There’s a lot of software out there for your PC: some of it good, most of it bad, plenty of it free. As great as the Internet is, it makes it easy to get your hands on the bad stuff through a dodgy advert or malicious message saying that you have a virus and “need to install an antivirus immediately.” We’ve trawled the Internet for 101 of the best free software and apps in every major category we could think of, picking our top choices for each one. Enjoy! bagas31
Gaming Tools
- MSI Afterburner: the fundamental tool for any gamer, this lets you overclock your GPU (or underclock it, if you’re looking to preserve it), and monitor your PC temperatures and gaming refresh rates.
- Throttlestop: whether you want to improve gaming performance by removing CPU throttling or cool your CPU by undervolting, Throttlestop is packed with features that give you unprecedented control over your processor.
- NVIDIA GeForce Experience: exclusive to NVIDIA GPU owners, this app (and NVIDIA Control Panel) lets you optimize game performance on a by-game basis, seamlessly record your footage, and more.
- AMD Software: Adrenalin Edition: AMD’s answer to the above, this is the one-stop shop for AMD GPU owners to take complete control over their gaming – from streaming to optimization. Check out our guide on AMD Radeon Settings.
- Custom Resolution Utility: at your own risk, you can overclock your monitor to support refresh rates (therefore frame rates) much higher than they’re designed to handle using this tool.
Office Suite
- LibreOffice: this is a great free alternative to Microsoft Office that packs all of the office tools you’d ever need for your tasks.
- Calligra: a suite that includes all of the office tools you need, including a word processor, a spreadsheet processor, and a presentation maker. In addition to that, it also has a visual database creator that helps you set up databases on your PC.
- SoftMaker FreeOffice: a program that is free for both personal and professional use that offers a complete office suite to match all of your task requirements.
- WPS Office Personal Edition: this one is the perfect multi-language office suite solution for your office management. In addition to office tools, it has PDF tools to help you work with PDF files on your PC.
- Google Docs: Google’s online office suite is a widely used tool for personal use as well as professional. It’s free, too.
If you want more info about free office apps for Windows, take a peek at our list of the best Microsoft Office alternatives.
Web Browsers
- Google Chrome: it’s one of the most popular web browsers available and has with a large number of features. Users can add extra functionalities via extensions.
- Mozilla Firefox: Firefox is one of the more popular web browsers. It isn’t Chromium-based as it is instead run by a non-profit, making it possibly more privacy friendly. It has its own add-ons repository for you to add new features to it.
- Brave: it comes with the most extensive blocking of online ads and trackers and offers free cryptocurrency for users who enable the optional Brave ads.
- Microsoft Edge: it may seem like a cop-out to include the default Windows web browser, but Microsoft Edge feels slick and fast and now has mobile versions that it syncs seamlessly with.