Many of you are getting new PCs these days, either as a gift, or just because there's a shiny new operating system out there. But once you get it fired up and the operating system installed, it's time to populate it with good software. Don't just take all the dreck off your old machine people. Use this as an opportunity to start fresh. Let me give you the seven essential pieces of software for your new PC.
First, there's security. You need an antivirus app, and it's not something you need to pay for. CNET's Download.com gave AVG Free Antivirus edition five stars out of five. And if you're not a big company, it won't cost you a dime.
Now that you're protected, it's time to browse the Internet. Don't just go with the Web browser that came with your operating system. There's Opera, and Google Chrome, and Firefox, and so many other options. And you know what? I'm not going with any of them. I recommend Sea Monkey. Why? Because it has the Firefox Web browser, but it also bundles e-mail, an IRC client, and Web page editor as well. If IRC and Web editing doesn't matter to you, then maybe go with Firefox and Thunderbird for e-mail. However, to get the most bang for your byte, I say go Sea Monkey.
Next, you need to tell all your friends of your experience on your new computer. So get an IM client. On Windows, I recommend Pidgin. For Mac use Adium. They both are free, open-source multiservice clients that work great.
Next, it's time to save you a few hundred bucks. Don't go out and drop dough on Microsoft Office. Open Office from Openoffice.org is better than it's ever been. I use it daily for word processing, spreadsheet manipulation, presentations, and more. If you're an Excel superuser, you may have issues with it, but for the average Joe, it's going to do everything you need--for free!
Productivity is covered. Now for some entertainment. For that, you need VLC media player. It can handle almost anything you throw at it. Have DVDs won't play in that piece of crap software that came with your PC? VLC will handle it. Music? Any format you can think of. And it's got that magic price you love.
Two more and we're done.
Now you need a graphics editor. How else will you put your friends heads on celebrity bodies. For Windows there's nothing better than Paint.NET. It's free and powerful. For Mac? It's tough. I like Acorn, which is free to download but $50 to keep. For free that stays free, try Seashore, which is based on the GIMP engine, or Skitch.
Finally, one last security piece of software. Antispyware. You can go with a cocktail of Ad-Aware, Spybot Search and Destory, Windows Defender, and so on. That's not a bad idea, but if I was backed up against a wall and forced to pick just one, I'd pick Hijack This. Trend Micro has given us one of the most powerful malware removal tolls you can find, and it's freeware.
Now there's certainly many other apps you need, such as registry cleaners, torrent downloaders, FTP clients, and so on, but they start to stray into niches that vary for different types of users. I can say without a doubt that these seven programs are essential for you to install on every PC, no matter who you are.
Tom and Rafe discuss the apps they put on first thing when they get a new computer.
Listen now: Download today's podcast
Subscribe with iTunes (audio)
Subscribe with iTunes (video)
Subscribe with RSS (audio)
Subscribe with RSS (video)
... Read more
And you could also get a free Magic 8 Ball Yoda. I admit it's a bit beat up, but that's why we call it a "lame prize," right? So post your answer to the trivia question in the comments below and cross your fingers that your name will be drawn.
Oh, and someone asked that we start posting the answers to the trivia questions. Duh. Why didn't we think of that. So the answer to last week's Worst Downloads question was Alien Communicator.
Best of luck this week!
One of our chief occupations at CNET Download.com is to keep our eyes peeled for excellent freeware. We've got our own picks for ultimate free applications (and also for the most essential), but we like to consider your opinions, too. CNET Executive Editor Tom Merritt recently conducted an informal poll among his Facebook and Twitter contacts, asking for their favorite no-cost software. Here are the five apps that readers--maybe you--tapped as the best of the best.
Every yin has its yang. To balance out the five best downloads, all of them available on Download.com, are the five biggest stinkers of the season. Should your want to gawk at the combined mediocrity of these duds, these applications are also available on Download.com. You've been warned.
In Windows 7 news, many of you have written in with questions about upgrading from Windows XP and Windows Vista. CNET News' Ina Fried tries to clear up some confusion about what you can and can't do with a Windows 7 upgrade disk. There. We hope that helps.
Test-drive six 2010 VW hatchbacks in Firemint's free Real Racing GTI.
Firemint's Real Racing is one of the top-rated and most popular racing games in the App Store, but at $6.99 it's also among the priciest.
Alas, there's no lite version you can test-drive before you buy, but Volkswagen just unveiled the next best thing: Real Racing GTI, a free, VW-oriented version of the game.
Specifically, you get all the same visually stunning championship-racing goodness, but with just three tracks and half a dozen 2010 GTI hatchbacks.
This slimmed-down Real Racing offers three game modes: Quick Race, Time Trial (which lets you post race replays on YouTube!), and career-oriented GTI Cup Championship. (The full game offers more cars, tracks, game modes, etc., including local multiplayer.)
As Jason Parker wrote in his review, near-perfect controls set this game apart from other iPhone racers: "The sensitive accelerometer steering in Real Racing somehow gets it just right. This is due, in no small part, to the autobraking feature that teaches you the best speed at which to enter turns."
Thanks to Real Racing GTI, now you can experience that for yourself. Interestingly, this isn't VW's first foray into branded iPhone apps: just last month the company partnered with Fish Labs for VW Scirocco 24H Challenge.
So, now that you've had a chance to test-drive it, how does Real Racing compare with other iPhone racers you've played? Are you more likely to buy the full game?
A one-year IOBit Security 360 Pro license normally costs $29.95, but right now it's free.
(Credit: IOBit)Nothing thrills me like getting something for nothing. Yesterday, for example, I redeemed the last of my birthday coupons, wolfing down a free scoop of Cold Stone ice cream (Fudge Brownie Batter with brownies mixed in--yum).
Today I've rounded up three software freebies that have a combined value of $1,089. Seriously! Take a look:
- IOBit Security 360 Pro Normally $29.95 for a one-year license, this security app is free until Nov. 11. It promises "advanced malware and spyware removal," along with protection from all manner of threats: trojans, keyloggers, worms, etc. I haven't found any reviews to speak of, but the always-free, non-Pro version earned four stars from CNET users. So it must be halfway decent.
- WinX DVD Author Remember WinX DVD Ripper Platinum from last month? (Since expired, sorry.) The same developer, Digiarty Software, is now offering its DVD-authoring tool, normally $29.95, for free until Oct. 31. Use it to turn AVI, MPEG, FLV, and other kinds of video files into menu-enhanced DVDs. I haven't tried it myself, but DVD Ripper Platinum was a little gem.
- Windows Server 2008 R2 Standard This might be the weirdest and most surprising giveaway ever. Microsoft's DreamSpark program is offering this new Windows Server release to eligible high school and college students. Why? To learn IT skills, I reckon. Obviously not everyone needs or wants this OS, which is worth $1,029, but I had to mention it. Anyone who does want it will need a Windows Live ID, a valid student e-mail address, and a way to burn the downloaded ISO file to a CD or DVD.
Most of what's new in AVG Free 9 is under the hood, with the security vendor talking up speedier scan times. There's also a new identity protection feature that's free to people in the United States.
Also in this slideshow, I show an easy way to keep the AVG security toolbar from repurposing your default new tab page.
CORRECTED October 15, 2009, 11:45 a.m.: The default search choice is not changed, as was mistakenly reported earlier. Also, it's not the user's home page that gets changed, but the new tab page. I've clarified the nonmandatory nature of the LinkScanner toolbar, and added information on the identity theft feature in the toolbar.
After giving its paying customers a few weeks to upgrade to version 9, AVG has announced its update for AVG Free 9.
For those unfamiliar with the popular freeware security tool, it provides only the bare necessities for protecting your PC, but that should be enough for savvy Windows users. AVG Free 9 introduces few new features, with improvements focused on performance, including claims of faster scan and boot times. AVG is claiming that scans are 50 percent faster compared with AVG 8.
AVG comes with a combined antivirus and antimalware engine, the proprietary LinkScanner for Web browsing safety, and e-mail scanning. Developed independently and bought by AVG in 2007, the LinkScanner tech performs two functions. It protects you from third-party code exploits before they load in your browser and it ranks search results.
Annoyingly, the optional AVG LinkScanner toolbar commandeers your new tab page, decidedly inappropriate behavior that a security vendor should really know better than to do. LinkScanner can be downloaded separately from AVG, too. The scheduler is robust, automating both scans and updates with multiple options.
One new feature in the new version is the the Identity Theft Recovery Unit. Only for users in the United States, ITRU is a business partnership with Identity Guard which provides "consumer identity theft solutions." Accessible only from the browser toolbar, which only works in Firefox or Internet Explorer, the service provides "a dedicated identity theft recovery unit with fraud experts," to assist handling, getting and analysing a credit report, enrolling in credit file monitoring, and offering report-filing support.
The interface in AVG Free 9 remains nearly untouched from the last version, and generally it's easy to use. From the main window, though, you must double-click to get further information on any feature, whether virus scanning, LinkScanner settings, or updating. Streamlining this to one click would be helpful.
That ad in AVG Free 9 can be easily hidden.
(Credit: Screenshot by Seth Rosenblatt/CNET)When starting a scan, a slider makes it easy to jump between Slow, Automatic, and Fast scans: the faster the scan, the less comprehensive it is, so it's a good idea to take the program's advice and optimize your scans when you install. This will make that first scan faster. A slow scan took nearly 2 hours, while the fast scan completed in under an hour. A progress meter for these regular scans would've been useful, though. Should a virus create serious problems, AVG creates a rescue disk to scan your computer in MS-DOS mode.
Besides the LinkScanner problem, there are some other concerns with AVG. It doesn't tax your system in an obvious way when scanning or when running in the background, although CNET Labs determined that it will significantly slow down your system's boot time and will slightly delay shutting down. AVG detected some image files as threats, when two other security programs decided they weren't--these were fairly obvious false positives. There is an advertisement to upgrade at the bottom of the program window, but it can be easily hidden using the Hide Notification button.
AVG might not be the fastest or the most effective free security option, but it still gets the job done and you're better off with it.
The feature-rich versions of popular security program AVG have been updated, with AVG Technologies claiming faster scan times, faster boot times, and other under-the-hood improvements. While version 8 introduced a consolidated product line, making those features work better together takes the attention of AVG Internet Security 9 and AVG Anti-Virus 9.
AVG is making some bold claims for these updates. The company is touting scan times that are "up to 50 percent" faster, based on marking files safe until their file structure changes, and boot times that are "10 to 15 percent" faster. Memory usage is also expected to be "10 to 15 percent" better, as well. The built-in firewall, available only in the Internet Security version, uses a new database for automatically determining if certain programs are safe to access the Internet without user input. This trusted database, called TrustedDB by AVG, should be less intrusive by querying for user input 50 percent less often than in the previous version, says AVG. Also, the installation process has been shortened from 22 screens to 11.
There are few wholly new features available in version 9, but an interesting one is the Identity Theft Recovery Unit. Included in AVG Anti-Virus and AVG Free, but only for users in the United States, ITRU is a business partnership with Identity Guard which provides "consumer identity theft solutions." Accessible only from the browser toolbar, which only works in Firefox or Internet Explorer, the service provides "a dedicated identity theft recovery unit with fraud experts," to assist handling, getting and analysing a credit report, enrolling in credit file monitoring, and offering report-filing support.
In hands-on testing last week, I found AVG to be relatively easy to navigate around, although the interface could be simpler. When you click on one of the items in the main window, you must double-click on one of the features to access more information on it. A single click, or even a mouse-over pop-up, would make the experience faster. Before I even ran my first scan, AVG detected icons associated with Pidgin as threats.
AVG 9 looks very similar to AVG 8. Most of the changes are under the hood.
(Credit: Screenshot by Seth Rosenblatt/CNET)Double-checking them against Avira and McAfee revealed those detections as false positives, and when I finally ran the Fast Scan it took longer than 20 minutes. That doesn't compare favorably to competitors, some of which can complete a first Fast Scan in around 60 seconds. I was also surprised to find that Mozilla Thunderbird was not automatically approved to go through the firewall, despite the new firewall trusted database. While the installation process offers to install the browser toolbar for you, it doesn't seem possible to opt out during the installation and then install it later from the AVG interface, a strange oversight.
AVG Internet Security 9 is available for $49.99, and AVG Anti-Virus costs $34.99. Both come with a one-year license and a 30-day trial, although AVG Anti-Virus lacks the firewall, identity protection, antispam, and system tools that come in AVG Internet Security. Fans of the free version of AVG 9 will have to wait a bit longer, as AVG always delays the release of Free until after the full suites have been made public.
If you want to use the Internet to peek at documents filed in federal court cases, it's usually possible. It's just relatively expensive.
The U.S. Congress allows the federal courts to charge a fee--currently set at 8 cents a page--to search for and download documents. The database, called PACER, is strict about charging and even levies fees for searches that result in no matches.
Which is why a pair of Princeton University graduate students, with some help from Harvard University's Berkman Center, have developed a Firefox browser plug-in called RECAP (PACER spelled backward). It's designed to make more court documents available to the public at no cost.
The way it works is simple: when you log in to the federal court system and pay with a credit card to download a document, the RECAP plug-in automatically and transparently forwards a copy to the Internet Archive, where it becomes available for free to the next person who wants to read it. It's a collaborative effort, with others benefiting from your purchases, while you benefit from theirs.
"RECAP helps users exercise their rights under copyright law, which expressly places government works in the public domain. It also helps users advance the public good by contributing to an extensive and freely available archive of public court documents," Harlan Yu, a Princeton graduate student, said in a blog post, marking Friday's public beta release. The other collaborators are Tim Lee, Steve Schultze, and Ed Felten.
There are some potential problems. One is that because the RECAP developers plan to make the source code available, it wouldn't be hard for someone to seed the Internet Archive with "official court documents" that had been modified in some way. (The answer is for users to pay to download important files from PACER, or for the courts to employ digital signatures.)
Another is this: the more successful that RECAP becomes, the more revenue PACER loses, which means the federal courts might eventually attempt to ban the use of it. Then again, that hasn't happened yet; until it does, RECAP is a must-install feature for any court junkie.
RECAP is also available on Download.com.
