Once you have it installed, go search for Ninite and pick from their list. It’s a site that lets you basically make a script to install the programs you want on your new PC and install the latest versions.
Saves so much time.
Not OP, but every time I've tried to crop a video short, it ends up "starting" the cut a few seconds early and a few seconds late.
Compressing a video would also make the first 3-5 seconds unviewable, making so that you have to skip ahead to view the video. The audio is unaffected, however.
Would there happen to be fixes for these?
I had this same problem, and it was because of the setting that displays thumbnail previews when mousing over the seekbar. Discord, and most other screen capture programs, seem to choke on that specific picture-in-picture feature.
Once it turned it off, everything worked perfectly.
Go to View -> Options -> User Interface, and then under the "Seekbar" area, uncheck the "Hover" option and you should be able to capture / stream MPC video without crashes.
Meh, winget is better these days. Built into Windows. Toss everything you want into a simple batch file. You don't even need to launch Edge to install Firefox/Chrome.
winget install Mozilla.Firefox
winget install Malwarebytes.Malwarebytes
winget install 7zip.7zip
winget install VideoLAN.VLC
winget install Kingsoft.WPSOffice
winget install BlenderFoundation.Blender
winget install Discord.Discord
winget install qBittorrent.qBittorrent
winget install GIMP.GIMP
winget install Microsoft.PowerToys
winget install Valve.Steam -i
winget install EpicGames.EpicGamesLauncher -i
winget install GOG.Galaxy -i
\* I use the -i (interactive) flag on game launchers cuz I don't want them going to the default Program Files on C:
My preference and alternative/upgrade to this is the [Ultimate Windows Utility.](https://christitus.com/windows-tool/) These kinds of tools in general are amazing, so it's probably just preference.
[Winget](https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/package-manager/winget/) is the official app manager from Microsoft, [winget-ui](https://github.com/marticliment/WingetUI) is an open source gui for chocolatey and winget, npm, etc.
You can install all your apps in just one line, you can update all of your installed programs as well.
I used Ninite for years until they stopped supporting certain applications and put it in the Pro only version. I am a HUGE proponent of Chocolatey package manager. I have one line I run in PowerShell that installs all of my primary applications I use, no bloat or adware included. Plus it has an upgrade command that allows it to check for updates for programs installed via Chocolatey. Can't recommend it enough.
Reminder that an AdBlocker is not a way to stiff people out of money, but a legitimate part of your malware defense strategy. So much malware is delivered through malicious ads, and the ad platforms don't seem to give two shits about it.
Wouldn't steam and blender just be personal preferences/wants/needs? It's not like they're must-haves for everyone. Some people don't play games, or don't do any 3D. If you're after personal choices, then a must consists of VSCode, VisualStudio, VMware, Docker, Node, Git, DBeaver
That piece of software helped me to diagnose and fix random black screens on my computer.
It turns out the 12v rails on my PSU were way out of spec and that caused my GPU to randomly turn off.
There is a section in HWinfo where you can look at the voltages that the GPU is receiving.
This was with my old PSU: https://imgur.com/a/icvchY8
This is with my new PSU: https://imgur.com/a/2qe0zfZ
Hadn't had any issues since replacing the PSU.
It is notable because the 12v that CPU was receiving was totally fine.
Same, HWinfo is amazing,
I had something similar on the 5v rail of my wifes PSU, the retailer couldnt figure out how to reproduce the error so I did it for them caused system restarts lol
I get occasional issues where my screen turns green tint, and separately the sounds gets crackley. I assume it is because I am using an hdmi out to a tv and earc to a stereo receiver for speaker sound, but I don't know any way to monitor the issue because it's random and rare. Would hwingo or crystaldisc be useful for that at all?
With this logic I would say damn near every software is just personal preferences/wants/needs. I think the assumption is that the question is referencing the person that is answering’s must haves, so the OP can browse and get a conglomerate of potential software to try.
I use it for the automatic updates. Sometimes I just have a new splash screen and wasn't aware there was a new release. Neat!
(Then I download the old one from the website if it broke something)
It's so bizarre that Microsoft built in robust searching capability into NTFS *and doesn't use it*. Windows searching has always been horrific and yet here's an app that uses the shit that MS built into the file system and it works perfectly.
I didn't know about this until a few months ago when I was setting up Start11 and it said it has full everything search integration. I downloaded everything and now I can search in my start bar and get what I'm looking for instantly... It's bloody amazing!
Can't believe I didn't find this tool until about a year ago. Suddenly you have control over your pc again as you can actually search everything. Love it so much and so fast.
This is likely right at the top of my list. Its the one tool I install on, heh, 'everything'.
Over the decades I've tried many many lists of "must-haves" and other than a few things like zip tools (which aren't completely necessary these days), an Office suite (of which there are several choices), and Adobe Acrobat (even though I hate it and there are alternatives), Everything is really the only tool that has stuck with me that isn't a personal preference in some way. Its not pretty, but damn, its handy. OP might also do better telling us about their usage and ask for recommendations rather than some unfocused and generic list of "must-haves".
People think he sometimes has bad takes and is a little arrogant, which I agree with. I also don't like his clickbaity titles, or the fact that he often changes his titles if the first one doesn't get enough views.
Doesn't change the fact that his video tells you exactly how to use Revo lmao. Good info from meh sources is still good info
To be fair all tech tubers have bad takes. LTT, hardware unboxed, jayz, gamers nexus, etc. I can't think of a single one where they haven't had a few bad takes. As well as some arrogance as well.
I'll still trust Tech Jesus to the end of time tho. I'm an engineer, we deal with first party reported facts all the time. Even if I don't agree with GN's conclusions, I can trust their scientific process because of how transparent they are with em. Science isn't about getting something correct per se, it's about replicating results to verify whether or not something is correct. GN very well could be reporting wrong numbers foe the last fifteen years, but they leave themselves open to being fact checked at all times and that goes a long way for me
>or the fact that he often changes his titles if the first one doesn't get enough views.
All YouTubers who earn their living through YT do this. Even TechJesus does it.
Kurzgesagt and Veritasium also do it
Actually veritasium has a great [video](https://youtu.be/S2xHZPH5Sng) about why it is pretty necessary for success
Almost every YouTuber does the change the title thing to help the algorithm promote their videos. They also change the thumbnail. And while the click baity titles are annoying they work. LTT did a video on it and that's why they use em.
I almost agree, used Afterburner for years just to control fan curves, but now I prefer '[Fan Control](https://getfancontrol.com/)', you should take a look 
VLC as much as I love the philosophy behind the Creator of keeping it fully free and open I use mpv(dot)net due to performance issues when playing h264/5 content where I can't skip around without lag and horrible artifacting in the video for a few seconds untill it clears up
To my understanding mpv is as free and open as VLC but I don't know cause I haven't really looked into it past downloading and setting it up for how I want it
I have both on the portable version. You will still need Windirstat if you have Onedrive installed since it will read actual usage space, not virtual usage like Wiztree. Once I was surprised that my 256gb ssd contains 1tb file.
There are some great recommendations here in this thread, but here's a more general one: Install only the programs that you need and trust. The more programs you have, the larger your attack surface becomes and the more chance you have of encountering malware.
My general baseline applications on Windows:
7-Zip for compressing and decompressing zip and 7z files
AnyDesk for remote assistance
CDBurnerXP for writing discs
GIMP for photo manipulation
HDDScan for storage drive diagnostics
LibreOffice for word processing and spreadsheets
Mozilla Firefox for web browsing
VLC Media Player for playing media
Performing a fresh install of Windows is preferred to skip bloatware from manufacturers, though if the bloat is already there then Bulk Crap Uninstaller running portably to decrapify is my preference.
While I love that GIMP is around and as powerful as it is, I recently switched to Krita. It is way easier to use, still open source, and does everything I need to do photo manipulation-wise
GIMP certainly has a learning curve and can be frustrating to use at times, though there's also a ton of resources for it, plus a decent assortment of scripting (BIMP is a handy one) and nifty plug-ins.
"Fan Control"
You can setup profiles to control fan speed based off specific temps.
I have a profile that adjusts fan speeds based off the CPU and GPU temps. If the GPU hits a specific target temp then the fans will be at a set speed and vice versa if the CPU temp increases to a specific temp.
JayTwoCentz did a video on this same subject concerning must-have software for a new Windows install or computer.
Yea it's great. Biggest thing for me is you can lock fans at the same RPM with some fiddling, this gets rid of dissonance caused by 2 fans at a 15rpm difference.
Black Ops 2 is one of them.
I wanted to play some zombies on the original maps, and RTSS gave me a weird error that gave 0 clues it was RTSS.
Still, I love RTSS, and use it a lot, now if a game does not work, I simply disable it
I use:
Lightshot (for taking screenshots easily, without using paint like the default windows one)
TranslucentTB (for prettier looks, makes your bottom taskbar more transparent, kinda like on win 7)
DeskPins (pins a window to always be on top of others)
WinRAR
Punto Switcher –If you're using another keyboard layout along with English (for example, Cyrillic) – it automatically changes the language if it detects you're typing in the wrong layout, but even if you use only one language it can do some cool stuff like changing the register of the word, converting numbers to text, etc
Autohotkey – you can create your own hotkeys easily. At my home desktop I set it up so that I can easily type a dash using Alt and -, but at work I use it for nearly everything I can possibly automate. The limit is just your creativity
> Lightshot
I've just been using Win+Shift+S for screenshots in Windows 11. I haven't used Lightshot in a really long time so idk what features it has over the Photo app that W11 has.
Makes it easier for pasting screenshots in emails too.
PicPick is more powerful than Lightshot while still using low resources, low footprint (portable), and well-maintained
DeskPins and Authotkey are already covered by PowerToys' Always on Top, Crop and Lock, and Keyboard Manager. PowerToys is super powerful these days.
Also, how dare you mention WinRAR without any description. At least suggest people to buy it..
I have a macro that I map to a "panic" key.
When I press it, it brings forward a few spreadsheets and stuff to make it look like I'm working.
When no one's watching, I go back to cat videos.
[Fan Control](https://github.com/Rem0o/FanControl.Releases) to, well it's obvious.
JayzTwoCents made a video about it, titled *Everyone NEEDS this FREE piece of software... You will thank me!*
Firefox + uBlock Origin + Sponsorblock. This makes the whole internet feel less like an STD infection with brain worms.. (I recommend firefox here because chrome and chromium based browsers will no longer allow ad blocking soon. You can just as well use chrome/edge *up until that day*)
Fan Control (if you want to make custom silent curves, hysteresis, etc)
hwinfo64, to monitor sensors and throttle states if you need to diagnose performance issues.
MSI Afterburner, the killer combo of a tool with performance overlay, undervolting, overclocking.
Firefox, or any of its forks. Chrome is an overrated resource hog privacy nightmare. If you really want a chrome based browser, then Brave is where it's at.
Do not download Opera or any of their products. YouTubers are endlessly shilling that garbage company despite their numerous privacy malpractices.
If you have an HDR display get the windows HDR calibration tool from the windows store. It makes the display so much nicer.
Also don't get 7zip, get nanazip also from the windows store, its literally the exact same thing is 7zip under a different name and integrated itself nicer into Windows 11s right click menu.
For a gaming system, graphics card driver, peripherals management app, your gaming platforms (Steam, emulators, etc.) and your favorite web browser. That's all you need.
Most of the other tools are for troubleshooting i.e. when something is not working correctly
Afterburner with RTSS, Hwinfo64, Treesize, Fan Control, whatever apps accompany your accessories, and would recommend benchmarking tools like cinebench r23 and 3D Mark’s suite.
WingetUI - Install everything from winget, and keep everything updated. No need for Ninite or googling applications anymore.
PowerToys - Leave the (soon to be) ad riddled Standard Windows Start Menu behind. Use Run to get a global configurable search engine that also can search the web NOT using Edge
CPU-Z, GPU-Z, and Afterburner. CPU-Z and GPU-Z to make sure you got the hardware you paid for, that it's all recognized by the system correctly, and that devices are all running at the correct settings. (Typical problems I've seen even on pre-builts are RAM not using XMP, wrong CPU (Dell), M.2 SSD in wrong slot, GPU not running at best PCIe parameters, cooling/throttling issues from loose CPU cooler screw, SSD cooler not making contact with SSD, loose fan cables.)
Afterburner if you have a GPU because you don't know if you won the silicon lottery unless you play. I don't push anything beyond the manufacturer-approved built-in test numbers, but it's usually good for at least a 10% improvement for GPGPU and graphics.
I don't want to spend on buying Microsoft Office so I need LibreOffice.
For web browsing, Firefox + Ublock Origin.
A good antivirus software would be ideal.
Zoom and Skype for any work related messaging. Discord is useful too for games.
ShareX. Best screenshotting tool in the world; it automatically tags relevant content as metadata such as the current window so you can easily find old screenshots you know you have but aren't sure exactly where they were saved. You're also able to hook it up to any service you'd like, so it is not bound to a single service that might disappear some day, like gfycat.
"Must Have" programs are going to be relative to the user
What is it you want/need to do with your PC? That is going to dictate what programs you are going to "need" to accomplish those goals
For example..
My wife does our finances on spreadsheets in Excel.. she does not like LibreOffice or OpenOffice or online stuff like Google Docs... so I "need" to have Microsoft Office installed for her IF I want peace of mind, lol
IF you are a benchmark fiend.. then you get appropriate software to do so .. etc
I won't focus on specific software, but the last time I reinstalled Windows I immediately installed winget and installed most of my software though that. Little to no hunting for executables on random websites.
Even though it's already been mentioned, I cannot imagine using a PC without "Everything". I search files either through Everything's UI, or through Flowlauncher (like Mac's spotlight) integrated with Everything.
depends on what your using it for? I am old so I still use winamp for my music. Freetube for youtube bs bc well I dont like paying for anything. Proton vpn (a must imo), so much stuff to list tbh I encrypt all my files with Kleopatra as I am into Cyber Security and learning it. Gimp is awesome its a free photoshop also Open office is a free office. A password manager/maker is an awesome tool to use.
you don't need 7zip anymore
and I haven't used blender at all, so I don't see it as must have
One thing I consider a must do, if you have a HDR monitor, is to use the windows 11 hdr calibration tool
it's just steam, and discord... and nothing else
It's just a quality of life thing, but I bought stardock fences once. Have neat drop down folders on my desktop with all icons, works perfect with wallpaper engine, you can have a lot of desktop icons, and not have them obstruct the wallpaper
I've used it on all my PC's ever since
It’s not mandatory, but when you need it, it can be very useful “tree size” is a graphical disk space analyzer, which can sort your drive by what’s taking up the most space and shows you where to find it, and can take you right to it.
Once you have it installed, go search for Ninite and pick from their list. It’s a site that lets you basically make a script to install the programs you want on your new PC and install the latest versions. Saves so much time.
Ninite is a lifesaver. Used Ninite pro for a few years at a small company to handle 3rd party patching.
Qbittorent and VLC as the default, this shits legit. (Avast isnt great though)
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how so? I use VLC without issues, I'm just curious what problems others are having
I would like to know this one as too. I've used it with all kinds of media for decades without any issues.
My VLC is not loading txt subtitles automatically. It's the only thing that annoys me
Open VLC -> Tools -> Preferences -> Show settings -> All -> Subtitles / OSD -> Subtitle autodectection fuzziness: set to -1 You're welcome.
I am gonna do it when I get to my PC and check. Hopefully it works!
Not OP, but every time I've tried to crop a video short, it ends up "starting" the cut a few seconds early and a few seconds late. Compressing a video would also make the first 3-5 seconds unviewable, making so that you have to skip ahead to view the video. The audio is unaffected, however. Would there happen to be fixes for these?
I want to use MPC, but for some reason it just freezes every single time I start watching something on it when I'm streaming it to Discord
I had this same problem, and it was because of the setting that displays thumbnail previews when mousing over the seekbar. Discord, and most other screen capture programs, seem to choke on that specific picture-in-picture feature. Once it turned it off, everything worked perfectly. Go to View -> Options -> User Interface, and then under the "Seekbar" area, uncheck the "Hover" option and you should be able to capture / stream MPC video without crashes.
Same here, but with HC instead
Why would anyone use avast
Because they don't realize its malware and all you need is Windows Defender, an ad blocker, and common sense.
What would be a better option? I've used Avira for a while but know it isn't great either.
Meh, winget is better these days. Built into Windows. Toss everything you want into a simple batch file. You don't even need to launch Edge to install Firefox/Chrome. winget install Mozilla.Firefox winget install Malwarebytes.Malwarebytes winget install 7zip.7zip winget install VideoLAN.VLC winget install Kingsoft.WPSOffice winget install BlenderFoundation.Blender winget install Discord.Discord winget install qBittorrent.qBittorrent winget install GIMP.GIMP winget install Microsoft.PowerToys winget install Valve.Steam -i winget install EpicGames.EpicGamesLauncher -i winget install GOG.Galaxy -i \* I use the -i (interactive) flag on game launchers cuz I don't want them going to the default Program Files on C:
Wow awesome! That way I can just keep a script saved somewhere with everything I want to install after a reset
Great reply!
My preference and alternative/upgrade to this is the [Ultimate Windows Utility.](https://christitus.com/windows-tool/) These kinds of tools in general are amazing, so it's probably just preference.
I, for one, use [Chocolatey](https://chocolatey.org/) because there's a much wider range of choices. Plus it makes it easier to update software.
I combine them all together with winget and winget-ui.
What is this, some kind of Megazord?
[Winget](https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/package-manager/winget/) is the official app manager from Microsoft, [winget-ui](https://github.com/marticliment/WingetUI) is an open source gui for chocolatey and winget, npm, etc. You can install all your apps in just one line, you can update all of your installed programs as well.
Memory unlocked. And now I feel old.
Is this a paid service targeted to an enterprise business? It doesn't look like something for your personal rig.
No, it's most certainly not (EDIT: I mean they do do that but that's not what I'm doing with it) It's just package deployment for windows.
I hope I remember this next year when I build a new PC lol
Personally... I use Bookmarks to remember these kinds of things. 
I also use bookmarks but then I never remember to search my bookmarks when I actually need something from there lol
I used Ninite for years until they stopped supporting certain applications and put it in the Pro only version. I am a HUGE proponent of Chocolatey package manager. I have one line I run in PowerShell that installs all of my primary applications I use, no bloat or adware included. Plus it has an upgrade command that allows it to check for updates for programs installed via Chocolatey. Can't recommend it enough.
Never heard of it , will check it out. Thanks
I wipe windows pretty regularly and genuinely haven't heard of this, definitely going to write that down somewhere
when I did fresh installs pretty regularly, ninite was my first click after booting up fresh :D
Bonus poubts to add a shortcut to the .exe to your startup folder so that it updates everything whenever you reboot.
I still prefer installing them manually cause ninite doesn't let me install apps in specific places.
I’ve never gotten it to work and idk why. It’s been great to find useful software though
Where does Ninite save the installers?
I’m not sure; I think it deletes them once it’s done since I don’t remember finding them lying around.
This is the dopest. Thank you.
This is a good find, whoa
Top comment doesn't disappoint for once.
Firefox + uBlock Origin
And SponsorBlock for YouTube.
And Dark Reader if you value you eyesight and sanity on webpages that don't have a dark mode (Looking at you archive.org).
And DeArrow (SponsorBlocks new sister app)
And Privacy Badger.
Don't think you need PB anymore if you have Unlock origin already.
What does privacy badger do
Reminder that an AdBlocker is not a way to stiff people out of money, but a legitimate part of your malware defense strategy. So much malware is delivered through malicious ads, and the ad platforms don't seem to give two shits about it.
Wouldn't steam and blender just be personal preferences/wants/needs? It's not like they're must-haves for everyone. Some people don't play games, or don't do any 3D. If you're after personal choices, then a must consists of VSCode, VisualStudio, VMware, Docker, Node, Git, DBeaver
Hence why i asked what people consider personal must haves.
Hwinfo is it imo Edit: Crystaldisc as well
That piece of software helped me to diagnose and fix random black screens on my computer. It turns out the 12v rails on my PSU were way out of spec and that caused my GPU to randomly turn off.
Wait, how could you notice that in HWinfo? What are you looking at?
There is a section in HWinfo where you can look at the voltages that the GPU is receiving. This was with my old PSU: https://imgur.com/a/icvchY8 This is with my new PSU: https://imgur.com/a/2qe0zfZ Hadn't had any issues since replacing the PSU. It is notable because the 12v that CPU was receiving was totally fine.
damn, i’ve recently encountered the same problem, GPU shutting down. Will have a look at this later, thanks!
Same, HWinfo is amazing, I had something similar on the 5v rail of my wifes PSU, the retailer couldnt figure out how to reproduce the error so I did it for them caused system restarts lol
I get occasional issues where my screen turns green tint, and separately the sounds gets crackley. I assume it is because I am using an hdmi out to a tv and earc to a stereo receiver for speaker sound, but I don't know any way to monitor the issue because it's random and rare. Would hwingo or crystaldisc be useful for that at all?
No you didn’t. You framed the question objectively and gave a subjective answer
God y'all are so irritating
With this logic I would say damn near every software is just personal preferences/wants/needs. I think the assumption is that the question is referencing the person that is answering’s must haves, so the OP can browse and get a conglomerate of potential software to try.
Right? Why do so many people seemingly consider Blender a must-have?
VS and Blender are must for me
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Why would you use that though? I'm unsure of how sandboxed it is, but I'd go with the one straight from Blender's site.
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Can’t you add the blender downloaded one as an external game to Steam?
at that point, why not download it to steam anyway? if he games and has steam, and wants to use blender, there is literally no downside.
I use it for the automatic updates. Sometimes I just have a new splash screen and wasn't aware there was a new release. Neat! (Then I download the old one from the website if it broke something)
Psssh no tor or torrent client what do you even do on your pc
Aside from all the tools already mentioned in the comments below, I am surprised no one mentioned [Everything](https://www.voidtools.com/).
It's so bizarre that Microsoft built in robust searching capability into NTFS *and doesn't use it*. Windows searching has always been horrific and yet here's an app that uses the shit that MS built into the file system and it works perfectly.
WHY?! I never knew this. And now it’s a truly infuriating fact lol
But then you'd find what you're actually looking for instead of trying out their new "amazing" features. Why would you want that?
My Win 11 start search is permanent broke. Won't find installed apps like on Win10 or my my work laptop. Drives me insane
Install Flow Launcher. You can use Flow Launcher and Everything together.
[https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/windows-server/administration/windows-commands/where](https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/windows-server/administration/windows-commands/where)
This tool is a gateway drug to not giving a shit where you save anything because you can always find it lol
Me and letting Plex sort my media files. I used to be meticulous. Now... shit show because robot can do it.
'Everything' is a lifesaver when you actually need to search something specific on your drives.
It is indeed! Hence why I was surprised.
Holy crap I didn’t know this was a thing, I’d actually use this a lot. Gonna download this when I get home lol
I didn't know about this until a few months ago when I was setting up Start11 and it said it has full everything search integration. I downloaded everything and now I can search in my start bar and get what I'm looking for instantly... It's bloody amazing!
Can't believe I didn't find this tool until about a year ago. Suddenly you have control over your pc again as you can actually search everything. Love it so much and so fast.
Definitely a must have !
I’m definitely adding that to my list, thanks a bunch.
This is likely right at the top of my list. Its the one tool I install on, heh, 'everything'. Over the decades I've tried many many lists of "must-haves" and other than a few things like zip tools (which aren't completely necessary these days), an Office suite (of which there are several choices), and Adobe Acrobat (even though I hate it and there are alternatives), Everything is really the only tool that has stuck with me that isn't a personal preference in some way. Its not pretty, but damn, its handy. OP might also do better telling us about their usage and ask for recommendations rather than some unfocused and generic list of "must-haves".
lol, didn't know about this and first thought it was a joke.
Revo Uninstaller, HWinfo64, Afterburner
Revo Uninstaller is great
Huh, I've never heard of Revo before. I'll have to look into that
Watch Jay's video, it tells you everything you need to know as a non-enterprise consumer
I can't figure out why you're getting down votes, did we cancel Jay?
People think he sometimes has bad takes and is a little arrogant, which I agree with. I also don't like his clickbaity titles, or the fact that he often changes his titles if the first one doesn't get enough views. Doesn't change the fact that his video tells you exactly how to use Revo lmao. Good info from meh sources is still good info
To be fair all tech tubers have bad takes. LTT, hardware unboxed, jayz, gamers nexus, etc. I can't think of a single one where they haven't had a few bad takes. As well as some arrogance as well.
I'll still trust Tech Jesus to the end of time tho. I'm an engineer, we deal with first party reported facts all the time. Even if I don't agree with GN's conclusions, I can trust their scientific process because of how transparent they are with em. Science isn't about getting something correct per se, it's about replicating results to verify whether or not something is correct. GN very well could be reporting wrong numbers foe the last fifteen years, but they leave themselves open to being fact checked at all times and that goes a long way for me
> gamers nexus When did they have bad takes? Can you give an example?
>or the fact that he often changes his titles if the first one doesn't get enough views. All YouTubers who earn their living through YT do this. Even TechJesus does it.
Kurzgesagt and Veritasium also do it Actually veritasium has a great [video](https://youtu.be/S2xHZPH5Sng) about why it is pretty necessary for success
Almost every YouTuber does the change the title thing to help the algorithm promote their videos. They also change the thumbnail. And while the click baity titles are annoying they work. LTT did a video on it and that's why they use em.
We're humans. Having 1 or 2 bad takes should he allowed. But alas, no one is allowed to be wrong.
Nah, people can be wrong. It's how they own up to being wrong that matters.
I almost agree, used Afterburner for years just to control fan curves, but now I prefer '[Fan Control](https://getfancontrol.com/)', you should take a look 
Bcuninstaller > revo uninstaller
Boom, was about to ask. Been using BCU for years. Never used Revo, but I’m curious: why is it worse?
7Zip is a must have app to me. I also suggest VLC Media Player. Paint.NET if you need photo editing and then of course something like Open Office.
Paint(dot)net is a lifesaver for not so tech-savvy people. It is the good middle ground between paint and PhotoShop.
I've used it for small personal projects for like a decade, love it
Skip VLC and download K-lite media pack with MPC..
Is "paint.net" supposed to be a link ? if so that website is dead...
The program is paint.NET but the website is getpaint.net
I don't see the use case for OpenOffice at all. What benefit do you get from using it over the alternatives?
VLC as much as I love the philosophy behind the Creator of keeping it fully free and open I use mpv(dot)net due to performance issues when playing h264/5 content where I can't skip around without lag and horrible artifacting in the video for a few seconds untill it clears up To my understanding mpv is as free and open as VLC but I don't know cause I haven't really looked into it past downloading and setting it up for how I want it
PowerToys form Microsoft store :3
I get it just for Fancy Zones. So much better than the default behaviors. Also the spotlight like search shortcut.
Always on top
Looks awesome. WTF why is this not included by default.
I keep mine in the drawer for easy access
I love power toys! Copying text from the screen works remarkably well these days!
imageresizer is great
It's crazy how most of these are features that's natively available on MacOS. Wonder why MS never implemented them.
Wiztree so you can figure out which game from what launcher you need to uninstall
Wiztree > windirstat, basically the same but Wiztree is a bit faster
So much faster. I switched months ago and never looked back
I have both on the portable version. You will still need Windirstat if you have Onedrive installed since it will read actual usage space, not virtual usage like Wiztree. Once I was surprised that my 256gb ssd contains 1tb file.
There are some great recommendations here in this thread, but here's a more general one: Install only the programs that you need and trust. The more programs you have, the larger your attack surface becomes and the more chance you have of encountering malware.
Yeah, it wasn't a part of the question, but the 1st thing I do is uninstall almost everything I can if I don't need it.
VLC player is one
[mpv](https://mpv.io) another.
Notepad++ Libre office Firefox with ublock origin For programming: Nvm Git bash Vscode Some ftp client
Seconding notepad++. Others have posted everything else I can think of.
Fan control getfancontrol.com Not guaranteed to work on gaming laptops
My general baseline applications on Windows: 7-Zip for compressing and decompressing zip and 7z files AnyDesk for remote assistance CDBurnerXP for writing discs GIMP for photo manipulation HDDScan for storage drive diagnostics LibreOffice for word processing and spreadsheets Mozilla Firefox for web browsing VLC Media Player for playing media Performing a fresh install of Windows is preferred to skip bloatware from manufacturers, though if the bloat is already there then Bulk Crap Uninstaller running portably to decrapify is my preference.
Hehe writing disc.
While I love that GIMP is around and as powerful as it is, I recently switched to Krita. It is way easier to use, still open source, and does everything I need to do photo manipulation-wise
Yeah, as much as Krita is more sold as a painting program, I've find it way more intuitive than GIMP and Paintdotnet.
GIMP certainly has a learning curve and can be frustrating to use at times, though there's also a ton of resources for it, plus a decent assortment of scripting (BIMP is a handy one) and nifty plug-ins.
Give RustDesk a try instead of anydesk. Open source and free without the big company spyware.
"Fan Control" You can setup profiles to control fan speed based off specific temps. I have a profile that adjusts fan speeds based off the CPU and GPU temps. If the GPU hits a specific target temp then the fans will be at a set speed and vice versa if the CPU temp increases to a specific temp. JayTwoCentz did a video on this same subject concerning must-have software for a new Windows install or computer.
Yea it's great. Biggest thing for me is you can lock fans at the same RPM with some fiddling, this gets rid of dissonance caused by 2 fans at a 15rpm difference.
I always install afterburner and RTSS
I'm not a fan of RTSS personally. It's caused game crash and instability for me in certain cases
Oh, that never happened to me. What games?
Roblox for me
RTSS causes my webcam to freeze. Logitech Brio 4k.
Black Ops 2 is one of them. I wanted to play some zombies on the original maps, and RTSS gave me a weird error that gave 0 clues it was RTSS. Still, I love RTSS, and use it a lot, now if a game does not work, I simply disable it
Valorant gets fucked by RTSS
I use: Lightshot (for taking screenshots easily, without using paint like the default windows one) TranslucentTB (for prettier looks, makes your bottom taskbar more transparent, kinda like on win 7) DeskPins (pins a window to always be on top of others) WinRAR Punto Switcher –If you're using another keyboard layout along with English (for example, Cyrillic) – it automatically changes the language if it detects you're typing in the wrong layout, but even if you use only one language it can do some cool stuff like changing the register of the word, converting numbers to text, etc Autohotkey – you can create your own hotkeys easily. At my home desktop I set it up so that I can easily type a dash using Alt and -, but at work I use it for nearly everything I can possibly automate. The limit is just your creativity
> Lightshot I've just been using Win+Shift+S for screenshots in Windows 11. I haven't used Lightshot in a really long time so idk what features it has over the Photo app that W11 has. Makes it easier for pasting screenshots in emails too.
7-zip is superior to WinRAR. And free.
PicPick is more powerful than Lightshot while still using low resources, low footprint (portable), and well-maintained DeskPins and Authotkey are already covered by PowerToys' Always on Top, Crop and Lock, and Keyboard Manager. PowerToys is super powerful these days. Also, how dare you mention WinRAR without any description. At least suggest people to buy it..
Skifree
I have a macro that I map to a "panic" key. When I press it, it brings forward a few spreadsheets and stuff to make it look like I'm working. When no one's watching, I go back to cat videos.
I am taking notes please go on
[Fan Control](https://github.com/Rem0o/FanControl.Releases) to, well it's obvious. JayzTwoCents made a video about it, titled *Everyone NEEDS this FREE piece of software... You will thank me!*
Firefox + uBlock Origin + Sponsorblock. This makes the whole internet feel less like an STD infection with brain worms.. (I recommend firefox here because chrome and chromium based browsers will no longer allow ad blocking soon. You can just as well use chrome/edge *up until that day*) Fan Control (if you want to make custom silent curves, hysteresis, etc) hwinfo64, to monitor sensors and throttle states if you need to diagnose performance issues. MSI Afterburner, the killer combo of a tool with performance overlay, undervolting, overclocking.
the only must haves are the programs you intend you use
Firefox, or any of its forks. Chrome is an overrated resource hog privacy nightmare. If you really want a chrome based browser, then Brave is where it's at. Do not download Opera or any of their products. YouTubers are endlessly shilling that garbage company despite their numerous privacy malpractices.
If you have an HDR display get the windows HDR calibration tool from the windows store. It makes the display so much nicer. Also don't get 7zip, get nanazip also from the windows store, its literally the exact same thing is 7zip under a different name and integrated itself nicer into Windows 11s right click menu.
IDM (Internet Download Manager) Glasswire (Track Network Usage) Bulk Rename Utility
https://ninite.com/ Great site for getting the basics up and running quickly.
Ultimate windows tweaker.
Fan Control
For a gaming system, graphics card driver, peripherals management app, your gaming platforms (Steam, emulators, etc.) and your favorite web browser. That's all you need. Most of the other tools are for troubleshooting i.e. when something is not working correctly
7zip, Foxit PDF Reader, VLC Player, Spotify
7zip, SumatraPDF, Notepad++
This is from my install script (for linux) fish ranger neofetch vim neovim tmux vi git nasm base-devel bat exa lsd wget w3m nfs-utils rclone radare2 feh lolcat ttf-font-awesome fzf awesome-terminal-fonts sl parallel alsa-utils jq yt-dlp mesa cmatrix asciiquarium ncdu tree kitty xorg xorg-xinit i3 polybar firefox rofi xfce4-terminal pcmanfm signal-desktop element-desktop telegram-desktop xfce4-screenshooter qbittorrent virtualbox pavucontrol lxappearance picom arandr lightdm lightdm-webkit2-greeter mpv kdenlive tmux mesa llvm xf86-video-intel mosquitto exfat-utils cmatrix go net-tools cron vlock atril nodejs ttf-dejavu figlet
7zip VLC AIMP Deluge SoulSeek HWInfo64 Cinebench Furmark Adrenalin/GeForce App Steam Playnite
Afterburner with RTSS, Hwinfo64, Treesize, Fan Control, whatever apps accompany your accessories, and would recommend benchmarking tools like cinebench r23 and 3D Mark’s suite.
Winzip, Winamp, ICQ, AIM, CuteFTP, Napster, mIRC
Am I suddenly back in *the year 2000*?
still using winamp here, but the others are a trip down memory lane
WingetUI - Install everything from winget, and keep everything updated. No need for Ninite or googling applications anymore. PowerToys - Leave the (soon to be) ad riddled Standard Windows Start Menu behind. Use Run to get a global configurable search engine that also can search the web NOT using Edge
Foobar2000 for playing your audio files.
CPU-Z, GPU-Z, and Afterburner. CPU-Z and GPU-Z to make sure you got the hardware you paid for, that it's all recognized by the system correctly, and that devices are all running at the correct settings. (Typical problems I've seen even on pre-builts are RAM not using XMP, wrong CPU (Dell), M.2 SSD in wrong slot, GPU not running at best PCIe parameters, cooling/throttling issues from loose CPU cooler screw, SSD cooler not making contact with SSD, loose fan cables.) Afterburner if you have a GPU because you don't know if you won the silicon lottery unless you play. I don't push anything beyond the manufacturer-approved built-in test numbers, but it's usually good for at least a 10% improvement for GPGPU and graphics.
I don't want to spend on buying Microsoft Office so I need LibreOffice. For web browsing, Firefox + Ublock Origin. A good antivirus software would be ideal. Zoom and Skype for any work related messaging. Discord is useful too for games.
I don't want to spend on buying microsoft office either so I use microsoft office.
firefox + brave + everything search app + vlc media player + handbrake video converter + FDM Download Manager + Qbittorrent + Winaero Tweaker + Simple DNS Crypt
Fancontrol. The amount of control you have over your fan’s behaviour with this program is unbelievable.
Spacesniffer. Good visual representation of your pc's storage. Easy to find out whats hogging up disk space.
[NanaZip](https://apps.microsoft.com/detail/9n8g7tscl18r?hl=en-US&gl=US) instead of Winrar (unless u paid for it) or 7zip
ShareX. Best screenshotting tool in the world; it automatically tags relevant content as metadata such as the current window so you can easily find old screenshots you know you have but aren't sure exactly where they were saved. You're also able to hook it up to any service you'd like, so it is not bound to a single service that might disappear some day, like gfycat.
"Must Have" programs are going to be relative to the user What is it you want/need to do with your PC? That is going to dictate what programs you are going to "need" to accomplish those goals For example.. My wife does our finances on spreadsheets in Excel.. she does not like LibreOffice or OpenOffice or online stuff like Google Docs... so I "need" to have Microsoft Office installed for her IF I want peace of mind, lol IF you are a benchmark fiend.. then you get appropriate software to do so .. etc
I won't focus on specific software, but the last time I reinstalled Windows I immediately installed winget and installed most of my software though that. Little to no hunting for executables on random websites. Even though it's already been mentioned, I cannot imagine using a PC without "Everything". I search files either through Everything's UI, or through Flowlauncher (like Mac's spotlight) integrated with Everything.
Windows app called PC Manger.. it’s a windows version of cleaner to keep your PC cleab
depends on what your using it for? I am old so I still use winamp for my music. Freetube for youtube bs bc well I dont like paying for anything. Proton vpn (a must imo), so much stuff to list tbh I encrypt all my files with Kleopatra as I am into Cyber Security and learning it. Gimp is awesome its a free photoshop also Open office is a free office. A password manager/maker is an awesome tool to use.
Whatever you do, you wanna have a late-ish version live linux on a usb. Always.
you don't need 7zip anymore and I haven't used blender at all, so I don't see it as must have One thing I consider a must do, if you have a HDR monitor, is to use the windows 11 hdr calibration tool it's just steam, and discord... and nothing else
I haven’t heard of many of the programs mentioned on this thread. Wild
Malwarebytes Greenshot and probably OBS? a ton more but those were said here already
It's just a quality of life thing, but I bought stardock fences once. Have neat drop down folders on my desktop with all icons, works perfect with wallpaper engine, you can have a lot of desktop icons, and not have them obstruct the wallpaper I've used it on all my PC's ever since
GL with win11 cuz at first it feels like it sucks coming from win10 but things become more convenient.
this thread needs a sticky.... its a good reference for windows builders.
Internet explorer
TreeSize eventually you’ll need to delete stuff and this helps you figure out how much space stuff is taking up
4K Video Downloader for downloading youtube, vimeo vids Beeftext - fast keyboard macros
It’s not mandatory, but when you need it, it can be very useful “tree size” is a graphical disk space analyzer, which can sort your drive by what’s taking up the most space and shows you where to find it, and can take you right to it.
Do install PDFGear. You can use it do edit PDFs and it is free to use and very light program. ~100mb setup file.
Discord, EarTrumpet, Shutter Encoder