Meet My New Laptop, Eridani

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
• WhatsApp
• 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

Done? Now back the whole damn thing up before anything goes wrong!

Now you can relax and enjoy your new machine.