When a typical consumer buys a computer, some software or programs normally comes with it. Just what is included will vary with price and brand, but usually includes an operating system as a minimum. It is possible to get a custom built machine without any software if this is actually wanted.

I recently bought an HP Media Computer, that I consider an overkill machine, for home use. A lot of software comes with it. There are several separate programs for working with audio-visual files and DVDs, two money management programs, several games, two internet browsers, two office suites plus an extra word processor, a security program, and probably a few other small programs.

In the vast majority of computers delivered today, the operating system that is included is some version of Windows XP. This includes a number of possibly useful programs in a folder or directory called Accessories. For many people, this will be all that is needed to get good use out of a computer.

The manufacturer of the machine very likely included some additional programs. Maybe this brings you up to your required level of software. If you do need more, the included programs may provide deals or better prices on the others that you need.
Check out what you have before rushing out to buy more.

Microsoft Windows Media Player should be adequate for playing most music and video files and comes with the operating system. The major competing program, RealPlayer, also seems to have come with the operating system. (I believe there is some sort of legal requirement that it be included.) In addition to playing music, you can also do things like listen to the hourly online BBC news headlines.

I personally do not use either of the money management programs, Microsoft Money and Quicken. I may be a bit paranoid but I do not put personal financial data on a computer that is regularly connected to the Internet. Spyware gets on computers too easily, even with good defenses.

I find several of the games to be fun to play, as well as good to kill time when I don’t want to do anything serious. The virtual pinball machine comes complete with arcade noises and has the same motif as the last real one that I had a chance to play some years ago. Free Cell is a thinker’s card game with most deals possible to win. There is also a straight solitaire game that is quite popular among long-time computer users.

Both Internet Explorer and Netscape are included. My Internet service provider seems to prefer to work with Internet Explorer. The default setting that came with my machine was Netscape. Other browsers can be downloaded if wanted.

There is a minimal level word processor, called WordPad, that comes with Windows operating systems. For many computer users, it is perfectly adequate. It will do letters and small plain text documents, such as an article for publication in a computer club newsletter, quite well. There is a choice of font styles and colors. A common starting document, such as a letterhead, can be saved and renamed when used for another document.

Microsoft Works and Office are collections of related software or suites of programs for office purposes, with Office being the one for professional users and large offices. Both have word processors that are more powerful than WordPad. Most home and small business users have no reason to use anything more powerful than Works.

Without getting into a lot of details, I can say that Microsoft Office is a very powerful and versatile office suite. There are increasingly expensive versions available with programs of interest to limited numbers of users. I received a 60-day free demo of the bottom of the line version of Office with my computer. If I upgrade during the trial period, I need only to pay the upgrade price for even the most expensive version.

Some sort of security program came with the program that would be good for a limited time unless I paid a subscription fee. Windows XP also has an adequate firewall for most users. I removed the security program since I am subscribing to an excellent one through my Internet service provider.

While the included programs you get can vary greatly with the brand and price of the machine, those that come with Windows XP remain constant. You can have a machine built to order with hardly anything in it or fully loaded. The default word processing suite from Dell seems to be a Corel WordPerfect one, but you can order a Microsoft suite for a slightly higher price. An off-the-shelf Media Center machine will routinely come with a lot of stuff.

While each machine is different, you should learn what you already have before adding more programs. You may already have something that will do what you want or will enable you to get a discount on what you want to add.

Hilton Kaufman serves as the technical support person in the procedures writing unit of the Illinois Department of Employment Security. As such, he uses the software provided to him to create forms, convert documents into PDFs, advise members of his unit as to how to use the available software, and similar tasks. For his home computer, he can go all out and get a powerful machine that allows him to do things like playing games and surf the web without getting in trouble. He has prepared a number of articles aimed at novice users on the basics of standard computer programs.

There is no restriction against any non-profit group using this article as long as it is kept in context with proper credit given the author. The Editorial Committee of the Association of Personal Computer User Groups (APCUG), an international organization of which this group is a member, brings this article to you.