subject: Essential software everyone should have on their laptop [print this page] Essential software everyone should have on their laptop
There are some nifty applications out there that you just can't live without. Every time I format my computer, there is a fixed list of applications that I immediately install. Security is very important and i strongly consider installing a reliable firewall and anti-virus program first. I just won't feel safe and comfortable using my computer without securing it first. After securing my computer, I proceed installing other free useful applications. I'll sum them all up in this article.
Comodo Firewall
Comodo Firewall secures your computer against hackers. You can configure the firewall so that it will 'learn' what's allowed and what's not. Anytime an unknown application tries to connect to the Internet, Comodo Firewall will ask you whether it's allowed or not. It's then up to you to decide. At the start of the installation, you can choose to install both the firewall and an anti-virus, but I use a standalone anti-virus program which I'll show you now.
avast! Antivirus
I dare to say that avast! Anti-virus is the best free anti-virus program out there. It detects and deals with almost any threat immediately. Upon detecting a threat, you can tell avast! to delete it, rename it or quarantine it. I have been using this anti-virus for many years now, and never has my computer been leaking any confidential information such as passwords and any other data.
Mozilla Firefox
Mozilla Firefox developed by the Mozilla foundation is a lovely tiny web-browser. Firefox combined with the NoScript add-on is probably the most secure browser ever. I love it and it's the third application I install after installing Windows. Add-ons I can't live without are NoScript (tremendously enhances your security on the web) and Adblock Plus.
VLC Media Player
A good alternative for Windows Media Player is VLC Media Player. It's fast, stable, free (open-source) and easy to use. VLC Media Player comes with a large number of free encoding and decoding libraries. This saves you a lot of time and hassle since you no longer have to search and download additional plug-ins.
Foxit Reader
Lots of documents found on the Internet come in the popular PDF-format. You need an additional reader installed in order to read these files. The most popular reader that comes to the mind of many computer users is Adobe Reader. However, using Adobe Reader can be a pain on older and slower computers. For these systems, there is Foxit Reader. Foxit Reader is a lightweight and easy-to-use Portable Document Format reader.
Download VLC Player to compare and see all its features and the media playable.
