• 0

Apps you cant live without


Question

I apologise if this has been done before.

I am just about to reinstall system and would just like to know what software you all install on a fresh install that you would not be without.

To make it easier if you list system apps first. :D

I am really intrested in your thoughts on this i have my faves but curious about the rest of you.

Thanks in advance

Link to comment
https://www.neowin.net/forum/topic/245299-apps-you-cant-live-without/
Share on other sites

Recommended Posts

  • 0

(Google these if you want them this is what I install on fresh)

Antivirus Sysmantec Corp Edition 9.0 - Not Free (There are other free antivirus though) (I install this first because I dont want to stick my computer online to get windows updates till it has some sort of protection)

All Windows XP Updates + SP1 + SP2 - Free (Got to be safe!)

All Drivers - Free of course you should get these with your stuff on CD.

iTuner - Free (For my music and to stream music through my network to other computers and to my Airport Express)

VLC Media Player - Free (So I can play all types of video from Xvid to Mpeg)

MSN Messenger - Free

MsgPlus! - Free (Adds some great things to MSN Messenger)

Bittorent Client - Free (I use Shadows Expirmental I think they changed its name though)

VNC Server Client - Free (So I can control my Windows computer from my iBook Wirelessly)

Firefox - Free (Because its my browser of choice)

Adblock - Free (It stops flash ads and normal image ads in Firefox very useful)

Macromedia Flash player + FlashMX 2004 (to create flash) - Player: Free Creator: Not Free

Spybot - Free (To get rid of possible Spyware)

Adaware - Free (Also to get rid of Future Spyware can NEVER be to careful!)

Fraps - Free (Game FPS Monitor / Recorder)

Nero - Not Free (For burning DVD's CD's and so on)

WinRAR - Trial is free full is not. (To unrar / unzip files)

And then all my games.

  • 0

iTunes

Mozilla Firefox

Symantec Corp. 9

PerfectDisk

Nero

Alcohol 120%

7-Zip File Manager

Microsoft Outlook

Novell GroupWise

NSIS

FileZilla

Internet Explorer (only for updating Windows though)

Steam :punk:

This list could go one forever... these are only the major ones that I use on a daily basis!

  • 0

Microsoft Office XP

Windows Media Player 10

Macromedia Studio MX 2004

Mcafee VirusScan

MSN Messenger

Easy CD Creator

WinZip

FileZilla

Ad-Aware

Shareaza

Adobe Reader

Firefox

IE 5 and 5.5 (testing)

SSH Client

RealPlayer 10

Quicktime

WinRAR

Plus games :rofl:

  • 0

Not going into a long speel here, but the first 2 I will never be without and will go on computer immediately after any install are my Kaspersky AV and firewall. You don't necessarily have to have Kaspersky, just my choice, but to do ANYTHING without those 2 type apps is just plain crazy. Anything else isn't even relevant and is your own choice.

Of course, then you need the updates and spyware programs afterwards.

  • 0

Nero 6.6.0.1 Ultra Edition (Bought it)

Roxio Easy Media Creator 7.1 (Bought It)

Windows Media Player 10 Series

MSN Explorer 9.1 (Gotta Love it)

MSN Messenger 7.0.425

Internet Explorer

Firefox

Adobe Creative Suite (Bought it)

Limewire

MSI Live Update (Bios and Video Bios)

Symantec Norton Antivirus 2005 (3-user License)

Nokia Development Software

Motorola Development Software

This topic is now closed to further replies.
  • Recently Browsing   0 members

    • No registered users viewing this page.
  • Posts

    • Microsoft updates Visual Studio Code with chat cost tracking and multi-agent chats by Paul Hill Microsoft has just launched Visual Studio Code 1.126, its latest weekly release. This time, the company has focused on letting you see the total cost of chat sessions to spot expensive conversations; enabling multiple chats per session that run side-by-side in one agent host Copilot session; and letting you browse new folders safely in restricted mode. We have now reached the stage where free AI in IDEs is coming to an end. To help you keep track of your costs, VS Code now lets you see the entire cost of a chat session, rather than just individual turns. This should give you more transparency about which sessions consume the most credits, so you can better manage your usage over time and spend less. For those of you using the Agents window, you know it is possible to run and manage multiple agent sessions at once. In this update, a Copilot session started from an agent host can hold several chats at once. Explaining how this feature works, Microsoft writes: Finally, from this update forward, Microsoft will remove the pop-up when opening an untrusted folder. When you open a new folder now, it will automatically open in Restricted Mode. You will see a banner that lets you manage the trust level of the folder. Microsoft has made this change so that it’s easier to start inspecting code without giving it trust right away. If you have VS Code, you can check for updates within the app now to get this new version. Otherwise, you can download it from the Visual Studio Code website.
    • Anthropic accuses Alibaba of using 25,000 fake accounts to copy Claude's capabilities by Karthik Mudaliar Anthropic has accused Alibaba of using nearly 25,000 fraudulent accounts to extract capabilities from Claude on a huge scale. According to a report from Reuters, Anthropic told US lawmakers that operators linked to Alibaba and the company’s Qwen AI team generated 28.8 million exchanges with Claude between April 22 and June 5, 2026. That is a lot of Claude conversations, but Anthropic says this was not ordinary chatbot use. The company believes the accounts were part of a coordinated effort to collect answers that could help train or improve rival AI systems. The alleged campaign reportedly focused on some of Claude’s most valuable skills, including software development, multi-step reasoning, and agentic tasks. In practical terms, that means getting an AI model to plan and complete work across several stages rather than simply answering a single question. This is called 'distillation,' where AI companies use outputs from a larger model to train a smaller and cheaper one. The smaller model learns to imitate useful parts of the more capable system without needing the same amount of computing power. The distillation process isn't automatically suspicious, but the problem comes when one company gathers another provider's outputs without permission and at an industrial scale. Also, this does not mean Alibaba obtained Claude’s source code, model weights, or original training data. Instead, Anthropic claims the accounts repeatedly asked Claude carefully designed questions and collected the answers. Those answers could then be used as training material for another model. Anthropic has made similar accusations against DeepSeek, Moonshot AI, and MiniMax earlier this year. As Neowin previously reported, Anthropic said those three companies collectively generated more than 16 million Claude exchanges through roughly 24,000 accounts. Anthropic says the new campaign produced almost twice as many exchanges in a matter of weeks. Anthropic reportedly told lawmakers that the campaign could help Chinese AI developers approach the capabilities of its Mythos Preview model. Mythos is focused on advanced cybersecurity work, including finding and exploiting complex software vulnerabilities. via Reuters | Photo via DepositPhotos.com
    • An Indian manufacturer that assembles roughly one-third of Apple's iPhones and supplies semiconductor components to Tesla confirmed Monday that attackers had stolen and publicly published a 630-gigabyte cache of confidential files — including engineering blueprints stamped "TRADE SECRET," a 52-page quality inspection document for iPhone circuit board components, and cryptographic certificates that security experts say could be weaponized in follow-on attacks. https://www.techtimes.com/articles/319019/20260624/apple-tesla-supplier-tata-electronics-confirms-630-gb-data-theft-iphone-specs-dark-web.htm
    • I don't think it was ever a big question. In fact, I don't think anyone ever asked about how clocks work on Mars.
  • Recent Achievements

    • Rookie
      krychek57 went up a rank
      Rookie
    • Grand Master
      Jaybonaut went up a rank
      Grand Master
    • One Year In
      Philsl earned a badge
      One Year In
    • Dedicated
      Scoobystu earned a badge
      Dedicated
    • First Post
      Tom Schmidt earned a badge
      First Post
  • Popular Contributors

    1. 1
      +primortal
      441
    2. 2
      +Edouard
      176
    3. 3
      PsYcHoKiLLa
      133
    4. 4
      Michael Scrip
      79
    5. 5
      Xenon
      77
  • Tell a friend

    Love Neowin? Tell a friend!