Top 10 necessary and useful tips to do with a new computer

So You Just Bought a New Computer

Perhaps you spent hours combing through specs and reviews of various computers and finally ordered, or you walked in to your local PC store and bought that new computer off the shelf. Now after driving to the store or waiting for the delivery guy to show up at your house, you finally cut the packing tape and open the box of your new laptop/desktop computer. You shove the plastic bags and paper back into the cardboard box, plug it all in, and press the power button. Now you wait as the software routine created by the manufacturer progresses across the screen loading all that extra software on to your new computer. Some people will tell you forget the pre-loaded operating system, grab an installation CD of your favorite Windows version or Linux distro and load a fresh, clean install of the operation system. For some this is an option. But why? You just spent a decent amount of cash for a new computer. Let me show you some simple tools to de-clutter that pre-loaded software and make that new computer fresh & clean. I will also suggest the best tools and utilities every computer should have installed from day 1.

PC Decrapifier

This is a great tool for the newly unboxed computer. It will remove most of the common pre-loaded software that 99% of users do not need or want. Sometimes it just too much hassle going into add/remove programs and rebooting 20 times just to remove junk. Warning: PC Decrapifier is designed to be run on a computer before you start to use the machine, aka just out of the box. Basically the designers of PC Decrapifier have provided an easy step-by-step tool that will detect and remove common bloatware quickly and without hundreds of mouse clicks and restarts. It will remove programs such as AOL, BigFix, Wild Tangent, and browser toolbars with very little effort by you. For a complete list of software that this tool will remove, click here. To download PC Decrapifier visit this site.

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AVG Anti-Virus Free Edition

Most major brand computers will come loaded with major brand anti-virus engines. But these major anti-virus engine will eventually require you to purchase an annual subscription to receive updates and virus definitions. They didn’t tell you about that at the store right? Well here is a free anti-virus engine that is both stable and up to date whilst costing you nothing. Free anti virus protection may make some people skeptical about its abilities to protect your computer, but AVG is a solid and well maintained project. The free version is usually more than enough protection for most users, but AVG does offer paid upgrades in the form of their Home Security and Business Security products. Altogether AVG will protect you from nasty computer viruses just as well as the $100/year product pre-installed on your machine. Please note that it is best practice to install only 1 anti-virus engine at any given time. If you choose to use AVG please visit your control panel to remove your existing AV program first.

Mozilla Firefox Web Browser

This is probably the most useful application you will ever install and use on a computer, the web browser. Over the last decade we have seen browsers rise and fall in the cruel realm of the world wide web. Many browsers lacked basic functionality. Some browsers did not respond well to heavy usage, and others failed to maintain a safe and secure browsing environment. Then came Mozilla Firefox. The browser of choice by most avid web users and the best choice for anyone wishing to browse in a safe, convenient, and fun manner. The Mozilla website describes the product as “The award-winning Firefox Web browser has security, speed and new features that will change the way you use the Web. Don’t settle for anything less.”
Not only does Firefox provide better security and usually a faster browsing experience, the project has a massive following and a huge database of plugins. Some of my favorite plugins are Adblock Plus, IE Tab, and Screengrab. Adblock Plus stops banner ads and malicious links from loading when the browser requests a page from the server, and in turn stops you from clicking on something that may mess up your new computer. IE tab affords you one-click convenience when you must render an incompatible website, say your online bank, using Internet Explorer inside the Firefox browser. Firefox and its plugins can be downloaded from the Mozilla website here

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Malwarebytes’ Anti-Malware

Occasionally you will find that your computer is running slow or some file a friend sent you suddenly causes popups to assault your browser. In this case it would be helpful to have a tool that will simply find, destroy, and clean the infections from your computer. This is why I recommend that you load programs such as Malwarebytes Anti-Malware and HijackThis onto your computer from the get go. Malwarebytes is recognized as one of the best detection and removal tools of nasty spyware, malware, adware, and any other bad version of ware that your PC will at one time or another encounter. I would suggest installing this tool and running it as part of a monthly routine (or more if you notice strange things happening on your computer). Malwarebytes uses a current database of known infection technique to find and safely remove infections caused by many online spyware programs. The product has won multiple awards and editors choice picks for its power in removing nasty infections. Download Malwarebytes’ Anti-Malware from here

Trend Micro HijackThis

This application would be the sister to Malwarebytes’ Anti-Malware. Although not designed for use by the new computer user, HijackThis will detect infections and provide a standardized text log file that you can share on many online forums to receive free community support from others online. I have personally used HijackThis to clean a system of 100+ registry infections caused by malicious programs setting themselves to run when the computer starts (extremely annoying and difficult to stop if you do not know how). Trend Micro’s HijacThis is a necessary tool for any computer that will go online, download from here.

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OpenOffice

Unlike the days of Windows 98, Microsoft no longer includes any variant of an Office productivity suite on a new computer. With the Microsoft Office 2007 suite costing upwards of $250 for a new single license many users end up having to spend out additional money just to do some basic word processing. Good news! you have alternatives available that are similar is feel & function to the classic Microsoft Office programs. OpenOffice is Sun/Oracle’s office suite that is built to simulate the well known Microsoft suite. Basically if you need word, excel and powerpoint programs at zero cost OpenOffice is a great choice. Files created in either brand’s products can be opened in both products due to the establishment of open-source standards across the board. Need an office application on the go? check out Google Docs featuring in browser versions of Word and Excel that can be shared with other by simply sending a link to the document by email. OpenOffice can be downloaded from here, and Google Docs is available online at http://docs.google.com

Adobe Products

Although most major vendors include Adobe Reader and Flash plugins in the operating system image distributed on their computers, they can be outdated by the time you take the computer home. Adobe Flash is probably the most common multmedia plugin used by websites to deliver rich media content and the best online mini games to kill time at work… For the best online experience visit the Adobe site here to check the current version of Flash on your computer and upgrade if necessary. Adobe’s reader product has become the most popular static document distribution format due to its light-weight characteristics and portability. The last year has seen major updates to the Reader and Acrobat programs so I would recommended using the help > check for updates command within Adobe Reader or Acrobat to check you have the latest version available. Unsure and want to update, click here

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Java

Java is another plugin for your web browser used by many sites to stream multimedia apps to your computer via the web. It is also a great language for beginning programmers to learn the basics of object oriented programming. But I digress. Similar to the Adobe products listed earlier, it is best practice to check the version of the Java Runtime installed on your new computer. This is easy as Sun Microsystems website www.java.com will automatically detect your version of Java and prompt you if an update is available. It is not necessary to have the latest version as many applets and programs will run with an older runtime, but just like any web-enabled technology updates are provided to remedy security issues that arise from time to time so updating is highly recommended. Java website.

7-Zip

There are many options to compress and decompress archive formats or ‘Zip’ files on your computer, but 7-zip has more features than the windows integrated solution and is also free! 7-Zip is very lightweight and gives you the ability to create many archive types, not just the common Windows variant .zip. Lets say you need to download drivers for your dual-boot system you just created. Some of your driver files or programs for the Linux environment may be archived in tar format which Windows cannot open nativily. 7-Zip also features its own archive format known as 7z. 7-zip available for download here.

7z is the new archive format, providing high compression ratio. The main features of 7z format:

• Open architecture
• High compression ratio
• Strong AES-256 encryption
• Ability of using any compression, conversion or encryption method
• Supporting files with sizes up to 16000000000 GB
• Unicode file names
• Solid compressing
• Archive headers compressing

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VLC Media Player

the VideoLan project has created the most flexible Media Player known on the web. VLC Media Player will play almost any audio or video format thrown at it without crashing your entire computer like Windows Media Player. VLC will also handle multiple streaming formats and even work as a streaming server for sharing media inside your home network. Best of all VLC is completely free and new features are developed and added frequently. More information about VLC Media Player can be found at the VideoLan website here.

A great complement to VLC Media Player or Windows Media Player is the X-Vid Codec. Many video files shared online require the use of a small software component called a Codec in order to playback the media contained within. X-Vid is a popular choice for the MPEG-4 format. X-Vid can be downloaded here.

The Xvid video codec implements MPEG-4 Simple Profile and Advanced Simple Profile standards. It permits compressing and decompressing digital video in order to reduce the required bandwidth of video data for transmission over computer networks or efficient storage on CDs or DVDs.

Conclusion

Hopefully this guide will help you clean and prepare your new computer for many years of hassle-free operation. Remember prevention is half the battle when it comes to viruses and malware, so keep your tools up to date and watch out for new protection software entering the market. As our dependency on computers for daily living increases so will the amount of infections just waiting to attack your shiny new laptop or desktop computer. Be sure to come back and visit us for more advice on keeping your computer is top shape!

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