You don't have to dig deep into your pockets to find the right Windows software for your needs. For almost every function there's a variety of free programs. — dpa
Whether you used a computer for professional or private purposes there's a repertoire of standard software that's almost mandatory. Luckily, the trick is to pick the right ones.
The first step when populating a computer with software is to get an antivirus program. Although Windows 10 already has Defender on board, other scanners, some of them free, can provide better protection. Examples include Avast Free Antivirus and Avira Free Antivirus.
In addition to a virus scanner you could consider an adware scanner which specialises in detecting and removing adware and spyware, for example AdwCleaner. If your computer is new and full of demo software then you can deploy something like PC Decrapifier Free.
"If possible, users should always get software directly from the manufacturer and not through third parties such as software websites," says Viktor Schroeder from Germany's Society for Computer Science. However, such websites can be useful for finding user reviews of a piece of software.
To combat the dreaded data loss you can install backup tools. Using Aomei Backupper Standard you can create an automated backup plan for your most important files or even the entire system with just a few clicks. Also worth checking out is the open source Cobian Backup.
Almost everyone wants to play music and movies on their computer – here open-source software is especially recommended. "The VLC player is a true all-rounder, it understands all popular video and audio formats," says tech reporter Martin Reche. It even lets you use your smartphone as a remote control.
Another interesting media player is Tomahawk, which – depending on subscriptions – can make use of streaming services, Internet radio and video platforms.
For recording and editing audio, Audacity is recommended. "The editing and the subsequent post-processing with effects, equalizers and compressors works very well," Reche says. There's also a plug-in available called Lame so that you can export audio in MP3 format.
To save space, there's 7-Zip, a tool which packs and unpacks compressed files, supports numerous compression formats and is superior to the Windows' Zip tool.
And if you want to save and send documents in a space-saving and cross-platform format, a virtual PDF printer like PDF24 is useful.
Windows 10 comes with Microsoft's Edge browser but there are plenty of good alternatives from Firefox and Chrome to Opera and Vivaldi.
The same goes for email clients – if you don't want Outlook you can try something like Mozilla's Thunderbird which offers all the emails functions you could require as well as a calendar add-on called Lightning.
No computer would be complete without a good office suite with a text editor, a spreadsheet application and a presentation tool. Here Libre Office is a good option.
"The software is an unofficial successor to Open Office, is rapidly evolving and offers good features," Viktor Schroeder says.
To view images and help manage and tag your photo collection there's Irfanview. Its built-in batch process can change the meta data of multiple images or entire folders at once.
And for a free and beginner-friendly image editor there's Paint.net which Martin Reche recommends for its "clear user interface". — dpa
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