Lubuntu every time.
Easy to install and use. Fast and lean.

Then RKHunter, UFW with GUI, Clam Antivirus, Bleachbit, Veracrypt.

By default already loaded now is LibreOffice, Thunderbird and Firefox.

I immediately install VLC media player because I don't need to deal with the missing codecs on Debian distros

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Spotify and if not included GIMP and VLC. Last time I installed Brave web browser, which seems pretty good instead of Chrome or Chromium.

It's no more maintained (learnt recently). Try newsboat.

For OS, it's Xubuntu Core. Then comes the software:
LibreOffice, Firefox, Synaptic, Dropbox, and last but clearly not least, Compiz.

gkrellm is one of the very first things to be installed. I can't imagine how Linux can be used without this small, unobtrusive tool on the left side of my screen :-)
When a new version of (K)ubuntu is released I'm always a bit worried that they might drop it because it's so 20th century, but I haven't found any other tool that provides so much information in so little space.

vdr-xfce for some entertainment during the downloads; vdr backend runs on my home server
clementine for same reason (after they developed Amarok to death)

Next ones are a bunch of tools like
storebackup
aptitude
nfs-server
ssh-server
keepassXC
gsmartcontrol
lm-sensors and thinkfan (when it comes to my notebook)
Anydesk, krdc (I don't like TeamViewer at all)
KVM/QEMU
and a dozen more

Then comes the Applications:
Thunderbird
Firefox
Telegram, Signal, Gajim
TV-Browser (the ultimative German TV-guide)
Komodo-IDE
DigiKam
XSane
and a dozen more

File Manager, text editor, terminal emulator, Firefox and any other hardware utilities if these do not come with the base install

I installed FLdigi and FLrig as my first programs, since most of the other programs basic office, etc type programs are included in the Linux Mint version I use.

nano editor with language scripts, gcc-lvm,... for compilation/cross-compilation plattforms.

UFW is the first thing to install and enable, it's simple
then do other stuff

Debian. I’m trending away from Ubuntu of late.

Usually add Libre Office, VNC connect, gimp, and R and R Studio that I’m trying to lean

Chrome browser, of course! I now have a secure "Chromebook" that does 100% of what I need without the rubbish, viruses, malware and 90 minutes of Please Wait Updating crap of Microsoft Windows. There's even an MS Office Online extension for any die-hard MS fanboy users who react in horror when initially faced with a non Windows computer.

Some of them, depending on the distro:

apt-xapian-index
aspell-pt-br
chromium
conky
curl
diffuse
dolphin4
Dolphin-plugins
fancontrol
filelight
filezilla
fuse-zip
fuseiso
fuseiso9660
gimp
gnome-screenshot
googleearth
gparted
hddtemp
inxi
k3b
kate
kcalc
kde-service-menu-fuseiso
kdiff3
kfind
konqueror
krename
kruler
krusader
kstars
ktorrent
kwrite
LibreOffice
Lsb-release
luckybackup
mc
Moon phase
nano
ocrfeeder
okular
Okular-extra-backends
pyrenamer
resynthesizer
screenruler
speedtest-cli
stellarium
tasksel
tesseract-ocr-por
ttf-mscorefonts-installer
Weather
wine
xsane
youtube-dl

For Dolphin previews:

kdegraphics-mobipocket
Marble
ffmpegthumbs
kdegraphics-thumbnailers
kdesdk-thumbnailers
qml-module-qtquick-xmllistmodel

Some of them, depending on the distro:

apt-xapian-index
aspell-pt-br
chromium
conky
curl
diffuse
dolphin4
Dolphin-plugins
fancontrol
filelight
filezilla
fuse-zip
fuseiso
fuseiso9660
gimp
gnome-screenshot
googleearth
gparted
hddtemp
inxi
k3b
kate
kcalc
kde-service-menu-fuseiso
kdiff3
kfind
konqueror
krename
kruler
krusader
kstars
ktorrent
kwrite
LibreOffice
Lsb-release
luckybackup
mc
Moon phase
nano
ocrfeeder
okular
Okular-extra-backends
pyrenamer
resynthesizer
screenruler
speedtest-cli
stellarium
tasksel
tesseract-ocr-por
ttf-mscorefonts-installer
Weather
wine
xsane
youtube-dl

For Dolphin previews:

kdegraphics-mobipocket
Marble
ffmpegthumbs
kdegraphics-thumbnailers
kdesdk-thumbnailers
qml-module-qtquick-xmllistmodel

VIM if it is not installed