Cathy,
Your statement "She'll have to buy Windows" threw me somewhat.
I'm assuming you aren't talking about building a computer from the
ground up and that your friend is a "newbie" getting her first
computer. In this case I'd highly recommend that she buy a factory
refurbished computer for three reasons:
First, a factory refurbished computer can be thought of as one that
has had a defective part repaired/replaced and has been inspected
individually by a factory technician. In most cases, it's in better
condition than the average "off the shelf" model. I have personally
bought six (4 Compaqs and 2 HPs) refurbished computers and
haven't had a problem with any of them.
Second is cost. By shopping around, a factory refurbished
computer can be had for a fraction of the retail price. Example:
CompUSA,
http://www.compusa.com/products/product_info.asp?product_code=280684, has a
Compaq Presario 5000US, AMD
Duron 750MHz, 64 MB SDRAM, 30 GB Hard Drive, 40x
CDROM, and Windows Millennium for $369.99 ($699.99 Retail).
And third, it doesn't matter what she gets as a first computer. As
she becomes more computer literate and further defines what she
wants to accomplish with it, she'll find that what she initially bought
doesn't fit the bill anyway. (Justifies reason one and two.)
The software list you have is good keeping in mind, "if she doesn't
need it, don't 'clog' up the system by installing it." An example is a
download manager... unless you're a "power" downloader (games,
MP3, etc.), you don't need it. Windows can handle the occasional
download. Depending on the operating system, you may find you
don't need additional software. Millennium and XP both have
zipping/unzipping functions and an excellent graphics viewer. As a
minimum, go with the anti-virus and firewall protection. I would get
Internet Explorer 6 for the added security features (includes
OE6 with new security features) from Windows Update.
I hope this has provided some help. Good luck. :-)
Sven Swanson, Sr.
Hi
I'm about to set up a computer for a friend and since
she's on a (very) tight budget I suggested that she
should spend her money on the best hardware she can
afford, then run her computer on freeware for now.
She can always buy better software later, right?
I've drawn up a list as follows:
Firewall: Zone Alarm
Antivirus: InnoculateIT or AVG
Download Manager: Download Express
System Protection: SystemSafe Gold
Compression Utility: PowerZip
Graphics Viewer: InfranView
Browser: Internet Explorer
Uninstaller: Windows' Add/Remove
Mail Client: Outlook Express
News Reader: Outlook Express
PDF Reader: Acrobat Reader
What do people here think? Please feel free to add to/
modify/critisize this list or add suggestions for
the above or other catagories. Or tell me if you think
this whole thing is a bad idea.
She'll have to buy Windows of course though
I did think of using Linux since I have a copy of
Corel Linux from a cover disk, except I have no experience
with this OS.
Thanks.
Cathy
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