Windows Starter Kit: Must-have PC apps

By Seth Rosenblatt on 09 February 2009

Title

Where are the antivirus apps, you ask? If you're looking for programs to make your PC more secure, check out our Security Starter Kit.

Web Browsers
Competitive and diverse, this most essential of software categories has seen tremendous growth in the past year. Although we recommend Mozilla Firefox overall, check out why Opera and Chrome are strong alternatives.

5.0 stars

Editors' rating

Mozilla Firefox
Mozilla Firefox made tabbed browsing mainstream and redefined the browser wars. The easiest browser on the market to customise, the huge user-developed plug-in database makes it supremely powerful, but that's not the only reason to use it. Specialised versions like Flock and Songbird emphasise social networking and music obsessions, but that's not why you need it, either. A JavaScript debugger is standard, and Firefox displays the page-source code in a new window, using indents and colour-coded tags like an HTML editor. Again, not enough — on its own.

Even the built-in pop-up blocker, antiphishing protections and enhanced extension security aren't enough of a reason for using Firefox. Being one of the fastest browsers on the market? Aren't they all? But add together all those things under one roof and you've got a full-featured, safe browsing experience with a nearly infinite level of customisation.

Mozilla Firefox (Credit: Download.com)

5.0 stars

Editors' rating

Opera
Although not as popular as Firefox, Opera is nothing less than an excellent alternative. The program is known for striving to be the fastest, smallest and most full-featured browser available. Even if sometimes it doesn't hit all of those marks, Opera has developed a dedicated following of both desktop and mobile users. Of course, Opera covers the basics with tabbed browsing, mouse-over previews, a customisable search bar, advanced bookmarking tools and simple integration with email and chat clients. Mouse-gesture support, keyboard shortcuts and drag-and-drop functionality round out the essentials.

Out of the box, Opera has just about all you need and its extras are equally strong. Integrated theme support, desktop widgets, the Wand autofill/saved password utility, torrent support, and anti-malware protection courtesy of Haute Secure make it our favourite alternative to Firefox. Throw in always-on access to your bookmarks and other personal settings via Opera Link and Opera has what it takes to unseat even the biggest-name browsers. You just need to hear it sing.

4.0 stars

Editors' rating

Google Chrome
Google Chrome barely squeaks onto this year's list as an alternative for the alternative. If you use web apps more than 90 per cent of the time, Chrome's fast and unique. Users can rip tabs off into their own stand-alone windows and save them to their desktops, turning web apps into virtual desktop apps, because each tab runs under a different system process.

Chrome could be the future of browsing, but no support for extensions and other issues keep it down — for now. Nevertheless, it's a must-try, if not a must-have and a solid backup browser.

Google Chrome (Credit: Download.com)

Topics: audio, chat, email, image editor, jukebox, office, utilities, web browser, editor, torrent

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Comments (7)

  • BooBoo commented on 03/07/2009 10:41 Report abuse

    I reckon, anyone could have typed this up. Even a Newbie. Do some research !

  • Early_Grayce commented on 30/04/2009 16:02 Report abuse

    I have found that over the last decade of PC use I have been able to find enough high quality free software to make paying for software unnecessary.
    No mattter what you are looking for there is a program to fit your needs and if there is a feature from some overpriced software missing from the freeware equivalent it is often worth leaving a feature request on the developers discussion board.
    All discussion leads to better programs in the land of freeware unlike commercial software which is often looking for the next dinky thing to catch your eye and make you spend $s.

  • cwoodsp commented on 27/03/2009 13:47 Report abuse

    Oooops! That last sentence should have read: "sometimes you get what you pay for, but there are some excellent freeware products out there!"

  • cwoodsp commented on 27/03/2009 13:43 Report abuse

    Although I have Vista on my PC and had been running IE (seemingly forever), the laptop I inherited from my ex runs XP and came complete with a heavily-customised Firefox installed (leaning mainly to all things Francophile). During the course of 'de-Frenching' the Firefox I realised just what a great program it is - and immediately dumped IE from my PC and am now happy as a pig in sh*t... As a 'techless' user, finding the wider software world (through CNet and others) has been a revelation and has made me a lot more knowledgable and choosy about my software. Totally agree with arcturus that you get what you pay for!

  • arcturus commented on 12/02/2009 00:16 Report abuse

    This is my must-have list of Windows apps. Not all are freeware; sometimes you get what you pay for.

    Media player: VLC (free)

    Browser: Opera (free)

    Anti-virus: Avast or Kaspersky (not free)

    Image editor/organizer: Adobe Photoshop CS3 and Bridge. Nothing comes close (not free).

    Disk defragmenter: Diskeeper 2009 pro. The best defragmenter out there, and better than all the freeware defraggers (not free).

    Office: MS office 2007 (not free).

    Quick image viewer: Irfanview (free).

    These programs always go on any system I put together for my use.

  • Dumbo commented on 10/02/2009 12:12 Report abuse

    No Dumbo, try the links on top of the page

  • SkyPioneer commented on 09/02/2009 22:51 Report abuse

    What? Is that it? I was expecting something decent, not just the three premier browsers available for download.

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