The very first things I need on every PC.
My browser of choice. Here I set up FFSync and Privacy Badger. Goes on your PC first, because MS Edge is just there for downloading a decent browser.
KeePass was my password manager for years, and KeePassXC is a good reimplementation of it. I'm mostly choosing this one because I also use it on linux. Otherwise I'd probably use the original KeePass on windows. This goes on the machine next, because it holds not only passwords but also software keys! Yes, the rest of the list is mostly FLOSS software, so this is much less of an issue nowadays.
Quickly is key, here.
All of these are my default media handlers. All of them start up extremely quickly.
Quickly starting image viewer with basic editing functionality (resize, crop, etc.) This has replaced IrfanView for me, because it is open source and also because of its support for SVG and transparency.
Simple and quick PDF viewer. Especially useful is navigating across files with Ctrl+Shift+Left (or right). Also handles ebooks, but I don't use it much for that.
Yes, this has its own category. Yes, I use all of them, depending on what I do.
When I'm working on a project. This is almost VS Code, but only the MIT parts. A short while ago this would have been atom editor, but now I'm using this as well. Like everyone else.
Opens quickly. This is my default handler for all text-based file formats (so it could also go in the "looking at stuff quickly" category). It highlights all formats that I usuallly encounter. Has a few neat tricks to work with text files and handles very large files as well.
Open source note-taking app with Markdown support, to-do integration, and synchronization with cloud services like Dropbox and OneDrive.
Tabbed terminal for windows, also includes the usual unix tools (ls, find and so on) which is nice to have. Defaults could be better, but you can configure it quite extensively.
computering is a ton of managing files. So here are some of the tools I use.
This backs up all my files to a different drive. It can do much more, but that's all I need.
If I ever need to move files to or from a server via FTP or SFTP, FileZilla is usually the easiest way for me.
I have set Thunderbird up in a way that I like. I think it's good software. It's not fancy, but it works very well for me.
I spend much time in Calc and Impress, and they work well for all the things I throw at them. No need to use MS Office, in my opinion.
Basic vector drawing software. I have to admit that I do not particularly like it, but I also found no real FLOSS alternative, yet.
Constructing things for manufacturing, I mostly use this to prepare 3d-printed structural parts in projects.
I used to manage my photos with Lightroom 6, but the recent trend towards renting software prevented me from updating that any further. DigiKam can do most things I did with lightroom quite well. It also does some things much better, like tagging people in photos.
Essentially a gui for ffmpeg, for when I really don't want to bother with the CLI for a given task.
I want winamp back. And the original winamp team. And that Llama. Until then, MediaMonkey has a great library functionality.
I really want to switch to an open source music program that's available across platforms. Currently, MediaMonkey is still my go-to player, but Strawberry is probably what I will be using in the future.
I keep track of all the things I do on my computer. This can be completely offline and local.
Simple tasks like taking out the foreign languages from PDF manuals or rotating scanned pages can be easily done with this.
If you have more than one computer on your desk, use Barrier to share mouse and keyboard among them. Fork of Synergy, which is run into the ground by the people maintaining it and which is also becoming less and less free and open source software. So, just switch and be happy!
Not exactly a recommendation. I use it, but mostly because I have nothing else. If you want to have a particularly bad time, try setting up HBCI/FinTS.
As a developer dealing with APIs here and there, I commonly need an easy way to experiment with those APIs. ARC is a good way to do that.
Every now and then I run into questions that only Process Explorer can answer. Usually WHY CAN'T I DELETE THAT F***** FILE!?
Quick way to see the temperature of any interesting piece of hardware in your computer. Or if you really can't remember what mainboard you chose. Recently this seems to have been discontinued. Right now it still supports everything I need, but I might switch to LibreHardwareMonitor in the future.
