What to do after installing Windows? We install programs. What are the most necessary programs for a computer? Download the entire application for Windows 7

Have you bought a brand new laptop or assembled a computer, installed Windows and... what's next? We went to the Desktop, and there was only the Recycle Bin. Even if you bought a laptop with Windows already installed, you still need to configure and install other programs. For what? To improve the performance of your device.

Everyone should have a list of programs that need to be installed immediately after installing the operating system. I have prepared my list. The programs below are suitable for most versions of Windows (XP, 7, 8 or 10). But first of all, you need to understand the drivers.

For those who have a pirated version! First of all, turn off “Firewall” and “Windows Update” - they are located in the “Control Panel”. Then activate Windows.

1. Drivers

Drivers(or more "firewood") is software that is responsible for the functionality and correct connection of other programs to the hardware of a computer or laptop, for example: Wi-Fi will not work without the appropriate driver, the monitor will distort the image (stretch, use the wrong resolution), there will be no sound etc.

Note: In Windows 10, after connecting to Wi-Fi, the system itself finds and installs all the necessary drivers.

The first step is to check what is installed and what is not. Many people have pirated versions of Windows, and many people also buy laptops with DOS(lack of an installed operating system) and then install pirated versions. Even when it’s a pure licensed Windows, you still need to install drivers. But before that, you need to check which of them are installed and which are not. To do this, right-click on the shortcut My Computer > Properties > Device Manager:

If you have all the drivers installed, you will see something like this:

If a driver is not installed, a yellow exclamation mark will appear next to it:

There are three ways to install drivers:

From the official website of the manufacturer. For example, if the laptop is ASUS, then you need to search on the website asus.com.

From the disk that was included (if there was one at all).

Using Driver Pack Solution.

Some drivers are automatically installed by default, which we don't need. For example, a standard driver for a video card may be installed, and then the video card will not work at full capacity, which will affect the graphics in games or when working in serious photo or video editors.

The best way to install drivers- download from disk (if it was in the box) or from the official website. Each driver is installed separately. The included disc usually contains drivers for only one specific version of Windows. The best and optimal solution is to go to the manufacturer’s official website, find the “Drivers” item in the “Support” menu, select your version of Windows and install from there. This way, you will get maximum efficiency and performance from your device.

Rule: Always download and install drivers from the manufacturer's official website.

4. Antivirus

There are paid and free ones. Leaders among paid ones - Kaspersky, Eset,Dr.Web. Leaders among free ones - Comodo,Avira,Avast. I have it free Comodo Internet Security, which fully copes with its functions. If you have extra money, then buy a paid antivirus for a year. But protection must be mandatory.

Telegram. Where would we be without him? Very useful and fast messenger. Must have.

Notepad++. A convenient and functional text code editor with support for dozens of programming languages ​​and more. Syntax highlighting, plugins, themes and a lot more.

VirtualBox. A program that allows you to have two operating systems on one computer. For example, you can install Windows 10 as the main one and Linux as the secondary one. The program completely virtualizes the presence of a second OS.

Necessary programs for windows 10 - 7, XP. In this article I will tell you about the most necessary programs for Windows. 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, 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 crack the passwords set by this archiver.

If you downloaded the ZverDVD disk image, then WinRar is already there with the registration key.

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.

To download the package, you need to click on “Mirror 1” or 2 in the “Download” section.

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.

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 awkwardly on Google Chrome. But it 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. Which is specially designed for downloading videos from YouTube or RuTube. Very comfortable and high quality item. But if you suddenly don’t like it, I offer another very fast Internet service GetVideo. Which also provides a program for Windows. If you are unable to download a video from YouTube, look for details in

Programs for audio/video communication

Skype

6. To communicate on the Internet you need at least a program 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 and inconvenient 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. Its only drawback is the huge price.

LibreOffice free, full-fledged replacement for the Microsoft Office package.

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!

If you downloaded the ZverDVD disk image, then Total Commander is already there with the registration key.

Programs for viewing PDF files

10. Foxit Phantom required for reading documents in PDF format. The program is 10 times smaller than its analogue Adobe Acrobat, is much faster and also 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 of 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 necessary programs for Windows

Programs for capturing images and videos from the screen

15. - 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. 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 that comes with quite rare codecs 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. Some players can play audio and video directly from the Internet. Any user will be able to satisfy all their needs.

Windows Cleaners/Accelerators/Optimizers

19. 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

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

1. deleted files and folders;
2. files from a lost/deleted/damaged partition, for example after deleting or formatting a partition;
3. data from a hard-to-read CD/DVD/flash drive;
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.

22. - 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

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

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:

An excellent assistant for those who maintain 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

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

28. There are also quite a lot of such programs, but perhaps the best one will be small but powerful. 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.

Almost 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" or "Zver 2018.5 Windows 10 Enterprise x64" disks have only a 64-bit version. And accordingly, they will not work on 32-bit operating systems.

Answers to frequently asked questions

What apps are must-haves on Windows 10?

The question is fundamentally wrong. The set of programs that you are going to use does not depend in any way on the version of Windows. Windows is just an operating system. The task of which is to ensure the operation of the computer. How you use it depends only on you. You probably have some goals, objectives, desires after all.

If we compare by analogy, then a computer is a universal machine tool. Windows is the drive, if you want the main shaft. Programs are equipment, tools, for example cutters. Which tool, how and when the master will use depends only on the master. And the master is YOU.

As a rule, the master chooses a tool depending on the need at the moment. The tool that is used every day is always kept at hand. Because he is the most important. And the one that is rarely used is kept aside, but at the ready. This is less important.

It's the same with programs. Based on the general modern specifics of using computers, I have compiled two lists. The most important programs that are used by almost everyone and almost every day. And less important programs that are used by many users, but somewhat less frequently.

Which programs you choose depends only on you, and not on Windows. I have provided lists to help you do this.

Necessary programs for windows 7?

They may be the same as for Windows 10. Moreover, most modern programs work quite well on Windows 7. Therefore, there are no differences. As I wrote above, your choice should not come from the OS version, but from your need.

Do this. Carefully read the first part of the article “The most necessary programs for Windows”. Think about what programs you need. If everything suits you, then install everything. If you don't need something, you don't have to install it. Your computer. Do whatever you want with it.

If you are missing some programs, then read the second part, “Less necessary programs.” The list is also quite large and there is a lot to choose from. If you have a very specific task, then ask questions in the search. If you can’t choose the program yourself, write in the comments. Let's try to find it together.

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, 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...

Still, I finally decided to write this long-awaited article by many readers. As you understand from its name, we will talk below about the best free computer programs, without which I personally cannot imagine my digital life, which have been installed on all my computers for many years and which have never let me down.

There will be few pictures and a lot of different links, but I hope that all of them will be useful to you, so, as they say, don’t switch...

I want to say right away that absolutely all programs described on the website(there are hundreds of them) I like them and I tested (tested) them all personally - this is the main principle of the site.

Table of contents:

Health when working at a computer

I'm giving away first place for free computer program f.lux, which helps me maintain my vision for many years when working at the monitor during long evenings and nights. I can’t even imagine what would have happened to my eyes without her help. It eliminates the welding effect from the night screen - it automatically adjusts the color temperature of the monitor (not to be confused with brightness).

This indispensable program works wonderfully in all versions of the operating system, up to Windows 10.

There are also excellent alternatives - also free programs SunsetScreen and (the second one is generally a “bomb”).

Read also on the website:

You will find several more and no less useful computer programs for maintaining health when working at a computer in the corresponding section of the site "Health and computer"- I kindly ask you to pay attention to them.

Computer security

Virus security now provides my computer completely free antivirus 360 Total Security, which is equipped with five (!) protection algorithms. In addition, it has an excellent digital garbage cleaner and a system optimizer built into it - an original solution from the manufacturers, I should note.

I would like to draw your attention to the fact that with proper fine-tuning, any antivirus can become the best for you. For example, for a long time I used the paid ESET Nod32 and the free Avast! Free Antivirus - both of them saved me many times from the invasion of malware.

I can’t keep silent about the free anti-virus scanner Dr.Web CureIt, which I used to bring hundreds of my friends’ and acquaintances’ computers back to life.

I advise you not to forget and about a good firewall(firewall) - it also plays a huge role in ensuring the security of your operating system.

You will find descriptions of other free and effective means of protecting your computer from viruses in the “Security” section of the site.

Programs to speed up your computer

There will be several winners in this category...

Let's start by speeding up the computer startup. Here my leader will be AnVir Task Manager - a powerful manager of tasks, processes, startup, services, a detector and destroyer of viruses, as well as spyware. It was thanks to this magical program (and a couple more tricks) that I was able to speed up computer startup in up to 9.2 seconds- this is my personal record at this point in time (with Windows 7).

There is a section on the site in which I came across many useful articles on this topic.

How can a computer speed up without periodically cleaning it from digital garbage (logs, “tails” of once deleted programs, etc.). Here my reliable and trusted assistant is the legendary “cleaner” CCleaner. This is the longest-running program on my computers - I’ve been using it since the very beginning of my computer life.

Besides her there is a whole bunch of great “cleaners”, but CCleaner is my favorite.

After cleaning the system, let's optimize its operation - I consider the Advanced SystemCare program to be the leader in this matter. This is a whole combine that has collected a bunch of useful tweaks and utilities under its roof.

A very convenient and understandable program. It can fully automatically optimize the operation of your computer. There is also a manual mode - you yourself specify what and where to improve in the system.

Described on the site and other great optimizers, for example ToolWiz Care.

I continue to list the best free computer programs that I have been using for many years...

Programs for convenient computer work

There are also a couple of leaders in the nomination...

The most amazing free computer program that has incredibly speeded up and improved my computer work is StrokesPlus. It allows you to control your computer with mouse gestures.

It’s just a magical free program, I’ll tell you - it monstrously optimizes interaction with Windows Explorer. I can't imagine my computer life without it.

There is an alternative to this program - gMote, but I like the first one much more.

I consider Clover to be the second best free program that greatly improves the convenience of working on a computer. It adds tab functionality to Windows Explorer (think browsers). As in the previous case, this greatly increases the speed of folder navigation.

This program works great in Windows 7, but the top ten has a number of questions about it - a similar (but not so simple) utility called QTTabBar helped me out. With its help, I implemented tabs at the bottom of the window and enjoy the convenience.

My favorite browser

I can clearly feel how tense many readers are and are already flexing their fingers. to start the holivar on this topic in the comments to the article. Therefore, I emphasize - PERSONALLY MY FAVORITE BROWSER is Mozilla Firefox.

I’ve been using Google Chrome for a couple of years, I really liked a version of Opera called Vivaldi..., but Fire Fox personally suits me best for its flexibility, functionality and the presence of add-ons for all occasions. In terms of speed, all browsers today are like rockets.

Whatever Internet browser you use, don’t forget about . It will save your nerve cells, speed up surfing the web and protect you from clicking on fake links.

Program for automatic driver installation

It is no secret that the fast and high-quality operation of all computer components depends on the availability of up-to-date drivers in the system.

The most convenient, simple, safe and high-quality free computer program that will automatically scan your system at lightning speed, find the best driver versions suitable for your long-suffering computer and update them is Snappy Driver Installer (SDI).

Unique Anti-tick

The list of the best free computer programs is completed by a unique and inimitable utility called Unchecky. This is a real killer of various cunning and subtle ticks for installing additional “useful” software, which unscrupulous software manufacturers implement into their installers.

There are simply no analogues to this computer program. Its beauty is in its simplicity, automatic background work and focus on our market. Just imagine - she herself finds and removes most (not absolutely all) nasty jackdaws when installing programs on a computer!

Many program authors are simply furious with it - they are constantly improving their installers and trying to outwit Unchecky, but it also fights them, updating itself frequently. This is the eternal struggle between good and evil.

That's all for today. Of course, these are not all the best free programs for your computer. I haven't mentioned audio players yet, video players,

Welcome! Today we will talk about 7 programs for Windows that should be present on every computer.

This article will not be a revelation for advanced guys and girls. But it can be a good reminder for those who are just taking their first steps in independently servicing and setting up a personal computer.

1. Archiver. Squeeze and unclench are still in fashion.

An archiver is a program (a set of programs in one graphical interface) that should be the first to take up space on your computer.

Most likely, immediately after installation Windows, You may come across a driver or program that is packaged in an archive.

And here it will be a shame if it is. To unpack it, you need an archiver. To download the archiver, you need a network driver. Vicious circle.

This combination of circumstances seems unlikely. But many experienced users can confirm that this has happened, and this can happen.

Therefore, the archiver should be on your flash drive at the moment when you are about to reinstall your OS.

There are a huge number of various archivers with a graphical interface (previously archivers worked from the command line).

All of them support the overwhelming number of formats - zip, rar, iso, jar, cab, tar, gz, ace, arj etc. Therefore, by installing just one program, you will receive a whole set of tools with archives.

The names of some of these programs are: 7-Zip, WinRAR, WinZIP, HaoZIP etc. almost ad infinitum.

We will not go into the functionality of each program. Our goal today is different.

Although WinRAR is a paid application, it will work fine for many years in its trial version, only occasionally reminding you that it is “paid”.

You have the right to use the archiver that you find more convenient and advanced.

2. Browser. Surfing the Internet.

Browser - from English browser — reviewer. Actually, from this name it is not difficult to guess the purpose of the programs of this group. With their help, we view (browse) pages on the Internet.

Once upon a time, back in 1995, the first version of the operating system appeared Windows 95. The disadvantage of that version was the complete absence of any browser out of the box. I had to install Netscape Navigator- third-party browser. Now I don’t even remember, maybe there were others.

MicroSoft's own browser appeared later, a little over a year later, in OS Windows 95 OSR2 and was called...

Absolutely right - Internet Explorer. Not the best and fastest browser.

20 years have passed since then, but the habits of the mega-corporation remain the same. Only in version 10 Windows, I.E. they simply hid it in a folder, away from the user’s eyes, without even displaying a shortcut in the menu “ Start". And to replace it they brought a new miracle with the same letter - Edge browser. But as users joke, the purpose of both mentioned programs is to download another browser using them.

But let's not mock - I.E. was and remains the favorite browser of older accountants and software developers for these same accountants.

There are a huge number of browsers on the market now. All of them are usually free. They are created on the basis of each other, use the same engines and in essence are not much different.

For example, Google Chrome,Yandex.Browser and now also Opera- use the same technologies and engines Chromium. You can easily verify this by looking at each page “ About the browser«.

The whole difference is in the improvements, add-ons, extensions, appearance and default settings.

The top four is completed by Mozilla Firefox- a browser with its own unique engine, history and fans. Firefox- present out of the box in several operating systems of the family Linux. Taken as a basis when creating the program Tor Browser.

It has many extensions that make its possibilities almost unlimited. Although other browsers are no longer inferior to it in this regard.

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1. Google Chrome is a fast but memory-hungry browser. Has thousands of extensions for any purpose. Has a built-in Flash plugin, replacing Adobe Flash Player — Pepper Flash Plugin, which is updated along with the browser. Synchronizes data in your Google account. Can translate pages into Russian.
2. Opera evokes warm feelings in many people. Beautiful, pleasant, simple, but at the same time functional and fast. Has its own extension store. Does not have built-in Flash plugin, it must be installed separately. More resistant to uncontrolled installation of unwanted extensions and Malware.
3. Yandex.Browser is beautiful and modern. Easy to use. Has data synchronization (like all mentioned browsers), for which your email is used Yandex account. So simple and clear that everything you need fits into one small menu. I don't really want to go into settings. It has the function of translating pages into Russian from other languages.
4. Mozilla Firefox is a browser with history. Ognelis is loved by Linux users, programmers, testers, SEO specialists and many other technically literate people. It has a huge number of extensions, themes, addons, plugins, etc. Just a good browser with a bunch of tweaks.
5. Tor Browser is a browser based on two things: Mozilla Firefox and full anonymity. Tor allows you to use proxy servers and virtual private networks to browse the web. Does not leave cookies, does not store cache and does not write history. The best browser for anonymity on the Internet.

3. A set of codecs.

Something that no modern computer can do without is codecs.

Codecs are small converter programs that compress video and audio when recording videos, and also decode them during playback.

If you do not install a codec on your computer that matches your family video camera, it is unlikely that you will be able to view video from it on your computer. Likewise, if you don't have a DVD codec, you won't be able to watch your favorite DVD.

To watch a movie in MKV- need a codec Matroska, to view video from surveillance cameras you will need H.264, and so on.

If you had a situation where the video did not open, or opened without sound or image, then most likely the appropriate codec was simply not installed on your computer.

How to understand what codecs are needed and where to get them?

Actually, as a simple user, we should be little concerned about the question of what codecs we need. Let this worry the guys involved in video processing. We must understand that there are sets of codecs that include the most popular, or even almost all possible codecs.

These sets are called " packs» ( pack- set, set, package, pack). Codec sets differ both in the manufacturer (who assembled the codecs and released the final product) and in the contents of the package.

I think many will agree - at the moment the package is in the lead K-Lite Code Pack.

There are several configurations of this product - Basic, Standard, Full, Mega.

The contents of each package are clear from the names. If we want everything at once, download it Mega.

Comes with a light, fast and pleasant Media Player Classic which will reveal EVERYTHING.

All programs and games that use “exotic” codecs that are not in the package deliver them themselves during installation.

6. Cleanliness is the key to health. Even on computers.

Despite all the delights of the operating system Windows latest versions, it still has quite a few weak points. One of them - registry. The registry needs to be monitored and maintained. But not every user is able to independently monitor errors in its structure, much less manually eliminate them.

The second rather unpleasant thing is directories of temporary files, which viruses and other computer vermin love so much. You can clean your computer from viruses as much as you like and Malware, but if you forget to clean the directories of temporary files, you can wait for the “guests” again.

In operating systems of the family Linux, catalog /tmp is cleared automatically upon completion of work.

What prevented the developers Windows do the same? Unknown.

In addition to the above, it wouldn’t hurt to check the startup items. So that unnecessary things are not loaded along with Windows.

It would also be nice to get rid of programs that were installed without asking with other products.

All this and much more can be done by one very good, and most importantly free program. Experienced comrades most likely have already guessed what we are talking about.

A program that should be on every Windows computer is CCleaner.

Recently, many little-known programs have appeared that pretend to be “cleaners” and antiviruses. Be carefull.

7. Security is not just an antivirus.

Well, we got to the most pressing issue. Before defense.

Many are ready to beat themselves in the chest and defend the honor of this or that antivirus. Oh, how many disputes, quarrels and squabbles there were on this basis.

That is why today we will not talk about an antivirus, but about its alternative.

Meet - Malwarebytes Antimalware- a powerful product that will protect you from unwanted browser extensions, advertising of gambling establishments that interfere with work or watching a movie.

It is he who will make your computer “breathe” in a new way and give a second chance to the operating system.

Has 4 levels of real-time protection (paid version):

• Anti-Malware
• Defence from ransomware
• Defence from exploits
• Defence from malicious websites

And the free version is a powerful scanner that identifies threats that simply cannot be seen by any antivirus. It (free version) has a powerful heuristic file analysis.

Suitable for use with conventional antivirus. Doesn't conflict.

By using Malwarebytes You can cure a heavily infected computer yourself without resorting to the help of specialists.