiver. It does not write any entries to the registry or anywhere else. Version 1.1 has been rewritten from scratch.
Main Features:
Open: ZIP, CZIP, ACE, CAB, RAR, TAR, GZIP, LZH, BZ2, SQX, RS, UUE, XXE, BASE64, UCL, ARJ, ZLIB, ALIB, RPM, DEB, 7-ZIP
Create: 7z, ZIP, CZIP, Cab, LHA, TAR, TAR GZ TAR BZ2, ACE (optionale DLL), Deepfreezer, SQX, UCL, RS, ZIP-SFX/LHA-SFX, RAR-SFX, UUE/XXE, ZLIB and Base64.
Multi-ZIP
Backup to disk (e.g. CD)
ZIP-Rpair
Crypt files with:Rijndael AES/Twofish (both 256bit keysize) and Blowfish (448bit keysize) incl SFX creator and an ArcConverter
Optional: See ArcConvert below
Create RAR/ACE (new version) and LHA SFX (with optional files from my site)
Localisation: English, German, Italian, Spanish, portugues-br, Swedish and Thai
ZIPSFX now in English, German, French and Spanish (in the setup)
Standalone: After installation you can copy all files from Simplyzip folder (excepted the uninst.exe) and use it whereever you want
Optional Plugins (ArcConvert, ACE DLL, LFB Archiver, Unpacker and a short german manual)