Windows Computer setup guide

Preparing a Windows Machine for Use
It can take a long time to set up a Windows computer from install disk to the point when it has all the useful software on it you will need. This is a checklist I have composed to help me set up a windows PC.

I have tried to seek out the best in free software to save money and preserve our integrity when resources are few and the temptation to install software we have no legal right to use. There is a very functional free software stack that improves month after month, and I have listed the tools I use here.

First Steps

 * 1) After checking all hardware is working right and installing drivers where needed...
 * 2) Create Administrator and Restricted User (RU) accounts
 * 3) Set Admin pasword properly
 * 4) Run Windows Update and set to update automatically
 * 5) For both Admin and RU log in and set Network drives.
 * 6) Set wallpaper of Admin to RED so it is easy to see which user account is which!
 * 7) Install an antivirus client. Set up for automatic checks and updates. (see also this page: Spam, Antivirus and Content Filtering
 * 8) * Panda Cloud antivirus - free for home and non-profit use, http://www.cloudantivirus.com/en/#free-antivirus-download
 * 9) * Clamwin http://www.clamwin.com/, or
 * 10) * AVG http://free.grisoft.com/ - personal use only; you must buy a licence for charity use, or
 * 11) * Avira http://www.free-av.com/ - personal use only; you must buy a licence for charity use.
 * 12) * CCleaner http://www.piriform.com/ccleaner/download - great software for cleaning temporary files and various housekeeping chores. Can reclaim gigabyte of space and give a slow machine its zip back.
 * 13) Make sure Windows Firewall is activated, deactivated Network Shares if this client doesn't have any. OR (Advanced) Install another firewall and configure it properly.
 * 14) * ZoneAlarm http://www.zonealarm.com/ (Free for non-profit) or
 * 15) * Comodo http://personalfirewall.comodo.com/

Note Codes used here indicate
 * for Free software (Free as in 'Free Speech' - you will own this software and can modify, pass to others etc.)
 * for Zero cost software (Free as in 'Free Beer' - the software is not yours but you may use it but may not pass it on to others.)

Package Manager
You might like to consider using Chocolatey package manager (https://chocolatey.org/, Command line) to install and update software from one central location. Once installed you may like using chocolateygui to provide a more user friendly way of managing and installing the packages.

Ninite (https://ninite.com/) is simple to use, just select the software via checkboxes, download the installer and wait until he finished downloading and installing. You can even configure your network to install software and deploy updates remotely (Ninite Pro, 20 USD/month).

General Setup

 * 1) Set up the printers - local and network
 * 2) Set up Software (productivity)
 * 3) * Libreoffice http://www.libreoffice.org/ (Formerly Openoffice.org)
 * 4) * You will need Java - see below. This is not bundled with LibreOffice for legal reasons.
 * 5) ** Add any fonts you want to use
 * 6) ** Add any Templates the office users will need
 * 7) * Firefox Browser http://www.getfirefox.com
 * 8) * Chrome browser from Google https://www.google.com/chrome
 * 9) * Flash http://www.adobe.com
 * 10) * Java if not combined with OpenOffice / LibreOffice above http://www.java.com
 * 11) * PDF: Adobe Reader http://get.adobe.com/reader/ or FoxitReader http://www.foxitsoftware.com/pdf/reader/  (light-weight alternative)
 * 12) * Thunderbird email client http://www.getthunderbird.com
 * 13) * Skype http://www.skype.com
 * 14) * Pidgin Instant Messaging (MSN, Yahoo, Jabber and more) http://www.pidgin.im/
 * 15) Set up Software (creative)
 * 16) * PDF Creator http://sourceforge.net/projects/pdfcreator/
 * 17) ** Note some PDF's can be created online for free - see: http://www.pdfonline.com/index.htm. If some one sends you an MS Publisher document for example you might be able to convert it to a PDF here so you can read it!
 * 18) * Scribus Desktop Publishing http://www.scribus.net (download page) (NOTE this is hard to set up under Windows 2000 if you don't run it as a Poweruser, which I wouldn't recommend. Windows XP has no problems.)
 * 19) ** Scribus needs: Ghostscript (Postscript) http://sourceforge.net/project/showfiles.php?group_id=1897
 * 20) * The Gimp (like Photoshop) http://gimp-win.sourceforge.net/stable.html
 * 21) ** The Gimp may need the GTK+ 2 Runtime environment (unless installed in Pidgin above).
 * 22) * Inkscape http://www.inkscape.org
 * 23) Set up Software (Multimedia)
 * 24) * VLC Media player http://www.videolan.org/vlc/
 * 25) * Audacity Audio recorder and editor http://audacity.sourceforge.net/
 * 26) ** To save to MP3 Audacity needs the LAME files: http://lame.buanzo.com.ar/
 * 27) Set up Software (Utilities)
 * 28) * Zip compression software (including latest 7-zip method) http://www.7-zip.org/
 * 29) * MyDefrag - for those that like to Defrag http://www.kessels.com/JkDefrag/
 * 30) * Putty SSH and Telnet client http://www.chiark.greenend.org.uk/~sgtatham/putty/
 * 31) * VNC http://www.tightvnc.org
 * 32) * WinSCP secure ftp and scp explorer type client http://winscp.net/eng/index.php
 * 33) * FileZilla for ftp http://filezilla-project.org/
 * 34) Set up Software (Cloud file storage and Sync)
 * 35) * Dropbox https://www.dropbox.com/downloading?os=win
 * 36) * Owncloud (client) https://owncloud.org/install/
 * 37) * Google and Microsoft also have cloud storage options...
 * 38) * There are other suitable clients too...
 * 39) Compatibility with Linux software (only install if you know why you want it!)
 * 40) * Ext 2/3 filesystem driver for windows http://sourceforge.net/projects/ext2fsd/

Other lists

 * A list of 10 pieces of software useful for Administrating Systems from Infoworld.com

General Administration

 * 1) install the Backup tool and set up
 * 2) Plan and implement a regular backup
 * 3) Plan a regular check if updates are needed. Flash, Java, OpenOffice, Firefox and so on.

Note for Linux Users
Linux users need only follow hardware and user setup stages plus the whole of General Administration. The software should already be there and Linux is already much more secure! Also most software can be downloaded and installed through the package manager in one operation.

Many of the software programs listed above are also available for Linux. More Infos in Linux Computer Setup Guide.