Came back to Windows - Advice on software

KristopherF

KristopherF

KristopherF

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Joined
14 Nov 2012
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152
Location
Greenock, UK
Hi all,

So I have recently came back from OSX to Windows 10, and I am a little out of touch with it.

I wanted to ask what software you think I absolutely need, and others that will help to have (productivity etc).

Do I really need Anti Virus, this is something I never had for OSX.
Additionally, I am in need of a Time Machine alternative, can you suggest one?

I am in no way an amateur Windows user, but as I haven't been using one day-in, day-out, I wanted to check in and get up to speed on anything I have missed!

Thanks!
 
I think AV is must have on Windows - I use ESET.

For backup I use Crashplan which can incrementally backup to a disk drive, to another computer and to the cloud.

Other software that I always install:-

MalwareBytes: anti-malware
Start10: menu replacement
CCleaner: remove unwanted files

Other software that I find useful:-

Postbox: email client
Directory Opus: file manager
Dropbox: cloud storage
Image for Windows: disk imager
Office365
Chrome
 
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For AV, you can get by relatively well with the pre-installed Windows Defender. It gives a good baseline anti-malware protection. However, for professional use I find Kapersky worth the modest price. They have one of the highest success rates and they also cracked the NSA's Equation Group. ;) Trend Micro are the other top-rated anti-virus in terms of success rates, so I would pick one of these (I use Kapersky - I find the impact on a running system is minimal and its very well designed). But like I say, the in-built stuff is good too. The days of Windows XP are gone!

For backup, I use Acronis True Image: http://www.acronis.com/

Very good, very effective. But you should also note that again, Windows now comes with built in versioned file backup. Just hit start and type "File History". Once it's set up, you can just click on the "History" button in Windows Explorer in the control ribbon and go back to older versions. What's really great is for some files, like Word documents or Excel, it will actually show the document in the window so you can click backwards and forwards to pick the version you want.

For Office, I would recommend an Office 365 subscription. It means you're always up to date with the latest versions of Office, you get increased OneDrive storage (and OneDrive is pretty good) and unless you go for the cheapest online only package, you get downloadable full versions of the software just like buying it. It's very cost effective.

I don't care about Start Menu replacements or any of that. I hit the start button and begin typing. If you're using a mouse to start and close programs, you're not working efficiently. ;)
 
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