I like trying out new tools and software. In fact I try any new software I read about in the blogs. Most of the stuff I do not use after trying out. Obviously these fill up my hard disk and slow down Windows. About once a month I do a fresh install of windows and reinstall a set of tools I regularly use. Recently I did a fresh install and here are the software I installed immediately.
Security – The Internet is a dangerous place. So the first things I install before going online is the software to secure my PC. I install a Firewall, Anti virus and Antispyware tool.
ZoneAlarm Firewall Free Version
Microsoft Antispyware
AGV AntiVirus
Browsers – I am addicted to tabbed browsing. So I got to have browsers which has tabs. I use Firefox as my default browser and Maxthon as a backup. With all the extensions I install in Firefox it becomes a bit unstable and requires a backup. 
Firefox
Maxthon
Development – I am a Java developer and an Eclipse fan. So these should be installed. But most of my hobby projects are in .Net using C#. Snippet Compiler is a very useful tool to try out stuff in .Net.
Java 5
Eclipse
.Net Framework 2.0
Visual Studio Express C#
Snippet Compiler
Media - I mostly use Cropper, a .Net based screenshot utility, to get screenshots I post on this blog. Paint.Net is a free MSPaint replacement which has all the features I use in a image editor. Picasa is very good in organizing the huge collection of photos I have. I use iTunes to sync my iPod. Foobar2000 is my audio player of choice. The codec pack is to play almost all the vids i download of the net. It is easier than individually installing Real player, Quicktime…
Paint.Net
Picasa
Cropper
iTunes
foobar2000
K-Lite Codec Pack
Utilities – These are the key set of tools that reside in my C:\tools folder. The PC seems unusable without these. I have posted about AutoHotKey and SharpKeys before. Notepad2 is a cool notepad replacement. I use Replacer to replace windows notepad with this and add it to the right click menu of explorer. AutoRuns is a wonderful utility that lists all the programs that start up with windows and lets you remove the unwanted stuff.
AutoHotKey
Notepad2
AutoRuns
7 Zip
Sharpkeys
Google Desktop Search
TaskSwitchXP
ActiveSync
Internet – FileZilla is a very capable open source FTP client. FolderShare is a very useful web service for accessing files remotely as well as syncing folders. It was recently acquired by Microsoft.
FolderShare
FileZilla
Skype
Google Talk
Blog – I use Blogjet for blogging. My only complaint is that it refuses to work behind a proxy. IESpell adds spell checking to Internet Explorer forms. Very useful when commenting on blogs.
RSS Bandit
Blogjet
IESpell
Documents & Productivity – FoxitReader is a small PDF reader. It loads a lot faster than Acrobat Reader.
Office 2003
OneNote
FoxitReader
Related posts:
- WinXP SP2 – How to Replace Notepad.exe
- 1 Hour Software
- BackupFox: Backup your extensions, preferences, bookmarks…
- Drop My Rights
- Eclipse Tools for Microsoft Silverlight