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The most popular programs for a Windows 7 computer. Necessary programs for a computer

Hello, dear friends! In today’s article I will tell you about all the necessary programs for a computer, without installing which working on it will be very difficult or simply impossible.

To fully use all the capabilities of your computer friend, you need to install the necessary programs on it.

All the necessary programs must be installed on your computer or laptop, regardless of what activity you engage in on it. They significantly expand or improve the functionality of your device.

After installing an operating system (hereinafter referred to as OS) on your computer, you have access to a certain number of programs built into it (the number and versions of programs depend on the version of the installed OS). As a rule, the functionality of these programs is limited.

To use all the capabilities of the software, we are advised to purchase it (for a lot of money) 🙂 There are many ways to get around these restrictions, or use free software.

The list will contain both paid and free programs that have similar characteristics and perform the same task.

Each program will be analyzed separately. The pros and cons of the programs, their brief description, and links to developer sites for downloading them will be indicated.

All the programs below work only under Windows OS (versions for each program will be indicated separately) So, let's get started...

Regardless of whether you bought a new computer assembled (with a pre-installed OS), purchased individual components and assembled the computer yourself, or simply reinstalled the operating system, you need to install drivers for the existing hardware on the computer to get started.

To see if all the drivers are installed on a computer with a pre-installed OS, you need to click the “start” button, then the “control panel” tab, then for Windows 7 select “device manager” from the list that appears, and for Windows XP click “system” and select there "device Manager".

A menu like this (or not) will appear:

It should not contain any red or yellow icons. If they are not present, then all devices are installed and working normally. If there is, then you need to determine by the name of the device what the problem is and try to fix it.

Drivers for desktop computers come on disks (CD or DVD)

For laptops, they can also come on disks (if you buy a laptop without an OS installed). If the operating system is installed, then most often the drivers are located in a special folder (software distributions, drivers, etc.).

Driver installation procedure

If you install drivers from a disk and there is an automatic installation option, you can use it.

This is the best method for an inexperienced user. The disadvantage of this method is the installation of unnecessary programs (various temperature sensors, fan speed control, etc.) that come with the drivers.

If you know what needs to be installed, then in the disk menu you can uncheck unnecessary programs and install only the necessary ones. Below I have given an example of a disk menu from my motherboard:

Installation of drivers can occur either automatically or manually, which gives us the opportunity to install everything separately or only the drivers we need.

It is advisable to install drivers for each device separately with a restart of the computer and in a certain order (preferably, but not required).

  1. Chipset
  2. Sound
  3. Video
  4. All other internal devices, and after them the peripherals (printer, scanner, etc.)

As soon as we have all the devices installed or connected to the computer working, we can proceed to installing the programs that are so necessary for our work or entertainment.

Archivers

To continue further installation of the necessary programs, we first need to install an archiver, since almost all software distributions are packaged in archives.

The most popular of the paid archivers is WinRar.

In my opinion, WinRar has the only drawback, it is paid, but it returns 100% of the money spent on it. This is a great and reliable tool for storing, transferring and protecting any of your files. Be it a photo, text document or video. If you don't mind the money, then this is the best option.

WinZip is also a paid archiver, but twice as expensive as WinRar. In terms of functionality, it is in no way inferior to WinRar, but ease of use suffers. Because of these two shortcomings, its rather low popularity is reflected. You can see the comparative characteristics of these two archivers.

Now let's move on to the free and very popular archiver 7Zip.

7Zip has all the necessary functionality and is considered one of the best programs for quickly compressing, storing and transmitting important information. The main advantages of this archiver are the presence of its own 7z compression format, which is ahead of WinRar in speed and compression ratio. There are both 32 and 64 bit versions of the program.

Each of the presented archivers will provide you with everything you need for fast and productive work.

Antiviruses

Now let's talk about the next type of necessary software - antiviruses.

Antivirus software is one of the most popular and popular among all computer users.

Antivirus is considered one of the most necessary programs, not only because of its extreme practical usefulness (with proper configuration and correct use), but also simply as a necessary attribute of a normal computer, although many users do not pay any attention to the operation of the antivirus. They believe that if an antivirus is installed, that is enough. It works, it updates, and that’s fine. Many people simply have no time or are not interested in learning at least a little about the capabilities of the antivirus they have installed and the minimum necessary settings to make it work much more efficiently.

You can afford not to be very well versed in Word, Excel and other fairly important programs for everyday computer work, but you cannot afford to be irresponsible with your data on the computer.

If the antivirus cannot prevent the threat, then you (under certain circumstances) may lose important documents, photos, etc., and no one wants that. If you do not have copies of the data destroyed by the virus, then consider that you have lost it almost irrevocably.

Therefore, choosing a good antivirus that is right for you is quite a difficult task, even for an experienced user, and even more so for those who are less knowledgeable. Below I will provide and briefly describe the most popular antivirus programs and provide links to developer sites.

And remember, there is no ideal antivirus, regardless of whether you choose a paid or free program.

Kaspersky Anti-Virus is deservedly considered the most popular paid anti-virus program in Russia. It has two most popular packages representing basic and optimal protection. You can see more details about the capabilities of these products. There are also versions of the program for mobile phones, tablet computers and Apple products.

If you decide to purchase Kaspersky Internet Security or Kaspersky Total Security, then by clicking on this link, you will receive the ORFO spell checker as a gift.

It is followed, in descending order of popularity, by Dr. antivirus programs. Web and Eset NOD32. These programs are paid. Their functionality is quite sufficient to provide the user with good protection against various computer viruses.

Also Dr. Web provides an excellent free utility for detecting and removing Dr. viruses. Web CureIt!

Of the free antiviruses, I would like to especially highlight Avast! Free Antivirus. It provides excellent protection against most existing pests and is simple and easy to use. There is a more powerful paid version called avast! Internet Security. At the end of 2013, the most powerful version of the antivirus appeared - avast! Premier.

Also, many users use less popular, but not much inferior to their advanced counterparts in finding and destroying malicious code, anti-virus programs. These include: AVG Anti-Virus Free, Comodo Antivirus, Avira. All of them are free, but at the same time they provide reliable protection for your computer. McAffe antivirus is very good. It is often installed by default on laptops. By clicking on the picture below, you can learn more about this antivirus. Website in English. To enable any other, select a special menu item in the upper right corner.

A paid antivirus may differ from a free one, both for the better and for the worse. The algorithms for searching and detecting malicious code are different, and you don’t know which virus will get to you. It may be that a simple antivirus can easily catch an unexpected guest, but its sophisticated counterpart will let it through. Choose what suits you best, install, configure and surf the Internet in safety.

By the way, I myself have been using the free version of Avast for more than three years, and I am quite pleased with its performance. Viruses, of course, slipped through, especially Trojans, but running a full scan of the computer and using the Dr. utility. Web CureIt! (once a month is enough) solves this problem. The article describes in detail about this and other programs for quickly and effectively checking your computer for viruses.

After you and I have protected our computer from the unwanted effects of various malware, we can calm down a little, think and make up our minds. What should we install next? What programs do we need most?

To do this, ask yourself. What do you do most on your computer? Work or play. After answering it, you will know exactly what to put first, and I will move on to programs for viewing images.

Image Viewers

Programs for viewing images or simply “viewers” ​​are an integral part of any computer, since without their capabilities, you will never be able to view your photographs or drawings. The absence of a program on your computer that is so necessary for everyday activities greatly limits your ability to use the unlimited potential of your computer.

All modern operating systems have a built-in program for viewing graphic images of almost any format, and it does an excellent job with simple viewing and this is enough for many, but for some users more functionality is needed. For this category, many different (both paid and free) programs have been specially developed for viewing a huge variety of graphic formats.

The once most popular paid program for viewing images, ACDSee, very quickly lost ground to its free counterparts.

Thanks to the emergence of fully functional free programs for viewing all kinds of graphic formats, users have the opportunity to choose, and there is no need to necessarily use paid image viewers.

These programs will allow us to view documents and read e-books in popular formats such as PDF and DjVu.

Adobe Acrobat Reader is the most powerful program for reading and editing PDF files. Its capabilities significantly exceed the requirements of the average user and it is too “heavy”, so I advise everyone to install the simple and fast-loading Foxit PDF Reader. This free program is quite enough to view any documents or books.

WinDjView is a fast-to-use and extremely easy-to-use program for viewing DjVu files. The DjVu format allows you to save printed documents and images with excellent quality into files much smaller than the original ones.

I would especially like to highlight a program such as STDU Viewer.

I started using it in 2015 and am very pleased with it. It easily replaces all three previous programs.

Its advantages:

  • Reads all major image, book and document formats (see supported formats);
  • Light weight;
  • Free for non-commercial use;
  • Can replace several utilities.

Flaws:

In fact, it has one drawback: it is a less convenient and practical interface when working with files and less functionality when working (unlike specialized software), so to speak, the price for versatility. But many people don’t need the bells and whistles (like me, for example), I looked at the document and forgot. So I strongly advise everyone to add this software to their list of must-haves, more than anything else.

Video players

To view video materials in a variety of formats, we will need to install a video player on your computer.

Here I will give only free programs for watching videos, since there is no need to use paid video players, due to their high price and absolute uselessness for the average user, for whom simplicity and ease of use are more important than sophisticated functionality.

- probably the most popular video player for the vast majority of users. The popularity of Media Player Classic is justified by the fact that this player is present in such a popular codec package as the K-Lite Codec Pack, which will be discussed below. Its capabilities are quite sufficient for regular viewing of films and videos, it is unpretentious and easy to use.

Media Player Classic once again confirms that most users value speed and ease of use, and additional features fade into the background. This player can also be downloaded separately. It's called MPC-HC, which essentially doesn't change anything. There are both 32 and 64 bit versions.

Next comes a more beautiful and modern video player. This video/audio player has built-in codecs, which allows you to watch video movies (including DVDs) and listen to music without installing any third-party codecs. KMPlayer has advanced video settings, which can significantly improve the quality of the played video, as well as replaceable skins to change the appearance.

And finally, I will present a powerful and very easy-to-use media player.

VLC is a free, open-source, cross-platform player for any audio and video information. Just like KMPlayer, it has built-in codecs for playing audio and video files. Supports a huge number of formats and various streaming protocols.

To play video on your computer, you can use any of the programs presented here, making a choice based on your aesthetic needs. The capabilities of each of them are sufficient for use in most everyday tasks.

P.S. I myself constantly use all three multimedia players, depending on the format, quality of the video file being launched and my mood :). For regular DVD Rip movies, Media Player Classic is enough, and for watching videos and movies in Full HDTV I use VLC media player. KMPlayer can play back both DVD and HDTV with high quality, although I rarely use it, I like it for its excellent design and capabilities.

Audio players

For high-quality playback and listening to music, we need to install a program for playing audio files.

Above in the article we discussed multimedia players that are more suitable for playing video, although all have the ability to play audio files. Using them to listen to music is not very convenient, so I will tell you about audio players that are specially designed to perform this function with the highest possible convenience and quality.

The first representative of this class of programs is the very popular, beautiful and convenient audio player Aimp. In December 2015, the fourth version of this player was released. The player is absolutely free, and this is very pleasing :).

The Aimp player has conquered and firmly occupied the niche of the former very popular and high-quality music player WinAmp.

Thanks to its free nature, beautiful appearance (you can change skins), user-friendly interface, high-quality sound playback, functionality and constant updates, it has won the hearts of many users around the world. If you choose Aimp, you will never regret it. Ideal solution for home use.

It has a modest interface, but at the same time it has enormous possibilities for expansion, customization and high-quality sound reproduction.

The theoretical capabilities of Foobar2000 for high-quality processing of audio files exceed the capabilities of professional audio equipment.

Has a huge number of plugins.

An excellent player for those who like to play around with sound settings. It is also very suitable for use in office computers, as it consumes very little RAM and has the ability to adjust transparency.

It is a fast, very small size (490kb in the archive), but at the same time powerful and flexible tool for listening to music.

Supports major audio formats WAV, OGG, MP1, MP2, MP3, AIFF.

Due to the extremely spartan interface, Evil Player is not very convenient to use, but it does an excellent job of performing its main function.

For a home where several people usually use one computer, it will be inconvenient, but for listening to background music in the office it will be very suitable.

Codecs

The most popular, stable, universal and necessary set of codecs for viewing and processing audio and video files is undoubtedly .

Thanks to the existence of five package options, any user can choose the one that suits them in terms of functionality.

Basic(Basic) - contains the necessary components to play all popular audio and video formats.

Standard(Standard) the same as in the basic version, plus a very good and necessary Media Player Classic Home Cinema player, which was discussed above, and a built-in MPEG-2 decoder for playing DVDs.

Full(Full) same as the standard set, plus MadVR, GraphStudioNext and a few additional DirectShow filters.

Mega(and so it is clear) the same as the full package, plus ACM and VFW codecs for video encoding and editing, several additional DirectShow filters and tools.

Previously, there was a special 64-bit version of the codec designed to work on 64-bit operating systems, but now it is built in by default and there is no need to download anything separately.

To view full descriptions of the composition and capabilities of different versions of the codec, follow the link above.

It is a set of the most necessary codecs for watching videos in the most popular formats and listening to audio files.

The package includes such popular codecs as ffdshow, DivX, XviD, x264, h.264, Windows Media 9, MP4, MPEG4, MPEG2, AC3, DTS, Flash Video Splitter, many filters, various plugins and other auxiliary tools for working with video and audio files.

This is a universal free application developed by Adobe, which allows us to view pages with dynamic (interactive) content, beautiful special effects and video clips, and play flash games.

Flash technology is very common on the Internet, and using a computer without a Flash player installed, you will not be able to fully use all the capabilities of the modern Internet.

This software is simply necessary to install on any computer.

To view instructions for installing Adobe Flash Player on Internet Explorer, Opera and Mozilla Firefox browsers, click here.

Adobe Flash Player is already built into the Google Chrome browser. Updates automatically.

Office programs

It is the most essential set of office applications created by Microsoft for the Microsoft Windows and Apple Mac OS X operating systems.

This package includes software that allows you to prepare documents of varying complexity. Allows you to work with various types of documents: texts, spreadsheets, databases, etc.

Microsoft Office occupies a leading position in the word processor market, and its formats are the standard in the document flow of the vast majority of enterprises.

The most popular applications from the Microsoft Office suite are Microsoft Office Word, for working with text data, and Microsoft Office Excel, for working with tabular data. But these applications are quite difficult to master on your own, and during self-study we use the capabilities of these programs by 10-15%. Therefore, if you want to surprise your friends, girlfriends, comrades and co-workers with an advanced level of Word proficiency, and do your work more efficiently and quickly, I advise you to take it.

Microsoft Office is an excellent product for processing text and tabular data, but its main disadvantage is the price.

The 2013 version costs about 15,000 rubles. This is a very large sum for us, so the vast majority of users have versions of this program, so necessary for many, unlocked in various ways on their home computers.

Now let's look at the free office program OpenOffice.

This is the most popular free office suite designed for word processing, spreadsheets, presentations, graphics, databases, and more.

Supports many languages ​​and works great on all personal computers.

OpenOffice can be used completely freely for commercial and non-commercial purposes.

The OpenOffice office suite has less functionality and ease of use, so it will not replace Microsoft Office in enterprises, but for home use it is more than enough.

A simple text editor can also be a very good option (especially for owners of laptops and tablets).

Browsers

(read as Internet Explorer) is a browser developed by Microsoft Corporation. It is included with all operating systems of the Windows family, and thanks to this it remains today one of the most popular web browsers on the Internet.

For most users who require the Internet occasionally, it will be sufficient, but for those who spend a little more time in front of the monitor in search of information and entertainment, a more flexible and customizable tool may be needed.

In general, the latest versions of Internet Explorer are convenient and work quite well when properly configured.

At the moment, Microsoft is very actively promoting its Microsoft Edge browser, which comes with the Windows 10 operating system. According to user reviews, it is quite good and superior to Internet Explorer.

Although the package includes many modules, the most common application from this package is Nero Burning Rom. It is responsible for recording, erasing, copying and cloning disks. Nero Burning Rom has established itself as the fastest, most convenient and high-quality program for burning discs. Supports recording of all existing discs and formats. The disadvantage of the program is that it is paid, but it is cheaper than Ashampoo Burning. It is the best choice for burning discs among all programs in this class.

With this, I want to finish describing the set of necessary programs for any computer running operating systems of the Windows family, and move on to less necessary, but sometimes necessary software.

Such software includes programs for scanning text and images, translators, downloading files and torrents, communicating on the Internet, cleaning the operating system, convenient work with files and defragmenters. Now first things first...

Convenient work with files

The most popular program for conveniently working with files is . This is the best two-panel file manager. It has all the possible options for conveniently working with many files. There are both 32 and 64 bit versions of the program.

A good option would be to use a free file manager. In terms of stability and functionality, it is inferior to Total Commander, but for many it will be enough.

Communication on the Internet

Programs designed for communication via the Internet are divided into those that allow you to conduct a conversation through a microphone with the ability to connect video via a webcam, and simple communication using text. Almost all modern programs support all these options for interaction between users.

The most prominent representative of this segment is Skype.

Skype allows all Internet users to communicate for free, regardless of their location. It is possible to call any mobile operator or landline number at very low rates.

Easy to install, understandable and easy to use, Skype is a must-have for those users who want to make the most of the Internet.

A good replacement for Skype is the Mail.Ru Agent program, but it has a big disadvantage: it is a lower quality of communication than Skype. Otherwise, this is a fairly convenient and high-quality product. Has millions of fans thanks to the popular instant messaging service ICQ (better known as ICQ). When downloading the agent (and other programs), be careful. Be sure to uncheck the box before you start downloading, otherwise you will end up with a bunch of digital crap. With all due respect to the Mail.ru company, they do not hesitate to clog up our computers with very annoying and, most importantly, absolutely unnecessary software for the sake of a penny.

Uploading files and torrents

All modern browsers have a built-in module for downloading files from the Internet, but their functionality and ease of use do not satisfy many users. An alternative to standard methods of downloading information from the Internet can be programs specially developed for this. They easily integrate into all major and popular browsers and have significantly greater functionality, speed and reliability.

The best program in this class is.

Download Master is a convenient and highly efficient tool for downloading any files. It will provide you with high download speed, the ability to continue an interrupted download from the point where the connection was lost, and a convenient interface for managing the program and downloaded files.

There is a portable version of Download Master Portable, which, when recorded on a flash drive or portable disk, will allow you to download from any computer connected to the World Wide Web. All versions of Download Master are free.

Another good program for downloading files from the Internet.

In terms of functionality, Free Download Manager is in no way inferior to Download Master, but loses in ease of use, although many people like it precisely because of its simplicity and the presence of only the necessary controls.

The following program is a torrent downloader. If you don’t understand what we’re talking about, then read what torrent files are.

µTorrent is one of the most popular torrent clients in the world.

The advantages of this program are its small size, convenient and intuitive interface, and most importantly, it is absolutely free. I recommend it to anyone who downloads large amounts of data from torrent trackers.

Cleaning the operating system

To maintain the operating system in good working order and remove unnecessary files and programs from it, we simply need the program.

CCleaner is the best free program for optimizing your computer's registry and files. After finishing your work, you will see how much faster and more efficiently your computer will work.

CCleaner will instantly free up valuable space on your hard drives, and you can be sure that the program will work correctly and reliably. The program will not delete any necessary files. Built-in support for the Russian language, the small size of the program and a clear and simple interface make CCleaner an indispensable assistant both at home and at work.

Recently, to optimize and clean the operating system from various garbage, I began to use Advanced SystemCare. An excellent replacement for many cleaners.

Defragmenters

Very fast, powerful and reliable defragmenter.

Auslogics Disk Defrag allows you to optimize the file system, the placement of both system and regular files to speed up your computer. Supports work in the background. Free for commercial and home use.

There is also a portable version of Auslogics Disk Defrag, which can be written to a flash drive or removable disk, with the further ability to run the program on any other computer without installation.

Optical text and image recognition

If you frequently work with text and graphic data, you may need essential software such as text and image recognition programs.

It is a leader in the field of optical data recognition and has all the necessary functionality for quickly and conveniently converting paper documents into electronic editable formats. It defines and allows you to convert text and tabular data, as well as images, into documents of various formats. Performs all this with maximum speed and quality. For her, the type of document being identified does not matter, be it a photograph of a book or a regular text document. ABBYY FineReader will identify the data in both documents with the same quality. There is a built-in spell checker. The disadvantage of the program is that it is paid.

For those who are not ready to pay for the ABBYY FineReader optical text recognition program, there is its free analogue CuneiForm.

The functionality and quality of work of CuneiForm is inferior to ABBYY FineReader, but it copes very well with scanning simple documents and images. Any printed fonts are recognized.

The results of the work can be translated and edited in any office programs and text editors, and then saved in popular formats.

To improve the quality of recognition, CuneiForm uses a dictionary check. The standard dictionary can be expanded by inserting new words from text files. Suitable for anyone who needs optical data recognition on a case-by-case basis.

Text translators

Electronic dictionary is the most powerful package for translating text from one language to another.

It comes in home and professional versions, which differ in the set of dictionaries. Each version has the ability to connect additional dictionaries. It has a huge standard database of words and popular phrases. It has the highest quality automatic text translation, selecting the translation of words according to the meaning and content of the translated material. ABBYY Lingvo is a very high-quality paid product that has left its competitors, both paid and free, far behind. It is simply necessary for everyone who studies foreign languages ​​and translates texts.

NeoDic is a free program for contextual text translation. It will help you cope with the translation of unfamiliar words by simply hovering your mouse over the desired word or phrase. This type of translation is very convenient to use when viewing information on the Internet. The program supports the Russian language, is small in size and has many settings that allow you to change the program to suit your needs.

This concludes my review of the necessary programs for your computer. The set of software presented above is sufficient for full use of all the basic capabilities of a computer, which are used by the vast majority of users, at home or in the office.

You can download them from official websites (this is not always convenient), using the links provided in the article, or go to the useful resources page and select the one you like from the listed catalogs of free programs, search and download the desired program from it.

If you liked this article, then perhaps you will be interested in my other materials. To view all blog articles, please follow the link to. The author of this article and the Computer for Everyone blog is Alexander Osipov. See you again on the pages.

There is a constant demand for a variety of PC software, and it is incredibly high. For this reason, software download sites are multiplying very, very quickly, but finding the truly best resources is unexpectedly difficult. Do you need to download various programs to your computer? Especially for you, we have made a list containing the best software sites on the Internet.

SoftOk- https://softok.info/

The SoftOk resource is one of the youngest, but already gaining popularity resources. It features a modern design and a wide selection of programs for almost any need. The programs are grouped into convenient selections, allowing you to select a program based on a whole range of parameters. Versions for iOS and Android operating systems are also available.

Softobase - http://softobase.com/ru/

The most convenient and largest site where you can download programs for free to your laptop or PC. This database is constantly updated, so even the latest versions will always be available to you. All programs are divided into categories so that you can easily and quickly find and download what you need. The site is also interesting because it contains reviews, videos, articles and answers to user questions.

Free Programs - http://www.besplatnyeprogrammy.ru/

Free Programs Ru - a site for downloading programs for free with a primitive division into categories. It’s easy to navigate; traditionally, there is a search by name, as well as a list of recommendations. Overall, this is a great resource for finding and downloading a basic set of applications.

SoftPortal - http://www.softportal.com/

Another of the large sites where a huge amount of software for various devices is presented is SoftPortal. The assortment includes options for computers and phones, sections for various operating systems (Android, Macintosh, IOS, Windows families), and more than 20 categories of software according to their intended purpose. Audio, graphics, design, education, various desktop utilities - this is an incomplete list of what you can download, and what is important - for free and without entering codes or SMS. This resource is constantly updated and promptly posts all the new products in the industry.

FreeSOFT - http://freesoft.ru/

Next up is the site for downloading programs for the Freesoft computer. The main emphasis here is on software for Windows, but there are also programs for Android, MAC, Linux, and Apple gadgets. It is important that this is a safe site where the posted content is carefully filtered and checked for malicious components.

Soft-File - http://soft-file.ru/

Next, the site for downloading programs is Soft-File. Rich software component, many articles, reviews, reviews - all this makes it very popular among users. You can find almost everything here - from mobile programs to office software. Hundreds of offers are divided into categories for easy searching, and the intuitive interface will save you time.

TopDownloads - http://topdownloads.ru/

TopDownloads is a simple and good resource with daily updates, which can be viewed in a separate list. Hundreds of new and already familiar offers are divided into categories in a convenient catalog. Like many other free software sites, TopDownloads also offers reviews, news, and rankings by popularity. In addition to software, there is also music, videos, documents and much more.

As you can see, popular sites for downloading various software is a fairly broad topic, because electronic devices have long become an integral part of the lives of all of us. Do you want to download a new game, drivers, or just need to update old versions of software? We have collected for you the best sites for downloading programs, choose one of them and find everything you need! Share the article with your friends on social networks, give high ratings below and write comments if your favorite software site is not listed here! We also suggest that you definitely and right now look at our article about, which has become one of the most read in recent months! Maybe you will find useful resources for yourself there too :)

On a “clean” newly installed Windows, for normal operation it is simply necessary to install many more programs, because without them, as you understand, there is nowhere. Let's try to make a small list of the most necessary programs for a computer, without which full use of a computer is simply impossible. Please note that in the article, in the description of any program there is a link to its working version
So...

The most necessary and important program is your antivirus protection.It is usually divided into 4 categories: antivirus, firewall, comprehensive protection and computer scanning programs. I prefer comprehensive protection, consisting of an antivirus + firewall. At the moment I am using one of the free ones - Avast! I would recommend using only the most proven anti-virus programs: Kaspersky, Norton, ESET(nod32), DrWeb, Avast, Panda, McAfee and other popular ones. In general, it's a matter of taste. If you don’t want to pick up some Trojan, be sure to install it!

Next we will install the archiver. Since most files on the Internet are in archives (.rar .zip .7z), we will definitely need an archiver program. I suggest using two simultaneously: WinRar and 7Zip.
Their differences can be described in one line: WinRar- a beautiful and advanced archiver, but with 7zip it’s free. Well, as a bonus - only an archiver 7zip opens archives in .7z format

Next on the list we will have disc burning program(although in recent years I have increasingly begun to doubt its need... I use discs once every 3 months). Dominates here Nero, the most popular program for burning discs (the fact that it’s paid doesn’t bother anyone). I can recommend as a free alternative ImgBurn or shareware Ashampoo Burning Studio- the functionality is less, but for its main task - burning discs - it is more than enough.

Further... we need Office. And most likely - Microsoft Office(Word, Excel, PowerPoint, Outlook, etc.). I think there is no need to describe it - you yourself know perfectly well what it is. For lovers of free software, I can recommend Open Office or better yet LibreOffice- they are almost as good as the brainchild of Microsoft Corporation, and they work with Microsoft formats without problems.

Now we'll look at codecs. Why is this thing needed? And so that when watching your favorite film, you, dear readers, do not have any problems. Without them, many video and audio formats simply will not play! The most popular codec package is K-Lite Codec Pack. By the way, a very good video player is installed with it - Media Player Classic.

Video viewer necessary for any PC user. Even if you have a brand new home theater, you often have to watch a variety of videos on your computer - from clips to video seminars. They will cope with this task perfectly KMplayer And QuickTime Player.

Listening to music- It’s simply not possible to listen to music using the standard Windows Media Player, no matter how hard the developers try... the 2 most popular players are suitable for this purpose: Winamp And AIMP. The second player consumes less resources, and is also free. But even here it’s a matter of taste and habit. For example, I use two.

I would also recommend universal players which read both video and audio files without problems: GOM Media Player And VLC media player- they read all formats and by the way they are completely free!

Don't forget that we need program for reading .pdf files. Many books, articles, and other literature are published in this format. Here I recommend Foxit Reader as a replacement for a bulky (and even paid) monster Adobe reader. You may need Adobe Photoshop and viewing photo albums ACDsee Pro

Text recognising- here is the best program, of course ABBYY FineReader, however, there are free analogues, for example CuneiForm

Don't forget about utilities that keep your system clean - Uninstall Tool And CCleaner. As a result, we have an extensive list of programs - and at least two dozen of them will definitely be useful to you...

The variety of computer programs is so great that sometimes the user, without thinking, clogs his system with unnecessary software, then complaining about the low performance of the hardware. Therefore, we will determine the most necessary programs, dividing them into several groups.

The first category is safety

This includes antiviruses. The most popular is Nod32, the full version of which is paid. However, even with a minimal set of tools, the computer is guaranteed a high level of protection and performance.

The second, no less popular, is Avast Antivirus. Ease of use and free updates are the advantages of the antivirus.

The third most popular is Kaspersky. A lengthy search for keys, licenses and only paid versions do not prevent users from protecting their device using this software.

The fourth position was taken by the Microsoft antivirus product Security Essentials - free, simple, and consumes a minimum of system resources.

The top five is closed by AVG AntiVirus Free, which provides reliable PC protection and has a number of additional functions.

The second group is office suites

Not a single client can do without software for working with documents. Therefore, Microsoft Office is a popular software package for viewing and editing images, text files and tables. OpenOffice is similar, which is popular among government employees because it is absolutely free.

The third category of programs is disc recording

Let's highlight the top three.

  1. Nero is the most complete and feature-rich package for processing and recording multimedia files. It takes up a lot of hard drive space, but records discs with high quality.
  2. Burn Aware Free – software for quick burning. Consumes a minimum of resources, has downtime and a clear interface.
  3. Infra Recorder is a popular program with a huge range of tools. Clear and convenient. Does not write to some types of discs.

Fourth group – PC diagnostics and cleaning

  1. CCleaner – cleans your computer of unnecessary junk and corrects errors in the registry.
  2. Auslogics Disk Defrag is a powerful tool for improving system performance.

Fifth category – Flash Player

Monopoly leadership belongs to Adobe Flash Player - an integral element of high-quality display of Internet pages. Videos, pictures, graphics - everything works thanks to this program.

Sixth group – reading PDF files

To read books, tables, magazines, you need to have high-quality software. The most famous in this category are Adobe Reader, Foxit Reader, Adobe Acrobat. The first two are free, only the last program requires a paid product registration.

Seventh category - codecs

Without K-Lite Codec Pack it is impossible to listen to music or watch videos. The developers have included the most complete set of tools in this package. Therefore, its installation is mandatory.

Well, what about archivers, which make up the seventh group of necessary programs.

Let's highlight two of the most popular:

  1. WinRar – works with all existing types of archives.
  2. 7-Zip is an archiver that is in no way inferior to its predecessor, and moreover, it is free.

Summing up, we can conclude that the above programs constitute the required minimum for working with a PC and do not load the processor. All other software is designed to entertain the user and work in certain areas.

Required programs for windows 10 - 7

Hello Readers of my blog! In this article I will tell you about the most necessary programs for Windows 10 - 7. As you probably remember, Windows is not yet ready for use after installation. In principle, not only Windows 7, but also any 8 8.1 xp is not yet ready for work immediately after installation. Even after installing drivers and security settings, there are practically no useful and necessary programs on board your computer. Windows comes with only a few programs that are useful to the user.

These are several toys, the simplest text editor “Notepad”, an advanced text editor “WordPad”, a calculator, an Internet browser (IE-Internet Explorer), a media player, “Paint” - a program for processing simple graphics, programs for PC and OS maintenance. That’s actually all that our favorite OS is rich in. With Windows 10 things are a little better. Microsoft has moved much further. And it included Skype and a student office kit. By the way, the installed IE and media player are also not ready to work. IE is partially unprepared because it can only view text pages and pictures. But the media player is not ready at all, since it needs codecs to play music and videos. Therefore, the time has come to install the necessary programs for Windows. The programs that we will consider in this article, I believe, should be installed on almost every computer running Windows 7 - 10. So let's begin.

The most necessary programs for windows 10 - 7

Archivers


1. The very first thing we must install is ARCHIVERS. On the Internet, all programs are compressed or packaged with some kind of archiver. This allows you to waste less disk space for storing information on servers and transmit packets faster over the Internet. Each PC must have at least one archiver, and preferably two. First WinRar- it works very quickly and supports the ability to unzip a large number of different popular archives. And the most important thing is its own, very specific, highly protected Rar format. No one has yet been able to decrypt the passwords set by this archiver.

Second archiver 7-zip. Perhaps this archiver is even more necessary than the first one. You will need it to unpack archives of the new, rapidly gaining popularity, 7z format. The archiver is very fast and provides a high compression ratio. Most of the archives on the Internet that you will have to download are in zip, rar and 7z format.

If you are working with a website and need to create archives in GZIP format, then the 7-zip archiver will provide compression 2-10% better than any other archiver.

These two archivers will help you solve almost any problem of archiving/unarchiving software packages received from the Internet.

Codecs

2. The second most important thing would probably be the installation of codecs for playing audio and video files of a variety of formats, without which not a single audio/video player will work. Of all the great variety of different collections, perhaps the best, most stable and generally recognized is K-Lite Codec Pack. According to the developers, their brainchild supports about 400 audio/video formats. In addition, this package is absolutely free and contains a small but very high-quality player. Therefore, it would be a sin not to use it. Highly recommend. After installing this codec pack, all your audio/video players will play almost all media file formats.

Adobe Flash Player

3. The next important step is installation Adobe Flash Player. This program is necessary for playing media files in browsers (Internet explorers) such as IE, Mozilla Firefox, Opera. It is already built-in in Google Chrome and Yandex browser.

Browsers

4. It will be important to install a whole set of browsers. I recommend installing all the popular ones, these are Google Chrome, Mozilla Firefox, Opera, Yandex. Why so many? Can I get by with IE (Internet Explorer from Microsoft)? No, you can't do it! Any of the suggested browsers are much better than IE. Firstly, they are increasingly faster, more stable, and make it easy to manage add-ons. Why is it necessary to install everything? The point is that they are all different and have different useful features that IE does not have. Secondly, in the event of an unexpected failure of one browser, you always have another at hand.

Google Chrome integrated with Google translator. When loading foreign pages, it can automatically translate them into Russian. Translation is often sufficient to understand the content of the pages. Google Chrome can download many files at the same time.

Mozilla Firefox It’s simply not replaceable for those who create and debug websites. It has a huge number of different useful add-ons that other browsers do not have.

Opera one of the fastest browsers in the world. This is especially noticeable on slow Internet channels, when it uses multi-threaded downloading of pages and files, and additional compression of information on its server using special algorithms.

Yandex browser development from Yandex. Very similar to Google Chrome and compatible with its add-ons. Has some limitations. The latest versions of this browser are very fast. Overall a good browser.

There is a great add-on for all these browsers Neuron Search Tools- this extension provides the ability to simultaneously search for information on the Internet via Google and Yandex, and jointly conveniently display search results. Searching with this application becomes much more efficient. I highly recommend it for use.

File download managers

5. Fast, convenient and reliable downloading of files of any size from the Internet will be provided by the download manager Download Master. The program is free, Russian, and practically in no way inferior to paid foreign analogues. Provides multi-channel, fast downloading, and can resume downloading files after a connection break or power outage.

SaveFrom.net application for all popular browsers. Allows you to download videos from more than 20 Internet resources. Very useful application.

Google Chrome has created many obstacles for this application to work. Now SaveFrom.net installs poorly on Google Chrome, but works great from the Internet. Enjoy it for your health. No problems were found on other browsers.

If you only need YouTube to upload videos, then there is a program for this UmmyVideoDownloader. UmmyVideoDownloader is specially designed for downloading videos from YouTube. Very comfortable and high quality item.

Programs for audio/video communication

6. To communicate on the Internet you need at least Skype. There are a lot of programs for text, audio, video communication, but most people use Skype and it has features that other programs do not have. So we definitely need to install Skype. Surely you will need it.

Text editors and processors

7. We replace the poorly functional text editor from the Windows package with a more functional one AkelPad or even more advanced Notepad++(HIGHLY RECOMMEND). Notepad++ allows you to work with a large number of documents at the same time. It remembers the situation when turned off and restores it automatically the next time it is turned on. Allows you to follow links directly from the edited text. It is simply irreplaceable for programmers, as it recognizes code from more than 20 programming languages ​​and helps check it for errors. Detects errors in words and highlights them. Having such an editor on every PC is simply necessary.

8. To create documents of different formats and automated tables, you will need an advanced text and spreadsheet processor like Win Word And Win Excel from the Microsoft Office package. MS OFFICE contains many more useful programs. For example, an email client, a presentation manager, a slide show... On the Internet you can find advanced packages with many additions.

File managers

9. A file manager will provide you with convenience in working with files Total Commander. It has great functionality. The menu of the vehicle itself, the menu of necessary or frequently used programs, two independent windows. Each window can open an unlimited number of tabs, has its own FTP manager, archiver, file viewer, media player.... In general, EVERYTHING is at your fingertips! An extremely convenient and useful program. I highly recommend it to everyone!

Programs for viewing PDF files

10. Foxit Phantom required for reading documents in PDF format. The program is 10 times smaller than its Adobe Acrobat counterpart, much faster and, in addition, allows you to edit PDF documents. I recommend. The program itself is paid, but it can be found for free on the Zver-DVD disk image. If you don’t need editing functions and don’t want to upload a huge image, then you can use the free analogue Foxit Reader or PDF Reader. There are a lot of programs in this class, but I think this will be enough.

Programs for removing locked files

11. Unlocker will help you unlock and delete locked files and folders that cannot be deleted in other ways. A couple more programs in this class that support the Russian language: LockHunter, IObit Unlocker. If, when trying to uninstall, you often encounter messages like “Uninstallation is impossible”, “Access denied”, “Used by another application”, “You do not have enough rights” and the like, then these programs will definitely help you.

Programs for downloading files from torrent servers

12. UTorrent- a reliable, fast manager for downloading files from torrent servers. A very convenient and reliable program for downloading music, movies, disk images.... Second program MediaGet Quite new, but has approximately the same functionality. Both programs are free.

Image Viewers

13. FastStone Image Viewer- an excellent, free, small, fast, lightweight program for viewing images, has the ability to edit the image file, add labels to the picture, optimizes the image code... Highly recommend!

Quickly search files on your computer


14. Everything is designed to search for files on your computer. Incredibly fast. Displays search results when you press each letter, like hints when searching on the Internet. Highlights the found combination of letters in the names of files and folders. Displays file paths. Very fast and convenient program. Free.

The necessary programs for Windows described above, in my opinion, are the most important and necessary, and are capable of meeting the needs of a wide variety of users. I believe that these programs, or at least similar ones, should be present on every computer.

Less important programs

Programs for capturing images and videos from the screen

15. FastStone Capture- takes screenshots from the monitor screen and captures video. Can record system sound or from a microphone. The program is very small and fast. Has a lot of useful little things. There are quite a lot of programs capable of efficiently performing the operation of capturing video from a monitor screen: Bandicam, HyperCam, ScreenCamera, Techsmith Snagit, UVScreen Camera, VirtualDub. They all have fairly similar functionality.

Programs in this class are all paid. Some of them have demo versions - shareware, severely stripped down with poor functionality, sometimes with inscriptions on the screen that make it difficult to watch the video.

The most important leader in this field is considered to be a highly professional Camtasia Studio. It allows you not only to capture images from the screen, but also to edit the captured videos using various effects.

Text recognition programs

16. If you have a scanner or already scanned documents or images with text, then to convert them into text format you will need a text recognition program. The best of its kind ABBYY FineReader.

Automatic Keyboard Switches

17. For those who write a lot of texts using the Latin and Cyrillic alphabet, this will be an excellent assistant Punto Switcher, which automatically switches the keyboard layout based on the words you type and corrects persistent errors. The program is absolutely free, developed by programmers from the Yandex laboratory.

Audio and video players

18. Music and video lovers will need a player Winamp, which has quite rare codecs in its package and is capable of playing recordings from video recorders and surveillance cameras, and also allows you to turn on several copies of the program at the same time, create playlists, adjust the sound timbre and much more.... Free.

There are a great variety of players: Daum PotPlayer, AIMP, BSPlayer, GOM Media Player, KMPlayer, iTunes, ComboPlayer, Ace Stream Media, VLC Media Player, 1by1, Media Player Classic Home Cinema, Light Alloy, TV Player Classic, QuickTime Alternative. They have a wide variety of functionality. Any user will be able to satisfy all their needs.

Windows Cleaners/Accelerators/Optimizers

19. CCleaner useful for quickly and easily cleaning the system from temporary files, unnecessary registry entries, etc... The program does not have the greatest functionality, but it does the minimum required perfectly. Free. There are a great many similar and more powerful programs: Carambis Cleaner, AVG TuneUp, Wise Care 365, Advanced SystemCare, Glary Utilities, Auslogics BoostSpeed, Kerish Doctor, Advanced System Optimizer, System Mechanic, MAGIX PC Check & Tuning. They all have similar, but still different functionality.

If you are very concerned about the cleanliness and reliability of your Windows, then of course any one package will not be enough for you. So, as always, there are functions in other packages that you don’t have. Even just registry cleaners, everyone checks different parts of the registry and sometimes they find something like this... In general, there is a lot to choose from.

To clean the registry, along with other programs, I recommend using trashreg. This is a very small and specific program. Clears the registry of abandoned keys that many demo programs leave on the system. After such cleaning, you can install demo versions again and use their capabilities.

Recovering deleted files

Required programs for windows 10 - 7 - Power Data Recovery

20. Power Data Recovery is a simple but powerful tool for recovering deleted data. Allows you to restore:

  1. deleted files and folders;
  2. files from lost/deleted/damaged partition;
  3. data from a hard to read CD/DVD;
  4. digital media data.

I would say the program is very important, but since not everyone needs it, that’s why it’s in the second section. Here are a couple more high-quality, free representatives of similar programs: Recuva, Pandora Recovery. It must be said that there are products with higher functionality, but they are paid: Hetman Partition Recovery, R-Studio, Wondershare Data Recovery.

Graphic editor

21. Adobe PhotoShop- an unsurpassed raster graphics editor. Simply a necessary tool for creating, changing pictures and adjusting photos. Required programs for windows 10 - 7 - CorelDraw

22. CorelDraw- the best vector graphics processor. Almost irreplaceable in this area. The program is not super necessary, but is necessary for creating scalable vector images.

Programs for creating animation

23. Easi Gif Animator will be needed when creating animated pictures or videos. It has the entire arsenal of functions necessary for this. Free.

Programs for working with disk images

24. Ultra ISO will be needed by those who create images of CD/DVD discs. Works with standard ISO disk image format. Allows you to create and edit simple and bootable disk images. Uses third-party programs to burn discs, such as Burning Rum.

Programs for mounting disk images on a virtual drive


 Required programs for windows 10 - 7 - Daemon Tools

25. Daemon Tools Lite allows you to mount a CD/DVD disk image onto a virtual drive, which makes it possible to see how the image will work on a real drive. The program has a fairly wide functionality: Emulation of IDE drives, Emulation of DT and SCSI drives, Mounting disk images, Creating images of physical disks, Converting and editing images, Burning disks with images, data and music. Allows you to simulate a large number of different disk copy protections. Allows you to run disc games not from DVD, but from a hard drive, which makes them work much faster. A very useful utility for gamers and those who do not write images to disks, but keep them on the computer. Free.

Postal managers or clients


 Required programs for windows 10 - 7 - The Bet

26. Email clients are perhaps the most important applications in modern human computer life. Most users have several accounts in different email services. To ensure convenient management of all mail flows, mail clients have been created. I will list a dozen well-known, and perhaps the best, of the mass of email clients that are available:

The Bet- a great assistant for those who conduct active Emai correspondence. Allows you to download mail from a huge number of mailboxes and organize it into folders. Has a filter designer and much more.

Ms Outlook included in the Microsoft Office software package. The program is very sophisticated. I would say even too much. But maybe this will all be useful to someone.

Mailbird The program is lightweight, undemanding of resources, easy to use and visually attractive.

eM Client- this email client has all the necessary basic functions.

Inky has a trial version that works for free for 14 days. It has quite extensive capabilities.

Claws Mail A rather complex application is intended for experienced users who are not afraid to configure everything manually.

Zimbra Desktop- free open source email client. Zimbra is a cross-platform solution for Windows, Linux and Mac OS.

TouchMail- a convenient email client for owners of tablets or convertible laptops.

Thunderbird from Mozilla is a unique application. The built-in extension system allows you to increase the functionality of the client using numerous tools created by the Thunderbird community.

Programs for reading DjVu files

Required programs for windows 10 - 7 - DjVu

27. DjVu- This is one of the formats of scanned documents. It is usually used for storing and distributing books, manuscripts, and magazines in which there are many images, diagrams, drawings, and formulas. And also for storing scans of historical documents, when an accurate representation of the shade and texture of the paper is required, the most reliable display of all defects, page folds, manual marks and corrections, fingerprints, ink blots, etc.

You can view such files using the following programs: WinDjView, ICE Book Reader Professional, Evince Document Viewer, DjvuReader.

Programs for recording and processing sound

Required programs for windows 10 -7 - Audacity

28. There are also quite a lot of such programs, but perhaps the best one would be small but powerful Audacity. The program works with a mixer built into a personal computer system, as well as external sound sources. It is designed to record audio files of unlimited size.

Allows already recorded files:

  1. clean from interference: hissing, static noise, hum;
  2. change volume;
  3. cut into pieces and assemble as you please;
  4. and also compress.

The program is used to record and process digital files. As well as digitization of obsolete sound media: records and cassettes. In addition to its own AUP format, it supports a number of popular extensions. In addition to professional functionality, it is also free.

All the necessary programs for Windows 7 - 10 that we reviewed in this article are mentioned in the article "". There is one note, however. Programs present on the ZverDVD disk - earlier versions can be installed on an OS of any bit depth. Many programs located on the "Zver 2016.3 Windows 8.1 Pro x64" disk have only a 64-bit version. And accordingly, they will not work on 32-bit operating systems.