Discussion on:

Five types of apps you should install on every new Windows desktop

Handles viewing almost all image file types, even some older Flash files,
can play MIDI, and has a handy image editor to boot! In fact, I install
IrfanView before "media player" type applications.

Brien, I'm sorry, but this looks like it was just phoned in. Windows comes a browser, media player, and MSE already built in, and some workplaces a media player may be undesirable. Your fifth point was a generic catch-all.

My favorite site for new PC builds is http://www.ninite.com

Any free app worth having is a one click install.

couldn't you just download the k-lite codec pack which is what i did..i did the mega one

In most environments, users will need to do something else with their PCs than playing multimedia, browsing Internet and reading PDFs, so maybe productivity/office apps should be a category on its own right. Now, I know you might go for the client route (Microsoft Office or any other package) or for the cloud route (and here we go with Google Apps or Office Live). But you should consider it into your list of basic apps to install.

Some years ago I would have added an email client along with the browser, but in these times, guess email clients only are useful to read that old stash of emails you don't want to erase from the times when you used Outlook Express/Windows Mail/Thunderbird/Eudora/Incredimail etc etc etc...

This article was a complete waste of bandwidth and any moron's time.

1. Technically a no-brainer, as this should be pretty standard on any PC (Windows or non). However, viewing this as a list meant for companies where the IT shop is on the small (or possibly somewhat disorganized) side, I can see where it might bear repeating.

2. Good to remember, although the emphasis will probably be more on *reading* PDFs than creating them, so the focus will probably be more on Adobe Reader.

3. Unless the IT shop guys really have an anti-IE bias, most IT shops will stick with the default IE...although they'll most likely lock it down somehow (i.e. Content Advisor, limiting the tabs that show up under Internet Options, etc.).

4. Most places won't need a media player. For those that do, the majority of audiovisual files they run into will run on WMP. For those that don't, they can always download a free codec (i.e. K-Lite) to handle it.

5. Kind of a generic catchall category, so not much to really comment on.

either you forget that the PC is ment for porductivity, and you didn't mention the basic document handler(worksheet,slides, documents,database), or you forgot that the PC is also ment for Playing (and you forgot to mention to install a game or two), maybe you could go with the "there is two (or more) types of basic lists", and maybe describe the above.

just my humble opinion.

We routinely include these and other titles on new PCs or tune-ups. We believe every PC should arrive ready to create PDFs from any application that prints (PDF ReDirect), scan and remove viruses and spyware (Microsoft Security Essentials and Lavasoft AdAware), monitor and resolve system and registry errors (CC Cleaner), allow remote support (GBridge) and more... We also believe that users should have control over their own productivity in beginning to use Windows 7 and Office 2007/2010 so we routinely install classic menus to insure quick productivity (see: http://www.2ss.com/Newsletters/2SS.Com%20E-news%20100816.htm )

Starting with certified basic application(s) within an O.S. platform while stirring the pot with a good Anti-virus app. is just simple smart. There will always be time to jump on the "bells & whistles" boat as to other individual wants and needs, via apps.

Windows assigns a specific program to open a specific file type. If you want to use a different program, you click on "Open With" which often gives a list that includes irrelevant programs and omits the good ones. Then you have to browse to find the one you really want.
What you need is a way to insert in the context menu all the programs you might want to use for a particular file type. For example, there are quite a few programs that play audio files. It would be nice to have them all in the context menu so you could choose which one you want for a particular file. Or you may have several programs that can read PDF files, or several programs that open JPG or TIFF files.
Well, you can do all this with one of the many features in Creative Element Power Tools. I could not do without it.