Programs to install from the Web
- Firefox/Thunderbird/FileZilla en français. If you don't use Internet Explorer, a firewall won't be needed
- Antivir is better than Norton antivirus and free for personal use
- Ad Aware a free anti spyware program
- Winamp
- GMail you have to be invited on an existing e-mail address to use gmail... find a friend who already uses gmail and use yahoo mail if you don'y have any e-mail.
- Google Toolbar for Firefox
- Google EarthFree to see, must pay to connect to your GPS
- Codecs to see movies on your computer
- CDex CD to MP3/... converter
- Daemon tools. Like alcohol, reads ISO
- Skype. Free Internet phone, and much more... or Yahoo messenger. Skype is the best for voice, waiting for Google Voice upgrades (it's very poor now)
- Winzip or Total Commander are Sharewares, if you don't register Winzip is better. In the other case, you should definitely use Total commander
- DC++. Direct Connect is a very good alternative to Samba/Windows file sharing in LANs and MANs with indexing (everybody uses it in the Bucharest WAN named INTERLAN)