new computer: what softwghere & where to get?

[seastars]

I just bought a new computer. I'll use it for word processing (that is, taking home docs from work to edit), photo editing, DVD burning (for backups as well as making "movies" of short family videos) and web surfing.

What's the must-have software for me? (My old computer is clogged with crap, plus I'm out of the loop tech-wise, so I don't rely just on what I already use.)

I'm thinking:

Computer comes with: Microsoft® Windows® Vista Home Premium 64-bit, Microsoft Works 9.0, McAfee SecurityCenter 15-month subscription , Roxio Creator, Adobe Acrobat Reader

Get:

Internet Explorer or Firefox for surfing (currently use IE), comes with computer I think (part of Windows Vista?)

Nero 7 for DVD burning & movie-making (currently use), from http://www.softpedia.com/progDownload/N ... 28919.html

Microsoft Office for WP (currently use), comes with computer I think (part of Windows Vista?)

Microsoft Photo Editor (currently use), from http://www.megaiq.com/downloads. htm

One Care for viruses, backups etc. (currently use), from http://onecare.live.com/standard/en-us/ ... mputer.htm

Crap cleaner for, well, cleanup, from http://www.ccleaner.com/

Anything else? (Computer is Dell Studio XPS Core i7-920 2.66GHz 512MB ATI Radeon HD4670) Please do assume that I know next to nothing. So, any tips on setting up a new computer are very welcome.

[Ian]

Nice computer. If it was me, I'd wipe it clean and do a fresh install but you may just want to "decrapify" it (http://www.pcdecrapifier.com/) by removing all the extra junk that Dell installs.

I can't remember if Nero 7 is compatible with Vista. I'm not sure what features you use, but the included Roxio software or a free program like ImgBurn may work just as well.

Also, I thought that Microsoft was doing away with One Care...?? If so, there are a number of good free antivirus programs like AVG available.

[Dartman]

Nero 7 is working fine for me with Win 7 so I don't think he should have any issues, in fact he might want to try the RTM of 7 if he decides to start over anyways, seems pretty good here.

[zsl1010]

Lifehacker always provides good information about software.

You may like to read the following topics and go to the links provided.

The top 30 free Windows software apps
http://lifehacker.com/218882/the-top-30 ... tware-apps

Please note that ClamWin, the anti-virus software recommended, does not include an "on-access real-time scanner", i.e. it does not provide real time protection.

Download of the Day: Portable Apps Suite for portable applications.
http://lifehacker.com/152326/download-o ... apps-suite