T60P software suggestions

[Grand_Agent]

Finally I've ordered my T60P WS! While I'm waiting for it to get here I'm preparing a list of things I'm going to need to hit the ground running as soon as it gets here.

The Laptop will be used mostly for Graphic Design / Web Developement / Photographic purposes and I would like to balance the heavy software requirements (ie Adobe CS2 and possibly CS3) with light weight applications for everything else.

My general requirements are simple (more detailed features listed below) - Lightweight, Freeware / Opensource prefered but not necessary, secure, will not bloat or weightdown my computer un-necessarily with background services I will probably never use.

Here is a current list of things I've used in the past, but I'm flexible and willing to try new things

Audio Media Player - Considering using Foobar2000, traditionally used VLC / Real Player

Video Media Player - VLC

Surfing the Web - Opera & firefox

Ripping CDs - CDeX (development has stopped or slowed to a crawl so considering EAC)

Instant Messaging - Gaim

Antivirus - Norton Corporate, but after reading the forums will probably try NOD32

Firewall / Security - This is my first laptop, and have used hardware solutions for my desktops, but now need a software solution when connecting to unfamiliar networks

Sticky Notes / Calander Reminders - Never needed to use them but things are getting hectic and need to be reminded of important dates and key deadlines

General Maintence - I know laptops are more suspectable to failure then Desktops so I phatom I'm going to need more then just the standard WinXP Defrag and CHKDSK to keep my File systems / Registery / hardware in peak performance

Finally, suggestions on how to optimize XP and streamline, thinkvantage / Pre-Loaded software for optimial performance, would be greatly appericated.

Criteria for software (in more detail) - broken down by category
Audio Media Player - Can Play CDs, FLAC, AAC, MP3, Real Player etc.
Video Media Player - All types of Video
Surfing the Web securly
Ripping CDs to FLAC / MP3
Instant Messaging - AIM / Google Talk
FireWall / Security - Lightweight / actually secure
AntiVirus - Lightweight / Quick response to new threats
Sticky Notes / Calander reminder
General Computer Maintence Software - Defraggers, RegCleaners, etc.
Other Suggestions to keep me on top of things, make my life more efficient

Thank You!

[Pirx]

Gaim is ugly, try Miranda - it allows very flexible skinning, if not for looks then it may make sense for optimizing screen real estate use

For antivirus I'm using Norton Corporate, much better then Personal editions, much less a resource hog then McAffee (from my personal experience). On other PCs I use AVG, it provides full suite - anti-spam, firewall, antivirus, etc. Worth a look.

For calendar/reminders (if you don't want/need MS Office Outlook) - you may want to try Railendar - looks kind of cute and works.

For web security I bought Webroot SpySweeper, but I don't really go into shady area of the internet

As for audio player - WinAmp (surprise!) so far has been adequate. Just install all the codecs and you're good to go. Video player - I mostly use Windows Media Player and VLC for video files and WinDVD to watch DVDs. This set works for pretty much all files for last 5 to 6 years, so I don't see the need to change.

Just my 2 cents.

[propellen]

My T60 looks like:

• Photoshop, graphics
  Opera, websurfing - www.opera.com
  Outlook express, pop access to my gmail.com account, although i tend to use gmail's web interface..
  foobar2000, audio player - www.foobar2000.org
  NOD32, antivirus - http://www.eset.com
  Office2003 (word,excel,powerpoint), for commercial documents
  ViM (gvim), text editor for programming - www.vim.org
  MikTeX, LaTeX compiler - http://it.metr.ou.edu/latex/win/
  Miranda IM, instant messenger client - www.miranda-im.org
  mplayer, _the_ media player - www.mplayerhq.hu
  burrrn, audio cd burning rom - http://www.burrrn.net/
  ImgBurn, CD / DVD / HD DVD / Blu-ray burning application - http://www.imgburn.com/
  FlasFXP, proprietary FTP client - http://www.flashfxp.com/