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Desktop platforms Toolkit

Setting up a new Windows PC?

Mark Kaelin Tech Republic

Published: 02 Nov 2005 11:40 GMT

7. Install needed applications
If your new PC is at work, chances are that all of the "necessary" applications are installed already. But for home PCs, there is still work to do. Everyone's idea of what applications should be installed is going to be a personal choice, but there are likely to be some selections common to us all. Here are some of the applications I have to install with each new PC:

Office Suite, including email client
Money, QuickBooks or some other money management application
RSS Reader
iTunes
Graphics/Paint program beyond Paint for Windows
VPN client (for connecting to the office)
CD/DVD burning applications beyond what shipped with the PC
HTML Editor
Application developer IDE (often two — VS and Eclipse)

I'm sure you can think of some others. Of course there are always the entertainment applications like World of Warcraft, Call of Duty and Civilisation.

8. Set up email and home page Now that you have your email client and browser installed, it is time to configure them. Specifying the browser home page is an easy thing to do, but it is also quite necessary. The default home page for browsers is not where you want to go every time you fire it up. The email client configuration will be dependent on the client application and the service provider. In Outlook, the configuration is under Tools | Email Accounts, which starts a wisard that will walk you through the process.

9. Install PowerToys
One of the more important things you can do to enhance your new PC, especially if it is a Windows PC, is to install the Microsoft Windows XP PowerToys. These free applications can simplify your Windows PC life by making it easier to change default configurations, synchronise across computers, and manipulate files and photographs.

10. Save system and registry, back up
Once you have your new PC setup the way you like it, you take a few moments to backup your hard drive and save the system files and the registry. Taking these steps to establish a restore point now will create a new base configuration for your PC. This is a state you can return to if something goes wrong in the future.