Must-haves for my laptop

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Well, I finally got my laptop after a LOT of waiting. (Dell Customer Service sucks)

Anyway, I just wanted to ask you guys if you know of any particular software which would make sure that my system runs properly.

For example, I need an effective, FREE antivirus software, as I hate Norton and I'm not about to spend money on software which I cannot afford in any case. I would also need a good media player, firewall, system maintenance utilities...you know, the ones which clear out the adware, block popups, do the defragmenting and scanning etc etc.

Anything of that sort, which might be useful. All contributions are appreciated muchly!

 

I've used Antivir and it seems to work fairly well.

As for a firewall, ZoneAlarm is great.

Spybot is my choice for Spyware detection and removal.

SiSoft Sandra is a good utility for determining any performance issues.

To my knowledge, all of the above utilities are free for personal use.

 

Does the operating system need to be Windows?

 

It already is...XP Home Edition with Service Pack 2.

I'm not even going to consider anything else, because I'm buying it for two reasons, firstly for doing all my Uni assignments and work and projects and whatnot...and secondly, for gaming!

For both, there needs to be compatibility and support...along with games, and windows gives me that.

PS: @Shalladeth...thanks mate!

 

For a freee Anti-Virus I use AVG.
Go to:
Grisoft

It is the best I have tried.

 

The problem with free is you get what you pay for... make sure you back-up often. Spybot and Ad-Aware make a good combo covering both spyware and datamining.

 

I agree with T2Bruno. I have both.

 

Dell eh? What model?

For software go for:

• Spy Sweeper - Protects you from Spyware and a bunch of other badies
• Zone Alram - Keeps you safe online
• Winamp - Winamp is an awsome media player, much better than WMP and any other media player I've ever used.
• TweakUI - An *Unofficial* utility made my M$ that lets you tweak Windows
• FreeRAM XP - A neet little utility that lets you keep tabs on your RAM usage, and lets you free up some RAM with a quick qouble click og the tray icon.

As for some good hardware, I suggest my setup:
Creative SoundBaster NX (USB sound card) hooked up to the Creative T5400 5.1 speaker system. If you install the onboard audio drivers and the Creative ones as well, you will be able to use the 5.1 speakers any time your laptop is plugged in to the sound card, otherwise it'll switch to the onboard audio, witch is fine for earphones. If you can't spare an USB port, buy a PCMCIA card that has 2 or more USB ports on it...That's what I ended up doing. They aren't that expensive, and they add 2-4 USB ports to your computer.

 

i got a question, where can i get a "popup destroyer"? my dad has one and he has no idea where he got it (the computer people put it in). No popups ever come out, theres just a counter that increases ever so often.

 

Ethereal is the best application I played with this month, so throw that upon the list as well

 

i don't have a laptop... so what am i doing here?

 

i have no idea.

For that matter, I don't have one either, but I figure if these programs will work on a laptop, they'll work on a desktop, and that's the stuff I need :/

 

well... i wonder why i came back... :?

 

My lack of english knowledge keeps me away from understanding the way a firewall works; I've installed a trial version of Panda platinium and I don't understand much of the configurations features; I don't know what I did wrong because sometimes the program ask me if I let some program can connect to internet (msn, etc.)and I get nothing working (some applets don't load, some websites don't load and things like that)
Please, if anybody can, I need to know the basics of how it works. Thanks and sorry if my post invades this one.
Best regards.

 

Sydax, there is an Spanish entry on wikipedia about network firewalls, but I can't link you directly to it (because of restrictions on this site).

So just copy-paste this link into your browser:

Code:

http://es.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cortafuegos_%28inform%C3%A1tica%29

 

I'm really surprised that you're looking for some of these things. Most universities license top-notch programs in pretty much all categories that you mentioned and distribute them to students for free. You might want to check with them before you bother with anything else.

That said, here's what I've got for the categories you mentioned (Win XP Pro SP 2)
-Antivirus: Symantec AntiVirus Corporate Client 9.0 (upgraded annually)
-Firewall: Symantec (also has a popup blocker in it). ZoneAlarm Pro is a good choice too.
-Spyware: AdAware and SpyBot, but I've never had anything get through the firewall.
-MediaPlayer: Believe it or not, Windows Media Player 10.0 actually works pretty well. MusicMatch Jukebox Pro is the other real good one for Windows.
-Windows can do the defragging and whatnot for you without any other programs. Honestly, Norton might be the best bet here though. I haven't been able to find another one that I like.