free software what to get

[vanislejc]

Hi there i just bought a new computer and am wondering what the best software is for it??? I was thinking avg, ad aware, dvd shrink? THose kind of things... if anyone has any good advice it would really help me out thanks
any computer advice would be awesome
thnaks

[bio-smear]

Sure, it's called LINUX.

[rinkrat066]

These lists are pretty good:

http://www.econsultant.com/i-want-fr...ies/index.html

http://www.neowin.net/forum/index.php?showtopic=320017

I've found a bunch of useful and interesting programs.

[dirtybryan]

I find that mentality will junk your computer up quick. Just try to figure out what sort of programs you'd benefit from most, and then seek those out.

[Snow Dog]

Start with a browser (Firefox, Mozilla), an e-mail client (Mozilla).

Add the usual plugins (Adobe Acrobat Reader, Apple Quicktime, Macromedia Flash/Shockwave, Java)

After that stick to stuff you need. If you need to look at MS Office documents, Microsoft has viewers available if you search for them. There's openoffice.org if you want word processing and other office stuff.

[RShea]

I would start with:

http://www.openoffice.org for Word Proc, spreadsheet etc.

http://www.irfanview.com/ for photo viewing and basic editing/resizing

http://filezilla.sourceforge.net/ for an FTP client

http://www.techsupportalert.com/best..._utilities.htm for the 46 top free utilities in other categories