Okay so recently I have gotten a new laptop and in the process of getting all the software needed to live in this technological stone age. So far I have: > Google Chrome > Spybot Search and Destroy > Ccleaner > Gimp 2 Is there anything else that you would recommend I have?
Keep it light. The less things you have installed, the less memory they will hog checking for updates and crap every time you turn it on.
Freemake Audio Converter is the best (free) program to convert audio files of many formats to different bit rates and such. For downloading torrents µTorrent is fantastic, and ZIPReader is great for .zip and .rar files. Also, Windows has Snippet Tool pre-installed which is great for screen capping.