What programs should I install in my friends laptop before he leaves!

He's going back to Russia to live and there is no high speed internet

[sadelb]

My friend is leaving for Russia in two days where there is no high speed internet. Only Dial up. I want to load his computer up with as programs as I can so he can have full use of his laptop that he just purchased here. So far I downloaded itunes for him. Does anybody have any other suggestions of free programs I can download and install for him into his laptop. Anything would be appreciated. Thanks

Ben

[gamiziuk]

Firefox Browser
Trillian chat program www.trillian.cc

[TravelSite]

Avg Anti Virus & updates
Spybot & updates
Adaware & updates
Google Earth
All the latest windows updates
Word/Excel etc viewers (if you don't have the full version)
and/or some free office package
Adobe Flash Player & Acrobat Viewer (for pdfs)
XAMPP if he does stuff in php (can test scripts out on local machine)
DivX Player
Skype
File Sharing software if required (watch out for spyware)
Google Sketchup
Smart ftp or similar free ftp software
Perhaps some Russian language pack for windows?

Take a look at the most downloaded files on www.download.com, www.sourceforge.net or similar. Sourceforge.net has lots of useful software but its most downloaded list only has the file/program name shown - there isn't any short description - so its not very user friendly.

[sadelb]

hey, thanks for all of the programs... Skype might be a good idea.. Internet over there is pretty bad so I dont know how well it will work for him.

[lammert]

My recommendations:

• OpenOffice. There is a Russian language version.
  
• Compression software like ZIP. My experience is that in the former Soviet Union WinRAR is popular because it has a better compression ratio than ZIP which is an advantage over slow dial-up lines. WinRAR is available in Russian.
  
• Firewall software. When using dial-up, there is an unprotected connection with the internet. With broadband the router often has a firewall built in.
  
• Install all the necessary browser plug-ins now (PDF, Flash, etc). Downloading them when you are on a dial-up line can cost a lot of time.
  

Install all the installation packages on the harddisk, preferably on a seperate partition, or burn them on CD. If his system crashes and he needs to reinstall some software, downloading via internet of multi-megabyte packages via a dial-up line might not be an option.