Reformatting - What do you put on right away?

[Tormentormike]

Sort of confusing topic title, sorry. I know there was a thread about this a while ago, and I just can't find it for the life of me. Onto the questions.

I'm going to reformat my computer because it's been a while and getting all laggy again. Basically, what do you put on computer as soon as it's reformatted? Programs, anti-virus' etc, anything and everything. Specifically which too. On Vista~

[Shuemue]

Windows updates
Sygate Personal Firewall
Symantec Corporate
Winzip, Winrar
DisKeeper
Nero
Media Player Classic
Real Alternative
VLC
CuteFTP
RegMechanic
Paint Shop Pro 7
Firefox + addons
MSN etc
FFXI

[Isiolia]

I make sure I have device drivers and security type software on a USB key or burned to CD so that I can put them on without connecting the computer to a network. Once those are installed, then I'll connect it to the internet and proceed to update the OS and security apps. Once the basic OS is there and running properly, then I'll do other apps.

[Shuemue]

Oh that's not the order I put them on, and I dick around with saved Identities, address books, etc

[Tormentormike]

Thanks for the replies, but for some of the programs, I don't even recognize them. Could you describe what some of them do?

[Noobta]

Windows updates
Sygate Personal Firewall
Symantec Corporate
Winzip, Winrar
DisKeeper
Nero
Media Player Classic
Real Alternative
VLC
CuteFTP
RegMechanic
Paint Shop Pro 7
Firefox + addons
MSN etc
FFXI

MPC and VLC? If you have MPC and CCCP/CoreAVC, you shouldn't need VLC :<

[Omniyoji]

Windows updates
Sygate Personal Firewall
Symantec Corporate
Winzip, Winrar
DisKeeper
Nero
Media Player Classic
Real Alternative
VLC
CuteFTP
RegMechanic
Paint Shop Pro 7
Firefox + addons
MSN etc
FFXI

YES! That program is the shit!

[Snowknight26]

Nero? Uh, ImgBurn > Nero.
VLC and MPC? Just use MPC with ffdshow.

[Shuemue]

Nero is fine, I barely ever burn anything.

I tend to use regular media player for movies, or power dvd, and winamp for music. I then use VLC for stuff that won't play, and MPC as a last resort. MPC comes with Real Alternative, so mainly is used for .rm files.

Messy, I know, but works for me.

[Fallso]

Device drivers
Music
Updates to OS
All other media
Kaspersky Internet Security
Ad-Aware
Everything else after this has no particular priority.

[Norellicus]

Device drivers and related software
Antivirus
OS/driver updates
MS Defender
ZoneAlarm
Diskeeper
Music/videos/media etc
Everything else

[Ikith]

AVG, Infrarecorder, VLC, EAC, Auslogics Regdefrag and Diskdefrag, Digsby, Utorrent, Games, Adaware and many others lol

[octopus]

OS updates/etc
WinRAR
Daemon Tools
Firefox + Addons
ffdshow
MKV splitter
directvobsub
Nero
IMGBurn
FoxIt Reader
Digsby
Textpad
Paint.NET

[Elesirdur]

If you ever happen to be doing it on a XP system, and I suppose this applies to Vista as well, a firewall application like Sygate Personal Firewall is an excellent tool to help protect your system in those first few minutes/hours you connect to the internet to download all the security upgrades. However, it's always a good idea to keep your system off the internet until you get some protection up.

Last year I reformatted my XP system and made the mistake of leaving my internet connection plugged in when I started the system for the first time after the XP reinstall. Big mistake. However, I was using a pre-SP1 copy of XP but within 5 minutes the system was already fucked. Luckily I was able to get a copy of Sygate Firewall onto a jump drive but I still had to reformat the damn thing anyway.

[Amele]

the first step with a reformat is to get your security up again: to wit- Antivirus application and firewall (if you're not behind a hardware firewall). those get installed -before- you connect to the network.

then connect to the internet and start the windows update process while you begin installing your other apps: FFXI or steam first so you can get them going (will both take several hours to update) - then media player of choice, codec pack of choice if necessary (I like WM11 and ffdshow for vista, MPC and ffdshow for XP; vlc is good too but I don't like the interface), any productivity software you need (open office, etc.) - spyware tool; etc.

then do other games as you want to play them.

[Tormentormike]

Last year I reformatted my XP system and made the mistake of leaving my internet connection plugged in when I started the system for the first time after the XP reinstall. Big mistake. However, I was using a pre-SP1 copy of XP but within 5 minutes the system was already fucked. Luckily I was able to get a copy of Sygate Firewall onto a jump drive but I still had to reformat the damn thing anyway.

What happened?

[Shuemue]

There are tons of viruses in the wild that can lock an unpatched XP install into a permanent reboot cycle, among other things. They're constantly scanning random IP addresses for the particular exploit and spread like that. I'm sure he could have cleaned them, but if you've just done a fresh install, you have everything you need handy, so it's sensible to format the drive again and start over, this time doing it in a smarter order.

[Shuemue]

the first step with a reformat is to get your security up again: to wit- Antivirus application and firewall (if you're not behind a hardware firewall). those get installed -before- you connect to the network.

It's messy, but I prefer a software firewall as well as my router's hardware one. I like notifications about apps asking for net access and so on.

[Norellicus]

I like notifications about apps asking for net access and so on.

srsly. It's always nice to note when wildtangent web app (just an example) gets installed somehow and then tries to ask for net access. Good way to keep the nefarious stuff out.

[Muzner]

Firewall/Anti-virus
Drivers if needed
Firefox
Winamp
Music
Zune Software
Paint.net
VLC
Winrar

And probably some other random utilities.