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The most important programs for a computer. What programs do I install on a new computer?

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 will look 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, very often you 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...

Required programs for windows 10 - 7

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, it is time 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, quickly 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 disconnection 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. 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 you turn it off and restores it automatically the next time you turn it 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 to read 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. Just 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 a 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.

After installing a new version of Windows OS on a computer, most users do not know which programs need to be installed first.

We have compiled for you top most popular programs, without which not a single person can do. Please note that all programs are divided into categories, each of which has a choice of several versions.

Popular computer programs

No. 1 - Browser

The browser is the most popular program for most users. It allows you to visit web pages, communicate on social networks and watch movies. That's why it comes first on the list of the best computer programs.

  • – stable browser with Google search engine.
  • – similar to the previous one, the main bias towards Yandex services.
  • – old and comfortable.
  • – a browser with many additional options.

No. 2 - Antiviruses

As you know, there are many harmful viruses on the Internet that harm your computer. Before accessing the global network, you need to protect yourself with an antivirus.

Here is a small top 5 of the most popular antivirus computer programs:

  • No. 1 is a well-known product with a paid license.
  • No. 2 - Doctor Web - free, proven over the years.
  • No. 3 - the most popular antivirus, distributed free of charge.
  • No. 4 - 360 Total Security - a new product that has proven itself well.
  • No. 5 - AVG Antivirus Free - an effective and easy remedy for viruses.

About the best free antivirus programs, .

#3 - Adobe Flash Player
A must have for all browsers. This plugin will allow you to play movies on any website. First of all, we install the browser, then this player.

#4 - Skype

#5 - Torrent client

This program is popular among those who like to watch movies. Torrent client allows you to download large files from the network at the highest possible speed of your Internet.

  • uTorrent is a well-known and most used utility for downloading from the Internet.
  • Zona is less known, and also for films.
  • MediaGet is a good analogue.

#6 - Nero

Part two top best for computer Nero starts. Most users now use flash drives, but there are those users who need disks these days. The program allows you to write data to any type of disc (C or DVD).

#7 – DAEMON Tools

Allows you to open images of large files. The program can mount a virtual disk drive. Most often the program is used to install or launch games.

No. 8 - Office programs

Anyone at some point may need to open a document, create a table, calculate a formula, or create a postcard. For this purpose, there are several packages with the necessary set of programs:

  • Microsoft Office is the most common package used by millions of people. Using this set of programs you can type text, create presentations, tables, etc.
  • Libre Office - analogue.
  • Open Office is a good free replacement.

#9 - VLC Media Player

Player of audio and video files. The program can play online streams, show subtitles, and also increase the maximum volume. The right product!

#10 - TeamViewer

This program is known mainly to more advanced users. It allows you to control your computer remotely via the Internet.

This TOP still lacks many useful and very necessary utilities, such as: Total Commander, Evernote, Adobe Photoshop, KMPlayer player and many others. Some people like the simplest Paint. You can add your favorites to this rating in the comments.

This concludes our TOP of the most popular computer programs. We definitely recommend installing the suggested utilities, without which it will be very difficult for you to work on your computer. Search and download software that will make your computer a real working machine!

Video on the topic (another version of the TOP useful and necessary):

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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 turns out to be 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 large site 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 :)

I spent a long time choosing a new computer, and finally here it is - standing on the table, the Windows screen saver is on the screen, and what to do next, what programs need to be installed? I saw something somewhere, heard something somewhere, in general my head is a mess! Let this article be a small guide to the TOP most necessary programs for a computer, according to the site.

No matter how hard Microsoft tries to refine its operating system, a clean OS can only be used in limited conditions - for example, at work, where installing additional programs is prohibited or there are no rights.

What to choose, paid or free programs

It just so happens that free programs alone are not enough, it turns out somewhere 50/50. I in no way advocate using cracked versions, but this is our reality that “cracked” programs are used everywhere. In my experience, to solve almost any problem there is at least one free program that is sufficient. But paid software is usually more convenient and has more features. But they are needed for large-scale work or for professional activities.

Antivirus – necessary protection

I have already touched on the topic of antivirus more than once; this is an absolutely necessary program that I download on any computer immediately after installing Windows. Perhaps an antivirus is the program that is better to buy and live in peace. Paid versions eliminate the headache of searching for updated keys and signature databases. Our most common ones:

Which one to choose is a personal matter for everyone. No one will provide 100% protection, so just choose which one you like best.

Good ones from the free ones:

Alternative browser

For the convenience of using the Internet, you will need to install one of them to replace the standard Internet Explorer/Edge. Popular in our area:

All of them are free and very useful programs. Today the browser from Yandex is rapidly gaining popularity. This is undoubtedly one of the best browsers, but everyone has their own preferences.

In terms of speed and system resource consumption, I prefer Opera. And those who like flexibility in configuration can choose Mozilla FireFox. If you remain on standard Internet Explorer, then at least update it to the latest version.

Archiver

By default, Microsoft Windows cannot work with such a common archive format as “.rar”. Probably in the West everyone only uses zip. I install a shell that supports all the necessary archive formats, including “.zip”. WinRAR is built into the operating system, allowing you to work with archives from the context menu in Explorer.

As an alternative, I can recommend the program 7-Zip. It also has all the necessary functions, but it cannot pack into the “.rar” format. But it can unpack the “.7z” format.

Office suite

A must-have for working with texts and tables: Word, Excel, PowerPoint. Although I included this in the mandatory list, not everyone needs it. But I have never seen a laptop without Microsoft Office or its free equivalent OpenOffice. Among the lighter office packages, I recommend WPS Office.

To read PDF books you will need Adobe Acrobat Reader. PDF is the most common format for documentation, books and instructions. It will work without a special program, but the functionality will be limited to the simplest actions. Acrobat Reader is a completely free program.

Messenger, Internet phone

Programs for free communication around the world via the Internet:

  • Skype is the most famous, but is becoming outdated, there is a detailed
  • Viber is actively gaining popularity
  • WhatsApp is one of the most popular in the world

All programs support voice, video and chat. An indispensable tool for communication, in addition to social networks. To do this, headphones and a web camera (for video communication), as well as an installed program on both devices of the interlocutors. Messengers also allow you to call landlines and mobile phones, but this is no longer free.

In order for you to communicate with relatives and friends, you need to find out what programs they themselves use. But usually everything is installed at once. I note that in order for Viber and WhatsApp to work on a PC, they must be installed on the smartphone too.

I showed the basic programs for a laptop in minimal variety. For the more advanced, I recommend another package of software.

After installing the drivers, first of all I install the file manager. This program provides convenient access to the file system, replacing the standard Windows Explorer. It is much more convenient to copy, move, change files. I advise everyone! My work with the computer begins with the launch of Total Commander.

Mail client

To check their email, a person usually goes to a website such as gmail.com and looks at their inbox. But it is much more convenient to use special programs - email clients, especially if you have several email accounts.

The program connects to the server and downloads all mail to the computer. You can view it without browser delays, quickly switching between boxes. I recommend or Mozilla Thunderbird. The standard Microsoft Outlook (built into Windows XP/7 and Microsoft Office) and the Mail application in Windows 10 are not bad, but The Bat! I like it better because it is very easy to transfer mail to another computer or to a new operating system without the risk of losing important information.

Convenient video and audio player

I recommend installing separate video and audio players to replace the standard Windows Media Player. No matter how hard the developers try, they cannot combine both a video and an audio player in one program so that everyone likes it. For these purposes, it is better to use separate programs. The following have worked well for video playback:

Torrent downloader

Today, something worthwhile can be downloaded for free on the Internet either from file hosting services or using torrents. You will need the uTorrent program.

Password manager

In order not to remember all the logins and passwords that you will certainly start to acquire, I recommend using one of the password managers. The program remembers all your passwords and stores them on the server. Subsequently, they can be used from anywhere, on any computer and browser. I recommend using or LastPass.

RoboForm is the first thing I install because it stores all my access to Internet services and applications on my computer. I also have an add-on for the Mozilla Firefox browser on my smartphone, with which I always have up-to-date logins and passwords on my phone.

Cleaning the CCleaner system

I’m sure a useful thing for any system running Windows 7/8/10 is the CCleaner program. Designed for periodic, approximately once a month, cleaning of the operating system and programs from accumulated garbage. Basically, these are various temporary folders, files, caches, which not only fill up free disk space, but also often worsen the performance of the computer. Especially useful for improving the performance of browsers that begin to slow down over time.

Optional Settings

Useful only if you have special system requirements.

A set of codecs for video and audio

By default, Windows can only play the most basic video and audio file formats. To support other formats, you will need one of the codec sets, such as K-Lite Codec Pack or Win7Codecs. This installation is not necessary because any modern multimedia player already has all the common codecs built-in, or it immediately offers to download them.

Disc burning program

DVD drives are used less frequently than before, but are still found in almost every computer. I use the program to burn discs. For free ones, I recommend JetBee FREE or ImgBurn.

Outdated, somewhere else popular ICQ

A popular client for communicating via the ICQ protocol (“ICQ” in popular parlance). Previously, every computer had a former “de facto” standard for exchanging instant messages via the Internet, such as free SMS, only in a larger volume. You can often see it in contacts on various service sites and online stores.

I use social networks, Telegram and ICQ at the same time. This way you can keep constant contact with people. Instead of the cumbersome ICQ program, I recommend installing a convenient QIP client. The program is in Russian and has a simple and intuitive interface.

Bonus – Punto Switcher

This is the minimum program that is needed for a computer and I use them myself. I literally opened my Start menu and selected the most basic thing. I do not recommend using various Windows builds, such as “Zver”, although some of the necessary software is already built into them. But it is precisely because of them that inexplicable problems with the computer later emerge.