Software for new computer!

[Wonkyth]

With the arrival of my new Laptop computer imminent, I have been putting some thought to what software I should install on it in the early stages, before everything gets cluttered. Any good ideas?
Also, on the subject of cluttered computers, I would specifically like to find organising solutions, since my last attempt at keeping things all neat-and-tidy was rather terrible. 
Only free software, of course.

[deadsuperhero]

Well, as a Linux user who uses mostly free software, I can recommend a good amount of software packages that also have builds for Windows and MacOS, seeing as you hadn't stated specifically which platform you're going with.

-Gimp is pretty good for image editing once you get the hang of it.
-Audacity is a great simple audio editor.
-Blender is wonderful for 3D animation and modeling.
-OpenOffice is...well, the Writer is okay for writing documents, but honestly Office 2007 is far better capabilitywise.
-ScummVM is a fantastic LucasArts game emulator for Windows, MacOSX, Linux, AmigaOS, BeOS, Solaris, etc...
-Inkscape is really good for vector art.
-MonoDevelop is a pretty legit IDE for working with Mono, the open-source implementation of Microsoft's C#.
-Miro is a lovely sort of Media Player with a very thorough subscription guide.
-Transmission is lovely for torrenting.
-Eclipse is good if you like Java and/or Android app development.
-Qt Creator is great for working with the Qt toolkit and C++

Just a small bundle there to get you started.

[Oliwerko]

A few organization tips:

- Don't use the windows My Documents folder. Do your own on the root dir of the drive.
- Use folders named "_install" with software installation images and executables. It stays on top and is always at hand, and doesn't mess between the actual software folders.
- Don't be afraid to use subfolders. I.e. use a subfolder for each software in the _install directory.
- Don't have any "mess" folders. To avoid mess is to always put the files where they belong. No-no for temporary folders that clutter with stuff.
- Delete what you don't need. Look for useless files and remove them from time to time.

And the most important:

- Be homogenous. Use the same naming scheme. Create homogenous habits and you'll always know where your files are.

[Snarky]

A few organization tips:

- Don't use the windows My Documents folder. Do your own on the root dir of the drive.

Why? How does it make a difference whether you save all your files to a folder on the root or to the already-provided folder that there are shortcuts to all over Windows?

I really don't understand the resistance to My Documents. A lot of things will want to save there by default anyway, so it's easier to just go with it. Just keep things organized inside it, and you shouldn't have a problem.

[Oliwerko]

A few organization tips:

- Don't use the windows My Documents folder. Do your own on the root dir of the drive.

A lot of things will want to save there by default anyway

That's why I don't use it. It keeps cluttering with stuff I don't want there. I have my My Documents with subfolders My Music, My Movies and My Pictures, and only what I put there is there. I don't want any My Games or My Converted Files or My Big Dick Photos or whatever there.

Someone may prefer to use it, but this is why I don't.

[Anian]

In general, upon installment of Windows, I put them in a separate partition. Nothing but some minor stuff is there and after the installation there's at least 20 gigabytes free on that partition.
Not only is it a simple security meassure (viruses and such) but also it's easier to clear the partition and reinstall windows that way. Also on that note, when I download drivers the first time, I put them in a folder, so I have a "quick start" folder with stuff I'd need.
Btw you'd be surprised how many programs work without registries and other installation files. 

Also, and this is not a special trick but I actually managed to fix some stuff by having 2 Windowses installed. Couple of times the main one "broke" and I fixed it through the other one (registry fixes and general web connection to find solutions), it comes in handy.

[Ryan Timothy B]

Why? How does it make a difference whether you save all your files to a folder on the root or to the already-provided folder that there are shortcuts to all over Windows?

I really don't understand the resistance to My Documents. A lot of things will want to save there by default anyway, so it's easier to just go with it. Just keep things organized inside it, and you shouldn't have a problem.

As soon as you reinstall windows, won't you lose all those My Documents files? At least with XP I used to, but I haven't needed to reinstall 7 yet; and with obvious reasons, I didn't have Vista.

It's one reason why I keep things separate anyway.

[Wonkyth]

Thanks for all the links and tips so far guys, I'm sure they'll come in handy.
Yeah, sorry for not saying what platform/os the new lappy is: Windows 7 home premium.
One thing I have found that I really enjoy about 7 is that it does seem to organise things much better, with the new windows explorer being quite neat.
Unfortunately, it only comes with MS Office Starter 2010, which only has dumbed-down versions of excel and word, so I'll have to buy OneNote on the side...unless one of you chaps knows a free alternative?

[Khris]

Like DeadSuperhero said: OpenOffice.

Why? How does it make a difference whether you save all your files to a folder on the root or to the already-provided folder that there are shortcuts to all over Windows?

Moving MyDocuments doesn't break the links. This functionality is built-in; just right click the MyDocuments folder, click on Properties and choose a new location. I also always do this because I don't use the Explorer but TotalCommander and having MyDocuments in D:'s root is much faster.

Another thing I do is install everything to D:\Program Files. One can also move the user data of Mozilla apps away from C:.

That way, like Ryan said, you don't have to backup tons of stuff should you need to reinstall Windows.

[Oliwerko]

Also, I have a separate "Programs" folder where I put all programs I actually use. The rest (codecs, java, whatever else) rests in Program Files. That way I don't have the programs folder cluttered with stuff I don't use.

[Snarky]

Moving MyDocuments doesn't break the links. This functionality is built-in; just right click the MyDocuments folder, click on Properties and choose a new location. I also always do this because I don't use the Explorer but TotalCommander and having MyDocuments in D:'s root is much faster.

OK, moving My Documents to a different drive or partition may be a good idea, but that's different from creating your own folder to store all your files and just ignoring My Documents. Since in most applications, every file you want to save or download initially defaults to My Docs, that just seems like unnecessary work.