It takes a lot of time to select that perfect laptop but then, there is a more perplexing problem of softwares. You have to install a lot of software and also uninstall some which you don’t need. I am a total tech freak and do a lot of experimenting on my laptop. Occasionally, I end up messing the OS and hence have to format it. After that, I have to spend a lot of time re-installing the software. You might face this if you are buying a new laptop and hence I thought about writing this article. There are lots of apps here, some of them are my personal favorites while some of them are really famous on the Internet. Not all of them are important, different kinds of users will need different apps.

1 Mozilla Firefox –

Arguably the most famous Web browser in the world right now. There are people who uninstall IE as soon as they get a new computer and get Firefox installed. The key to Firefox’s success is the easy to use interface. It has been around for a while and Firefox is regarded as the best Web browsers in the world right now.

2 AVG Free –

This is an anti-virus program and I prefer it over tons of other anti-virus applications offered on the Internet. Make sure you uninstall any other antivirus software that your laptop may have.

3 Norton and McAfee removal tools –

One annoying thing that I always come across new laptops is that it comes pre-loaded with lots of bloatware and you have to spend time uninstalling all of them (yes, all of them, as none are really important). The new notebooks also come preloaded with antivirus software asking you to register time and again. This requires a fee and hence I don’t recommend doing it. if your laptop comes with Norton antivirus trial software and if you want to get rid of it, use the Norton removal tool. In case of McAfee, use the McAfee removal tool.

4 WinDirStat –

This is an executable file doing an in-depth analysis of the contents on your hard drive. In the end, it generates a color coded chart showing you who are the biggest space huggers. WinDirStat makes it easy to locate those big game and video files on the hard disk and also help you get rid of the bloatware.

5 OpenOffice.org –

I was using this for quite a lot of time but recently I moved to Google Docs. I am recommending OpenOffice.org because it is a freeware and reads/writes all major MS Office documents formats. It is also easy on system resources and can be used on Netbooks too. Just make sure you are selecting the correct file format while saving.

6 Audacity –

Not everyone out there does basic audio editing but if you want to edit or record sounds for interviews or podcast, I’d recommend this. Outputting the files in MP3 format requires you to go through a few extra steps as you have to set it up (you only need to do this for the first time) but Audacity is now preferred even by audio pros.

7 Digsby –

This combines Facebook, Gmail, Twitter, and IM in a single app and hence saves you from the hassle of switching between different softwares.

8 ImgBurn 2.5 –

Just like antivirus software, there are plenty of CD/DVD burning app to choose from but I always carry the ImgBurn on my software USB key as it is easy to use and light. The best part about ImgBurn is that there are not paid upgrades offered for it through advertisements. Keep this software close; it will come handy for burning backup discs.

9 VLC Media Player –

VLC is now ubiquitous as a media playing software just like Mozilla is for Web browsing. This software plays any media format and is really small in size.

10 7-Zip –

Zipping files to compress them and for saving space is not that popular now as it was a couple of year ago. But if the idea still appeals to you, take a look at this application. It can create and open popular formats like GZ, TAR and ZIP. There are also lots of ZIP files lurking around so this might come in handy.

11 Avast –

An alternative to AVG Free. This is a popular software on the Internet and gives real time shields for peer-to-peer downloads, Web, mail and instant messaging too.

12  Google Chrome browser –

When Chrome first came out, it had a lot of problems and people were asking – do we really need another browser? But it has now become a personal favorite of mine because I use Google docs for all my blogging work and these docs open up faster on Chrome as compared to other browsers.

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