I've spent most of today setting up my new PC, which arrived today. Thing is, now it's all up and running, and I'm thinking about the beautiful future we have together. I'm not particularly PC savvy, and this is the first PC that I paid for and is entirely mine. Basically I'm interested in what more experienced PC gamers do with their computers to keep them in good order, and what they use them for. So far I've got the basics set up - iTunes, Firefox, Steam etc. - but I wanted a little more input. I have the following questions.
 
- Any advice for keeping the system up to date, checking whether I've got the latest drivers, and how often should I defrag? 

- What are some good simple tips for maintaining your hardware? I've got it in a pretty well ventilated place, but I'm wondering if I should dust it regularly or take any other precautions. 

- What are considered essentials programs for getting the best out of your PC, and what are softwares that you should avoid like the plague? Fortunately my PC is completely Norton free - McAfee 4 life. 

- It's been a long time since I've kept up with PC gaming. I'm really interested in checking out Civ 5, maybe some StarCraft 2, but I'm wondering about going deeper, Inception style? As a lapsed RTS fan, can I get into a game like Warhammer 40K DoW2? Which is the best Total War game for a novice to the series? Is it too late to jump into Team Fortress 2? Is paying for Heroes of Newerth worth it, or should I go for the free-to-play League of Legends? And as a massive RPG fan, are there any games that are considered must-play? I've played Dragon Age: Origins on consoles and loved it, so I want to wait for a pack that contains the expansion and all the DLC. 

- Tech questions for my mother's sake more than anything else - we're keeping our old PC but have no way to connect it to the internet. It's ancient and thus doesn't have wireless capabilities. Is there some kind of USB adapter that can add it to the wireless network, or is there another solution.
 
Just so you know, here's my spec. I didn't build my own, sorted it through Dell. Paid more but I'm happy with what I have.
 
- Windows 7 Home Premium 64-bit OS
- Dell Studio XPS 8100
- 5.9 Windows Experience Rating (dragged down by harddrive)
- Intel Core i7 CPU 870 @ 2.93GHz
- 8GB of RAM
- nVidia GeForce GTX 460 graphics card
- 1TB harddrive

Dude, buy some games on Steam and play!

what Meteora said.  Pick up a couple games on Steam and have a freaking blast! 
 
Perhaps Fallout: New Vegas might be something you are into? 

Batman Arkham Asylum is on sale right now, so go get that! :D

FIrst step:  Buy better CPU cooler and overclock the i7! 
 
Yeah, there are wireless usb network adapters that you could get for the other computer.

youporn

Play TF2, no doubt.  A super fun game that is really easy to get into.  Search for the Tested/Giant Bomb server.  I have had some good times there.  Also, if you haven't played them on console, the Mass Effect series is pretty stellar on PC, and pretty cheap by now I would imagine. 
 
As for a usb wireless solution, I recently got this http://www.amazon.com/Medialink-Wireless-Adapter-802-11n-Compatible/dp/B002RM08RE/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1287700546&sr=8-1.   I can stream 720p hd video on my network super easy now without any wires!

awesome PC... i just got a new pc myself, not as beastly as that though, but i can still run almost every game on ultra, heres a list of games i got:
 
Fallout: NV
TF2
Starcraft 2
Civ 5
Crysis Warhead
Oblivion

also any  multi-platform releases you're interested in; they alllll look so much better on pc!
have fun

1.  Install Microsoft Security Essentials, kill off any bloatware AV that came with the Dell image. Don't install anything else, it's all you need.
2.  Schedule a weekly full scan some time after hours when you won't be using your PC, do the same with defrag if you like (through you can make it monthly if feel it's not necessary).
3.  Giving it a good dust out one a month or so is good thing to do to increase your hardware life span.
4.  There are a number of USB wireless dongles on the market that you can use to hook your old machine up to the network. Unfortunately I can't make any firm recommendations here as I've never used one.
5.  Driver wise, just check back with the website for your video card vendor say once a month to see if theres been a new release.  Not exactly an complicated task.
 
I do have some slightly deeper tweaks that could be applied to make the system a little quicker on it's feet, depends on how confident you are on checking/making them.

Game suggestions:

-Mount and blade: warband

-Team fortress 2 (It's easier than ever to start playing)

-Any source engine game (At lest for the mods )

-Arma (If your into that sort of thing)

-Men of war

-Oblivion/Fallout (Even if you've played them, the mods are worth it)

And that's just off the top of my head

McAfee is just as bad as Norton, should of gone with NOD32

As for programs www.filehippo.com. It also has an update checker program that will notify you when their are new versions.

Just look into your case every so often for dust and clean when required.

You could buy a wireless pci card for the old PC or one of those USB dongles, whichever is cheaper.

Enjoy your new PC. 

Here's the list of programs I keep on a secondary drive in case I need to reformat for some reason. They're all freeware, unless things have changed.
 
AVG Free Anti-Virus - Decent, but some people hate it.
CD Burner XP - Burn data, iso, music, dvd, etc.
Firefox - Good internet browser.
Foobar 2000 - Lightweight MP3 player.
Izarc - File extractor.
Notepad Plus - Handy for editing certain game files.
Spybot Search and Destroy - Spyware removal/shield program. I typically don't use the TeaTimer.
Steam - Seems like you already have this.
Sumatra PDF reader - Lightweight PDF reader. Way better than the Adobe reader in my opinion.
uTorrent - Uh... well... uh...I... uh...
VLC Media Player - Probably the best media player out there for video files in my opinion, and has many codecs built in. Runs DVDs as well. 
 
Yes, dust it regularly. Heat is bad for your rig and dust exacerbates it.
 
TF2 is still popular and fun, but you probably won't be as good as a lot of the people out there.
 
DOW2 is more of a squad based RPG than an RTS really. Still, good times, especially if you like W40k.
 
Yes, there are lots of USB wireless adapters. Check Newegg.com or Amazon.
 
EDIT: I just realized that you are on a Dell pre-built. My suggestion is to reformat and start with a fresh install of Windows 7. Pre-built computers tend to come with a lot of useless crap software on them.

Get Civ 3. It's the best in the series, and for five dollars on Steam you can get the game, and both of it's expansion packs.

I try to install as little unnecessary shit as possible.  Don't have stuff running that you don't absolutely need running.
 
DoW 2 is a great place to get back into RTS.  It could probably work as a console RTS it's so accessible.  The RTS genre has actually been in great health in recent years if you want something more involved, it's just that the lesser known franchises don't really get any exposure anymore.  If the Men of War series had been around when the media still cared about PC, it would be considered a classic RTS franchise.  The Anno series is more city builder than straight RTS, but it too is a brilliant franchise - check out Anno 1404 (called Dawn of Discovery in the US) .
 
I'd say Napoleon: Total War is probably the friendliest place to start with the Total War series.  It holds your hand and leads you through the game more than a typical TW game does.  Or you might want to just wait until Shogun 2 comes out next year, which is a remake of the first game in the franchise.
 
The very first thing you should do though is play The Witcher.

Seems like everyone covered everything. You need a program for viruses obviously and i've been using avast for years. However you need one or two for spyware, which can happen depending on sites you go to. I use two of them, spybot search and destroy, also lavasoft adaware, yet it's annoying you can't disable it from starting up on your pc. Also for steam batman is on sale, however usually they have like every game on sale during christmas and after new year. So maybe wait a few months and spend like alot of money because you can get a ton of games dirt cheap.   

" @Atlas:
  
i) Google these:  
 
Defraggler: for defragging.
Secunia PSI: for general program maintenance.  
Avast Antivirus or Microsoft Security Essentials: for protection.  
MalwareBytes Anti-Malware: for malware 
RealTemp: Monitor GPU and CPU temperatures 
MSI Afterburner or EVGA Precision: For overclocking GPU and monitoring temps (don't OC until you learn how though) 
Prime95 and Furmark: for CPU and GPU stresstesting/benchmarking."

I love Glary Utilities. You should check it out. Great for keeping your computer in tip top shape.

 The windows defragger is really enough, if you have windows 7 you can just type defrag in the start menu. If you're one of those people that never shut down your computer Windows 7 automatically defrags every Wednesday night or something like that. Otherwise I would recommend defragging your computer after everytime you have installed something. Let's say you buy a bunch of games, let's say 3 games. Install all three and play them, but you should defrag the hard drive the next time you leave your computer, it really does make a difference. Other stuff like registry cleaners and such are not really necessary. 
For anti virus I would recommend Microsoft Security Essentials because it's free and from microsoft so it's integrated pretty well. Also it doesn't have any annoying pop-ups. For packing up files I recommend 7-zip, it's open source and it supports a wide range of different file formats, and you won't get those "buy now" pop-ups that you get with winrar.  Opera or webkit-based browsers are faster and IMO both Opera and Chrome are miles ahead of Firefox. For watching movies mpc-hc is the best and for listening to music you don't need anything more that foobar2k. 
 
It seems like a lot of people have already recommended a lot of games but if you are into the fps genre and want to play something that's really "pc-like" you should really try out any of the Stalker games. 
 
  

Get Mount & Blade : Warband. The game is (literally) epic.

The Witcher, The Witcher, The Witcher!
 
If you're at all interested in open-ended and dynamic RPG's then you really have to play it.

Non gaming alternatives: 

Video animation - After effects 
Video editing - Sony vegas, premiere pro
Make 3D models - 3Ds max, Cinema 4D, Maya 
Sound/Music editing - Audacity 
Programming - (can't think of a program)
Make websites - Notepad (HTML), Dreamweaver 
 
Just a few examples I do besides gaming
 
All of the above of course require some type of knowledge, so you will be busy learning them, and thus have something (very fun) to do besides games ;)

All the Valve games are way better on steam then console in my opinion, so maybe start with those. 
 
Some other good options are... 
Dragon Age: Origins $30 
Mass Effect 2: $20 
Civ 5: $50 
Fallout 3 GOTY: $50 
Dawn of War 2: $30 
 
At the time of my post, Batman Arkham Asylum GOTY is on sale for $13. If you haven't played it yet then this is your chance.

www.deals4downloads.com . Watch this site, they highlight ten shitloads of games deals from all the major online distributors. 
 Also, get fraps if you're interested in taking screencaps or videos of gameplay.

"
Torchllight is a very fun/cheap Diablo clone.  And Oblivion is a must for the mods alone. 
   

welcome.... 
 
mass effect 2, fallout new vegas, dragon age for RPG if you like. 
battlefield bad company 2, call of duty modern warfare 2, medal of honor, or call of duty black ops (11/9 release) for first person shooter if you like shoot. 
dirt 2, need for speed, F1 2010 for racing if you like driving. 
darksiders, arcania gothic 4 for action  if you like handle melee attack.  
left 4 dead or left 4 dead 2, dead rising 2 for action if you like kill tons of zombies. 
 
well, these are tip of iceberg for little list of games. 

Do not use any of the free Anti Virus or Internet Security software, most will have a warning in their Ts&Cs to say that they do not promise to protect you while you are online, downloading content, using files generated on another computer or pretty much doing anything that involves running Windows it would seem. AVG will protect you once then tell you need to buy the main package if you want any more protection. 
 
Essentially with internet security you get what you pay, pay nothing and don't expect any more from it, why pay big $$$'s and then mess it up to save a few cents.
 
I use Kaspersky Internet Security, it's lighter than most and very easy to use plus it doesn't constantly intrude, I hate pointless alerts or warning when my browser wants to access the internet, the gaming mode will help when you are really busy.
 
Stay away from Limewire and other similar packages, if you must download stuff set up the old PC to use as a terminal just for downloading stuff, then scan it thoroughly before taking it off the old PC and scan it again before it gets transferred to your new PC.
 
Your hard drive performance can be improved by adding another harddrive as part of a raid array, this will raise the performance rating of your machine and speed up start and shut down times as well as loading games etc...
 
Get a 26" screen, or bigger if you have space, games will look great, but if it's too big it gets harder to use for non gaming stuff like college/uni work.

Have fun with it.

 Is it too late to jump into Team Fortress 2? Is paying for Heroes of Newerth worth it, or should I go for the free-to-play League of Legends? And as a massive RPG fan, are there any games that are considered must-play? I've played Dragon Age: Origins on consoles and loved it, so I want to wait for a pack that contains the expansion and all the DLC.   

You haven't fully had your computer until you've installed Steam and watched the porn. 
 
Make sure you've done both.

Well, just want to add I use avast anti virus and it served me well for many years now. It's free, you just have to send them an email, they send you a license for an entire year free. I don't use avg, I heard it's good, however it kept deleting some important stuff from my old pc. Avast doesn't use alot of resource and you practically won't know it's there. I'm just recommending that as a great choice for an anti virus program. Stay away from mc afee products, I remember I couldn't uninstall everything from their stuff. Maybe get a firewall, like zonelabs.

Get mine craft

Crysis, Starcraft 2 and Oblivion are all must haves for PC gaming.

Civ IV and Starcraft II!

"

Well, just want to add I use avast anti virus and it served me well for many years now. It's free, you just have to send them an email, they send you a license for an entire year free. I don't use avg, I heard it's good, however it kept deleting some important stuff from my old pc. Avast doesn't use alot of resource and you practically won't know it's there. I'm just recommending that as a great choice for an anti virus program. Stay away from mc afee products, I remember I couldn't uninstall everything from their stuff. Maybe get a firewall, like zonelabs.

"