1st programs to download on a new pc

A clipboard manager is an important Windows app because it saves you a lot of time. Instead of only being able to keep one item on your PC's clipboard at once, clipboard managers let you keep track of the last several dozen entries you've copied. ClipClip is a great Windows 10 clipboard manager to use. In addition to logging what you copy, the app also lets you pin frequent snippets for easy access, and create folders for easily pasting canned text like addresses, email responses, and similar.

The app doesn't overwhelm you with options, but does let you tweak its hotkeys, disable clipboard monitoring when needed, and choose what the app ignores. Add it to your list of basic Windows software and you'll never have to worry about managing your PC's clipboard again. Download: ClipClip Free. It's not humanly possible to create strong passwords for every account and remember them all.

That's why you need a password manager. It's a secure service that creates good passwords for you and locks them behind one master password, which is the only one you have to remember. Bitwarden is the best free password manager and one of the most important pieces of software you can download. In addition to the desktop app, you'll need to install the Bitwarden extension in your browser of choice to easily auto-fill passwords. Follow our complete guide to getting started with a password manager to learn how to get started.

Download: Bitwarden Free, subscription available. Backing up your PC is essential, as there's only a natural disaster, break-in, or malware attack could wipe out all the files on your machine.

You don't want to lose all your documents, photos, and other files and have to start from scratch. We like Backblaze as an essential backup service for Windows For just a few dollars a month, the service backs up everything on your PC, as well as any external drives you connect, to the Backblaze cloud. You don't have to worry about choosing what gets backed up, and there are no limits to your backup size either. While it's the only app on this list that doesn't have a free option, backing up is worth paying for.

If you ever lost all your files, the app will pay for itself in an instant. It's an easy-to-use tool for making local backups of your files. Everyone knows the hassle of running low on storage space.

That's why one of the other apps you should install on every Windows system is a disk analyzer. TreeSize Free is a straightforward way to find out what's taking up space on your computer. Simply open it and tell it which disk to scan, and it will order all the folders on your PC based on how large they are. You can then see the largest files on your computer and take action to delete or move them accordingly. Don't waste time trying to manually hunt through folders and find large files—let this essential utility do it for you.

Download: TreeSize Free Free, premium version available. If you want to automate more on your computer, then AutoHotkey is something you need to download. It's a custom scripting tool that let you define your own commands, making it as useful as whatever you can dream up.

As just a few examples, you can create quick text expansion, enable automatic typo correction, override certain keyboard keys, and create macros to perform several actions with a few keypresses.

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 kit. See our guide to getting started with AutoHotkey and great AutoHotkey scripts to try as an introduction.

Download: AutoHotkey Free. We've looked at essential apps for Windows 10 that everyone should install right away, and they're almost all free. If you don't prefer one of our picks, you'll find a suitable alternative without much trouble. Most people will get plenty of use out of these programs and appreciate them more than default software that comes installed on Windows Now that you know this necessary software for your PC, you should also be aware of useless Windows apps that you should uninstall.

Wondering which Windows 10 apps to uninstall? Here are several unnecessary Windows 10 apps, programs, and bloatware you should remove.

He left his IT job to write full-time in and has never looked back. He's been covering tech tutorials, video game recommendations, and more as a professional writer for over seven years. Internet Browser: Google Chrome. The seven programs above will cover the most basic needs of just about anyone. Your personal and business needs will dictate what other programs you should get.

Also keep in mind that there are alternatives to all of these programs. Most of the programs listed are free. A personal computer is just that; personal. If you want even more freeware recommendations, check out our 99 best freeware programs article. Guy has been published online and in print newspapers, nominated for writing awards, and cited in scholarly papers due to his ability to speak tech to anyone, but still prefers analog watches. Read Guy's Full Bio. Your email address will not be published.

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Discord - The de facto gaming messaging client, and one we use every day. It also has a great mobile app. Join the PC Gamer Club and come chat with us! Zoom - You're probably going to get roped into a Zoom call sooner or later. Might as well be prepared. Free and lightweight and it'll never bug you to pay for it. VLC - VLC can play anything and is a reliable all-around media player, with no need for outside codecs. We have another media player recommendation below, too.

Audacity - Optional If you do any sort of audio recording or editing, Audacity is a great, free, powerful tool. Net - Sooner or later you'll probably need these.

Might as well load them up now, or you'll end up groaning when some program asks for one. Maybe none? IrfanView - Optional You probably already know how to take screenshots on your PC or otherwise deal with images in bulk, but IrfanView can run automatically in the background taking shots at different intervals.

It is also our favorite tool for mass resizing, cropping, conversion, and so on. Powerful automation tools, and good for just viewing images, too. Windirstat - Right now your new PC is whistle-clean, but it won't always be that way. Windirstat gives you a nice visual breakdown of how all your storage is allocated, making it easy to locate some big chunky files you might want to toss in the recyle bin. TeamViewer - A very handy tool for accessing your PC remotely.

A free, easy-to-use remote desktop program. Also a good way to help parents troubleshoot their computers, if you can walk them through installing it. Otherwise, grab the more bloated but more powerful Adobe Acrobat. If you're assembling your own installer, give each of the above programs a checkmark, then click "Get Your Ninite" to create an installer that bundles all of these programs together.

Then run it, sit back, and watch your PC fill up with the utilities you'll be using all the time. You probably know exactly which launchers you need, but depending on what games you play, or where you like to hunt for deals, you should consider installing the following:.

Afterburner is an awesome free combo package for overclocking your GPU and making your games run better. The graphics overclocking part of the program will let you tweak the settings of your GPU, getting even more performance out of a card with higher memory and processor clocks.