I just had to revert my whole system to factory settings. So I'm running on a basically a brand new machine.
No, I didn't have real backups hosted on this machine. I managed to archive most of my media on external HD's, so I didn't lose my tunes library. But all of my settings and stuff are now fresh and clean.
I reinstalled a few important programs from external sources.
Heres where you come in... I would like suggestions of cool programs, firefox extensions (I'm gonna reinstall Opera and start using that more). Desktop widgets, news feeders, and just generally cool shit. Freeware virus rubbers, I'll probably go back to AVG if nobody offers a better alternative - but it didn't catch whatever fucked up my shit, so I'm a little disappointed with it. I'm naked right now.
So lets make this a geek fap thread of the newest coolest shit you've ran into lately, and some trusty old stand-by's. I'll also take hi-res desktops, I could use a new one.
I will say this: Windows saved my ass again. True, I probably wouldn't have had problems in the first place if people didn't design malicious trojans for Windows, but after restoring it, it runs fucking great. I was gonna install a rip of Win7 64bit, but decided not to. This is Vista OEM, and I'm happy with it for now. I'd rather not get into the Mac/Linux debates, although you can feel free to dispense a little opinion if you feel like it. I'm considering partitioning my HD and installing Linux in case windows takes a shit next time, I wasn't able to boot past BIOS and it was pissing me off.
The weirdest thing about this whole experience, the virus deleted my DVD/CD ROM drive from "my computer", its completely gone - even after the fresh install from the factory image. I assume thats the haxors way of preventing you from manually booting a new Windows OS from disc. Bastards.