My old faithful laptop, Antares, went neutron star on me a month ago. I hated that, partly because I really liked her red glowing keyboard, and liked her in general. But nothing lasts forever, or so they say. I almost jumped in about four different directions on the replacement, but this is the one I settled on. I named it Eridani.
The dictionary will tell you that this name (a constellation, the River, though this is the genitive form), is pronounced:
ih-RID-n-ahy
This is balderdash, as any spacer will tell you. Out there in the Up and Out, we pronounce this name:
Air-ih-DON-ee
Get it right, please. Eridani is a Dell XPS with a 15-inch OLED screen of amazing brilliance and resolution. I had a difficult choice, because the Dell Latitude has a better keyboard, but a worse display. Way worse. Keyboard and display are the two things I look hardest at, but in the end I chose easy on the eyes, and accurate rendering of colors (especially when creating book covers), over keyboard. I have had occasional regrets about that, as I work to get used to this slighty-smaller-than-standard keyboard.
So far, it’s a fine machine, and fast. Just for the fun of it, I thought I’d show you the list of programs I had to install to get back up to speed, even with the old Antares hard drive plugged in at its side. Herewith, my guide to:
Software to Install on New Computer
FIRST: Do not set up Windows by signing into your Microsoft account! That way lies only pain and regret! Set up a local account, which won’t impose a brain-dead user-profile path that will break all of your libraries, playlists, etc. You can sign in afterward. Now, as soon as you’ve uninstalled McAfee, start installing:
- KeyTweak – swap Caps Lock and Left Ctrl keys
- OpenShell or ClassicShell replacements for Windows Start button
- Dropbox (select which folders are online-only with SmartSync)
- Reassign Pictures library in File Explorer to Dropbox>Pictures
- Microsoft Office, esp. Outlook and Word
- Firefox (and LastPass)
- Chrome
- Sync2 to sync Outlook contacts and calendar with other machines
- Scrivener
- Malwarebytes
- iTunes
- VLC media player
- Calibre (copy plugins from other drive)
- Paint Shop Pro or maybe a newer graphics program
- Printer drivers and utilities
- Scanning utility for printer (Canon or Epson)
- Kindle for PC
- Send to Kindle
- Kindle Previewer
- Nook reader
- Adobe Digital Editions
- Overdrive console
- iDrive Backup
- Aomei Backupper
- Adobe Acrobat Reader
- 7-Zip utility
- WinPatrol
- Safe PST Backup
- Filezilla
- Quicken
- Audacity
- Sigil epub editor
- Handbrake
- Audible Manager
- Zune
- CD/DVD burning utility
- Customizations to Word:
- Change location of templates: Options>Advanced>General (scroll down)>File Locations
Use: C:\Users\myusername\Dropbox\Microsoft\Templates - Custom dictionary: Copy your own custom.dic to:
C:\Users\myusername\AppData\Roaming\Microsoft\UProof
- Change location of templates: Options>Advanced>General (scroll down)>File Locations
Done? Now back the whole damn thing up before anything goes wrong!
Now you can relax and enjoy your new machine.