content: When setting up PCs for friends/family or starting fresh myself, the first site I always head to is ninite.com. A single installer for cherry picking from pretty much all  of the most commonly installed apps on a computer. Not much missing from their list.  Disclaimer: No I don't work for them or get money for this. Just a big fan. Saves tons of time Also, see this article for what it is. It is not aimed at IT-proficient people. It is aimed at your average Joe who uses his computer for news, banking and porn. In that sense, it's a good article that brings up a lot of important points. There is one advice here I feel is missing, in terms of anti-virus. The best anti-virus is using common sense before clicking on everything. Newer versions of Windows come with built-in protection. I do agree that a lot of people should use anti-virus. But only because they don't use common sense when surfing the web. In most cases the anti-virus software uses up more resources than it's worth.