So my parts for my first build are ariving tom. and i am wondering if some one can give a list of applications and programs that are good to have and will be needed ie(flash player, etc) so that i can get my computer up and running well in the shortest amount of time and so i dont forget some of the basic ones.


THX

Well, the very first and most critical program I would suggest is a Windows XP installation CD. After that, of course you will need the install CD's and drivers for all of your hardware, past that point it's kind of hard to tell what you need until you need it and don't have it.

Get the drivers from the web sites not the out of date cdroms. Also you need quick time, real player, flash, shockwave, java, divx and get firefox first.

well i kinda figured the operating system and the drivers....

for the drivers do u recomend going to like the nivida website for there drivers or evgas

also what programs should i download for checking my temps and stuff.

after the drivers... some sort of office app, ms office or open office both are good

XP, Service packs, mobo drivers, nvidia/ati drivers (depending on your graphics card), WinRAR, Daemon tools, uTorrent, PowerISO, Speedfan, Atitool, Fraps, K-Lite Codec Pack (comes with Media Player Classic), Messenger, Office, and games.

I install those apps in that order every time I format a PC.

XP, service packs, antivirus, firewall, Spybot and/or AdAware, update FireFox, drivers. Don't connect to the Internet until the antivirus is working.

7-zip is a great alternative to winrar or winzip and it is free.

I can't believe nobody has mentioned Adobe Acrobat Reader yet!

After OS, first thing should be Anti-virus and Firewall, then an adware killer like Spybot Search and Destroy and/or AdAware. Load all critical OS patches, but be warned, Microsquishy has flagged IE7 as a Critical Update, so always choose Custom and de-select it until you know your apps work with it.
Speedfan is good for checking mobo temps and voltages, or the nVidia Control Panel / nTune for your GPU.
Get Acrobat Reader (www.adobe.com). You may want Shockwave Flash. You don't want Real Player or Weatherbug. Sometimes a convenience, add-ins like Google Toolbar or Yahoo Toolbar also cause problems. I would suggest avoiding them. They come bundled with other programs (e.g. with Acrobat Reader) so be sure to unselect them unless you know you want them. You're not a pirate, so you don't need a P2P client that likely contains malware anyway.
Who is your ISP? Many provide security software, e.g. Comcast uses McAfee, Frontiernet uses CA, etc.
Open Office (www.openoffice.org) provides a free alternative to paying Microsquishy for Office. Mozilla's Thunderbird email client is a viable alternative to Outlook Express.
Finally, if you anticipate having lots of time in the future, download the Guild Wars game client :-). Have fun.

Do yourself a favor and avoid Acrobat Reader, Foxit Reader does everything Adobe reader does without the bloat. Also don't forget Google Earth, its gotta be the coolest free app there is.

Second that, works great for me.

yes don't forget google earth and you might want some sort of photo shop program, everyone needs one eventually even if you don't plan to need it

Depending on the amount of RAM you are getting with your system, I'd look into 64 bit vista or xp if you have not purchased your OS yet. As many have already mentioned antivirus is critical. AVG provides a nice free antivirus solution, also panda 2008 beta is available as well. If you want to pay for one I recommend nod32, is very light and works well. I've been really into defrag recently and after advice on these forums purchased a copy of diskeeper, real time and much better defrag and the windows tool. For the spyware, you can use Windows Defender which is free, or if you don't like that people above have mentioned Spybot and Ad-aware, both very good and free. I'm not a big fan of personal firewalls because depending on the complexity of your home network can be a hastle to setup trusted programs, zones and computers. Chances are that your router at home has a hard firewall built into it which is better to use. If you really want to run a firewall IMHO BlackICE is the best. Some users mentioned 7zip as well which is great ^_^

IRFANVIEW is a great program for converting picture/screenshots into another format.