Have you just bought a new computer or simply reinstalled Windows, and are wondering what applications to install? Below is a list of recommended software, so you can choose the most necessary and best applications on your new computer!
14 Windows Apps You Need on Your New Computer
It's no surprise that Google Chrome is still the top browser choice for many people. It's fast, has a bunch of useful little add-ons for working on the web, like letting you instantly search for images in Google Lens, and has a huge library of Chrome extensions.
Additionally, Chrome's cross-platform sync feature lets you continue viewing and opening web pages you're working on across multiple devices.
However, Chrome is not a completely perfect application, it still has unexpected errors and the most significant of which is consuming a lot of RAM. But the good news is that you still have many other great browsers to choose from, such as Coc Coc, Microsoft Edge, Firefox or Opera.
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Most users need an office suite to work with documents, spreadsheets, and presentations... If you think paying for expensive Microsoft Office apps is the only way to get a good office suite, you're wrong.
If you want a free, full-featured Office suite, don't miss WPS Office. This is a powerful and completely free office suite that includes alternatives to Microsoft Word, Excel, PowerPoint, etc. Once you get used to some minor differences from MS Office, you'll be able to get your work done with WPS Office.
In addition, you can also consider using LibreOffice or FreeOffice because it is also quite popular. In terms of features, it also has all the necessary support features for regular office users. It's just that its interface is not as beautiful as WPS Office or MS Office.
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If you need an online office suite, you can use Google Docs or Microsoft Office 360.
If you only have one cloud storage service to choose from, Google Drive is the one to install. With 15GB of free storage (across Google Photos and Gmail), it’s a great option for the average individual.
Google Drive offers an app for every platform, so you can sync your files across any device, take them with you wherever you go. Plus, sharing files with others on Google Drive is super easy. Whether you use it as a backup plan, or just to share files with others, Google Drive is a must-have for Windows users.
In addition, if you are a Microsoft fan, you can also refer to Microsoft OneDrive. This is a utility built into Windows, you just need to log in to your Microsoft account and select the folder to backup and store data, Microsoft will take care of everything else. However, the storage capacity is not very generous, for normal users, you can only have 5GB of free storage.
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Years ago, listening to music on your computer meant painstakingly importing and organizing your MP3 collection. But that's no longer the case, as streaming music services have eliminated the need to buy individual physical or digital albums.
There are plenty of music streaming services out there, but we recommend Spotify . Spotify’s ad-supported free plan lets you listen to as much music as you want, and the Spotify Premium upgrade is definitely worth it for music lovers. Spotify also hosts hundreds of podcasts, making it all available in one convenient place.
Spotify also has a dedicated Windows app, while Apple Music requires iTunes and Google Play Music is web-only. However, if you’re invested in either Apple or Google’s ecosystem, the respective music apps might be the better choice.
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Whether you want to try your hand at image manipulation, need a way to blur sensitive information from a screenshot, or want to retouch an old photo, everyone should have an image editing program installed. Photoshop is the gold standard for this, but there are plenty of more accessible free tools out there.
Paint.NET is our top pick. It is much more powerful than Microsoft Paint but doesn’t overwhelm you with a bunch of confusing tools. You can easily blur parts of an image, automatically adjust photos to make them look better, and add text and shapes to your photos in just a few clicks. There are plenty of plugins that allow you to extend the functionality of Paint.NET.
If you find Paint.NET too basic, GIMP is a more advanced solution.
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Chances are you are using at least one messaging service to keep in touch with your friends every day. Currently, for Vietnamese users, Zalo is the best. It supports messaging, video calling, group calling, group chat, cloud storage, task assignment... and many other utilities. Not only that, it also supports multiple platforms, meaning you can completely keep in touch and discuss work whether on your computer or on your phone while on the go.
That’s domestic, but what about international friends and partners? You can’t install every messaging app just to communicate with this and that partner. In this case, Rambox is arguably the most suitable option. Rambox allows you to add accounts from dozens of popular messaging services, including WhatsApp , Facebook Messenger , Skype , Telegram , Discord , and more. You can even add other web apps, such as Apple Music, to it.
By simply adding a new tab for every service you use, Rambox lets you stay up to date with every group in one window. It includes a few extra features that make it easier to manage multiple chat platforms, rather than having to open multiple browser tabs or install multiple apps. This makes it easier to stay focused, and it’s easier to close or minimize one window (instead of half a dozen).
While Rambox's free plan has some limitations, it offers more for free than competitors like Franz.
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Although Windows also provides a basic tool that can read, compress and decompress files, it is not capable enough to meet the needs when there are many different compression formats.
WinRAR may be the best compression software, but 7-Zip is the gold standard in free compression and decompression. Not only is it free, it's also very small, easy to install, and completely silent when you're not using it.
The only downside to 7-Zip is its dated and plain look. If you don’t like its dated look, consider using PeaZip, a similar tool with a more attractive interface.
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Since YouTube has become so popular, you may no longer need to use multimedia players on your computer. However, many people still want and have the habit of watching videos offline to ensure their stability. In this regard, nothing can surpass VLC Media Player.
VLC is packed with features and can play almost any popular video or audio format. While you may not use it often, it's a good idea to have it installed on your computer since it's pretty lightweight.
Additionally, you can consider KMPlayer as a backup option if you don't like using VLC.
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A clipboard manager is a pretty important Windows application, as it saves you a lot of time. Instead of just being able to keep one last copied item on your PC's clipboard, a clipboard manager allows you to manage dozens of copied items at once.
ClipClip is a great Windows clipboard manager. In addition to keeping track of what you copy, it also lets you pin frequently used data snippets for easy access.
The app doesn't have too many options, but there are still hotkeys to control the app: disable clipboard monitoring when needed and choose what the app ignores.
Download: ClipClip (Free)
Windows 10 and 11 come with Windows Defender built in, which is good enough for most users. However, you should still install a secondary security program to supplement it.
No other application can beat Malwarebytes in this regard. The free version of Malwarebytes allows you to scan your system for malware that regular antivirus software cannot catch.
Download: Malwarebytes Anti-Malware
See also: 11 best free antivirus software for Windows
Taking screenshots on Windows is useful for everything from capturing funny moments to saving important information. The basic Snipping Tool and Snip & Sketch apps only offer a basic set of features, so you need something better.
You won't find a better free screenshot tool than ShareX. With a multitude of capture methods, a powerful built-in editor, automated steps after taking a screenshot, and additional tools, ShareX has an impressive feature set and won't cost you a dime.
If ShareX overwhelms you, try PicPick.
Regularly backing up your data is very important for every computer user. This ensures that you can get back your important things if you accidentally lose them due to any risks that may occur. There are many software that perform this function well that you can easily find.
In this article, we recommend using SyncBackFree software to synchronize your hard drive. In addition, you can choose other backup software according to your needs such as: EaseUS Todo Backup Free, Genie Timeline, Paragon Backup, Easeus Todo Backup...
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Everyone knows the pain of running out of storage space. That's why one of the useful applications you should install on every Windows system is a disk analyzer.
TreeSize Free is a simple way to manage what's taking up space on your computer. Just open the app and select which drives to scan, and TreeSize will sort all the folders on your PC by their size. You can then see the largest files on your computer and delete or move them accordingly.
Don't waste time manually searching through folders for large files - let this essential utility do the work for you.
Download: TreeSize Free (Free, premium version available)
If you want to automate more of your computer, then AutoHotkey is what you need. It is a customizable scripting tool that allows you to define your own commands, making it as useful as anything you desire.
Some examples of automation include: you can create quick text expansion, enable automatic typo correction, override certain keyboard keys, and create macros to perform certain actions with a few keystrokes.
AutoHotkey can be a little intimidating at first, but once you get the hang of it, it's a powerful tool to have in your toolkit. Check out our guide to getting started with AutoHotkey: 12 AutoHotKey Scripts to Make Your Life Easier
Download: AutoHotkey (Free)
For Windows 10/11 systems, Driver management is not a big problem. However, if you use Windows 7 or earlier, you may need an additional application to manage device Drivers. You can refer to and use free software called SlimDrivers and DriverMax, which are also great choices.
We have introduced you to the essential applications that Windows 10/11 users should install and most of them are free. If you do not like one of the above options, then surely you have a suitable alternative for yourself. Choose and install the applications that you find suitable to be able to use your computer in the most comfortable way!
Error code 0xc0000098 in Windows causes a blue screen error on startup. The ACPI.sys driver is often to blame, especially on unsupported versions of Windows 11 like 23H2 or 22H2 or Windows 10.
In some cases, sometimes you start your computer in Safe Mode and the computer freezes. So how to fix the error in this case, please refer to the article below of WebTech360.
Snipping Tool is a powerful photo and video capture tool on Windows. However, this tool sometimes has some errors, such as constantly displaying on the screen.
Every network has a router to access the Internet, but not everyone knows how to make the router work better. In this article, we will introduce some router tips to help speed up the wireless connection in the network.
If the results seem slower than expected, don't be too quick to blame your ISP - mistakes when performing the test can skew your numbers.
In the article below, we will introduce and guide you to learn about the concept of QoS - Quality of Service on router devices.
Windows has a built-in Credential Manager, but it's not what you think it is—and certainly not a replacement for a password manager.
Microsoft charges for its official codecs and doesn't include them in Windows 10. However, you can get them for free without pulling out your credit card and spending $0.99.
While having trouble accessing files and folders can be frustrating, don't panic—with a few simple tweaks, you can regain access to your system.
After creating a USB boot to install Windows, users should check the USB boot's performance to see if it was created successfully or not.
Although Windows Storage Sense efficiently deletes temporary files, some types of data are permanent and continue to accumulate.
You can turn off Windows 11 background apps to optimize performance, save battery and reduce RAM consumption.
When a computer, mobile device, or printer tries to connect to a Microsoft Windows computer over a network, for example, the error message network path was not found — Error 0x80070035 may appear.
We can block Internet access for any application or software on the computer, while other programs can still access the network. The following article will guide readers on how to disable Internet access for software and applications on Windows.
Instead of paying $30 for a year of security updates, keep Windows 10 safe until 2030 with this simple solution.
Error code 0xc0000098 in Windows causes a blue screen error on startup. The ACPI.sys driver is often to blame, especially on unsupported versions of Windows 11 like 23H2 or 22H2 or Windows 10.
In some cases, sometimes you start your computer in Safe Mode and the computer freezes. So how to fix the error in this case, please refer to the article below of WebTech360.
Snipping Tool is a powerful photo and video capture tool on Windows. However, this tool sometimes has some errors, such as constantly displaying on the screen.
Every network has a router to access the Internet, but not everyone knows how to make the router work better. In this article, we will introduce some router tips to help speed up the wireless connection in the network.
If the results seem slower than expected, don't be too quick to blame your ISP - mistakes when performing the test can skew your numbers.
In the article below, we will introduce and guide you to learn about the concept of QoS - Quality of Service on router devices.
Windows has a built-in Credential Manager, but it's not what you think it is—and certainly not a replacement for a password manager.
Microsoft charges for its official codecs and doesn't include them in Windows 10. However, you can get them for free without pulling out your credit card and spending $0.99.
While having trouble accessing files and folders can be frustrating, don't panic—with a few simple tweaks, you can regain access to your system.
After creating a USB boot to install Windows, users should check the USB boot's performance to see if it was created successfully or not.
Although Windows Storage Sense efficiently deletes temporary files, some types of data are permanent and continue to accumulate.
You can turn off Windows 11 background apps to optimize performance, save battery and reduce RAM consumption.
When a computer, mobile device, or printer tries to connect to a Microsoft Windows computer over a network, for example, the error message network path was not found — Error 0x80070035 may appear.
We can block Internet access for any application or software on the computer, while other programs can still access the network. The following article will guide readers on how to disable Internet access for software and applications on Windows.
Instead of paying $30 for a year of security updates, keep Windows 10 safe until 2030 with this simple solution.
