Overall best programs

I have a laptop. With shitty bundles software [I know I've mentioned that before in other threads] And I've been reading a lot of the threads here and became somewhat enlightened by a slew of programs I've never heard before, that are supposedly the best.

What is the best anti-virus program?

Threads here claim NOD32, I guess I'll give it a try.

What is the best firewall?

Will I be needing a firewall program? I've never bothered with it at home, but considering I'll be in NYC with a wireless laptop.... uhh, I guess it's pretty important.'

What is the best AIM?

I currently use AIM 5.2 with deadaim. The reason I've never updated is because deadaim doesn't store conversations with anything higher than 5.5. I've never tried trillian and all of those other programs, but I'd like to know which is the best. Plus, I NEED for it to save convo's which is the best feature I've ever come across on a chatting program.

Any other general programs I'm missing? Some definite must-haves that you can't live without? Some programs I've added are the kazaa-codec pack [the only one I need], xvid, photoshop, office 2003, utorrent, winamp, AIM, deadaim, flashfxp, mozilla firebird, etc.

Jam it back in, in the dark.

Thanks for the responses. I don't want to be a dick, but can you guys shed some more light on why the programs are good. Especially Sygate 5.5. I can learn only so much from their website, but I'd like personal anecdotes and opinions on the program, since that's usually the best.

Does Trillian have a log saving feature? I think I'll check out Gaim. Currently my AIM setup is pretty perfect. But I'm just trying the 'grass in greener on the other side' philosophy. Usually when I attempt to expand my resources and use all of these supposedly 'better' programs, I always find one thing I don't like and I immediately go back to what I was using beforehand. I remember Trillion giving me horrible file transfer speeds, which is a must for me.

There's nowhere I can't reach.

I don't care much for codecs and all of that stuff. I can get anything to play rather well, so I'm pretty satisfied with that.

I tried Gaim out, but it just felt so bloated. I'm on a laptop, and I need everything to be minimalistic.

NOD32 is pretty good. I did a deep-scan and was impressed at how... deeply it scanned. Other than that, I don't know wtf NOMAN is and all of this other stuff but I'll assume it's helpful.

I'm really debated about firewalls though. I'll probably get one, but I'd want to know more about my choices and about Sygate 5.5 in particular.

How ya doing, buddy?

Originally Posted by Echo

How was Gaim feeling bloated? The big-ass icons and stuff that the buddylist showed, or the actual way the program runs? There's options inside the program to make everything look tiny and clean. Also, when you install it, you were asked which skin to use. Which did you pick?

I haven't looked into it much yet. I did change the options to make it look less cluttery and big, but what I wanted to do most was load my buddy list and settings that I had already saved. I guess I'll look more into it and a skin system sounds enticing.

About the firewall program though: Sygate or Zone Alarm?

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