A while back someone asked me to do a freeware guide for Windows 10 like I have for other Windows operating systems. My heart wasn’t in it. While there is excellent free software out there, in many cases you get what you pay for. I’m tired of talking about second best software I don’t use. So below is a list of the software I have installed on at least one of the 8 PC’s I have scattered across my house.
First you should know:
– OS 7 machines on Win10, 1 on Windows 7.
– I do my day-to-day web activities in an Linux Mint virtual machine.
– In that virtual machine I currently use the following browsers depending on mood and circumstance:
Chromium – Firefox – Tor
– I have a grand total of 2 passwords stored in those browsers.
– On my laptop, all passwords are stored using Bitwarden.
I have a Google account (actually several) and as an Android user I do the whole Google thing; Gmail, Calendar, Google Drive…
*** Feel free to suggest software. If you think it is better than something in my list then explain why and please add a legit source to backup your assertion.
If you don’t then I’ll delete comment because you aren’t helping anyone, including me.
For instance, someone is gonna say they use this or that browser. Then they will claim it is faster, or more secure, or whatever. Back it up.
3 kinds of licenses here: Free | Freemium or Tiered | Paid
Freemium – “basic product or service is provided free of charge, but money (a premium) is charged for additional features, services, or virtual (online) or physical (offline) goods that expand the functionality of the free version of the software.”
Tiered – “allow users to select from a small set of tiers at progressively increasing price points to receive the product or products best suited to their needs.”
INSTALLED
3DMark – Freemium or Tiered. Graphics benchmark
7-Zip – Free. Zip utility, file encryption
Adobe Acrobat Reader DC – Free. PDF reader. Not needed in Win10.
Adobe Photoshop CS2 – Free, kinda. Image utility. IMHO unusable on high res displays.
Adobe Premiere Elements 2021 – Paid. Video Editor
Audacity – Free. Audio editor
Axialis IconWorkshop – Paid. I just use it to convert icons to other image types.
Backup and Sync from Google – Freemium or Tiered. This is Google Drive. Cloud storage
Bitwarden – Freemium or Tiered. Password manager.
CATraxx – Paid. No longer available. Music cataloging software.
CDBurnerXP – Free. CD/DVD burner. ***May try to install unwanted programs. Pay attention during install.
dBpoweramp – Paid. Music converter. CD ripper.
Dell Webcam Central – Free for dell computers. Basic webcam software.
Display Fusion – Paid. Multi-monitor software,
EMDB – Free. Video cataloging software.
ExpressVPN & TorGuard – Paid. Virtual Private Network.
FileZilla Client – Free. FTP client.
Firefox – Free. Web browser.
Firefox extensions I use: DuckDuckGo Privacy Essentials, Privacy Badger, uBlock Origin, Bypass Paywalls
Google Chrome – Free. Web browser.
Chrome extensions I use: DuckDuckGo Privacy Essentials, Honey, Privacy Badger, uBlock Origin, Ugly Email
Google Drive – Freemium or Tiered. Cloud storage.
Google Gmail – Free. Email
HandBrake – Free. Video converter.
IrfanView – Free. Graphic viewer. Great for batch editing.
LightScribe Software – Free. Laser CD/DVD labeler.
Logitech Capture – Free for Logitech webcams. Webcam software.
Macrium Reflect Free Edition – Free. Backup, cloning, disk imaging software
MakeMKV – Paid. Convert bluray to mkv file.
MediaMonkey – Free. Media library player/manager. I only use it for music.
Microsoft Office 365 – Paid. THE Office suite.
Mozilla Firefox – Free. Web Browser.
Mp3tag – Free. Edit metadata of audio files.
Ninite Updater – Paid. Software updater. HIGHLY recommended.
Notepad++ – Free. Opens and edits almost every kind of text / source code file.
OBS Studio – Free. Video recording and live streaming.
PCMark – Freemium or Tiered. System benchmark.
PowerToys – Free. A set of utilities for power users to tune and streamline
ProtonMail – Freemium or Tiered. Encrypted, anonymous email.
RocketDock – Free. Application launcher.
SageThumbs – Free. Adds ability to view thumbnails of multiple file types in Explorer.
Sony Sound Forge Audio Studio – Paid. Audio editing suite.
Stardock Start10 – Paid. Win10 start menu replacement.
SyncToy – Free. File backup and synchronizing software. HIGHLY recommended.
TorGuard – Paid. Virtual Private Network.
UBitMenu – Free. Put the old menus back in Microsoft office.
VirtualBox – Free. Virtual machine player / creator.
VLC media player – Free. Multimedia / DVD player. Does not do blu-ray despite claims to contrary.
VMware Player – Free. Virtual machine player / creator.
WACUP – Free. Music player. Winamp’s successor.
WinX DVD Ripper Platinum – Paid. DVD Ripper. Does not do blu-ray.
WinX HD Video Converter Deluxe – Paid. Video converter. Does batches very well.
PORTABLE
Autoruns – Free. THE startup manager.
Bleachbit – Free. Disk cleaner
Cleanmgr+ – Free. Disk cleaner.
CPU-Z – Free. Hardware info.
GPU-Z – Free. Graphics card info.
Wise Disk Cleaner – Free. Disk cleaner.
Other
Nirsoft – Free. Various tools
Sysinternals – Free. Various tools
O&O ShutUp10 – Free. Win10 privacy settings tool
Network Tools
Microsoft Message Analyzer
Wireshark
O&O Lanytix
Nirsoft:
NetBScanner
NetResView
WhoIsConnectedSniffer
WifiInfoView
-END-
I was wondering what you use as an antivirus, specifically if you use something other than Windows Security. I’m not interested in the name of the antivirus that you use, just if it is something other than Windows Security.
Also, it is the same on all your systems?
Thanks.
Just Windows Security. But as I said, I do most of my online stuff in a Linux Mint VM.
VPN ~ I thought you were a Torguard guy: https://torguard.net/ ?!?
ExpressVPN is cheaper? faster? easier? When and why did you switch?
https://www.tweakhound.com/2017/03/31/internet-privacy-attack/
Thanks (always) for all you do!
I switched because I missed the renewal and Torguard wanted to jack my prices up. This pissed me off. After some research I found ExpressVPN was consistently at the top of the lists.
Hello, thanks for the list, I see at least 3 programs i gonna try here.
Some I use I did not see here :
Gaming/NVIDIA GPU related:
– MSI Afterburner – not sure if you play games sometimes. I like it for the GPU fan curve, better than default, and for RTSS which helps to get maximum smoothness in games
– Moonlight – streaming software, need a NVIDIA GPU. For streaming PC to TV or telephone or any android device.
Other tools:
– Keypiranha – to start programs faster, using the keyboard.
– mRemoteNG – to manage RDP/SSH connexions, you may not need this at home.
Was wondering if u have used/heard of Brave browser. I’ve replaced my Chrome with it since I believe it offers better performance, privacy and security and since it’s built atop Chromium u can still use Chrome extensions with it.
Thanks for everything Eric your website is one of my fav on the internet!
I tried it. Didn’t see any difference vs Chrome with my extensions.
I really don’t get the browser speed thing at this point. I mean, how fast can you blink?
I agree with you about ExpressVPN, and I also use ProtonVPN. You might read about it. I like the Windows application very much.
It is the same price of ExpressVPN as well.
Yeah, ProtonMail pesters me about the VPN quite often. They are in a bit of a public relations storm right now. Will post links shortly.
What kind of links you mean that you plan to post?!
https://www.tweakhound.com/2021/09/08/wednesday-random-stuff-70/
For a simple and tiny pdf viewer you might consider adding Sumatra to your list of Adobe and Foxit. I have removed Adobe and use Foxit 99% of the time but occasionally toss something into Sumatra because it is small, portable and fast. Very light on features but sometimes that’s what is needed.
For CD ripping may I commend Audiograbber by Jackie Franck, who originally had it as shareware but released the final version 1.83 as freeware. It is old, (2004) but not dated, and for grabbing, track identification, normalising, tagging and recording it has been the best all-in-one music program I have found. There are plenty of programs that do each of these tasks better, but not in the one program and with the extraordinarily easy user interface that Audiograbber has.
One caution: On my desktop, under Win7, it seemed to think there was no audio card, which meant I could no longer record live streaming content, even when it was being played by VLC and other programs. It worked perfectly under XP on various machines. The website audiograbber.org has available a version called “Audiograbber 1.83 (2020 Edition”) which some posters allege fixes that problem under Win7 but which is flagged by Avast as malware.
Thanks for your website and the information you curate on it.
PAFMelb / Peter
Eric,
Thanks for your terrific blog! It has a excellent guide and “how to” work with Windows. Your “Software I use – 2021” list is almost complete, and I frequently review for new tools.