After moving my desktop from XP Professional to Vista Professional at the beginning of January, I decided to leave it mostly software-free and just install things as I needed them, keeping a log as I went.  The results were, well, pretty dull I guess, but give a good picture of what’s actually important on a machine.  It’ll serve as a good checklist for the next time I start from scratch on a box.

• Vista, followed by running Windows Update
• Logitech G15 keyboard & G5 Mouse drivers
• AVG
• X-fi driver
• Office 2007, followed by running Microsoft Update
• Irfanview
• Firefox
• Thunderbird
• TightVNC
• Printer drivers for our HP 6180 all-in-one
• VLC
• 7zip
• CDisplay
• PDF Creator
• Adobe Reader
• Directx9
• SSF
• windirstat
• ePSXe
• vmware player
• iTunes
• Picasa
• Handbrake
• ffmpeg
• DVD Decryptor
• Microsoft Reader
• UltraVNC