Top 10 free PC programs everyone should have

There are different kinds of free and open-source projects that exist, many of which are superior as compared to commercially available products. Below is a quick rundown of what we think are the greatest, grouped into 10 categories.

Antivirus and malware protection

Most PC users are aware that their computer requires protection in order to prevent their system from viruses and may already have antivirus software installed on their system. Most people are unaware that various free programs are available that are as best to keep your system safe and, in some cases, better as compared to commercial counterparts. Our suggestions are listed below.

• Antivirus program: Microsoft Defender Antivirus
• Malware and Spyware protection: Malwarebytes

Backup solutions

For PCs, there are numerous free and commercially backup tools available. Many backup programs help to save your essential information as they store cloudily. For example, unfortunately, if your house got looted or burned, or if your backup discs were lost, you will lose your data. Therefore, in this condition, we suggest using online backup services to avoid losing vital data. However, many backup programs are available that are stored locally.

Browsers

Google Chrome is still our preferred browser, which is unsurprising. It is lightning fast and offers handy features such as a large library of Chrome extensions and the ability to instantly search Google for a picture. It has the feature of cross-platform syncing, which means you can open tabs from your desktop on your phone and vice versa; you have got a superb browser for all purposes. Chrome, on the other hand, is not without flaws. Many users dislike Google's widespread tracking in Chrome, which eats up a lot of RAM (Random Access Memory). However, there are plenty of other wonderful browsers to pick from, such as Firefox and Opera.

There are a number of fantastic free alternatives that everyone should try; however, on Windows computer systems, Microsoft Internet Explorer or Edge come pre-installed. As compared to Internet Explorer, these free alternatives are more feature-rich, quicker, and secure in many cases.

Internet Browser: Mozilla Firefox or Google Chrome

What is Browser

Compression utility

You will come across a.zip, .rar, or another compressed file when downloading files from the Internet. Dealing with these files may be straightforward if you use a free file compressing program.

Disc ripper and creation utility

Making a CD from scratch, extracting data from an audio CD, or creating an audio or data CD/DVD are all possible options. ISO can be done for free with the help of following the free instructions below.

CD burner utility: CDBurnerXP

E-mail

Another service that can be used for free is e-mail. In modern times, the majority of people use online e-mail services such as the one indicated below. We strongly advise you to use one or both of the free programs given below; however, if you still use an e-mail program like Microsoft Outlook.

E-mail client: Mozilla Thunderbird

Online e-mail: Gmail

FTP, SFTP, and SSH utility

An FTP client or an SSH client is required for those individuals who manage a website or need to upload or download files. There are several commercial programs available that have the potential to accomplish this, but our free suggestions below outperform them all.

• FTP client: Filezilla
• SSH client: MobaXterm and Putty

Image editor, paint program, and picture organizer

Whether you want to fix old images, obscure vital information in screenshots, or try your hand at simple picture modification, everyone should have an image editing program installed on their computer.

Although Photoshop is the industry standard, there are a number of excellent free options for editing, generating, and organizing your digital photographs. It's also more user-friendly. Paint.NET is a must-have Windows program for image modification. As compared to Microsoft Paint, it is far more powerful, but it does not have many confusing features. Using just a few clicks, you can add text and shapes to your photographs, auto-level photos to improve their look, and blur out areas of an image with the Paint.NET application. Plugins can also be used to enhance its capabilities.

Furthermore, there are many tools that have the ability to perform these tasks that can cost hundreds of dollars, yet the programs listed here are all entirely free.

• Image editor: GIMP
• Picture organizer: Google Photos
• Paint program: net

Multimedia

In modern times, a variety of multimedia programs are available in the market, each with its own set of capabilities and limitations. Our picks for the best free multimedia programs in order to watch videos and record audio are listed below.

• Audio editing and creating tool: Audacity
• Video and DVD Player: VLC and MPC-HC

Office Suite

At some point, you will probably need a tool that allows you to deal with spreadsheets, documents, and presentations as well. Microsoft Office is a powerful piece of software that is used in a variety of sectors. However, there are free alternatives that are compatible with Office documents, and provide nearly the same functionality to deal with document works. For example, LibreOffice includes replacements for Microsoft Word, Excel, PowerPoint, Access, and other programs, which is a powerful office suite and completely free.

It's worth noting that if you don't want to use LibreOffice, you can also utilize FreeOffice; however, a once-popular alternative, FreeOffice is now basically dead. Additionally, like Word Online or Google Docs can also be used to deal with documents, but we're concentrating on full desktop downloads right now.

Office suite: LibreOffice

Download: FreeOffice

Text and source code editing

Notepad is a simple text editor that is included with Microsoft Windows. However, it does not have additional features, and provides only the basic text editing functions. Notepad++ is a free tool that offers top-notch features and performance for sophisticated text file editing, including source code editing.

Text and source code editor: Notepad++