With a new PC it can be hard to avoid installing every single game, program and app which is suddenly available. But at the same time, there are definitely certain things which are pretty much essential for me. I’m assuming you already have internet security and anti-virus software as it’d need an entire in-depth post of it’s own. All of the following links are free, and non-affiliate links. They’re just bits of great software I couldn’t live without…

Toolbox by SorenSiim on Flickr (CC Licence)

Firefox: Competition has been a great thing for browers. Internet Explorer 8 is much better than previous versions and Google Chrome definitely has it’s uses. But for me, Firefox is my default browser – partly because I’ve used it for years, and partly becuase of the following Add-Ons which I always install:

• Aviary Talon Screen Capture – great Firefox add-on for capturing screenshots, whether it’s a full page or just a section. Aviary also provide a really good online image editing tool.
• Diigo Toolbar – With the recent rumours Delicious could be closed or sold, I’m really glad I started using Diigo a while ago. Not only does it provide an easier way of autoposting to blogs (If you don’t want to play with the Delicious API code), but it also allows you to automatically send anything bookmarked in Diigo to Delicious anyway, meaning you have two copies, and therefore an always-current back-up if either service fails.
• Stumbleupon Toolbar – I’ve always loved Stumbleupon as a way to discover content I’d have never found elsewhere. I’ve also seen the very beneficial effect if can have on blog traffic, and if I really like something and want to send traffic to it, Stumbleupon and Reddit are the two choice which always really work.
• SEOMoz SEO Toolbar – Incredibly useful for any SEO work, and makes research and analysis so much quicker in the toolbar.

Spotify: Music is incredibly important to me while I work, either to block out the ambient noise created by my son, or to evoke the right mood (I have a playlist of classical and soundtrack selections for relaxed working, and some loud punk and metal when deadlines are close!) The free option is now limited to 20 hours per month, and I’m upgrading now I’m working from my laptop 24/7. (Note to American readers – you have Pandora, we have Spotify).

Tweetdeck: My most subjective choice is using Tweetdeck as my standard Twitter client, as there are a lot of viable alternatives. But having used it for quite a while, and appreciating the power and flexibility of it, I definitely think it’s one of the easiest and most effective ways of managing multiple accounts. One tip I do have if you’re working with lots of your own and client accounts is to have one desktop client for personal accounts (e.g. Tweetdeck), and one for client accounts (e.g Seesmic), and that way you’ll have to try even harder to get the two confused!

Windows Live Writer: Producing content for a number of client sites alongside my own means that I really can’t afford time when I can’t be writing. Live Writer allows you to not only write offline, but after a first verification, it’ll pull down all your tags and categories from your blog, allow you to format images etc in your post, and generally do everything that it’s possible to do without an internet connection, so all you need to do is connect and click ‘Publish’. Handy if your shortsighted train service limits you to 15 minutes free internet access. Plus it’s got some handy timesavers like automatically linking key phrases.

Skype: It may have recently had a major outage, but Skype is an awesome bit of communication tchnology which happens to be well integrated into my Nokia smartphone, meaning that it’s far more useful than other IM technology. And being able to save on telephone charges is important when you’re a small business, as well as having IM as an answering machine!

Dropbox: The only link on the list which benefits me in any way (If you sign-up and install Dropbox from the link, we both get a bit of extra free space). We all know how we should be constantly backing up – and we also all know know often we forget. Or find ourselves in a remote office without the file we need.

Dropbox allows you to not only store fairly large files online (Up to 2GB is free as standard), but also allows you to either sync your whole desktop or selected folders automatically. And you can access your folders via the web from anywhere, so even if you’re borrowing a computer, you can get hold of that presentation you needed. It’s saved me several times in the past, and also means that in addition to physical back-ups, important documents also exist online. I’m a big believer in the 3 copy rule – one copy on the computer, one on a physical back-up, and one in the cloud in case a thief, a fire or something similar takes out both physical stores.

There are loads of other applications which can come in handy, such as a good FTP client, but those are a lot focused on specific tasks, whereas those 10 essentials above cover most general PC usage, and make life so much easier.

I’d really love to know what applications you can’t live without, and whether you have alternatives to mine that you prefer? The one application I’m sorely missing is OtherInbox Defender, which recently switched from a standalone product to integration with Gmail. It’s still useful, but if you know of a standalone alternative, I’d be really, really keen to know about it!