The 32 Totally Essential (and Free) Apps for Every New PC You have to admit, Windows is a pretty barebones operating system, feature-wise. After a fresh install of XP or Vista (perhaps following a Clean Start), you're faced with a barren Start Menu and an empty desktop that's beaming with limitless potential. The problem is that it's up to you to hunt and download those applications that you really need in your day-to-day computing experience. And chances are, it's often difficult to find good software that's also free. We've put together a list of what we think are the most essential PC apps for every Maximum PC reader. And at the end of the feature, we'll even show you how to install these apps in one fell swoop with a special configuration file we've created. WinDirStat Have you ever sorted a folder by file size, hoping to track down a hard disk hog, only to be frustrated by the fact that Windows doesn’t let you see the size of nested folders’ contents? AnyDVD Foxit PDF Reader VMWare Server Steam Dropbox
SleepTiming & Wake up refreshed! Free All-in-One Graphic Design Starter Kit Graphic design has an amazing community. Comprised of both the vets from the pre-computer era to the newbies who were raised on the internet and computer-editing applications, there is a huge gamut of people sharing their work and expertise online. I know when I was starting out in design, I found tons of inspiration and information from sites like JustCreativeDesign, DesignNewz, and more. If there’s one issue, however, it’s that there’s almost too much great information out there. I know – good problem to have, right? But for those designers just starting out, or for those designers who are considering getting into design, the amount of information can be a little overwhelming. This “kit” was originally intended to be a zipped file containing all of the links below; however, it clocked in at about half a gigabyte, which I thought most people wouldn’t want to sit and download (plus it would put a strain on our hosting). Software GIMP (Snow Leopard) (Leopard) (Windows) EBooks Textures Fonts