I gave up on my old computer a few weeks ago. It lasted four years which is a record for me. I built it myself and was constantly playing with the hardware, installing random shareware from the Internet, and doing other things that should not be tried at home. So over the course of time, the machine has developed progressively worse problems.

Games wouldn’t install because of something to do with my CD-ROM drive brand. Windows XP would randomly GPF. For the last year, when I would reboot, I had to let the processor cool down for about twenty minutes before it would boot back up–this was the most annoying computer problem I ever had. But the last straw was installing Linux on a dual-boot partition and the machine stopped loading Windows XP.

XKCD feels my pain:

 

Rather than fix it, I decided it was time for a new box. So I popped out the hard drives, stuck them in external drive boxes and retired my old machine to the “parts” shelf.

The new computer arrived a few days ago and I’m in the process of setting it up. Installing my “desktop” is a complicated multi-day process and I seem to do it at least once a year. While I wait for my software to install, I’m taking notes and compiling a list of everything I’m installing.

I bought the computer from CyberPower, which I found from a budget computer recommendation on ConsumerSearch.com. The site that lets you pick and choose each component you want in the system, including your case and motherboard. I built out a gaming machine with a 3Ghz dual-core CPU and NVIDIA GeForce 8800 GTS 640MB graphics card. I’m planning on overclocking the processor to (around) 4Ghz, which should get me better performance than quad-core. I would recommend CyberPower to anybody who wants a custom-built computer without putting the components together themselves.

I also got a 2560 x 1600 30″ monitor from TigerDirect — just like the ones in the Apple store. It’s beautiful… like looking through a window. A very clear window.

Operating System

Microsoft Vista 32-bit

I always pay to have Windows pre-installed on computers I purchase. Mainly to ensure all my hardware drivers are installed – very important if you want Vista. I almost went with 64-bit Vista but I know people are still having problems so I’m holding off.

Anti-Spyware: Windows Defender, SpyBot

Microsoft’s free anti-virus software is good enough for me. Even though it’s not the best software available, I’m going to start using it on all my new machines. And if Microsoft is true to form, it will eventually be one of the best packages around.

SpyBot used to be the best Spyware package around, but lately has been eclipsed by others. I still install it because it has a great system startup monitor. One of my pet peeves is that everything computer-related wants to install some crappy little memory-resident program that does nothing but slow down your computer. Printers, mice, network cards, Adobe Acrobat, eFax, QuickTime, etc. After I install everything, I use SpyBot to remove all the crap.

Antivirus: Avira AntiVir 

I’m currently using Norton Antivirus on all of my computers but I’m fed up with the annual “anti-virus tax” I pay each year. PC World says Avira makes the best free anti-virus software. I tend to have safe browsing and e-mail habits so I don’t feel like I need a top-end anti-virus package like Norton. Actually, if you want to pay for something, try ESET before you try Norton.

Internet

Web Browser: FireFox 2

I’m still evaluating Opera so I’m going to play it safe by recommending FireFox. FireFox is the modern day version of the Netscape web browser, which is a replacement for Internet Explorer. It’s faster than IE and has an extensive library of plug-ins and add-ons.

I use three FireFox add-ons:

Adblock Plus: AdBlock prevents web ads from downloading and displaying on FireFox. You don’t have to see them and sites load faster because their ads don’t load.

Foxmarks: The free FoxMarks Bookmark Synchronizer automatically synchronizes my bookmarks (favorites) between all my computers.

WebDeveloper: The free Web Developer extension adds a powerful menu and a toolbar to FireFox with various web developer tools. It lets you easily dissect web site components and see how they work. I’m not doing web development now but I sometimes like to see what a web page is doing behind the scenes so I keep it installed.

Remote Control Software: RealVNC

I use this remote control software to control all of my computers from my laptop. It’s handy since they’re spread out in different rooms of my house.

Blog Editor: Windows Live Writer

Windows Live Writer (Beta) is the software I’m currently using for blog posts. I was briefly using Microsoft Word 2007 but switched when I found out about Live Writer. It’s the perfect blog editing software. It lets me edit on my desktop, keeping the fonts, colors, and layout of the blog.

Web Phone: SightSpeed

My family recently decided to use web phones to keep up to date with each other. I did some experimenting and SightSpeed was the best software out there. I have no idea why Skype gets such great reviews… I thought it sucked.

Fax: eFax

I switched over to electronic faxing a while back, so I don’t have to worry about having a fax machine. It works fine, although it’s a pain when I have to send a fax back to somebody.

Downloads

Remember Napster? That’s nothing compared to what’s going on nowadays. I mostly download TV shows but you can also find movies, music, books, comics, video games and software. I have Comcast’s full access HD cable package so I only download shows that my TIVO misses, BBC shows, unaired pilots, etc. But without downloading shows I wouldn’t have discovered Spooks, ReGenesis, Life on Mars, or the original Office. None of which are available on cable.

My wife and I love watching new pilots before they’re aired. We’ve seen quite a few great things that never made it to TV. And recently, the networks have begun leaking pilots to the Internet, hoping to build geek support and increase their chances of being picked up. We watched the season/series premieres of The Sarah Connor Chronicles (good), Bionic Woman (ok), Reaper (good), Californication (great), Chuck (good), Damages (ok), and Pushing Daisies (ok). All months before they were aired.

I’m getting sidetracked… just wanted to let you know why all this download software is on the list. If you want more info, check out my favorite torrent download site: MiniNova.

Newsgroup Downloads: NewsLeecher

First I’ll check the newsgroups because I can download at my max Internet speed. A hour-long TV show in high-def downloads in five minutes. For this I need NewsLeecher.

BitTorrent Downloader: Azureus 2.5

If I can’t find something on the newsgroups, I’ll try torrent sites. I avoid them because they’re monitored by the RIAA who has a history of extorting money from eight year olds and grandmothers. However, it’s a bigger network so I’m more likely to find older TV shows. Download the 2.5 version of Azureus because the 3.0 version is unnecessarily bloated and much more confusing.

Compression: WinRAR, QuickPAR

Most downloads are compressed as RAR files. WinRAR is free and handles every file type I’ve run into recently. Occasionally the files are corrupted and QuickPAR will fix them so you don’t have to download again.

Apple Downloads: iTunes

I’m completely tied in to Apple’s infrastructure: iPod, iPhone, Apple TV… and they all require iTunes to work. Apple actually has a great online store with many options. I also use Amazon Unbox because it downloads to my Tivo.

Multimedia

Watching TV, burning CDs, reading various document formats.

Adobe Formats: Acrobat Reader, Flash Player 

I love PDF files.

Video Drivers: K-Lite Codec Pack

Before you can watch your downloaded TV shows, you need to install “codecs” that tell Windows how to read the files. There are LOTS of codecs in use right now and they are tricky to install. It’s easiest just to download a codec pack that installs all at once. The Kaaza Codec Pack also installs Windows Media Player which is a lightweight video file player without all the extra crap

Virtual CD-ROM: DAEMON Tools

Most of the software I’m installing is saved on my network as CD-ROM images. The easiest way to access it is using the DAEMON Tools, which trick your computer into thinking the CD-ROM images are actual CD-ROMS. This is the easiest way to bypass any weird copy protection.

CD-ROM Burner: Nero

I still burn CDs for my car. I’m sure I could do this somehow with Windows Vista but I’ve used Nero for years and occasionally want it to do other things. Sometimes I’ll create DVDs and for my wedding I created a photo slide show that Stef and I gave to our parents.

Comic Book Reader: CDisplay 

Just for fun, I downloaded some of the comic books I used to own in high school. It’s actually pretty fun reading them on a big monitor in high-res.

NFO File Reader: Damn NFO Viewer

Many of the archives I download are accompanied by .NFO files that explain what’s going on. You can read NFOs in a text reader like Notepad2 but it’s best if you have an NFO viewer.

Photo Sharing: SmugMug Star*Explorer

I use SmugMug to store all my photographs online. They offer unlimited storage and bandwidth, giving you the ability to upload your original picture files. It costs $30/year. It was built as a web service that allows third parties to hook into their infrastructure. Some guy created software that hooks into the SmugMug service layer and allows you manipulate your SmugMug account from your desktop. You can add or download pictures and it implements the changes after you click “Update”. Great example of how a service layer should work.

Productivity

Here’s all the expensive software.

E-mail: Windows Live Mail

I recently switched e-mail accounts to an IMAP provider. That means I can set up multiple e-mail clients on multiple machines, all reading from the same data store. It’s great and has really streamlined my correspondence. I use both Windows Live Mail and Microsoft Office.

Office Suite: Microsoft Office 2007

I gave some brief consideration to using Sun StarOffice. But I love the new Microsoft Office too much. You can check out my review here. You can read a much better review here.

Graphic Design: Adobe Design Standard CS3

My whole life I’ve done graphic design. I’m not a real artist but I’m decent for a programmer. I use Photoshop for photo editing and I’ve recently been playing with Adobe Illustrator because all the new Microsoft tech is built around vector graphics. If you’re just looking for something to edit photos, I’d recommend Adobe Photoshop Elements.

Development: Visual Studio .NET 2008 [Beta 2]

I’ve never used Visual Studio for a real project. By the time it rolled around back in the Techfi days, I wasn’t writing code. I’ve played with it on and off over the last five years and been extremely impressed. It’s the best development tool I’ve ever used and the things they’re planning for the new 2008 release are going to change the programming paradigm.

Note: If I was actually doing development now, I would also install SQL Server, Visual SourceSafe and Microsoft Project. (sigh)

Web Design: Microsoft Expression Studio

This is Microsoft’s competition to the Adobe suite. It ties in to key technologies in Visual Studio 2008. I haven’t purchased it yet and am just playing around with the demo. Expression Web is the replacement for FrontPage, Expression Design is a potential replacement for Adobe Illustrator and Expression Blend is an entirely new tool used to design Silverlight applications.

Mapping Software: Microsoft MapPoint

It’s nice having mapping software on the desktop for planning trips or researching real estate. I’m not sure if MapPoint is the best but I got a free copy of it a while back and have been using it ever since.

Text File Editor: Notepad2

I still find myself editing text files every day. Notepad2 is a free and simple upgrade to the basic Notepad that comes with windows.

Games

I’ll mention games since that’s the reason I bought the computer. I’m currently playing Crysis, and eagerly awaiting Spore and Starcraft 2. I also installed some old favorites like Alpha Centauri, Darwinia and Galactic Civilizations II.

That’s it. 30+ separate installs. Since I have almost everything stored as CD images on a network drive it only took me two days. I sure wish somebody would invent a universal network installer that could install everything at once.