As a person who knew a lot about computer, I asked to re-install Windows often, from corrupted files, virus, or upgrading windows. I love this task a lot because the feeling of new OS is amazing! The smoothness, the pureness, it makes me craving for more haha. And today I will share the things I did after I install Windows. This is NOT a tutorial on how to install Windows. Rather, this is a X things to do after installing Y kind of post. So fasten your seatbelt and let’s go :)

> First Thing First

Set Up System Restore

First thing I do is setting up System Restore, in case some bad thing happen or I am not happy with the softwares installment, I can just purge them all in one swoop! Definitely set this up first.

Check for Windows Update / Disable Windows Update

Windows Update is a must for Windows machine, so update it if you bought the Windows. Or… Disable Windows Update if you got Windows from some random blog, because Windows will blacklist your OS if you get caught.

> Must Have Softwares

Avast

After I finished set up System Restore and do Windows Update, I went straight for Antivirus. If your genuine Windows have Windows Defender already, great! If not, my choice is Avast Free Antivirus. Don’t forget to update the virus database whenever you got the internet (Make sure you update the database, not the software because some software updates is very long and most of the time you only need the virus database).

Mozilla Firefox

The only time you need to use Internet Explorer is when you downloaded an Antivirus and Drivers, now with your computer safe we should move to Mozilla Firefox ASAP :D I don’t like IE very much. I prefer Firefox to Chrome because Chrome ate too much RAM, my RAM is only 2 GB so I should manage it very carefully. Now since we already got Firefox, now it’s time to surf the web!

Drivers

DRIVERS! I HATE THIS PART VERY MUCH! Unlike Ubuntu or other GNU/Linux, most of the drivers should be installed manually, this means hours and hours searching the correct driver. Every PC need different driver because they had different hardwares. At this point, poeple usually will download DriverPack because with one click, all the drivers are installed. But it’s size is a whoooping 11 GB! Most of the time your total driver size downloaded is gonna be 500-700 MB, so downloading 11 GB software is overkill.

Fortunately there is a software that will detect your hardwares then give you the link to your drivers link. it is 3DP Chip. If your PC can’t access the internet, probably it is because it doesn’t have the Wireless driver installed. You can’t download driver since you don’t have working internet. But there is 3DP Net Which is a collection of wireless drivers. You can download it from another machine then copy it to your Windows machine. After installing it, you should be up and ready to download the drivers!

Be careful, though. Because 3DP will install some random softwares in your PC, make sure to read each installing step by step very carefully, don’t just go NEXTNEXTNEXTNEXT!

If your PC looks zoomed or everything looks squashed. Chances are you haven’t installed the VGA driver yet. VGA driver can varies from Intel HD to NVIDIA GeForce. Install it, restart, and your problem’s fixed :)

Another driver that you should install is the printer driver. 3DP can’t detect what printer you got at your home or at your workplace, so search it by yourself :)

7-Zip

You might argue that WinRar is better, but I hate the notification in WinRar that tells me to buy it. Who the hell want to buy WinRar? I choose 7-Zip instead, it is great and it doesn’t ask you to buy it every single time you use it. And I don’t think any disadvantages by using 7-Zip over WinRar. So, use 7-Zip instead, I recommend it :)

AIMP

Most of you familiar with Winamp, right? in my opinion Winamp is a terible music player, it is heavy, old, and it has Winamp Services that always on meaning it hogs your memory. Now it is time to move to a better music player

My music player is AIMP. It is great, lightweight, and has many skins (There are many animu skins for weeabs too). Now ditch your Winamp and go for AIMP.

K-Lite Codec Pack

When I use my friend’s laptop, I am disgusted because they have too many video players, be it Windows Media Player, Gom Player, VLC, and other things. My choice for video player is Media Player Classic. It is the media player included by K-Lite Codec Pack. Usually there is some video formats that you can’t play since you don’t have the right codec, so you have to install a codec pack in addition to video player you have, but this is not the case with K-lite Codec Pack. It already include a great video player, just install it then you can watch all stuff.

Sumatra PDF

Another software that you haven’t heard, eh? Yes, I knew about this software recently, and it is great! It is very lightweight, and most people only need to read PDF anyway, so Adobe Reader is overkill. This software also able to read EPUB files, good things for you fellow readers :)

LibreOffice

I use LibreOffice because Microsoft Office is expensive lol. LibreOffice also offer the same quality as MS. Office. Probably you should try LibreOffice too instead of cracking MS. Office everytime.

> Programming Stuff

I’ve already created a blog post about this. See this.

• Python - My primary programming language.
• Java - I learn this as my second language. Also this is needed to run Java softwares like Minecraft or Eclipse.
• Sublime Text 3 - My primary text editor.
• Git for Windows - For git and POSIX.
• FileZilla - FTP software.
• WAMP - Local server for testing and experimenting.
• Node.Js - To install JavaScript packages and running JavaScript locally.

> Art Stuff

Wacom Driver

This is the driver that you have to install in order to make your Wacom tablet work. You can get it from the official site or the CD you get when you buy the tablet.

NexusFont

NexusFont is a program that can show all the font in your computer in addition to show them with the text you want. For example you create a logo, the company name is.. umm.. “Affan Corp”. You can type it then show word “Affan Corp” in all font you’ve installed in your computer, then just scroll through until you found the font that you want tp use.

With NexusFont you can organize your font too. Maybe you have font for Commercial, T-Shirts, Web, and other stuff. Instead of putting bunch of fonts in your font problem, you can put your fonts separated by folders.

Another NexusFont quirk is it can be used for virtual environment. All font that you have in NexusFont is loaded only when you open NexusFont, so you don’t have to clutter your font everytime. If you want the font to be available everytime, you can just install it by one click.

The best feature is that you can install just the “shortcut” for font, so in your font folder only filled with 1kb files consisting of shortcuts to the actual file. There are another options too, this is just one of them that I find fascinating.

Adobe Photoshop

The de facto program for photo editing :)

Photoshop is the software that every designer probably have. Adobe is a company that created a software suite that has it’s own kind of … environment. So when you have the complete Adobe Suite, it is very nice experience to use them interchangeably. For example you create the mockup in the Adobe Photoshop, then you export it to Adobe Illustrator so you can create the vector of it, then you move to Adobe Premiere to create a video, and other things. This is why people love them :) If you have money to spare and you want to be in the creative industry, then Adobe Photoshop is a good investment.

Paint Tool Sai

Paint Tool Sai is my favorite program for drawing, it is simple and lightweight. The startup time also small. This is the program that you want if you want power AND speed.

It is a very light program. The installer only comes in 2.5 MB! This is very light indeed compared to Photoshop’s 1 GB and Manga Studio’s 500 MB. This program also noticeably faster when you use it. Either when you drawing brush strokes or when you saving the project, it is very fast. I tend to frustate when I use Manga Studio and Photoshop because when I save the file, it is too slooow!

Paint Tool Sai also has a vector feature, it is actually not a vector, but it let you draw line as if you are using vector program, so just click here, click there, make this corner rounded/pointed, make this line wider and other nice stuff. So it is a valuable tool when your drawing style is cartoony.

Actually my Youtube channel consists of Paint Tool Sai tutorial, it is in Bahasa, though. So if you able to speak Bahasa, then watch it here.

Manga Studio / Clip Studio Paint

My drawing software when I need to draw manga. It has so many features especially for creating comics!

One of my favorite feature is the 3D model that I can customize the pose. This feature can make your life easier when you have to draw a hard pose. Just load the 3D Models then play with it.

The other favorite feature is panels. With other software, you are given several comic book presets. But with Manga Studio you can create the panel you want! and each panel is separated by masking and folder to make it more organized.

This is the tool for drawing comic. And apparently it is good with illustration too :) A good ol’ all rounder.

GIMP

Haven’t used it too much yet, this is the program to replace Photoshop. It is free and open source.

Inkscape

The open source equivalent for Adobe Illustrator. I prefer inkscape because it is simple and do the job. I don’t need heavy Adobe Suite yet, so Inkscape is the right tool to do vector :)

Audacity

This is the software that I use when I have to deal with audio, like editing my recordings, joining audio, creating soundtrack, and other stuff.

Don’t forget to install LAME so you can edit MP3 files too :) By default, Audacity can’t save to MP3 because MP3 file format is copyrighted. By installing LAME, now you can :)

> Command Line Tools

• ImageMagick - Command line photo editor.
• FFMpeg - Command line video editor.
• Wget - Command line video downloader.
• youtube-dl - Command line youtube downloader.

> Gaming Stuff

Steam

Steam is a platform to buy and play games. All games tied to account, so if your PC is busted, your games is still safe because the games is in your account. I haven’t buy any games on steam yet because I don’t have money, but I receive some by several generous man :) thanks!

Now Steam is supported in Linux, there are many Steam games comes to Linux, so you don’t have to worry about gaming in Linux again :)

Cheat Engine

I am sure plenty of you know about this program. This is a program to change value to a memory address in a game, for example you can change the money, health, etc.

I don’t cheat on any games though, because playing it without cheat is better. But I do keep Cheat Engine just for precaution. For example when you are stressed af and you’ve been killed by the same boss for 50 times in a row haha! #DarkSouls

osu! dotnet 4.5

osu! is a rhythm game. The point of this game is to click the button according to the beat. There are many types of game in osu!, like Standard, Mania, The One Where You Collect the Fruits, and Taiko.

osu! require Microsoft .NET Framework 4.5 so you have to install that first :) Usually osu! installer will try to install this first, make sure you got a working internet connection.

> Misc

Anki

Anki is a space repitition program. The idea is, you will remember something if you remember it with repetition and with varies time to learn. For example you learn Japanese, if you perform badly when you try to remember 米 (rice), Anki will repeat this kanji in short time, but when you are already master at it, Anki will rarely shows this kanji. If somehow you forget about it, Anki will show this kanji more often again. This is a good way to remember stuff. I use it for Japanese and Biology :)

qBittorrent

How many of you use μTorrent? I am sure many of you use it. But the problem with μTorrent is ads! I hate them so much, qBittorrent is a much better alternatives if you want to have a torrent client that is Free and Open Source.

HexChat

A program for IRC, HexChat is a good because it is cross platform so I can get it on all of my machines.

SunsetScreen

This is a program to filter the blue light in your screen. I read in my computer at midnight occasionally and this program makes my eyes hurt less. This is a must have program for you readers :)

Tweaks.com Logon Changer

I use Windows 7. The lockscreen is very ugly! Not ugly necessarily to be honest, but the lack of variation is frustating. I use this program to change the lockscreen.

PowerISO

I use this to mount ISO file, If you who use Windows 8+ then you don’t have to worry about this program because the mounting feature is built-in.

Fastone Capture

Print screen in windows 7 is tedious. I have to make many screenshot fast because I have to make tutorials, pressing PrtSrc then paste-ing to paint then save as is too much work, so I use this program so it will take screenshot than save it automatically. There is also an option to print just the windows or select an area.

GIF Viewer

As the name said, GIF Viewer :) By default Windows 7 photo viewer can’t view GIF files, you have to open the files with browser. But this means you have to open it one by one. With this program you can press left or right arrow key to view next item There is also a feature to set how fast the GIF is playing.

> Video Creation

OBS Studio

A free video recorder. This program initially is made to make it easy for streamers, but it can record screen and saving it to the harddisk too. The con is that this program can’t edit the video, unlike several other video recorder who has this feature built in.

But this software is gold! So many options. Definitely get this programs if you sick of those software that put watermark just to record screen.

H264 Encoder

This is the program to make the video smaller. It decrease the bitrate and quality a little but it can make your videos much much smaller! get the program here.

> Conclusion

So that is the softwares installed in my Windows machine. Feel free to use this as a reference :)