One of the greatest things about getting a new computer (or formatting an old one) is the fresh beginning. Reinstalling only the programs you really need, configuring everything for the first time, and trying to hunt down where that damn serial number was. Good times if you ask me.
The first hurdle for beginning my new life with Cooper was getting rid of all the shitty software HP bundles with it. Maybe it's nice for the beginning computer enthusiast, but I am a professional addict, with professional needs, not 'lite' versions and demos. MSN, AOL, RealOne Player (I prefer the unobtrusive RealPlayer 8, inadequate HP imaging software, crippled versions of burning software, etc... Hell even the version of MS Office 2003 it comes with is only a 60 day trial. I like to tell myself that bundling crappy software with my computer helps keep the price down, because it certainly isn't creating value. I was surprised to see Python installed on my computer. I have no idea why it's there.
Style XP skins and themes my desktop, making it visually distinctive. I use the iTunes 2.0 skin because I love the polished aluminum look. It also lets you replace bootscreens and login screens. Niagra Falls Night and What A Sight are two good options for logins.
Next on my list for essentials would be True Launch Bar. I absolutely love this utility. You can create menus on the task bar, giving you immediate access to progams without having to minimize everything to find an icon on your desktop. It has wonderful plugins too, like a skinnable clock, the weather, winamp controls, quick mail reader, and even virtual desktops. It takes a bit getting used to, and isnt really intuitive, but once you get the hang of it you will notice how much time it saves. I use Start Killer to hide the start button since with TLB you will hardly ever use it (You can still access it with the windows button on your keyboard).
Hot Keyboard is a macro utility I find invaluable. It does all kinds of macro recording functions, but I probably use quick text replace the most often. For example, everytime I type the letters eml it replaces it with my email address, homeadd is replaced by my home address, gtcom is replaced by http://gtmcknight.com etc... The only downside is you get used to typing those abbreviations isntead of the real word and you find yourself annoyed on others computers when you don't have access to your macros.
MyIE2 for browsing (although I also have atleast 5 other browsers installed for testing), Trillian for chatting, Winamp for listening, Bloggar for blogging, and Norton for virus protection.
My bookmarks and rss feeds are all online, so that can go with me everywhere I go.
My friend Alex suggested DVD Shrink for burning DVD's as it is freeware and very easy to use. I love it and am already on my 6th DVD+RW, basically ripping every decent movie I can get my hands on to. I absolutely love it, and will eventually replace all my DIVX movies with DVDs :)
07:14 PM on 04.18.04
Who, those themes look cool.
I tend to go the other way. Shut off all these animations and xp-things, tweak the registry here and there (I for example like all my temp files to be deleted on shutdown) and get the usual sw package back working.
But what about your, well, even more essential things like office and design software ? I for myself wouldn't survive without Office 2003 (with Visio and Project), NewsGator, MindManager, Macromedia Studio, some Adobe (Photoshop and Acrobat) and some little tools like JRuler and Working Time Tracker. The list goes on and on...
(damnit, this comment looks like I'm url spamming... :-/