Not long ago on the forum I received great help with a few hardware purchases, thankfully everything went to plan and the process went off without a hitch.

...and whilst the hw part is now reinvigorated and replenished, my suite of software and the like hasn't really been injected with new life for a long, long time. So with the advice and thoughts of denizens here, lets get discussing.


Current software installed
7zip 9.20 (x64)
Adobe flash player
AMD driver 12.3
Avira antivirus free
Combined community codec pack
CCleaner (x64)
CPU ID HW monitor 1.19 (x64)
Daemon tools lite
Defraggler (x64)
Foxit reader 5.1
GoG downloader
GOM player
Google chrome
ImgBurn
Klite codec pack 8.6.0 (Full)
GFWL
Firefox 12.0 (x86)
MS redist. (2008)
MS x360 controller drivers
MSI Afterburner
Nvidia PhysX
Speccy (x64)
VLC media player 2.0.1
Winrar 4.11
XMBC

I have a few requests, anyone know of a secure, fast, spyware free browser?? I use mozilla a LOT, but it's buggy at times, no script is excellent but blocks PDF reading even after I allow the necessary scripts to run. Forces me to use chrome for that particular purpose, which I adore the speed and stability of, but wary of google's data mining practices.

A better, free firewall would be great too.

Thanks for hearing me out.

I'd recommend using MyDefrag instead of Defragler. I've had problems with it. Namely chewing up every psd and 7z file it encountered.

I'd switch Chrome for Comodo Dragon. Exactly the same browser, but without the privacy issues that sparked the creation of Dragon in the first place. Add adblock plus and scriptno if you haven't already. All Chrome extensions work with Dragon.

7zip is great but doesn't cover everything. If you want another free file compressor that doesn't nag you then try IZArc.

Remove WinRAR <= you're already using 7-Zip.

Remove Avira => install Microsoft Security Essentials.

Remove Daemon Tools Lite => install Slysoft Virtual CloneDrive.

Remove GOM player, VLC Media Player, Combined Community Codec Pack <= you're already using KLite and Media Player Classic (which comes with it).

Remove Defraggler <= let the build-in defragging tool do its job and forget about defragmenting.

Remove Foxit Reader => install Adobe Reader, it is miles better for anything PDF related.

This may cause issues with some people here... well on the whole internet, apparently, but use IE... Assuming you're using Vista or 7, if you're still using XP, stick to Firefox, as security won't matter in that case (you're fucked anyways). Remove Chrome.

For a browser there is always Chromium, less call home functions them chrome..

for antivirus and firewall i highly suggest Comodo internet security (active firewall and antivirus and sandbox all parts optional), this tops Kaspersy in recognition and prevention plus the built in firewall is what i use on every PC i touch, never once had a breach. plus its stealth mode is amazing. MSE calls home to Microsoft id stay away...

Since your running VLC you done need Combined community codec pack or klite there going to screw up your system and cause alot of trouble. and ditch chrome the call home features are to much replace with dragon or chromium...

Priforms software set is great and i reccomend all there stuff highly.

i also second removing winRAR no need with 7zip

There's a really good list [ by GOG users] of [url=http://homeworldmod.com/list.htm]free software.

I really, really like Clementine as a music player. It's stable with a quick and active coding team (took a bit more than a year to go from first version to 1.0!); like especially that it comes with a synch to device option, auto mp3 tagging and that it supports spotify / lastfm / similar free streaming services - all out of the box.

Clementine is a fantastic music player, I wholeheartedly support that recommendation.

Every AV calls home. That's the whole point, if they don't call home, the databases won't be updated with you information about possible new malware software.

I'd stick with just CCCP for codecs, it is not realy nessecary to use other mediaplayers or codecpacks with it.

7zip is good, but if you encounter rare compression formats I recommend IZArc.

Avira is recommeded (or AVG or Avast for that matter) over Microsoft security essentials.

Still missing is a firewall, I recommend ZoneAlarm but PC Tools firewall is perhaps more userfriendly and not bad.

Ccleaner is ok, but you still need clean your harddrive manually regularly and the registrycleaner, well let's just say Windows registry maintenance is a nightmare however you put it.

Defraggler? Personally I prefer Windows build in defragmentionsoftware.

Speccy? Where do you need that for? ;o)

Imgburn is ok, but too elaborate for my taste, it's easier to use CDBurnerXP or Deepburner.

Free Download Manager: in case you have trouble downloading (if you keep getting corrupted downloads).

Malwarebytes: use Avira for the realtimescanning, use Malwarebytes to run a scan periodically to get the stuff Avira misses.

Adblocker+ plugin for Firefox, it makes surfing the net so much better.

Driversweeper, run this when you have deïnstalled your old drivers and before you install the new ones.

I see you have a Xbox controller, you might want to use JoyToKey if you want to bind keys to buttons.

About Comodo's Internet Security, I used it, but I'm not a great admirer of it, it got tons of bugs that occasionally hosed down my PC, cases of 100% cpu usage and constantly minimizing windows springs to mind, all the problems I had with my computer miraculously dissappeared when I deïnstalled it.

I just want to echo what Navagon said about Comodo Dragon - it's got most of the benefits of Chrome without the disadvantages. It' given me no trouble at all since I installed it a few months ago.

Also +1 for Malwarebytes, I consider it essential on any Windows PC

Wicked sick recommendations so far. Though I just tested 7zip vs rar and found winrar to extract and zip much faster, so I'll get rid of 7zip.

I use GOMplayer exclusively for mkv files since the quality and subtitle sync is far better through it then MPC. CCC also helps with a certain few files I had trouble playing, rvmb, FLAC, m4a and a few obscure formats that unfortunately didn't work with klite. Installing CCC made the files work properly.

However, does VLC media player install it's own codecs? Following the installation I found nothing to suggest that, anyone more clued up card to chime in?

Comodo looks excellent, I'll jettison Avira. I like the look of MSE, yet I'd rather prefer an all encompassing solution, including web browser.

Does my defrag come with a health status and detailed overview of the drive selected? I found the HDD info and status option through defraggler very easy to follow.

I had poor experiences with Adobe reader and the pop ups were very annoying. I found it to be a resource hog even my my gaming pc and the EULA rubs me the wrong way. The switch to foxit was a great one switching back to Adobe isn't on the cards.

Installed clone drive and got rid of daemontools.

BIG thank you for clementine guys, awesome music player.

VLC includes its own codecs, but is terrible at playing 720p+ files that feature high bitrate. The newer versions have been even worse.

7Zip has better compression than WinRAR when you use the LZMA2 compression algorithm.

MSE is integrated into W8, meaning using that OS won't require that you use an AV. That's why I suggested it.

What popups with Adobe Reader? I've never seen any.

Right thanks for the VLC info, I rarely used it and the extra codecs are bound to hamper playback sooner rather then later. Uninstalled.

Hmmm, nice to know that about 7zip. It's only a tiny install so I'll get that back.

If I ever do get W8, I'm very likely to time it with a completely new build, so I'll keep the info you shared in mind. I'm switching to a new platform somewhere in late 2013, and WIN8 might be on the cards on that half build.

Adobe Reader used to spam me with quite a few pop ups regarding updates, adverts to use other products and had a habit of forcing it them on top of other windows and even full screen video playback. That was around 4 months ago and I grew tired of the interruptions. I had a look in the options and nothing was clearly stated for me to turn them off. Even speed wise, foxit works and loads better on my system, I haven't got anything bad to say about it and I'll use that as my pdf reader for now.

I can only recommend that you choose between CCCP or K-Lite Codec Pack. Having both may cause conflicts and it's not really needed. I've had installed K-Lite for years and it works just fine with any file I've tried.

I'm with you there, however it could be down to ati hw but I always encountered problems with just have one of either. Music files take longer to play, videos refuse to run, incorrect and unneeded changes of default media player, degraded music and video quality.

I've comboed the two for a long while now, hopefully it stays fine.