PC World's Essential Software

Our list of essential software, as tested and used by PC-Worlders, with descriptions and download links.

Harley Ogier | Tuesday, October 02 2012 | 13 Comments

Multimedia
Graphics, Audio & Video

Audacity
Audio recorder and editor
http://audacity.sourceforge.net

CDex
CD ripper and MP3 encoding tool
http://cdexos.sourceforge.net

Fraps
Real-time video capture & benchmarking
http://www.fraps.com

GOM Player
Free, multi-format media player
http://www.gomlab.com/eng/GMP_download.htm

Inkscape
Vector graphics editor
http://www.inkscape.org

Microsoft Image Composite Editor
Panorama stitching tool
http://research.microsoft.com/en-us/um/redmond/groups/ivm/ICE/

MP3Gain
MP3 volume normaliser
http://mp3gain.sourceforge.net

Paint.NET
Intuitive but powerful image editor for Windows
http://www.getpaint.net

Picasa
Image management tool
http://picasa.google.com/index.html

QuickTime
Media player
http://www.quicktime.com

The GIMP
Image editor
http://www.gimp.org

VLC
Media Player
http://www.videolan.org/vlc/

Internet
Browsers and Web essentials

Dropbox
Online backup, file synchronisation and sharing
http://www.dropbox.com

Google Chrome
Web browser
http://www.google.com/chrome

Mozilla Firefox
Web browser
http://www.firefox.com

Mozilla Thunderbird
Email client
http://www.mozillamessaging.com/thunderbird

Opera
Web browser
http://www.opera.com

Safari
Web browser
http://www.apple.com/safari

Vuze
Online file-sharing application
http://azureus.sourceforge.net

Xobni
Contacts add-on for Outlook, Gmail, Android, iPhone and Blackberry
http://www.xobni.com

Productivity
Office applications, PDF editors and more

LibreOffice
Free, fully-featured productivity suite
http://www.libreoffice.org/download/

OpenOffice.org
Free, fully-featured productivity suite
http://www.openoffice.org

Sumatra PDF
Free PDF reader software (alternative to Adobe Reader)
http://blog.kowalczyk.info/software/sumatrapdf/free-pdf-reader.html

Utilities
Must-have apps for the power-user

7-Zip
Freeware ZIP compression utility
http://www.7-zip.org

BatteryBar
Small but accurate battery meter for Windows
http://osirisdevelopment.com/BatteryBar/index.html

CCleaner
Clean up your registry, temp files and more
http://www.piriform.com/ccleaner

IObit Uninstaller
Remove all traces of uninstalled programs
http://www.iobit.com/advanceduninstaller.html

Notepad2
Advanced Text, HTML & Source Code Editor
http://www.flos-freeware.ch/notepad2.html

Notepad++
Advanced Text, HTML & Source Code Editor
http://notepad-plus-plus.org

Backup & Security
Backup utilities, Virus scanners and Anti-spyware tools

Ad-Aware Free Antivirus+
Anti-spyware tool
http://www.lavasoft.com/download/adaware_download.php?p=adaware_free

AVG Free Edition antivirus
Antivirus for Windows
http://free.avg.com/us-en/free-antivirus-download

Malwarebytes' Anti-Malware
Free tool to detect and remove malware
http://www.malwarebytes.org

Secunia Personal Software Inspector (PSI)
PC Security Tool
http://secunia.com/vulnerability_scanning/personal

SpyBot Search and Destroy
Anti-spyware tool
http://www.safer-networking.org/en/index.html

SyncBack
Backup tool
http://www.2brightsparks.com

ThreatFire AntiVirus
Free malware detection tool
http://www.threatfire.com

TrueCrypt
Encryption Utility
http://www.truecrypt.org

Drivers & Runtimes
The boring stuff your PC just can't live without

AMD Catalyst
Graphics drivers for AMD Radeon cards
http://game.amd.com/us-en/drivers_catalyst.aspx

Java Runtime Environment
Run Java applications on your Windows PC
http://www.java.com/en/download/manual.jsp

NVIDIA drivers
Graphics drivers for NVIDIA GeForce cards
http://www.nvidia.com/content/drivers/drivers.asp

13 Comments

As per the usual recommendations of the PF1 forums: We're regularly recommending these apps too:

Microsoft Security Essentials (kicks the backside of AVG something fierce)
Defraggler
Recuva (both from Piriform, makers of Ccleaner)
Teamviewer for help and support
Syncback for backup and syncing files

Also the K-lite codec pack with included Media Player Classic is better than VLC. Though VLC has it up for simplicity, K-lite just wins for features and quality.
Posted by 8ftmetalhead at 18:17:49 on October 5, 2012

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Essential software PDFXCview. Add comments, lines, callouts to PDF
QDir Multipane file manager - good for serious file maintenance and sorting
Keepas. Password safe. works well.
Diaportable. Diagramming, flowcharting
EssentialPIM Portable. Contact manager, Note taker, Diary
Convertall unit conversion but be wary, it uses american, not International or imperial for things like gallons etc.
FSViewer; Image viewer. handles most formats. Almost as good as Irfan view but smaller
DevProject Manager. Flow charting and critical pathing.

These are all free open source and portable versions run from USB stick. They do not need installing, download and either unzip or run setup.
There are hundreds available. No-one needs to purchase general software, just make a donation.
Posted by Anonymous at 12:20:51 on October 4, 2012

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Essential software Thanks for the great list, Anonymous! Some of those apps I'm already familiar with, like KeePass, Dia Portable and FSViewer -- I'll get them added ASAP, and have a look at the others.

This reminds me that I never carried over the 'Portable Apps' section of the DVD, which was essentially an offline mirror of PortableApps.net. Might just add one big link to that, and spotlight a few particularly useful apps.

Cheers again, H
Posted by Harley Ogier, PCW at 14:08:01 on October 4, 2012

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Kingsoft Office You should have a look at kingsoft office......
Posted by Joshua Hayes at 16:46:28 on September 27, 2012

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Sumatra Tried Sumtra - aweful yellow colour. Have found Foxit Reader a better utility for PDFs
Posted by Adrian at 11:26:58 on September 26, 2012

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Adaware Adaware from Lavasoft is also a very good program.I recommend it too people who ask about malware programs.
Posted by Donza at 14:25:50 on September 24, 2012

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Adaware Not sure why Ad-Aware ever dropped off the disc -- good suggestion, I've added it to the list here.
Posted by Harley Ogier, PCW at 9:24:10 on September 25, 2012

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More apps i think you should also upload the search program 'Everything' and 'Terra Copy'. They are both very useful pieces of software that I use everyday.
Posted by Charles at 19:23:07 on September 7, 2012

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More apps Thanks for the suggestions -- haven't heard of either, personally. Will give them both a try!
Posted by Harley Ogier, PCW at 9:24:44 on September 25, 2012

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LibreOffice worth a look It might be worth listing LibreOffice instead of OpenOffice. They have done a lot of work to remove dead code and make the applications run faster.
Posted by Ben at 14:38:49 on August 30, 2012

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