The most tedious job after formatting your PC/Laptop is choosing which softwares you need to install, which are more important and useful for you and which are to be left out. After choosing the required softwares, installing them is again a tedious job sometimes. Well, I can't help you with the installation part, but surely I'd help you to choose the best softwares you need.
Below is a list of TOP 6 softwares which every computer user must have.
1) Anti-Virus (Microsoft Security Essential)
The most important thing is security. To secure the data in your system and for protection against viruses, malwares, etc. having a good Anti-Virus is very important. I have used almost all the Anti-Vs you can name like Avast, QuickHeal, Kaspersky, eScan, Norton, Microsoft Security Essential (MSE) and Avira. Taking into consideration all the factors together, such as the level of security provided, load on processor, speed, etc., I would recommend you to use MSE.
2) Media Player (GOM Player)
The second most important thing every computer user needs is a Media Player because obviously everyone are going to listen music and watch videos/movies in their computer. Well, most of the people would be using (and would also recommend you to use) VLC Player, but I'll not. I suggest to use GOM player than VLC. This is mainly because VLC enhances the sound to very high, which is most of the times not necessary. I've also heard of cases where this sound enhancement had damaged the speakers in long run. But sometimes the original video itself has a very low sound, in which cases you may use the VLC Player.
3) Image Viewer (FastStone MaxView)
Everyone sees the photos in their computer some or the other time. Although windows comes with an inbuilt image viewer, which is a kind of very basic image viewer with only basic features, FastStone Maxview is a really awesome Image Viewer + Image Editor. To know more about its features read FastStone MaxView - Best Image Viewer and Editor.
4) WebBrowser (Maxthon)
I know that most people use Mozilla and Chrome as their default browsers but what makes me use Maxthon is its unique customization features (like: type 'fb' in address bar and it will open facebook also you can change it to anything else you want), Display your IP at bottom, Display current Upload and Download speed of browser, etc. I will soon write about this user-friendly browser in detail some time later.
5) CCleaner
Most people use TuneUpUtility to tweak their system for high performance. I recommend CCleaner over TuneUp mainly because its a freeware, light weight and performs its job great justifying to its name. It fixes all the registry problems. It can be used to save memory by removing unused n unwanted temporary files, browsing history, etc. Stores different restore points, in case you need to restore your system at some earlier time's setup. Can easily integrate into RecycleBin to clean up unwanted stuff.
6) Defraggler
Defraggler is one more software (CCleaner being the first one) by Piriform to increase the system performance. It is used for the disk defragmentation and works a way better than the inbuilt defragmentation tool provided with Windows. Most defrag tools only allow you to defrag an entire drive. Defraggler
lets you specify one or more files, folders, or the whole drive to
defragment. And you can also schedule it.
I hope this would help you. Do share with us if you know other such softwares. Your comments and suggestions are welcome.