Software any PC user shouldn't be without.

Well, time for a blog about computers. Anyone who knows me will know that I've got a BTEC in computing, and I'm currently studying a Computing Course at Coventry University. So why not give some advice to all the people out there who don't know much about computers, and perhaps some awesome new stuff for people who do know about computers - No one knows every application. :P

Firstly, I get 90% of my downloads from www.filehippo.com

One thing that really bothers me about people, is that they download from all kinds of random websites, and wonder why they get viruses. I always get my downloads from File Hippo because I trust it, and know it doesn't have viruses.

Now, onto programs. I'll treat it like I'm setting up a brand new computer, with nothing on it, running Windows 7.

DITCH INTERNET EXPLORER!
I can't stress this point enough. Internet Explorer is slow, bloated, constantly out-dated and a pain in the arse. The first thing you should do when you get a new computer, is open up Internet Explorer, type in www.filehippo.com and download either Google Chrome, or Firefox. The reason I'm not saying one or the other, is because they're both fantastic browsers.

Chrome / Firefox
Now, the choice is yours. Are you going to go for Firefox or Chrome? The choice isn't really THAT much of a major one, just as long as you're not using Internet Explorer. I personally prefer Chrome, because I like the minimalist approach it uses, but I know people that hate minimalism and prefer Firefox for this reason. I used to use Firefox, but switched to Chrome because I got a Netbook, and I love the ability to sync extensions and bookmarks with your google account, meaning that when you sign in with Chrome, your Bookmarks are always the same.

Right, so now that you've got your browser sorted, it's just the little things that make your PC Experience a lot nicer. Below is a list of Programs in no particular order. All of them are programs I use frequently and would be lost without.

VLC

Simply the best video playback software available. I've never had a single problem with this program, it plays every video file extension I can think of, along with being fairly lightweight. You can even install it onto a memory stick and take it about with you, meaning that you can pop a few video files on your Memory Stick too and watch videos anywhere that allows you to use a memory stick. This helped me get through a lot of lectures in College. :P

Skype

If you don't know what Skype is, you need to seriously start talking to people. Skype is a free video-chat program. It works using VOIP (Voice Over IP), meaning that it allows you to talk to people over the internet vocally. What makes Skype so good, is the fact that it's completely free if you're talking to other people using Skype. You can also get monthly payplans, or top-ups for it which allow you to call any country in the world on either a mobile or landline number for a very cheap price. It's worth getting this just to be able to call people for free tbh. The video chat is brilliant too. When you get it, feel free to add me: Spudguy0



Winamp
Goddamn I love Winamp. You know iTunes? It's like that. Not many people use it, and if you have an iPod/iPhone, you might want to keep it. I'm not going to lie. But as someone who uses their Android Phone for music, I'm sticking with Winamp. It's fast as lightning, has a brilliant GUI (Graphical User Interface) and has never done me wrong. A major selling point will be for people with Android: Get the Winamp App from the Android Market, and then connect to your home Wifi on your phone. Go onto your laptop, fire up Winamp and enjoy fast, wireless synchronisation of music with your phone. It's easy to set up and very easy to use once it is set up. Brilliant, brilliant software. It's also very customisable in terms of keeping your library.It has 3 separate boxes: Artists, Albums & Tracks. If you highlight an artist, only albums by that artist appear in the album box, and all their songs are in the tracks box. Highlight an album, and only tracks from that album are in the tracks box. :)

Last.fm

Let me start this one off by linking my Last.fm profile: http://www.last.fm/user/Spudguy - Click and have a look. My most recently listened to artists, top listened to artists and tracks. How is all that on there? Well first you need to register for a new account. Now you want to download the scrobbler and install it onto your computer. http://www.last.fm/download < There you go. Now do the same for your Android Phone / iPhone. If you have an iPod, don't worry, it'll auto-sync with iTunes. Now every song you listen to will be cataloged onto your profile page. Why would you want to do all that? Well for one thing it's pretty cool to have a record of everything you listen to. If people ask you what sort of music you listen to, just link them to that. Also: I recommends new artists to you based on what you listen to, it'll also tell you your compatibility with other users and music festivals, along with tour dates for all the bands you listen to and more. Get it and add me! :)

Picasa 

I was depressingly late getting onto this one. I.e. I only got it a few days ago. It's amazing. It's basically a pimped out picture viewer for your PC. Before you install it, you might want to organise your picture libraries (I know I needed to). Once you've got it installed though, get ready to never go back to Windows Photo Viewer. There are so many brilliant features with this program I don't know where to start... Firstly, it's got the best red-eye fix I've ever seen, along with a photo editing mode which means when you edit photos, they only get edited within Picasa - Your original files will stay the same, so if you cock up, you lose nothing. Just restore it (obviously you can make the changes permanent too, but that's not the default action). One thing that blew my mind is the facial recognition software. I backed up thousands of family pictures over the weekend, and it has this amazing feature of discovering faces. You can then tell Picasa who this person is, and they get their own album. Then you can make a "face movie" like this:



That video was made by just pressing one button, then adding some music and uploading to Youtube. <60 seconds work. Pretty cool, huh?

Oh, and Picasa also allows you to share any folder online in one click too. Check out some of my pictures here: https://picasaweb.google.com/111242394593563833249 - I can also import into my blog seamlessly from synced albums. Bish bash bosh.

Defraggler

This is where it gets boring... I think it's safe to be that 90% of you never defragment your hard-drive. Download this, run it over night and your computer will be a bit faster in the morning. There's not really much more to say about this one. xD









CCleaner

This is a good way of speeding up your computer and freeing up space all at once! When you open it, untick all your browser stuff, along with windows Explorer stuff. Then hit analyse, then run the cleaner. Mmmm, free space. Then, go to registry, scan for issues, fix selected issues, back it up (just in case) and then run it. Mmmm, speed.






Recuva

Have you ever deleted stuff off a memory stick, or your phone, then instantly regretted it, as it doesn't go to a recycle bin? Scared it's gone forever? Have no fear, Recuva's here! This has saved me quite a few times in terms of .mp3s and .jpgs - Why not keep it on your computer just in case? :3








Gmail Notifier

This is awesome for anyone who has Gmail. If you don't have gmail - Ignore this one. :P Basically all it does is pop up with a nice little notification in the bottom right of your computer when you get an email, along with the subject header and the first few words of the email. It's also a darker colour when you have email, than when you don't, so you can tell if you have email without having to do anything. Pretty swish.

Rocketdock
Since Windows 7 has given the ability to pin programs to the task-bar, this has kind of lost it's charm. But I still use it and love it. Basically, have shortcuts to programs or folders at the top of your screen, that only appear when you put your cursor up there. You can have it on the right, left, bottom or top of your computer. You choose! I've been using it for years, and it doesn't feel like my computer without it now. Below is a picture of it in use from a few years back (I CBA to clean my desktop to take a new picture...)

And there we go! I may follow this up later on.

Peace out compadres.

- Spudguy