Windows Essentials
A new Windows installation is a great opportunity to start fresh and optimize your system for peak performance. But with countless apps available, it can be overwhelming to choose the right ones. In this guide, I'll introduce you to a carefully selected collection of essential tools that will transform your Windows experience.
Like this appGenie is an industry leading AI-powered scam detection tool that will scan and review text messages, emails, websites, and social posts trying to trick you. You’ll get instant advice on whether the message or site is potentially a scam, so you'll know if it’s safe.
- Anti-Spam Tool
- Free • Proprietary
- Online
- Android
- iPhone
- Android Tablet
- iPad
Like this appente's Authenticator app helps you generate and store 2 step verification (2FA) tokens on your mobile devices.
- Authenticator
- Free • Open Source
- Mac
- Windows
- Linux
- Online
- Android
- iPhone
- Android Tablet
- iPad
- F-Droid
- Flathub
- Flatpak
Web Browsing & Download Managers
Like this appThe Vivaldi browser protects you from trackers, blocks unwanted ads, and puts you in control with unique built-in features.
- Web Browser
- Free • Proprietary
- Mac
- Windows
- Linux
- Android
- iPhone
- Android Tablet
- iPad
- Flathub
- Snapcraft
Like this appFast, secure browser with built-in ad block, privacy controls, and global tracking protections. Optimizes data, speed, and battery life.
- Web Browser
- Free • Open Source
- Mac
- Windows
- Linux
- Android
- iPhone
- Android Tablet
- iPad
- Snapcraft
- Flathub
- Homebrew
- Chocolatey
Like this appOpen-source browser with Gecko engine, supporting HTML add-ons and providing privacy features like Enhanced Tracking Protection and third-party cookie blocking.
- Web Browser
- Free • Open Source
- Mac
- Windows
- Linux
- Android
- iPhone
- BSD
- iPad
- AppImageHub
- Snapcraft
- Flathub
- PortableApps.com
- Haiku
- Flatpak
- Homebrew
- Chocolatey
- Gecko
Like this appWith this app, you can easily download files from anywhere. Enjoy fast, free downloads with seamless browser extension support.
- Download Manager
- Free • Open Source
- Windows
- Linux
- Google Chrome
- Mozilla Firefox
Like this appDownload and create torrents, search for files, create download queues and change task priorities with this high-speed torrent client.
- Torrent Client
- Free • Open Source
- Mac
- Windows
- Linux
- BSD
- AppImageHub
- Snapcraft
- Flathub
- PortableApps.com
- Haiku
Updates & Drivers
Like this appOutdated drivers may heavily affect your PC performance and lead to system crashes. Driver Booster scans and identifies outdated drivers automatically, and downloads and installs the right update for you with just one click, saving you loads of time.
- Driver Updater
- Freemium • Proprietary
- Windows
Like this appPatch My PC Home Updater is a free, user-friendly software designed to keep over 300 applications on your computer up-to-date. It automates the process of updating and installing apps, ensuring your system is secure and running smoothly without the hassle of manual updates1.
- Software Updater
- Free • Proprietary
- Windows
Multimedia
Like this appThis is the best comprehensive media player for Windows
- Media Player
- Free Personal • Proprietary
- Windows
Like this appFFmpeg is the leading multimedia framework, able to decode, encode, transcode, mux, demux, stream, filter and play pretty much anything that humans and machines have created. It supports the most obscure ancient formats up to the cutting edge.
- Video Converter
- Free • Open Source
- Mac
- Windows
- Linux
- BSD
Productivity
Like this appCuriosity is a search and productivity app. It puts all your information at your fingertips so you can focus and get more done.
- File Search Utility
- Freemium • Proprietary
- Mac
- Windows
- Linux
Like this appFree, lightweight PDF viewer available on multiple platforms. Features include annotation, form-filling, signing, cloud integration, and more.
- PDF Reader
- Free Personal • Proprietary
- Mac
- Windows
- ReactOS
Like this appFree open source office suite for everyone
- Word Processor
- Free • Open Source
- Mac
- Windows
- Linux
- Android
- BSD
- Snapcraft
- Flathub
- PortableApps.com
- F-Droid
- Flatpak
Like this appA Mail Client for everyone with lots of Featurs.
- Email Client
- Freemium • Proprietary
- Mac
- Windows
- Android
- iPhone
- iPad
- Apple Watch
Like this appFree full featured Compress/Decompress program that is fully compatible with Microsoft new context menu
- File Archiver
- Free • Open Source
- Windows
Security & Privacy
Like this appCross-platform OTP
- Authenticator
- Free • Open Source
- Android
- iPhone
- Android Tablet
- iPad
- Google Chrome
- Mozilla Firefox
Like this appExperience quick, private browsing with this top DNS resolver. Enhanced by a VPN, it ensures your data remains protected and activity optimized.
- DNS Resolver
- Freemium • Proprietary
- Mac
- Windows
- Linux
- Online
- Android
- iPhone
- Android Tablet
- iPad
Like this appBitwarden is the easiest and safest way to store your logins and passwords across all of your devices (iOS, Android, Chrome, Firefox, Opera, Windows, Mac, Linux, and more).
- Password Manager
- Freemium • Open Source
- Mac
- Windows
- Linux
- Online
- Android
- iPhone
- Android Tablet
- iPad
- Self-Hosted
- Apple Watch
- Snapcraft
- Microsoft Edge
- Vivaldi
- Google Chrome
- Flathub
- Microsoft SQL Server
- Tor Browser
- Safari
- F-Droid
- Software as a Service (SaaS)
- Flatpak
- Cloudron
- Opera
- Chocolatey
- Mono
- Brave
- Mozilla Firefox
Like this appTor is free software and an open network that helps you defend against traffic analysis, a form of network surveillance that threatens personal freedom and privacy, confidential business activities and relationships, and state security.
- Anonymizing Network
- Free • Open Source
- Mac
- Windows
- Linux
- BSD
Like this appAdvanced AI-driven protection software that offers real-time defense against new and known threats using machine learning for superior threat detection.
- Anti-Malware App
- Freemium • Proprietary
- Mac
- Windows
- Android
- iPhone
- Chrome OS
- Android Tablet
- iPad
- Kindle Fire
Please remove the IObit Driver Booster; you really should never use any 3rd party "driver fixer" programs. You should only get drivers from Windows Update or your OEM's software. IOBit software is just crapware.
Also, please remove Patch My PC and add Uniget UI instead, which is an open-source, completely free alternative.
I would recommend somthing like Screenbox over PotPlayer because it's free and open source but not as bloated as VLC and integrate well with Windows themes. Also wouldn't recommend any IObit product at this point, they proved to be badware from the start.