Hey guys, how's it going? Now I know a lot of you guys are buying new Windows 11 PCs and of course the whole experience of Windows comes with all of the new apps that you install on your Windows PC. But while there is a huge list of apps that you can install, what are some of the most essential apps that you have to install on a brand new PC? Well that's what this video is all about.
Today we'll be taking a look at some of the most essential apps that look good, work great and enhance your productivity. by miles while also ensuring that your system is safe and secure so without wasting any time this is one from guiding tech and let's get started oh by the way speaking of a new pc have you already bought a license key for your microsoft windows and what about paid essential software like microsoft office or a good premium antivirus well if you're planning to buy a key for all of those things i have a way for you to easily save a buck on all of those thanks to today's sponsor software Now, I'm sure you're aware of all the scammy and sketchy websites out there that claim to offer you amazing discounts on all of these premium products, but don't actually deliver. SoftwareKeep changes that. SoftwareKeep is a Microsoft certified partner that offers anywhere between 40% to 60% off on paid software, such as Microsoft Office, Microsoft Windows, premium antiviruses, and even VMware. And all of these are instantaneous digital downloads.
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So what are you waiting for? Make sure to head over to SoftwareKeep and ensure that you use the code GT20 to get an extra 20% off on their entire store. Now then, let's kick off by starting about the first thing that you would install on your Windows PC, which is a new web browser. See, as much as I love Microsoft Edge, if you care about your privacy, Brave Browser is a great option.
Out of the box, Brave Browser blocks trackers and third-party cookies that monitor your activity as you travel across the web. It enforces HTTPS everywhere and even comes with support for Chrome extensions. So if you're migrating from Chrome or a different Chromium-based browser, migrating isn't going to be an issue for you.
What's more is that you also get built-in ads and tracker blocker and if you want you can sign up for brave rewards to get paid for supporting them. Moving along while the Microsoft Photos app has definitely gotten better it's still not the best photo viewing app for your Windows PC. My go-to recommendation in that context is Imageglass. Imageglass is an open source image viewer that comes in a very simple, neat and easy to use interface.
It supports over 70 different formats which includes GIF, SVG, HEIC and even RAW images. It's super lightweight, does not take a toll on your system resources and displays all the image information neatly in the title bar. You also get a modern UI which you can easily customize with various different themes as well. Also, speaking of photos, there are times where you need to edit your photos as well.
Now, whether it's basic or advanced editing, I think you'll find Photoscape X to suit all of your needs. Photoscape X comes with your basic editing features and then some. You also get a huge library of over 1000 filters, effects, frames and handy editing tools. So basically, it has got you fully checked off when it comes to beautifying images or transforming the entire look of photos instantly.
Okay, so now from photos, let's move on to videos. And we all need a good video player on our system, whether it's for watching a random movie or just a random video that you downloaded from the internet. Now, while my go to recommendation in this context used to be VLC media player, but there have been issues around its security. So now... my recommendation in this context is K-Lite Mega.
See, while the interface here is quite old school, the media player classic here can play back all sorts of formats, comes with support for HDR and 3D videos as well, and is super lightweight on your system resources. What's more is that you get advanced hardware acceleration and better support for various complex formats, such as MKV, which render seamlessly on this app. Now, another important tool that you should have on your Windows PC is a good download manager. Now, while IDM remains the best download manager out there, it is, of course, a paid software. A better free version would be the free download manager.
As the name suggests, it is completely free. But it comes with a lot of added features too. FDM comes with download acceleration, download resumption, and many more features.
Additionally, it also doubles up as a BitTorrent client, so you can add magnet links and torrent files too. It may not have the best UI, but it performs really well. Okay, so speaking of UI, one of the things that I do not really like about Windows is the default file explorer.
I mean, sure, it has definitely gotten better over time. But still, it feels a bit lackluster in terms of most essential features. Thankfully, we have a better alternative.
on the Microsoft Store itself in the form of Files. Files is an open-source project and comes with a plethora of features packed inside a beautiful Explorer window. You get various features such as tab browsing, column view browsing, support for FTP, direct integration with cloud storage, and support for shell extensions as well.
The app supports various themes as well to suit your personal style. Speaking of Files, we all work with compressed file formats every now and then, be it ZIP, RAR, or whatever. Now, of course, while Windows does allow you to extract a zip file by default, that is still a very lackluster feature.
If you want to create your own zips or not just zip, but work with any other compressed format, you need a dedicated tool for that. And the best recommendation for that is 7-zip. 7-zip is completely free and open source that supports all the compression formats out there. So whether it's zip, RAR or TAR, 7-zip can handle it all. You can use it to create your own archives as well.
And the compression ratio is pretty great too. Alright, so while we're on the topic of best software for Windows, of course, a lot of folks require Microsoft Office. But like I said, it is a paid software.
What's a free alternative to that? Well, there's of course, Free Office. The suite itself is fully compatible with all Microsoft Word, Excel, and PowerPoint formats.
This means that you can not only view, but save files in formats such as Docx, Excel SX, and PPTX. It also supports older file types such as PPT and XLS. Now one interesting option that you get here is that you can customize whether you want a ribbon menu or a classic toolbar. So not only does it suit everyone's taste, but it also makes the migration process for people who are still using dated versions of Microsoft Office a lot easier.
That being said, like I said, if you still want to buy a paid license key for Microsoft Office, you can always check out our sponsor Software Keep. Alright, so moving along, there are times where you need to record your screen as well. Now, of course, the Microsoft Xbox Game Bar is already pre-installed on your system.
But a limitation of that is that it cannot record your file explorer or your desktop screen. A better alternative is to just use ShareX. ShareX is an open source screen recording tool for your PC that's super easy to use and 100% free. Now enabling screen recording inside ShareX requires you to download a module but once done you can record without any interruptions whatsoever. You can even use it for GIF recording as well as adding image effects and also customizing the region capture and so much more.
Now moving along we all have multiple online accounts, be it for web browsers, different websites, or even social media apps. But instead of remembering individual passwords, a better option would be to use a dedicated password manager. Now, my recommendation for that is using Bitwarden.
Bitwarden is a powerful open source password manager with a generous free plan. It gives unlimited password storage and covers an unlimited number of devices. Now, while the UI isn't exactly super intuitive or anything, it does offer pretty good and stable performance. and the autofill and password recall features here work very well. Last but definitely not the least, I personally trust Microsoft Defender for my protection against viruses because I consider myself a Well, a smarter user in comparison to most folks out there because I know which websites to trust and I only have a set group of portals that I want to visit that I know are safe to use.
However, if you are a carefree user, it's always recommended to use an antivirus on your system. Now, the best free antivirus that I can recommend to you is Avira free antivirus. It offers a ton of features included in the free plan itself.
Avira has a great anti-malware setup that not only is able to detect all the malicious files on your system, but it also does so without slowing your PC down. And this I'm talking in the full scan mode. Now, apart from that, you also get enhanced internet security with better privacy protection than its competitors. And well, that was it.
As always, you can find the download links to all of the software that I talked about down in the description box. If you found this video helpful, make sure to give us a thumbs up and subscribe to our channel for more awesome tech content. Till then, this is Vam from Guiding Tech, and I'll see you in the next one.