Just got a VPS with root access so I'll be able to install more programs than just the ones that came with my old hosting package.

What are some extremely useful programs to install?

And yes, I know this sounds extremely novice, but I gotta start somewhere ;)

-Chris

rkhunter

www.rootkit.nl First class root kit checker

I assume you dont mean things like firewalls if so apf and bfd is a must

MRTG is always a good idea to install, as well as webmin if you don't have a cront-panel already.

imagemagick
netpbm
zend optimizer
maybe recompile php with some extra stuff (GD, etc).

I don't use it, but nagios is popular. If you don't use cpanel, you may want to install some more stats programs, and webmail

apf wont work on vps by the way

It does. But you must enable the monokern setting.

Perhaps zend optimizer?