A couple of months ago I decided to re-build the Windows XP Pro OS my Shuttle PC, as had been a long time, and I was having trouble sync-ing with my AppleTV. I kept a list of the things I had to do, especially the s/w that I use on an almost daily basis. I thought this list would come in handy the next time I install… I recently ordered an iMac, and I plan on installing Parallels with XP Home, mainly so I can run Quicken natively, but it’s also nice to have a windows box around to tinker with. So much of what is in the following list won’t be needed in that install, since I’ll have most of it native on OS X….
New XP SP2 build
—————-
1) Install all current drivers for the hardware that XP
did not have
Shuttle specific:
– graphics card (on MB)
– usb 2.0 host controller
– sound card
Other hardware
– Canon Scanner
– Logitech video cam
– Epson Printer
2) AVG Free anti-virus
3) Firefox for web browsing
a) Extensions
Fasterfox
Forecastfox Enhanced
TabMixPlus
b) PlugIns
flash
4) Thunderbird for email
a) Extensions
QuickQuote
5) Apple Software
a) AirPort utility for AirPort Extreme Base Station
b) Bonjour for printing to network printer
c) AirPort Disk Agent for access to network Air disk
d) iTunes for music
+ ilike sidebar to keep my stats up to date on ilike
6) Sharpcast for unlimited (paid) photo backup and cross
PC/platform photo sync’ing and sharing
7) Mozy Free for up to 2GB of free backup
8 ) EfaxPlus for fax viewing
9) trillian for instant messenging (aol, yahoo, msn, google, irc)
10) synergy for virtual keyboard and mouse sharing between two or
more computers
11) quicken for finances
12) Password Safe (pws.exe) for safe storage of all my passwords
13) skype
14) adobe reader
15) WinSCP
– and set up script to sync my internet server ( just
certain directories)
16) folderclone pro for backups
17) MS Office — tried to use google apps, but the track changes of
MS is a requirement… Maybe one of the open office packages
is compatible, but I did not have time to test…
18) GIMP — a free photoshop replacement that does all I need
and more
19) CutePDF, a free print to pdf driver
20 ) Picassa, for those things Sharpcast is not as good at… Such as direct email from the app.
Update: Forgot PUTTY and WinRAR…