Thanks to a bundling service called Ninite , you can download and install most of these in one go. First, we're going to give a brief overview of the programs we suggest installing with Ninite. Then we're going to list a few more of our go-to apps. Don't let your new system live long without them and, if you need it, here's our guide to the best antivirus for gaming PCs.
Ninite builds a custom installer for you of the applications you want, then installs all of them in one go. It's mercifully free of the annoying toolbars and free offers and other adware most installers try to sneak onto your PC. It's simple, and it works perfectly. It also offers a lot of software you probably don't need, so we picked out what we'd recommend for a new gaming rig. Avira - Windows' built-in tools do the job well these days, but if you want added security, this is what we consider the best free antivirus available.
Discord - The de facto gaming messaging client, and one we use every day. It also has a great mobile app. Join the PC Gamer Club and come chat with us! Zoom - You're probably going to get roped into a Zoom call sooner or later.
Might as well be prepared. Free and lightweight and it'll never bug you to pay for it. VLC - VLC can play anything and is a reliable all-around media player, with no need for outside codecs.
We have another media player recommendation below, too. Audacity - Optional If you do any sort of audio recording or editing, Audacity is a great, free, powerful tool.
Net - Sooner or later you'll probably need these. Might as well load them up now, or you'll end up groaning when some program asks for one. Maybe none? IrfanView - Optional You probably already know how to take screenshots on your PC or otherwise deal with images in bulk, but IrfanView can run automatically in the background taking shots at different intervals.
It is also our favorite tool for mass resizing, cropping, conversion, and so on. Powerful automation tools, and good for just viewing images, too. Windirstat - Right now your new PC is whistle-clean, but it won't always be that way. Windirstat gives you a nice visual breakdown of how all your storage is allocated, making it easy to locate some big chunky files you might want to toss in the recyle bin.
TeamViewer - A very handy tool for accessing your PC remotely. A free, easy-to-use remote desktop program. Also a good way to help parents troubleshoot their computers, if you can walk them through installing it. Otherwise, grab the more bloated but more powerful Adobe Acrobat. If you're assembling your own installer, give each of the above programs a checkmark, then click "Get Your Ninite" to create an installer that bundles all of these programs together.
Then run it, sit back, and watch your PC fill up with the utilities you'll be using all the time. You probably know exactly which launchers you need, but depending on what games you play, or where you like to hunt for deals, you should consider installing the following:. Afterburner is an awesome free combo package for overclocking your GPU and making your games run better. The graphics overclocking part of the program will let you tweak the settings of your GPU, getting even more performance out of a card with higher memory and processor clocks.
The built-in hardware monitoring will help you tune in performance. But plenty of overclocking utilities can do all that. Some games deliver frames at an uneven pace, making performance choppy, and their own framerate controls aren't up to par. Oh yeah: it can capture screenshots, too. Yes, it makes your screen look orange and weird.
We love the service. If you have bigger storage requirements, we'd look at all the best alternatives and the different pricing tiers before making the decision. Odds are you already rely in one or more than one of these four.
Luckily competition for cloud backup has been fierce for a few years and prices have come down a little. Finally, for full backups, there are better suited alternatives than the above. First of all, you get specialized backup software, file versioning, and often unlimited storage so you can offload terabytes of data and remain at ease.
Windows user: WhatsApp and Hangouts for video. WhatsApp to reach everyone. For work: Slack or Microsoft Teams. For gaming: Discord or TeamSpeak. Information is power but having the right information at the right time is even more important. The most ubiquitous personal messaging platforms are WhatsApp and Facebook Messenger , though only the former offers native desktop applications.
For video calls Skype remains one of the more popular options but honestly, we kind of hate it these days, it's a convoluted mess. Google Hangouts can be used free for voice and video calls, several people can join on a single meeting and because it's web-based it works across all platforms.
In fact, if you're running Chrome there's nothing you need to do to join a meeting. It's not perfect but it works.
A second good alternative is Viber , offering similar voice and video capabilities, with an added spin on security. It's always fun to stay in touch with family and friends, but if you need to collaborate in a workgroup then Slack is the most popular platform for that purpose. The free plan works well for small groups, and there are paid options per seat if you have bigger storage and history requirements, as well as more security control.
Alternatives include Cisco Spark and Microsoft Teams, the latter is a likely candidate if you're already paying for an Office subscription. And if you're interested in having all your different communication services in one place you can try Franz. For gaming communication, you can go old school with TeamSpeak or modern with Discord. Steam is also offering a more robust in-game chat solution this year. If you know what you're doing, both Windows and macOS come with decent security out of the box.
Common sense should be enough for power users, while the average user may want to add another layer of protection that won't turn into a burden for your system. Malwarebytes is the first tool you should consider. A veteran specializing in preventing malware and rootkits attacks, it's great and free for personal use. There's also VirusTotal. For gaming we have to recommend Steam first and foremost. Valve's killer gaming platform does an awesome job at being a one-stop shop for most PC gaming.
It's a great hub and gaming communication platform, also known for its sales. Do note however that certain franchises are absent from Steam, namely games from the likes of EA, Ubi, and Blizzard. Also, Fortnite , Minecraft and League of Legends.
Unless you're invested in Apple's ecosystem, music streaming is synonymous with Spotify , so you can download that here. YouTube is another great place to discover music, not just the latest releases but finding old live performances of your favorite artists.
For watching your favorite movies there's VLC Player. If you just want to press play and go, VLC has that going for it. But it's also a powerful player with support for subtitle synchronisation, video filters, and equalization, should you need that. Also, to be fair, Windows 10's built in player works well and supports a variety of formats, too. Last time we checked, it saved battery when playing movies on a laptop, so we certainly wouldn't discard it. If you are using your PC to act as a hub for streaming content around the house, check out Plex.
Microsoft Office remains the king of office productivity and some are not having as hard a time justifying a subscription to Office if you need it for work and if you take advantage of most of the apps and included perks like 1TB of OneDrive storage. Now, as you are likely aware, free alternatives abound here. Mac users get iWork out of the box, which is a great way to get started on documents, spreadsheets or presentations. On the Windows side, some of our writers swear by LibreOffice , while others simply hate it.
The open source office suite offers all the basics and then some but at zero cost. Google Docs is the default choice for browser-based office apps, sharing and collaboration.
Meanwhile, Airmail is Mac only. For simple note-taking there's OneNote , which Microsoft now offers as a free cross-platform, cloud connected app. For screenshot grabbing, annotation and sharing, we like Monosnap though OS tools are improving every year and macOS's upcoming revision will do most of what we like about Monosnap out of the box. Adobe applications are top notch and professional, but there are other high quality alternatives like Corel PaintShop Pro and Pixelmator.
And SourceTree for managing your Github repositories. Teamviewer is the default choice for cross-platform remote control and desktop sharing. It's also a pretty good tool to have handy should you need to transfer very large files that are impractical to add to your cloud storage. If you don't like Windows handling your zipping, download 7-zip.
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