---
lastmod: "2021-09-12T22:47:44.0000000+01:00"
author: patrick
categories:
- uncategorized
comments: true
date: "2013-08-04T00:00:00Z"
aliases:
- /uncategorized/new-computer-setup/
- /new-computer-setup/
title: New computer setup
---

*Editor's note: this is a snapshot of life in 2013-08-04. My setup has changed substantially since then.*

In case I ever have to get a new computer (or, indeed, in case anyone else is interested), I hereby present the (updating) list of applications and so forth that I would immediately install to get a computer up to usability.

*   Browser: [Firefox] with [Ghostery], [HTTPS Everywhere], and [NoScript] (and remember to turn on Do Not Track…)
*   Mail client: [Thunderbird] with [Enigmail]
*   Messaging client: [Adium] on Mac, and possibly [Pidgin] for others - I've never used a non-Mac chat client. Beware: as of this writing, Pidgin stores passwords in plain text, so don't save passwords in Pidgin.
*   Encryption: GPG ([Windows][GPG Windows], [Mac][GPG Mac], [Linux][GPG Linux])
*   Text editor: Vim
*   Memory training: [Anki]
*   Movie viewing: [VLC]
*   Screen colour muter: [f.lux]
*   Backup software: [CrashPlan] - but I also keep local backups using whatever built-in automated backup utility the OS provides
*   FTP client: [FileZilla], or [Cyberduck] on a Mac
*   Syncing: [Dropbox] (but I want to get rid of this, because of privacy concerns)
*   Computational software: [Mathematica]
*   Music: [iTunes] (but I want to switch this for something not-Apple, and it has no Linux version)
*   Gaming: [Steam]
*   RSS reader: Currently, my RSS feed is presented in-browser, at [NewsBlur].


[Firefox]: https://www.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/new/
[Thunderbird]: https://www.mozilla.org/en-US/thunderbird/

[Ghostery]: https://www.ghostery.com/
[HTTPS Everywhere]: https://www.eff.org/https-everywhere
[NoScript]: https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/noscript/
[Enigmail]: http://www.enigmail.net/home/index.php

[Dropbox]: https://www.dropbox.com/
[Mathematica]: https://www.wolfram.com
[iTunes]: https://www.apple.com/itunes/
[Steam]: https://store.steampowered.com/
[Anki]: http://ankisrs.net/
[NewsBlur]: https://www.newsblur.com
[FileZilla]: https://filezilla-project.org/
[Cyberduck]: http://cyberduck.io/
[CrashPlan]: https://www.crashplan.com/

[f.lux]: http://stereopsis.com/flux/
[VLC]: https://videolan.org/vlc/
[Notepad++]: http://notepad-plus-plus.org/
[Pidgin]: https://www.pidgin.im/
[Adium]: https://adium.im/
[GPG Linux]: https://gnupg.org/
[GPG Mac]: https://gpgtools.org/
[GPG Windows]: http://www.gpg4win.org/