What your computer needs?

I just recently did a clean install on my Dell laptop. I really hadn't used it much and I wanted a new installation and make a laptop a productive work environment for me.

I wanted to know how much software I could put on my laptop that I needed, without spending a great deal of money.

I have always heard that freeware is not very reliable or would work for people who really need stable programs. I decided I would try to put as much freeware on my computer as possible without sacrificing quality.

I thought this would be useful for people who think they have to spend a lot of money making their computer efficient and productive. I will explain the freeware I found and any software I did pay for I will explain why it was worth it.

So now to my laptop.

I will first start out with what I am using to type this. OpenOffice is a great alternative to Microsoft Office. It can read and export documents made in Word. I have used this with Word and I actually prefer OpenOffice.

Now I obviously need a browser to get to this the site, so none other than Firefox. Firefox just got to it's 1.0 release and it is very popular. You can add extensions to make it more functional or add themes to give it your desired look.

Now if you need to read or send e-mail you are going to need a client. Thunderbird is another part of the Mozilla project. Getting close to it's 1.0 release it has made great improvements such as a global inbox and message grouping.

Need to your appointments up to date. Well try Sunbird. Another program from the Mozilla project.

I have my own site so I need ftp access to get my files where they need to be. I found Filezilla to be the best among the one's I tried. It has a site manager where you can store different logins for quick access. Also, it has many advanced features that some users must have.

When I need to update my site quick, or make a simple web page I found NVU to be the best free html editor out there. Now this is a not an editor for advanced web design, but if you need something simple, this is it.

Now when I download software, Firefox has a nice download manager, but sometimes I prefer to use a different one. Leechget has a great interface and makes adding new downloads a simple task.

I need to keep up with the latest news and technology so I rely on an RSS reader to help me. I found that Abilon was the simplest to use and had the best interface of all I tried.

If you have a lot of images on your computer an image viewer is a must. Try XnView. A great viewer for keeping track of all your images.

If you are like, you have to have some music playing while you work. There are actually two players that are great. I prefer iTunes, but Winamp is another great alternative.

The best free firewall available is Zonealarm. It's free and it's much better than Windows integrated firewall.

One of the best pieces of freeware I use is a Windows Explorer replacement. I tried many and xplorer2 is the best.

I have just listed some of the best freeware I could find. Now I am going to show some of the software I paid for and a few more free one's also.

There is nothing better than customizing your PC to your desire. The best way to accomplish this is with ObjectDesktop. My two favorite programs included in ObjectDesktop is Windowblinds and DesktopX. Windowblinds let's you apply visual styles to your computer. There are many available at www.wincustomize.com. DesktopX is sometimes called a “widget” program, but it can do much more than that. There are free versions available for both programs so be sure to try them out.

As far as maintenance and security I rely on Norton Systemworks. There are many different programs available for these but I found Norton to be the most useful.

When I have to edit images or when I am making new cursors for CursorXP, I rely on Paint Shop Pro 8. It is much cheaper than Adobe's software, but I find it just as good.

Now speaking of CursorXP, that is another way to get your PC to your liking. You can change your cursor to any of the different themes available. There is also a free version available.

The last pieces of software I use is ObjectDock. I use it place all my favorite shortcuts in a great looking dock wherever I want on my screen. ObjectDock Plus adds features such as tabs and fly-out menus.

I have covered most of the software I find important for my uses. I hope that someone can use my recommendations and find out that you don't have to spend a lot of money to get great software.

Http://deep.wincustomize.com