New Install - Check List

[Zedmeister]

Right, finally got all the pieces of my new PC together and tonight is when win XP pro goes on. Soon as its on i'll be disabling/castrating IE and MediaPlayer. I've got a list of essential software and safety precautions:

Netgear Firewall Router - check!
Spybot S&D - check!
AVG- Free Edition - check!
Winamp - check!
Mozilla Firefox - check!
Mozilla Thunderbird - check!
Opera - check!

Have I missed anything? Can anyone recommened freeware alternatives to those above? Also looking at getting a decent freeware Winzip utility that deals with all zip/ace/rar formats - can anyone recommend one?

[Lee H]

I'd read the following if your thinking of installing "ANY" skins on winamp at the present time ;

http://secunia.com/advisories/12381/

I have seen people in IRC spamming due to this flaw been used.

As for zipping etc - www.rarlabs.com has a great piece of software called winrar and I use this over winzip every time.

[Zedmeister]

I'd read the following if your thinking of installing "ANY" skins on winamp at the present time

Don't use skins. Can never decide on the right one

[Spunkey]

IIRC the latest version of WinRAR can open .zip, .rar, and .ace files, as well as a whole load of other crap. So that should be the only one you need.

Don't forgot SP2 as well. Or SP1 if you dont feel like banging your head against a wall all night

*edit*
Just noticed WildMonkey posted about winrar, ahh well, sometimes its good to come second

[Zedmeister]

Currently using winace but its a little bloated and you have to pay for it... Don't want any bootlegged gear on my new machine so looking for freeware alternatives...

[Lee H]

http://sourceforge.net/projects/sevenzip/

7-Zip is a file archiver with the highest compression ratio. The program supports 7z, ZIP, CAB, RAR, ARJ, GZIP, BZIP2, TAR, CPIO, RPM and DEB formats. Compression ratio in the new 7z format is 30-50% better than ratio in ZIP format.

sourceforge is a great place to find FREE stuff

[directhex]

consider antivir (www.freeav.com) instead of avg

[Zedmeister]

Cheers Gents, if you hailing wailing and gnashing of teeth later, you'll know who it is

[Agent]

winrar is worth the cost 5 times over
ive tried almost all of them, and winrar wins everytime for me

[southsider]

www.foobar2000.org - far better than Winamp (though it doesn't play video - try Media Player Classic for that)
7-zip is quite good so I hear

[Dorza]

Ad-aware I use this along side SpyBot. They both pick things up the other one doesnt. Before you run them make sure you update them. You know this tho

You may require the flash and shockwave plugin for firefox, along with Java.

Oh and Acrobat Reader.

EDIT: Forgot to mention your latest drivers for your graphics card.