My Top 50 Windows Apps 🖥

A list of my favorite software for Windows. Although not my primary system, when I do use Windows the following applications have been extremely useful for certain tasks. I usually prefer to run containerized or portable apps where possible. This is the list that I reference when setting up a fresh system.

Items marked with '❌' are either not fully open source, or are not free.

General Utilities

• Tor Browser - For more anonymous browsing + access to the Tor network
• VirtualBox - x86, AMD64, and Intel64 virtual machines
• WinSCP - SFTP client and remote access file manager
• qBittorrent - BitTorrent client
• HWiNFO64 - System info and diagnostics ❌
• Process Hacker - Monitor system resources and analyse currently running processes
• WireShark - Packet analyzer
• Angry IP Scanner - Quickly find IPs within a range, open ports and other info
• NetLimiter - Network traffic monitoring tool with simple firewall functionality ❌
• Etcher - For flashing ISOs onto USB drives with a overly-fancy UI
• Universal Radio Hacker - SDR client for investigating wireless protocols
• ExifCleaner - Tool to easily remove metadata from images and media

Security Utilities

• Cryptomator - Fast file encryption for cloud storage
• VeraCrypt - Strong disk, container and file encryption
• KeePassXC - Password manager for KeePass files
• Kleopatra - Certificate manager and PGP file encryption suit
• WireGuard - VPN connection client using WireGuard protocol
• CalmAV - Anti-virus scanner (See also, ClamWin GUI app)
• BleachBit - Frees up disk space by deleting unneeded data in the cache and temporary files
• Windows Spy Blocker - Block Microsoft telemetry and data collection and manage application access
• Harden Tools - Easily turn off undesired or privacy-invasive Windows features
• WFN - Firewall notifier to monitor outgoing connections

Improvement Utilities

• CopyQ - Advanced clipboard manager
• Espanso - Text expander with powerful matching system (similar to AHK)
• AutoHotKey - Keyboard remapping, macros and automation scripting
• Quick Look - Small utility that lets you quickly preview a file by pressing Space
• EarTrumpet - A utility that provides better volume control on a per app basis
• ColorPicker - Minimal but complete color picker
• Power Toys - Color picker, fancy zones, run dialog, rename utility, shortcuts and more
• SidebarDiagnostics - Customizable desktop widget showing system resource and hardware info
• Wox - Global search, run commands and execute actions with Alt + Space
• Groupy ❌- Group multiple windows into browser-like tabs, while preserving Alt + Tab switching

Creativity

• Gimp - Image and photo editing application
• DarkTable - Organize and bulk edit photos (similar to Lightroom)
• InkScape - Digital drawing/ illustration
• Audacity - Multi-track audio editor and recording
• OBS Studio - High performance streaming/ broadcasting and recording
• VLC Player - Multimedia player and play back framework
• Shotcut - Video editing platform
• HandBrake - For converting video from any format to a selection of modern codecs
• Synfig Studio - 2D animation
• Blender - 3D modelling, rendering and sculpting
• Cura - 3D Printing software, for slicing models
• Dia - Versatile diagramming tool, useful for UML (similar to MS Visio)
• ShareX - Quick and easy screen recorder
• SmugMug ❌- Premium photography backup, sync, sharing and publishing service

Media

• FreeTube - YouTube client
• Nuclear - Free music streaming & downloads
• Spotify ❌- Premium music subscription
• Amarok - Powerful local music player
• Pocket Casts ❌- Podcast player
• Plex - Client for accessing self-hosted media server
• Steam ❌- PC game store

Productivity

• Standard Notes - Encrypted, synced notes application
• Thunderbird - Email, calendar and contacts client
• ProtonMail Bridge - Allows for ProtonMail to be used with client
• Tresorit ❌- Cloud storage sync and backup
• 1Password ❌- Cloud-synced, multi-device password manager and auto-fill
• Firefox - Web browser with containers
• Brave Browser - Chromium-based web browser
• Binance ❌- Full-screen crypto trading
• LibreOffice - Basic Office suit

Development

• VS Code - Customizable code editor, with InteliSense, built-in compilers, git and plugins
• Cmder - Better console emulator for Windows, with Tmux-like features, great for SSH sessions
• PostMan - For testing and developing API endpoints
• Android Studio - For native Android development with Java/ Kotlin
• Arduino IDE - Compile and upload for IoT devices
• Processing - IDE and compiler for creative coding with the Processing language
• DB Browser for SQLite - Create, design, and edit database files for SQLite
• RunJS - Real-time JavaScript playground, useful for writing quick scripts
• Docker Desktop - Easy way to containerize applications
• Notepad++ - Lightweight text editor with syntax highlighting
• Zap - Web app security analyzer
• Vega - Automated security testing to find XXS, SQL injection and other issues
• Git - Version control system

Device-Specific

• YubiKey Manager - Configuring YubeKey devices
• OnlyKey - For configuring the OnlyKey with PGP, SSH, Passwords, 2FA, Crypto and secure data
• StreamDeck - Setting up macros on the StreamDeck
• Razer Synapse ❌- Customize the RGB for Razer products
• SoundBlaster Audigy FX ❌- Drivers and audio level customization for sound card
• AMD Radeon Settings ❌- Drivers for customizing graphics card for different tasks
• Chameleon - For programming the ChameleonMini NFC / RFID contactless smartcard emulator

Installation

On new installs, Microsoft's Package Manager can be useful for quickly installing required software.
For example, this is the winget script that I use:

winget install --id=Lexikos.AutoHotkey -e
winget install --id=REALiX.HWiNFO -e
winget install --id=GNURadio.GNURadio -e
winget install --id=Balena.Etcher -e
winget install --id=WiresharkFoundation.Wireshark -e
winget install --id=Mozilla.Firefox -e
winget install --id=angryziber.AngryIPScanner -e
winget install --id=Microsoft.PowerToys -e
winget install --id=Docker.DockerDesktop -e
winget install --id=Oracle.VirtualBox -e
winget install --id=WinSCP.WinSCP -e
winget install --id=qBittorrent.qBittorrent -e
winget install --id=Cryptomator.Cryptomator -e
winget install --id=Keybase.Keybase -e
winget install --id=KeePassXCTeam.KeePassXC -e
winget install --id=StandardNotes.StandardNotes -e
winget install --id=Mozilla.Thunderbird -e
winget install --id=ProtonTechnologies.ProtonMailBridge -e
winget install --id=AgileBits.1Password -e
winget install --id=BraveSoftware.BraveBrowser -e
winget install --id=thehandbraketeam.handbrake -e
winget install --id=LibreOffice.LibreOffice -e
winget install --id=GIMP.GIMP -e
winget install --id=Inkscape.Inkscape -e
winget install --id=darktable.darktable -e
winget install --id=Audacity.Audacity -e
winget install --id=OBSProject.OBSStudio -e
winget install --id=VideoLAN.VLC -e
winget install --id=Meltytech.Shotcut -e
winget install --id=BlenderFoundation.Blender -e
winget install --id=Ultimaker.Cura -e
winget install --id=Spotify.Spotify -e
winget install --id=Valve.Steam -e
winget install --id=Postman.Postman -e
winget install --id=Arduino.Arduino -e
winget install --id=SQLiteBrowser.SQLiteBrowser -e
winget install --id=Notepad++.Notepad++ -e
winget install --id=elgato.streamdeck -e

See also, my Winstall Collection of the above apps.

Note: It's very important to always carefully check the URL for each download before proceeding. Only install applications from their official source.