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As I mentioned previously, installing Leopard on my MacBook Pro gave me the opportunity to reinstall Windows XP and the new Boot Camp 2.0 drivers. This time (and again, for the benefit of my future self) I’ve compiled the list of what gets installed on a fresh machine:

Windows XP (my custom CD with SP2+all recent hot fixes) followed immediately by the Apple Boot Camp drivers from the Leopard DVD.

The Radeon Omega Drivers to replace the standard ATI drivers that Apple provide, followed by Input Remapper to overcome some of the limitations in Apple’s Windows keyboard support - this also includes fixed controls for the fans to keep the heat down. I run Speedfan too, to keep track of the heat (temperature icon in systray.) Then a whole heap of apps both commercial and free require the .NET 2 framework.

My main browser is Firefox for tabbed browsing and great addons (Delicious and IE Tab especially).

Next, because a lot of my software is backed up as ISO images, I install Daemon Tools so I can “mount” them on a virtual drive. UltraISO goes on too so I can create/edit my own.

Next, primarily for Outlook, Excel and Word: Microsoft Office 2007 installed from the mounted ISO. While I’m mounting ISOs, I install Adobe Acrobat 7.0 Professional from the ISO too. I’ve used Textpad as a text editor for ages; it does syntax highlighting and opens massive files really quickly. I use both MSN Messenger and Google Talk for comms.

I do a load of stuff with media, either encoding, creating or viewing video, and managing my audio library. So that requires, AutoGK, VLC, Tag & Rename, Winamp and the Quicktime/iTunes combo.

Downloading files, verifying and decompressing those downloads: ReGet Pro, QuickPar and WinRAR. And uploading stuff to FTP sites: SmartFTP Client.

TrueCrypt for encryption and FileShredder for secure deletion.

Remote control of my G5: VNC Viewer.

Our printers require bidirectional access to get full functionality from the drivers, so I use the Belkin Network USB Hub on all the machines (OS X and Windows). Then I install the drivers for my HP 1020, Epson R1800 and 1670 Scanner.

The ability to defragment the entire drive, or just specific files: Defraggler.

Paint Shop Pro 7 - I’ve not got used to the later version of PSP so stick with the last version where I liked the interface.

Rise of Nations Thrones and Patriots and then using the Steam installer (and the backup I created) I install Counter-Strike Source.

There are a few other apps which usually end up getting installed, but aren’t immediately vital:

Google Earth, maniac SmartJournal, Microsoft ActiveSync, Microsoft MapPoint Europe 2006 (installed from MSDN ISOs), Microsoft Virtual Server, and the Logitech Harmony Remote Software for sorting out my Harmony 895 and all the devices it has to control.

And a further set that only get installed when I have a specific need for them:

Soulseek, ActivePerl, VMware Workstation, ViceVersa Pro, Wireshark (and WinPCap), TFTP Server, Nessus, Metasploit, mIRC and Sound Forge 8.0.