In the vast world of software, there are some amazing tools that are not just useful but also free and open for everyone to use.
In this article, let’s explore some of the best open-source software in 2024 that can make your digital life easier and more exciting.
1. LibreOffice
LibreOffice is a free and open-source office suite written in C++, Java, and Python, which was first released in January 2011 by The Document Foundation and has since been known to be the most reliable open-source office suite.
Usually used as an alternative to Microsoft Office Suite, it is regularly updated and is also compatible with the doc, .docx, .xls, .xlsx, .ppt, .pptx files.
2. Nextcloud
Nextcloud is an open-source, self-hosted file-sharing platform with support for communicating and collaborating with teams.
Its functionality is similar to that of Dropbox and ownCloud, and you can use it to sync your files, calendars, and other data formats.
3. Adminer
Adminer is a minimalist Database Management System (DBMS) in a single PHP file and it focuses on security, UX, performance, feature set, and size.
It ships with several inbuilt themes and features all the operations you can perform in phpMyAdmin with the promise of offering a tidier UI with high performance and better support for MySQL features.
4. Slim Framework
Slim Framework is a PHP micro-framework that enables users to write powerful web applications and APIs in a simpler way.
Fundamentally, it works as a dispatcher that receives an HTTP request, invokes an appropriate callback routine, and then returns an HTTP response.
5. uniCenta
uniCenta is an open-source commercial-grade Point Of Sale dedicated to providing business owners with innovative POS applications.
Its features include modules for system control, sales, inventory, suppliers, employees, customers, and reports.
6. Bitwarden
Bitwarden is a free and open-source password manager for keeping digital records away from the sight of unauthorized users.
It features a clean minimalist UI with several client applications including one for a web interface, desktop, mobile apps, etc. and can be used by individuals, teams, and organizations.
7. The Elastic Stack
The Elastic Stack is made up of various open-source applications designed to enable users to collect data from any source irrespective of its format and type.
It also enables users to search, analyze, and visualize data in real-time and it can be distributed as Software as a Service (Saas) or installed on-premise.
8. Steam
Steam is not open-source but it is regarded as the ultimate online gaming platform, is an online community where you can easily search, install, and manage game collections for different OS platforms.
SteamOS + Linux on Steam is the best thing that has happened to gamers in the Linux community.
9. Cockpit
Cockpit is a user-friendly, integrated, glanceable, extendable, and web-based GUI for managing servers. It is designed to have a beautiful, modern UI with support for teams, integration with the terminal, multi-server administration, and built-in troubleshooting tools.
It provides a user-friendly dashboard, which is accessible through a web browser, allowing users to perform various system-related tasks without the need for a command-line interface.
10. .NET Core
.NET Core refers to the free and open-source general-purpose software development framework for Linux, macOS, and Windows Operating Systems.
It contains the .NET Native runtime and CoreRT and it can be used in device, cloud, and embedded/IoT scenarios.
11. IPFire
IPFire is a versatile open-source Linux-based firewall that is easy to use and offers high performance in any scenario.
IPFire originally started as an IPCop fork but was rewritten from scratch in version 2.
12. Flameshot
Flameshot is a simple but powerful screenshot application for Linux, that you can use to interact with it via GUI or CLI and perform markup operations on a per-screenshot basis.
13. Brave Browser
Brave Browser is a free and open-source Chromium-based browser that ships with more features than Chrom typically does.
It is customizable, security-focused, user-friendly, and ships with an inbuilt adblocker and password manager among other features.
14. BRL-CAD
BRL-CAD is a free and open-source cross-platform solid modeling system that includes interactive geometry editing, a system performance analysis benchmark suite, geometry libraries for application developers, and high-performance ray tracing for rendering and geometric analysis.
15. ssh-chat
ssh-chat is a custom SSH server through which you can hold secure chats with a limited number of users over an SSH connection.
It is specially designed to convert your SSH server into a chat service after which you get a chat prompt rather than a typical shell.
16. PhotoRec
PhotoRec is a CLI utility software for data recovery capable of recovering files with over 480 extensions. It is compatible with various digital camera memory, hard disks, and CD-ROMs.
17. GParted
GParted is a GUI utility for managing disk partitions and is capable of resizing, moving, and copying partitions without data loss.
It is excellent at manipulating file systems including xfs, ufs, ntfs, udf, fat16/fat32, ext2/ext3/ext4, btrfs, etc.
18. Restic
Restic is an open-source CLI-based utility for performing backups easily, securely, quickly, and efficiently for free.
It uses Semantic Versioning to always allow for backward compatibility within one major version.
19. Rclone
Rclone is a command line-based utility for synchronizing files and directories to and from several storage locations including Dropbox, FTP, Hubic, Dreamhost, OVH, Nextcloud, Yandex Disk, etc.
Rclone’s features include checking for file hash equality, timestamps preserved on files, one-way sync mode to directories, Union backend, etc.
20. Minio
Minio is a private cloud storage stack that provides scalable and persistent object storage for several infrastructures including Docker, Kubernetes, GCP, etc.
21. Cmus
Cmus is a powerful but lightweight CLI-based music player app for playing audio files from the terminal on Unix-like Operating Systems.
22. Etcher
Etcher is a cross-platform GUI utility for easily and safely flashing OS images to SD cards and USB drives.
23. Cargo
Cargo is a package manager for the Rust programming language and it is efficient at downloading the necessary Rust dependencies for your project as well as compiling the packages into distributable packages that it then uploads to crates.io.
24. Sayonara Player
Sayonara Player is a C++ audio player and library manager for Linux devices. It features several advanced functionalities including extending its features list with extensions, directory view, recording webstreams and podcasts, an inbuilt tag editor, crossfade, equalizer, etc.
25. Helm
Helm is a package manager created by the Cloud Native Computing Foundation for Kubernetes and it provides users with the easiest way to discover, share, and build Kubernetes applications.
Kubernetes also referred to as k8s, is an open-source system for automating application management, scaling, and deployment.
26. ClickHouse
ClickHouse is an open-source column-oriented Database Management System for generating analytical data reports in real time using SQL. It is linearly scalable, fault-tolerant, simple to use, and hardware efficient.
27. Shotcut
Shotcut is a free, cross-platform, and open-source video editor with wide support for video formats and a clean user interface.
It features network stream playback, IP stream, webcam and audio capture, support for 4K resolution, capture from SDI, etc.
28. Kdenlive
Kdenlive is an advanced free and open-source video editing software with support for multi-track video editing, proxy editing, timeline preview, automatic backup, and audio and video scopes.
Kdenlive also features several online resources for users, a title for creating 2D titles, a configurable UI, etc.
29. Rufus
Rufus is a lightweight utility for creating bootable USB flash drives and flashing BIOS or other firmware from DOS. It can also be used to format drives and can be run directly from a memory stick as a portable app.
30. DSpace
DSpace is a customizable open-source dynamic digital repository whose aim is to make information easy to access, use, and manage.
It is used in several academic, commercial, and non-profit settings for building open digital repositories.
31. Stellarium
Stellarium is an open-source OpenGL-powered planetarium software that shows a 3D simulation of the night sky in real-time.
It also contains details of all the planetary bodies and constellations with engaging visualizations.
32. Krita
Krita is a cross-platform open-source raster graphics editor for digital painting and creating animations. It is among the most popular digital painting tools with features like native support for CMYK, a clutter-free UI, efficient resource management, a pop-up color palette, etc.
33. Tvheadend
Tvheadend (TVH) is a Linux recorder and TV streaming server with support for various streaming formats including ISDB-T, IPTV, SAT>IP, ATSC, DVB-S2, DVB-S, DVB-C, etc.
34. OpenShot
OpenShot is a free, cross-platform, and open-source video editor created to be incredibly simple, powerful, and efficient.
It features unlimited tracks, animations & keyframes, a title editor, slow motion and time effects, support for 70+ languages, etc.
35. GSConnect
GSConnect is an implementation of KDE Connect especially for GNOME shell with Nautilus, Firefox, and Chrome integration.
Like KDEConnect, GSConnect allows devices to connect and share notifications, SMS messages, files, etc. e.g. connecting an Android device to an Ubuntu PC.
36. BorgBackup
BorgBackup (short, Borg) is a deduplicating backup program with optional support for compression and encryption. It was built with the main goal of providing an efficient way to securely back data up.
37. Visual Studio Code
Visual Studio Code is Microsoft’s free, cross-platform, and open-source feature-rich code editor. It is in the list of top 5 GUI text editors used by developers and that comes as no surprise given its seemingly unending capabilities.
38. KeePass Password Safe
KeePass Password Safe is a free and open-source password manager that secures all your passwords and files in a single encrypted database. It is lightweight, easy to use, and multi-platform.
39. Discord
Discord is a proprietary freeware digital distribution platform and VoIP application created for gamers. It is cross-platform and supports both single-user and group chats with a specialty in communication via text, image, audio, and video between users.
40. Wine
Wine, which stands for Wine Is Not an Emulator, is a compatibility layer that enables its users to run Windows applications on any POSIX-compliant OS.
Wine cleanly integrates Windows apps with Linux desktops by translating Windows API calls into POSIX calls in real-time which eliminates the performance and memory repercussions of other methods.
41. Synapse
Synapse is a high-performance, lightweight Enterprise Service Bus (ESB) powered by the fast and asynchronous mediation engine that gives it support for Web Services, XML, and REST.
It has so many features that you are better off checking its features page out yourself.
42. Pix
Pix is an advanced image browser, viewer, organizer, and editor for BMP, JPEG, GIF, PNG, TIFF, TGA, ICO, XPM image formats, and optional support for RAW and HDR images.
It has advanced tools for editing images by adding comments, scaling them, finding duplicates, tools for viewing and browsing images such as working with slideshows, performing lossless JPG transformations, etc.
43. Geany
Geany is a cross-platform GTK+ text editor with the basic features of an IDE. It is designed to have few dependencies on external libraries while offering its users a speedy and memory-friendly performance.
44. openLCA
openLCA is a free feature-rich Life Cycle Assessment software created by GreenDelta in 2006. With it, you can model and assess any product for the whole duration of its life cycle from resource extraction to production, its usage, and disposal.
45. Gophish
Gophish is a free, robust cross-platform phishing framework that enables individuals and organizations to easily test their network for phishing attacks.
It contains customizable templates as well as the ability to import/export them, campaigns that you can schedule to launch and send emails in the background, a real-time results tracker, and a full REST API.
46. Flutter
Flutter is a mobile app development SDK created and maintained by Google. It allows users to build sleek native applications on both Android and iOS from a single codebase.
Flutter is also compatible with code for the web, React Native, and Xamarin and it features built-in animations, widgets, and OS-specific designs that speed up the development process.
47. GIMP
GIMP is a feature-rich cross-platform image editing software most commonly used as the Linux alternative for Adobe Photoshop.
Apart from GIMP being capable of doing almost everything Photoshop can, its features are extensible via plugins thanks to its integration with several programming languages, and its files can be used with other media editing software like Inkscape, SwatchBooker, and Scribus.
48. Clementine
Clementine is a feature-rich music player and library organizer and it is among the most popular music players for Linux. Its features include being cross-platform, a queue manager, remote control using a Wii remote, CLI or MPRIS, Android device, visualizations from projects, etc.
49. Mailcow
Mailcow is an open-source mail server that makes use of other smaller open-source services to provide users with an enjoyable mailing experience.
It features a UI that enables users to complete administrative tasks, use temporary spam aliases, work with KIM and ARC, reset SOGo ActiveSync device caches, and integrate with Fail2ban-like software, among others.
50. Beaver
DBeaver is a robust free multi-platform GUI database tool for developers, analysts, DB administrators, and SQL programmers. It has support for all popular databases not excluding MySQL, MariaDB, SQLite, Oracle, DB2, SQL Server, MS Access, Teradata, Sybase, Firebird, and Derby.
51. ONLYOFFICE
ONLYOFFICE is an open-source office suite that is 100% compatible with the Microsoft Office suite. Its features include an online platform for creating and managing documents, team collaboration, a calendar, and project and mail management tools.
ONLYOFFICE can integrate with your Saas or on-premise solution to provide your clients with a branded UI/UX, and web services like Nextcloud, SharePoint, Alfresco, etc.
52. Mailspring
Mailspring is a customizable cross-platform and open-source mail client created to boost users’ productivity and provide them with a more pleasant mailing experience.
It features a beautiful modern UI with several keyboard shortcuts and out of the box with features like click tracking, etc., and tons of other features that users can shell out some cash for.
53. Thunderbird
Thunderbird is a free and open-source email client brought to you with love from the makers of Firefox. It was designed to be easy to set up and customize and it is among the most used email clients in the Linux community because of its rich feature set and it usually comes bundled with several distros.
54. VLC
VLC is a free, portable, multi-platform, and open-source media player created by the VideoLAN project. It has maintained its rank as one of the most reliable media players you can use given the fact that it can play with almost any media format you throw at it.
VLC is also a streaming app so you can stream audio and video content online as you would in a browser without leaving the app.
55. Stacer
Stacer is one of the coolest Linux system monitoring and optimizing software. It features a clean modern and intuitive interface with an informative dashboard and sleek icons.
You can use it to manage system services, startup processes, applications, scripts, files, etc. and you can work in different modes, limit CPU and memory usage, customize its look, etc.
56. Godot Engine
Godot Engine is a free and open-source game engine whose aim is to make the developers be creative with the games they make without reinventing the wheel or strings attached e.g. no royalties.
It is team-friendly, and ships with a wide set of common tools to speed up game development. It features sleek 2D and 3D graphics and has its usage simplified. With Godot Engine, the games you build are 100% yours.
57. Inkscape
Inkscape is a professional free, cross-platform vector graphics editor for anybody with an interest in digital drawing. You can use it to create illustrations, icons, maps, web graphics, diagrams, etc.
58. Blender
Blender is a free and open-source professional 3D creation suite created with support for the entire 3D pipeline i.e. modeling, simulation, rigging, compositing, motion tracking, game creation, rendering, and video editing.
59. Cinelerra
Cinelerra is a free and open-source software for professionally editing videos on Linux platforms. Its features include compositing, motion tracking, rendering, transitions, customizable text, effects, etc.
60. Calibre
Calibre is a free and cross-platform one-stop solution for electronic documents, especially ebooks, comics, and PDFs. Its features include a robust ebook viewer, a built-in news/magazine downloader, advanced management options for ebook organization, and metadata updates, to mention a few.
61. TexMaker
TexMaker is a free, cross-platform, and open-source LaTeX editor that enables users to create, edit, and manage LaTeX documents elegantly.
It has a long features including code folding, syntax highlighting, code completion, find in folders, an unlimited number of snippets, and support for regular expressions, to mention a few.
62. FileZilla
FileZilla is a free and open-source FTP solution that also has support for SFTP and FTP over TLS (FTPS). It features everything necessary for performing file operations from remote locations.
Nevertheless, it offers enterprise-class users a paid package that bundles extra features such as additional protocol support for Dropbox, Google Cloud Storage, Amazon S3, Microsoft Azure Blob, and WebDAV, to name a few.
63. Kodi
Kodi is a beautiful, free, open-source, and multi-platform media center software from which you can manage and play music, movies, TV shows, and photo slideshows.
64. Iris
Iris is a community-driven multi-platform web framework written in Go. It is easy to use and has now come to be among the fastest web frameworks housing several features including automatic HTTPS with Public Domain, caching, sessions, WebSocket, versioning API, dependency injection, MVC, and compatibility with 3rd-party packages and standard libraries.
65. Psiphon3
Psiphon3 is a free and open-source network software designed for Windows and Android users to circumnavigate censorship while maintaining their optimal browsing and download speeds. It makes use of open-source components for SSH, VPN, and HTTP Proxy technology to provide users with uncensored online content.
Did you find any awesome Linux open-source software in 2024 that is not on the list? Let us know in the comments section below.
Since the time Microsoft released Windows Subsystem for Linux (WSL) and subsequently acquired GitHub in 2018, the company is seen embracing the open-source community. It has even kickstarted many in-house projects under open-source guidelines. As a result, many open-source programs are now cross-platform and available on Windows natively. Not just that, the open-source apps are well-designed and follow Windows design principles. So in this article, we have listed the best free and open-source software for Windows 11. We have included apps from all categories, so you can find alternatives for popular apps, which are free and work well on Windows. On that note, let’s jump to the list.
In this article, we have curated the 35 best open-source apps for Windows 11. From productivity apps to utilities and professional-grade software, we have mentioned everything. Expand the table below and go through the list of apps.
1. VLC
When you are talking about the best open-source software for Windows 11, you simply can’t miss the VLC media player. It’s one of the best media players not just on Windows, but also on Linux, Android, macOS, and iOS. It’s completely free and open-source with no ads, user tracking, or spyware. No matter what you throw at it, be it video files with proprietary codecs, or Audio CDs, DVDs, etc, VLC can decode everything in an instant. And this is the reason why we chose VLC as one of the best Windows 11 apps.
Install VLC (Free)
There are many screenshot tools on Windows including the native Snipping tool, Greenshot, Lightshot, etc., but nothing comes close to ShareX. It’s a free and open-source program that allows you to take all kinds of screenshots on Windows. From partial screenshots to full-screen, window capture, and delayed screenshots, it can capture everything. Not to mention, you can also record the screen and create GIFs in the best quality on Windows 11 with ShareX. Simply put, for me, ShareX is one of the best free and open-source software for Windows 11 and you should check it out.
Install ShareX (Free)
3. OBS Studio
OBS Studio is a professional-grade software used by streamers and broadcasters, but did you know that it’s completely open-source? More than 500 users have contributed to the OBS project to make it a powerful live streaming and screen recording software. With OBS Studio, you can stream directly on YouTube, Facebook, Twitch, and other social media channels.
It supports compositing, granular settings for various media sources, unlimited scenes, custom transitions, and more. In fact, due to its open-source nature and huge community support, OBS Studio is supported by a large number of developers with third-party plugins. So I would say, OBS Studio definitely ranks among the best open-source software for Windows 11.
Install OBS Studio (Free)
4. Rufus
Rufus is another great open-source utility for Windows 11. You can use it to create a bootable USB for Windows 11 and also bypass many of the system requirements of Windows 11. The best part is that it’s completely free to use and supports many other operating systems too. You can define the partition scheme, directly pull Windows 11 from Microsoft’s website, select the file system, and do much more. You can also perform a clean install of Windows 11 using Rufus. In tandem, Rufus is an essential open-source app for Windows users and you should definitely use it.
Install Rufus (Free)
5. Lively Wallpaper — Free Alternative to Wallpaper Engine
There are a number of paid live wallpaper apps for Windows 11, but the one that stands out for me is Lively Wallpaper. Unlike the premium Wallpaper Engine, Lively Wallpaper is completely free to use and it’s open-source as well. You can set GIFs, online videos, downloaded videos, and even websites as your desktop live wallpaper. The good thing is that Lively Wallpaper consumes very few system resources reducing stutters and lags. All in all, Lively Wallpaper makes a case for open-source community-supported software and does a fabulous job at that.
Install Lively Wallpaper (Free)
While VLC is definitely a powerful media player, if you are looking for another open-source media player that is built on the modern WinUI framework, then Rise Media Player is for you. It’s a beautifully designed app in Fluent style and offers everything that you expect from a media player.
You can play your local media files, and stream music and videos with unlimited customization. The best part is that it uses materials like Mica and Acrylic to enhance the UI even more. The developer has released a new Alpha Preview 2 with a Now Playing feature and many quality-of-life improvements. Go ahead and check out this excellent open-source media player on Windows 11.
Install Rise Media Player (Free)
7. Cider — Alternative to Apple Music
Apple recently released the official Apple Music app for Windows 11, but it’s currently in preview. However, if you are looking for a stunningly designed Windows app for Apple Music, I would strongly recommend Cider. It’s completely free and open-source and integrates Apple Music seamlessly into the app. In addition, you can add services like Spotify, Last.fm, and Discord as well. Unlike the dreaded iTunes app, Cider is very fast as it’s natively written on Vue.js for Windows 11. Not to forget, you have support for AirPlay, Apple Music Sing, Chromecast, and more.
Install Cider (Free)
8. KDE Connect — Alternative to Phone Link
If you are looking for an open-source alternative to Phone Link or Intel Unison, go ahead and check out KDE Connect. It offers similar features and enables deeper communication between your smartphone and PC. You can effortlessly share files and links between the two devices, get phone notifications on your PC, customize commands to shut down your computer, and more. In addition, you can remotely control music on your PC using your phone and use your phone as a virtual trackpad. Simply put, it brings many of the essential features to bridge the gap between smartphones and PCs.
Install KDE Connect (Free)
9. GIMP — Free Alternative to Adobe Photoshop
We already know how costly Adobe’s suite of apps can get and particularly, Adobe Photoshop. If you are looking for an open-source and free alternative to Adobe Photoshop, I would strongly suggest checking out GIMP. I personally use GIMP and it’s actively developed with new feature additions that make it a powerful image editor. You get most of the basic and advanced features on par with Adobe Photoshop. It has support for many third-party plugins and comes with a variety of sophisticated tools as well.
Install GIMP (Free)
10. Audacity
Audacity is a free and open-source audio editor for Windows 11. It’s an excellent application that comes with many audio-manipulation tools. You can record audio from multiple sources, resample audio in various formats, edit audio clips, add effects, analyze the frequencies, and do much more.
With its Spectrogram view mode, you can visualize detailed frequency and analyze the audio in greater detail. Just like other open-source programs, it also supports third-party plugins from various applications. If you wish to record audio on Windows 11 and the built-in Sound Recorder app is too basic for you, you can try Audacity. It will not disappoint you.
Install Audacity (Free)
11. Shotcut — Free Alternative to Adobe Premiere Pro
Shotcut is not as advanced as Adobe Premiere Pro, but it does a very good job at video editing. It’s a free and open-source video editor for Windows 11 with support for multiple audio and video formats. Thanks to FFmpeg — another open-source project — Shotcut can decode most media formats including proprietary ones. You do get multiple timelines and dockable panel support just like other advanced video editors. The video editor also supports tone mapping, video effects, transitions, animations, and more. Other than Shotcut, you can also try other free and open-source video editors like Kdenlive and OpenShot.
Install Shotcut (Free)
12. 7-Zip and NanaZip
We already know that 7-Zip has made a mark for itself in the file archiving space. Overthrowing WinRAR and WinZip, this free and open-source software has become the de-facto solution for compressing and decompressing files and folders. It’s a very lightweight app featuring an impressive algorithm that outputs files with a high compression ratio. You can even encrypt and password-protect files and folders in Windows 11 with 7-Zip. Not to mention, 7-Zip lets you access various file formats like DMG, MSIX, EXE, and more.
That said, it has a somewhat outdated design for Windows 11 which forces people to look for an alternative. In that case, you can try NanaZip which is a fork of 7-Zip, but in a modern UI. Built on XAML Islands, NanaZIP has a simple and modern user interface. Unlike 7-Zip, NanaZip offers a context menu when you right-click on a file or folder with various functions. To sum up, both are powerful apps and based on your preference, you can choose either of them.
Install 7-Zip (Free)
Install NanaZip (Free)
13. LibreOffice — Free Alternative to Microsoft Office
LibreOffice is a popular office suite similar to Microsoft Office, but it’s completely free and open-source. If you don’t want to buy Microsoft Office or subscribe to its expensive plans, you can very well get your things done on LibreOffice. It has all the office productivity software you need including Writer, Calc, Impress, Draw, Base, Math, and more.
All the programs are alternatives to MS Office apps. I have personally used LibreOffice in the past and I can say that the compatibility between Microsoft Office and LibreOffice documents is quite good. Moreover, developers have modernized the UI greatly and now it even supports dark mode.
Install LibreOffice (Free)
14. QuickLook
QuickLook is a fantastic open-source program for Windows 11 that lets you quickly preview files and folders, similar to macOS, ChromeOS, and Linux. Select the file and press the “Space” key and you can peek into the file without fully opening it. It works for images, videos, PDF files, folders, etc. I have been using QuickLook on my Windows 11 PC and am very happy with the experience. So if you want to get a macOS-like preview feature on Windows 11, QuickLook will let you do that.
Install QuickLook (Free)
15. Files
While Microsoft is overhauling the native File Explorer on Windows 11 with tabs support and a new details pane, an independent developer has made an open-source Files app that is modern-looking and has all the useful features for Windows. It has a sleek and intuitive design with support for tabs, color coding, dual pane, column view, QuickLook integration for quick previewing, and more. In fact, it won the Microsoft Store App Awards in 2022 for the best-designed app. If you want to try something new, go ahead and use the Files app on your Windows 11 PC.
Install Files (Free)
16. ScreenToGif
ScreenToGif is one of my favorite Windows 11 apps. It’s a full-blown GIF editor and it’s free to use and open-source as well. You can edit GIFs frame-by-frame, reduce their quality and size, edit, cut, crop, and resize them too. There are many built-in algorithms to reduce the GIF size without affecting the quality. Apart from that, it also supports sketch board recording with screen and webcam support. You can also share the GIFs directly using Imgur, Gfycat, and other online sources. Simply put, there is no better GIF editor for Windows 11 than ScreenToGif.
Install ScreenToGIF (Free)
17. Brave Browser — Open-Source Alternative to Chrome, Edge
Many are not aware but Brave is an open-source browser that is based on Chromium. Chrome is also based on Chromium, but it has many proprietary Google services integrated. As for Brave, it’s built on the premise of offering fast performance without the niggling memory issues of Chrome. It consumes 33% less memory than Chrome and offers 3x better performance.
Apart from that, it blocks third-party trackers and invasive ads by default which is great from the point of privacy. In addition, Brave provides malware and phishing protection as well. Brave has also done well to add Tor mode which anonymizes the network route. So if you want a fast, secure, and open-source browser for Windows 11, go ahead and try Brave. Also, you can check out Mozilla Firefox (Get) which is also open-source.
Install Brave (Free)
18. Tor Browser
If you want complete anonymity online, you should use the Tor browser on Windows 11. It’s a free and open-source program developed by the Tor project and thousands of volunteers worldwide. The Tor browser runs an encrypted Tor network which is maintained by a community of volunteers from all around the world. It blocks third-party trackers, ads, fingerprinting techniques, etc. to offer restriction-free internet. The idea behind the Tor browser is to quell censorship and surveillance on the internet.
Install Tor (Free)
19. Bitwarden
Bitwarden is one of the best password managers for Windows 11 and it’s also one of the rare ones that are open-source. The password manager is all about transparency and its source has been audited by many security firms. It also conducts regular penetration testing by consulting groups. So, as far as security is concerned, Bitwarden offers top-notch protection for your passwords. The best part is that it also offers a free version with unlimited passwords and device support. It can auto-fill web forms, generate strong passwords, offer a 2FA login, an authenticator app, and more. To sum up, if you want an open-source password manager for Windows 11, Bitwarden is the way to go.
Install Bitwarden (Free)
20. Blender — Free Alternative to Autodesk Maya and Cinema 4D
Blender is a professional-grade 3D creation software that has been used to create many popular movies. It’s a powerful program used by graphic artists to create animated films, visual effects, art, and more. Guess what? Blender is completely free and open-source. If you are someone who wants to work on motion graphics, interactive 3D applications, virtual reality assets, and 3D-printed models, well, Blender has all the tools to drive your imagination. Apart from that, many use it for 3D and 2D modeling, sculpting, and digital drawing. To conclude, there is no program out there that can match Blender’s capabilities.
Install Blender (Free)
21. Okular — Free Alternative to Paid PDF Editors
While there are a ton of PDF editors on Windows 11, most of them are paid and some freemium ones allow only one edit in a day. If you are looking for a completely free and open-source PDF editor for Windows 11, I would recommend Okular. It’s developed for Linux systems mainly, but of late, it has been greatly improved on Windows as well.
You can both view and edit PDF documents with Okular. It supports annotation with a wide variety of tools, you can highlight texts, add inline, notes, and your text as well. Not to mention, Okular offers digital signatures as well, so that is great. In addition to Okular, you can also try LibreOffice Draw to edit your PDF files for free on Windows 11.
Install Okular (Free)
22. Krita — Free Alternative to Adobe Illustrator and Adobe Animate
Krita is a feature-packed painting application for Windows 11 that is entirely free and open-source. It’s a suitable alternative to the pricey Adobe Illustrator and Adobe Animate. You can do raster graphics editing for digital and 2D animation. The app is perfect for someone looking to make conceptual art, illustrations, comics, and digital painting. You have a customizable layout with support for 30 dockers and it also supports dark and light modes. Moreover, Krita offers more than 100 brushes for various ranges and your style. It can even stabilize your brush in case you have a shaky hand. So if you want to paint on a Windows PC, Krita is the way to go.
Install Krita (Free)
23. HandBrake
To convert videos to other formats, you don’t need to download a sketchy program or install a heavy video editor on your PC. HandBrake is a free and open-source program that can nearly convert any video format to another modern format with proper codec support. It can even convert proprietary video formats to your choice of media format. From AV1 to H.265, MPEG-4, and VP9, you are covered on almost all the fronts. It can even encode audio formats like DTS-HD, TrueHD, AC3, and other tracks. Finally, you can add subtitles, set live and static video previews, adjust bitrate, mark chapters, etc.
Install HandBrake (Free)
24. Psiphon
Psiphon is a free and open-source software for Windows 11 that can circumvent restrictions on the internet by deploying various network technologies. You can think of it as a VPN, but it’s more than that. It uses a combination of VPN, SSH, and web proxy to establish a secure connection amid internet censorship. If a service or content is blocked in your region, Psiphon can unblock it for you. For user protection, it constantly changes the servers and uses a number of blocking-resilient protocols to keep the internet open.
Install Psiphon (Free)
25. FreeCAD — Free Alternative to AutoCAD
FreeCAD is a free and open-source CAD software for 3D parametric modeling on Windows 11. It essentially lets you create designs of real-life objects into 3D models. You can create 3D models of any size and change the parameters to modify the design as you like. The program also lets you create 2D sketches and then create 3D objects on top of it. The best part about FreeCAD is that it has many tools and components to develop production-ready models of high quality. Whether you are in architecture, product design, or mechanical engineering, FreeCAD is the best software to model and create the objects you want.
Install FreeCAD (Free)
26. VirtualBox — Open-Source Alternative to VMware
While VirtualBox is not completely open-source, it’s one of the most powerful virtualization software out there. The extension packs are proprietary and developed by Oracle. You can use it to create a virtual machine on Windows 11 or run Android, Linux, and other operating systems in a VM. Sure, VMware also offers a free edition of its software, but it’s not open-source. So if you are on the lookout for an open-source virtualization tool that is also free, VirtualBox is the way to go.
Install VirtualBox (Free)
27. VeraCrypt
If you are looking for an open-source disk encryption program for Windows 11, VeraCrypt is the most suited one. It’s totally free and offers premium features without any fee. It allows you to password-protect your encrypted volumes on Windows. It does so by encrypting the whole disk partition using industry-standard algorithms like AES, Serpent, SHA-2, and other methods. Not just that, you can also encrypt your USB stick so that no one can access your confidential files.
Install VeraCrypt (Free)
28. Joplin — Free Alternative to OneNote and Evernote
On Windows, OneNote and Evernote are considered to be the best note-taking apps. However, Joplin is a free and open-source software for Windows 11 that you can use to take notes and create your to-do lists as well. Joplin can handle a large number of notes and resources and can be organized into notebooks. You can also search the notebook, tag them, categorize them into multiple sections, and also add texts wherever you want. The best part is that it also supports Markdown format and you can also import your Evernote notes with formatting intact.
Install Joplin (Free)
29. BleachBit — Open-Source Alternative to CCleaner
Many users prefer to use CCleaner to clean up their PC, but it has come to notice that CCleaner is an adware and it constantly hogs system resources. In fact, Microsoft now flags CCleaner as a Potentially Unwanted App (PUA). So if you want a lightweight disk cleaner and maintenance software for Windows 11, I would recommend BleachBit.
It’s fully open-source and free to use. It identifies temporary and cached files from browsers, programs, mail clients, and various other apps. The app has a simple user interface and can deep clean your system within seconds. Apart from that, we will also recommend following our guide on how to free up disk space on Windows 11.
Install BleachBit (Free)
30. Clonezilla — Free Alternative to Macrium Reflect
If you want to create a full backup of your system, there are many backup software for Windows, but most of them are paid. However, Clonezilla is a free and open-source software for Windows 11 that lets you access most of the premium features for free. It can fully clone the system images and disks without any errors. No matter if you have a disk with different file systems, Clonezilla can mirror the disk effortlessly. The only con is its UI, which might frighten general users. However, once you understand its interface, you can easily move your data from one disk to another without losing anything.
Install Clonezilla (Free)
31. Mailspring
For many Windows users, the go-to open-source email client has been Thunderbird. However, now a modern-looking app Mailspring has come up that offers most of the features for free. It has a very neat interface with no ads or bloatware integration. It supports multiple accounts including IMAP and Office 365. You can choose to make a unified inbox for multiple accounts. The best part is that it has touch and gesture support so if you have a touchscreen Windows tablet, it will fit right in. You also get built-in support for read receipts, link tracking, send later, and more. So what are you waiting for? Go ahead and try Mailspring on your Windows 11 PC.
Install Mailspring (Free)
32. Transmission
Transmission is a free and open-source torrent client for Windows 11. The reason I am recommending Transmission over qBittorent is that it’s very lightweight and does not consume system resources needlessly. If you are looking for a torrent client for Windows, pick Transmission over the adware uTorrent or other such clients. Transmission automatically blocks bad peers which makes it much faster than other clients. Apart from that, it has been developed in a modern framework so the feel and look of the app is quite nice on Windows 11.
Install Transmission (Free)
33. Notepad++
Notepad++ is a popular text and source code editor for Windows. It’s open-source and free for everyone to use. While Microsoft recently added tabs support to Notepad, Notepad++ had it for years. You can open multiple files in the same window in a tabbed interface and edit texts as you like it. If you are a beginner in coding and want to edit or view source code, Notepad++ is the best place to start. It offers syntaxes for as many as 78 programming languages including popular ones like C, C++, HTML, JSON, Rust, and more. To sum up, for text and source code editing, Notepad++ is a very good open-source app on Windows that you can try.
Install Notepad++ (Free)
34. Microsoft PowerToys
In case, you are unaware, Microsoft PowerToys is a free and open-source program developed for Windows users. It features a number of utilities for power users that can improve productivity by a greater degree. You can enable PowerToys Run to get a Spotlight-like Search tool on Windows 11. Apart from that, you can quickly extract text from images on Windows 11 using PowerToys, no need to download a separate OCR software. You can further customize Snap Layouts and create your own layout for better productivity. There are many such features that can streamline and enhance your Windows experience. So go ahead and try PowerToys on your PC right away.
Install PowerToys (Free)
35. ExplorerPatcher
After the release of Windows 11, many users were miffed due to new changes in Start Menu and Taskbar design. However, with a free and open-source program called ExplorerPatcher, you can restore most Windows 10 functionalities on Windows 11. For example, you can set Windows 11 Taskbar icons to Never Combine for separate app placement on the Taskbar. Apart from that, you can remove the “Recommended” section from the Windows 11 Start menu. There are many other meaningful changes you can make with ExplorerPatcher so I would suggest going ahead and trying the app by yourself.
Install ExplorerPatcher (Free)
So this is our list of the best open-source software for Windows 11. We have included only those Windows apps which are completely free and open-source. You can go ahead and pick the programs most suited to your needs. Anyway, that is all from us. If you are looking for the best settings to change for enhanced privacy on Windows 11, head to our linked guide. And if we missed out on your favorite open-source app, do let us know in the comment section below.
If you don’t trust the security and privacy policies of the mainstream apps or simply want to use completely free apps, then open source apps are just the type of apps you want.
As the name implies, open-source apps have their source code available to the public to inspect and even modify. This ensures they are secure and respect privacy as the vulnerabilities in the code can be detected by anyone.
Furthermore, these apps are usually maintained by volunteer developers who work on them in their free time, so they are usually free to use.
Being free and secure is more than enough reason to get open source apps, but if you are not convinced, then below are some more reasons:
- The developers work solely for their passion for the project, not for money. This leads to a better product that only focuses on usability without any bloat to attract new customers.
- Fewer bugs as hundreds of volunteer developers manage the code. More eyes increase the chances of catching bugs faster.
- They have a simpler interface (in most cases) as developers tend to focus on getting the job done instead of adding placebo features to attract customers that further complicate things.
- Extremely powerful apps can be hundreds of developers (depending on project popularity) introducing and managing features.
- Many open-source apps have plugins repositories where hundreds of plugins are available to enhance the app’s functionality further. Volunteer contributors also create the plugins.
- Popular open-source apps also have dedicated forums and communities to help and learn more about the apps.
- For enterprises, it’s also very flexible because if the company needs a different feature, then their own developers can contribute to developing it.
If you are ready to try some open source apps, then keep reading, and I’ll introduce some of the best open source apps for Windows 10.
GIMP
An all-in-one image editing tool that is perfect for both regular and advanced users. Whether you want to do basic editing like resize, annotate, and effects, etc. or use advanced painting tools, GIMP has everything. GIMP also supports pretty much every photo format, and you can further enhance its functionality with plugins.
You can check out some GIMP tutorials to get started.
If GIMP doesn’t satisfy you, you can go for premium software such as Adobe Photoshop or Luminar.
VLC Media Player is the first app I recommend to everyone to install on their new PC. It will handle all your media-related needs without ever disappointing you. The app supports almost all audio/video formats, and you can download videos right from the VLC interface. You can also get more features using add-ons.
ClamWin
If you don’t afford popular antivirus programs like Avira or Avast, then an open-source antivirus program like ClamWin might work for you. It’s a completely free antivirus program that is updated regularly. The antivirus is light, but it doesn’t come with real-time protection like other premium antiviruses.
Thankfully, you can schedule scans to make sure your PC is scanned routinely.
Notepad++
Notepad++ is a replacement for the Windows notepad app, which is a much more advanced text editor. I personally use Notepad++ to manage my notes and content ideas as it automatically saves all the changes offline, and numbered lines are extremely useful.
Although coders mostly use it to write code, most of its features help with coding, including auto-complete based on the current context.
7-zip
7-zip is definitely one of the best tools to manage archives and compress data. You can pack/unpack data in dozen of different formats and even encrypt data with AES-256 encryption. Its compression is also very powerful with multiple compression methods.
Thunderbird
If you want to use an email client to manage all your email accounts, Thunderbird is far super than most of the premium options. It doesn’t require any setup, just provide your email and password, and it will automatically manage all the settings.
Some of the highlight features include attachment reminders, managing multiple emails at once, powerful search, sending huge files, and add-ons support.
Alternatively, you can try premium solution such as eM Client or other mentioned here.
VeraCrypt
VeraCrypt can help create encrypted storage space to securely store and manage that data if you have sensitive information. VeraCrypt can encrypt a whole disk or even a specific amount of space on your PC to store sensitive data. It can even encrypt USB drives to carry around data securely.
KeePass
Your online passwords are the most important piece of information that you need to protect. If you don’t trust the standard password managers, then the open-source password manager KeePass will give you peace of mind.
KeePass comes with all the powerful features like encryption, auto-login, easy password search, password generator, secure clipboard, and much more. Although being open-source is a sufficient point to prefer it over others, you can see exactly how its security features work. It has plugins, too, to make it even better.
qBittorrent
qBittorrent is a powerful torrent downloader and manager that tries to replicate the interface and functionality of the premium uTorrent app. The app lets you download torrents right inside its interface by search a custom list of torrent sites, and you can fully manage download speed, priority, and even schedule downloads. Unlike uTorrent, it doesn’t have any bothering ads.
WinDirStat
My go-to tool when I need to clean up disk space.
WinDirStat shows all the data on a disk in a tree view where you can easily see which folders/files are taking the most space. You can also sort data by file type if you are looking for a specific file. I really like the disk map it creates to make it easier to understand what type of data is there and how much space it’s taking.
Greenshot
I am using Greenshot for all my screenshot-related needs on the PC, and it hasn’t disappointed me in the last 5 years. Greenshot lets you take screenshots in multiple ways and automatically saves them in your desired location. It saves not only on the PC but also lets you upload screenshots to online photo managers and cloud services.
You can also use the built-in editor to make quick edits.
Clonezilla
If you want an exact copy of your data, then disk cloning software can help. Clonezilla is a cloning tool that will create an exact copy of your hard disk so you can easily restore data or even continue using the new disk. You can clone up to 40 disks at the same time and also secure them with AES-256 encryption.
Psiphon
Psiphon is an open-source VPN specifically made to access censored content. It doesn’t promise any security while browsing as it isn’t specifically made for this purpose, but you will be able to access restricted content. However, it isn’t a completely free service; you’ll have to buy points to use the VPN for a specific time.
BleachBit
BleachBit is similar to CCleaner, but open-source enthusiasts prefer it over CCleaner. It frees up space on your PC by cleaning temporary files and speeds up apps by deleting their junk data. It also has other tools like a file shredder and wiping free space to prevent data from being recovered. For an open-source app, I must say its interface is quite elegant.
Everything
Unlike the Windows search bar, Everything is a tool that shows all the files and folders instantly on searching. It can be a great replacement to the Windows search bar if you need to search for files often, especially if you have disabled the search bar to boost performance. The app has its own interface separate from the Windows search bar, and it’s extremely light on resources.
AutoHotkey
AutoHotkey is the perfect tool to automate many repetitive tasks by creating custom macros and shortcuts. It’s a scripting language that you can use to create macros to press different buttons and make clicks according to your requirement. There are a bunch of tutorials to get you to start using AutoHotkey.
Brave Browser
Brave browser prides itself in offering a faster browsing experience than Chrome while still respecting your privacy and protecting you from online threats. It claims to use 33% less memory than Chrome while being 3x faster.
I really liked their stance on ads. You can disable ads or view them and earn points that you can spend on things online or withdraw as cash. What type of ads you see is also under your control.
Explore more Chrome alternative browsers for better privacy.
VirtualBox
If you are interested in using multiple operating systems without installing them, then VirtualBox is the solution. This tool will let you create a virtual environment where you can install a supported operating system and use/manage them completely separate from your actual OS.
This can be a great solution to run un-supported apps, test apps, and basically run a separate instance of your PC without affecting the real OS.
Audacity
Audacity is an audio recording and editing software that is perfect for both novice and advanced users. You can edit multiple audio tracks at a time using simple keyboard shortcuts and menu buttons. There is even a spectrogram view to analyze frequencies and individually select them.
Overall, it’s an easy-to-use audio editing software that should be able to handle all your audio editing needs. If you do get stuck, you can check the tutorials to get help.
LibreOffice
If you are not interested in buying the Microsoft Office suite, LibreOffice can be a great free alternative. The suite consists of a word processor, presentation maker, spreadsheets, drawing tool, databases, and formula editor. It offers all the regular features you see in the top document creation tools, and you can further enhance functionality with extensions.
Wrapping up
Out of these, I regularly use many of them when needed. In my experience, these apps are even better than the leading premium apps in both usability and features. I will also recommend you to support your favorite open source apps with a donation, as usually, their maintenance costs solely depend on donations.
Время на прочтение3 мин
Количество просмотров7.7K
Многие преподаватели очень осторожно (а чаще негативно) относятся к Linux. В то-же время «Первая помощь» не вызывает восторга у преподавателей. Специально для учебных заведений и учащихся я собрал диск со свободным и открытым программным обеспечением под Windows XP и Vista.
Программы, расположенные на диске, вы можете абсолютно свободно по вашему усмотрению инсталлировать на любое количество компьютеров в учебных заведениях, дома или в офисе. Сборник снабжен удобным инсталятором, который станет основой для будущих проектов Edumandriva — EDUInstaler. Исходные коды инсталятора вы можете получить тут: code.google.com/p/edumandriva-setup
Сборник составлен с учетом учебных программ по информатике и дисциплинам компьютерной направленности, а также пожеланий педагогов.
Сборник представлен в виде CD диска. На нем вы можете найти:
Офисные пакеты
- OpenOffice.org 3.0 (сборка Go-oo) Лицензия: LGPL Cайт проекта: go-oo.org
- FBreader 0.10.1 Лицензия: GPL Cайт проекта: www.fbreader.org
- Scribus 0.9.3 Лицензия: GPL Сайт проекта: www.scribus.net
- SumatraPDF 0.9.3 Лицензия GPL Сайт проекта: blog.kowalczyk.info/software/sumatrapdf/index.html
- StarDict 3.0.1 Лицензия: GPL Cайт проекта: stardict.sourceforge.net
Пакеты для работы с Интернет
- Firefox 3.0.5 Лицензия: MPL Сайт проекта: www.mozilla-europe.org/ru/firefox
- Thunderbird 2.0.0.19 Лицензия: GPL, MPL, LGPL Cайт проекта: www.mozilla-europe.org/ru/products/thunderbird
- Pidgin 2.5.3 Лицензия: GPL Cайт проекта: www.pidgin.im
- Vuze 4.0 Лицензия: GPL Cайт проекта: azureus.sourceforge.net
- FileZilla 3.1.6 Лицензия: GPL Сайт проекта: filezilla-project.org
- Denver3 Лицензия: GPL, BSD, LGPL Cайт проекта: www.denwer.ru
Пакеты для работы с графикой
- GIMP 2.6.4 Лицензия: GPL Сайт проекта: www.gimp.org
- Inkscape 0.46 Лицензия: GPL Сайт проекта: www.inkscape.org
- Blender 2.48a Лицензия: BL Сайт проекта: www.blender.org
- TuxPaint 0.9.20b Лицензия: GPL Сайт проекта: www.tuxpaint.org
- Apophysis 2.08 Лицензия: GPL Сайт проекта: www.apophysis.org
Программирование
- Lazarus 0.9.26.1 + FreePascal 2.2.2 Лицензия: GPL Сайты проекта: freepascal.org, lazarus.freepascal.org
- FreeBASIC 0.20.0b Лицензия: GPL Сайт проекта: www.freebasic.net
- Geany 0.15 Лицензия: GPL Сайт проекта: www.geany.org
- Scratch 1.3.1 Лицензия: Scratch license Сайт проекта: scratch.mit.edu
- GNU/Prolog 1.3.0 Лицензия: GPL Cайт проекта: www.gprolog.org
- SWIProlog 5.6.63
- Python 2.6.1 Лицензия: PYTHON SOFTWARE FOUNDATION LICENSE Cайт проекта: www.python.org
- GHC Haskell 6.10.1 Лицензия: BSD Сайт проекта: www.haskell.org/ghc
Математические пакеты
- Maxima 5.16.3 + WxMaxima 0.8.1 Лицензия: GPL Сайт проекта: maxima.sourceforge.net
Обучение
- GCompris 8.3.9 Лицензия: GPL Сайт проекта: gcompris.net
- iTest 1.4.1 Лицензия: GPL Сайт проекта: itest.sourceforge.net
Мультимедиа
- Audacity 1.3.6 Лицензия: GPL Сайт проекта: audacity.sourceforge.net
- VLC 0.9.8a Лицензия: GPL Сайт проекта: www.videolan.org
- VirtualDub 1.8.7 Лицензия: GPL Сайт проекта: www.virtualdub.org
Системное ПО и утилиты
- 7zip 4.64 Лицензия LGPL Сайт проекта: www.7-zip.org
- ClamWin 0.94.1 Лицензия: GPL Сайт проекта: ru.clamwin.com
- InfraRecoder 0.4.62 Лицензия GPL Сайт проекта: infrarecorder.sourceforge.net
Документация
- GNU General Public License 3
- GNU General Public License 3 — примерный перевод
- Руководство по настройке Geany для работы с языками программирования
Более подробно о сборнике можно прочитать на ВиКи проекта: http://wiki.edumandriva.ru/index.php/FreeWin%60ter_2009
UPD. Даю прямую ссылку для загрузки (http т.к. ftp у меня покамест нету): http://download.edumandriva.ru/freewin_ter2009/FreeWin_ter_2009_RC1.iso
Теги:
- свободное по
- открытое по
- edumandriva
- open source
- образование
Если эта публикация вас вдохновила и вы хотите поддержать автора — не стесняйтесь нажать на кнопку
+22
Комментарии37
Александр Казанцев @akdengi
Первые по тарелочкам в ПРОСТОРОБОТ
I’ve been a Windows (power-) user for a decade, and throughout the journey, I found tools and apps which made me work more efficiently on Windows. In this article, I categorized these tools under their use cases. All tools are free to use (or freemium with a generous free version), and many of them are even open-source (source code links are provided where applicable).
PS: I switched to Mac (M1 MBP) at starting of 2022. Loving it so far. Someday, I’ll probably write a similar list of tools I use on Mac.
Productivity
Ditto — Clipboard manager
Ditto is a lightweight and feature-rich clipboard manager for Windows. Trigger a hotkey to invoke popup window and paste any of your past clipboard items. It’s a game-changer. Supports images, text transformation on the fly, search, pin items, auto-clear entries, etc. Works in every input field.
- Homepage: https://ditto-cp.sourceforge.io/
- Open-source: https://github.com/sabrogden/Ditto
QuickLook — Quick preview
QuickLook enables a quick preview of file contents by just pressing the Spacebar inside File Explorer. It supports images, audio, videos, word, excel, and many other file types.
- Download: https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/p/quicklook/9nv4bs3l1h4s
Everything — Instant search for files
Everything lets you locate files and folders by name instantly. Seriously, it’s damn fast (due to indexing) and can be invoked by a hotkey.
- Homepage: https://www.voidtools.com/
PhraseExpress — Text expander
No more typing common phrases again. PhraseExpress is a free and highly customizable app to configure global and per-app basis text snippets.
I use it to paste social media URLs, addresses, current date and time, current IP address, etc.
Few more features:
- a powerful Macro Recorder to record and playback repetitive tasks
- Forms filler with dynamic inputs
- System-wide spelling correction
- Clipboard manager
- Available for Windows, Mac, and Linux
- Download: https://www.phraseexpress.com/download/
Clover — Add tabs to file explorer
Clover is a free tool that adds multi-tab functionality to Windows Explorer, similar to the Google Chrome browser.
- Download: http://en.ejie.me/
TidyTabs — Add tabs to apps
TidyTabs adds chrome-style tabs to all apps. You can further customize it to disable tabs in certain apps and for full-screen mode.
- Download (Freemium): https://www.nurgo-software.com/products/tidytabs
Stardock Groupy is also a similar (Freemium) app to add tabs to programs: https://www.stardock.com/products/groupy/
PowerToys
PowerToys is an open-source tool from Microsoft that adds multiple useful features like:
- show SVG icons (.svg), Markdown (.md), and PDF file previews in the preview pane in File Explorer
- Instantly resize images via right-click
- bulk rename file names
- Instantly search and launch any app with a shortcut
- Hotkey to globally mute both your microphone and camera when in a video conference (for those embarrassing zoom call moments when every second adds up to it)
- Remap keys and create your own keyboard shortcuts
- Always on Top
- create complex window layouts
- Keep system always awake, color picker
- And more
Download: https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/powertoys/
source-code: https://github.com/microsoft/PowerToys
AutoHotkey — Automation scripts
AutoHotkey is an open-source scripting software for Windows that is used to automate repetitive tasks, remap keys, build small utility tools, etc.
See my favorite scripts and how to use them: https://gourav.io/blog/autohotkey-scripts-windows
- Homepage: https://www.autohotkey.com/
RBTray — Minimise apps to system tray
RBTray is a small program that runs in the background and allows windows to be minimized to the system tray by right-clicking its minimize button.
- Homepage (open-source): https://github.com/benbuck/rbtray
- Download: https://github.com/benbuck/rbtray/releases
Advanced Renamer
Advanced Renamer is a batch renamer program that can dynamically rename multiple files and folders at once.
- Homepage: https://www.advancedrenamer.com/
FreeFileSync — Sync files and folders
FreeFileSync is a free and cross-platform (Win, Linux, Mac) to synchronize files and folders. Supports 2-way live sync.
- Homepage: https://freefilesync.org/
Customization
Bing Wallpaper — Dynamic wallpapers
Static desktop background can get boring after some time. Bing Wallpaper (from Microsoft) is a lightweight app that sets a new high-res beautiful image each day as your desktop wallpaper (same as shown on their Bing search page).
- Download: https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/bing/bing-wallpaper
NetBalancer — Show internet traffic
NetBalancer shows network traffic in taskbar toolbar. Helpful to keep an eye if some application is consuming massive bandwidth (ahem ahem Windows update). You could also configure it to throttle the internet for some applications.
- Homepage: https://netbalancer.com/
Winaero Tweaker
(for advanced users)
Winaero Tweaker is an all-in-one app that comes with dozens of options for fine-grained tuning of various Windows settings and features. For example: Customize context menu, permanently disable Windows Update, customize entries in Navigation Pane in File Explorer, Alt+Tab Appearance, etc.
- Homepage: https://winaerotweaker.com/
(for advanced users)
Multiple tools are available to add/edit/delete entries in your right-click context menu.
- Context Menu Tuner by Winaero: https://winaero.com/context-menu-tuner/
- Easy Context Menu: https://www.sordum.org/7615/easy-context-menu-v1-6/
- ShellMenuView by NirSoft: https://www.nirsoft.net/utils/shell_menu_view.html
- ShellExView by NirSoft: https://www.nirsoft.net/utils/shell_menu_view.html
TaskbarX — Customize Taskbar
- Homepage: https://chrisandriessen.nl/taskbarx
- Open-source: https://github.com/ChrisAnd1998/TaskbarX
Image viewers and editors
Image Glass — Image viewer
Image Glass is an open-source, lightweight image viewer that supports a wide format of images. It also supports fast switching between images—much more feature-rich than the built-in Windows image viewer.
- Homepage: https://imageglass.org/
- Open-source: https://github.com/d2phap/ImageGlass
Paint.net — Image editor
Not to get confused with Windows built-in paint app. Paint.net is an easy-to-use and lightweight image editing software with support for layers, unlimited undo, special effects, and a wide variety of powerful plugins to extend its capabilities.
It has been compared to other digital photo editing software packages such as Adobe Photoshop, Corel Paint Shop Pro, but it’s free and doesn’t suck up all the RAM!
- Homepage: https://www.getpaint.net/
GIMP is another popular image editor, but it has a considerable learning curve and an overkill for quick edits.
RIOT — Image optimization
RIOT (Radical Image Optimization Tool) is a free tool to optimize and compress images with live preview (side-by-side).
- Homepage: https://riot-optimizer.com/
Squoosh.app
Squoosh (by Google) is an image compression app that reduces image sizes through numerous formats. It’s technically a web app but can be downloaded as a PWA for offline access as a desktop app. It supports side-by-side live previews of images and the results are indeed impressive.
- Homepage: https://squoosh.app/
- Source-code: https://github.com/GoogleChromeLabs/squoosh
Screen capture
ShareX — Multipurpose
ShareX is probably the most advanced screen capturing, annotating, and recording tool out there for Windows.
You can build your own workflow like a single shortcut for:
- Record GIF of a region → upload it to Imgur → copy upload URL to the clipboard
- Capture screenshot → copy image to the clipboard and save it to a folder
These are just the basic ones I used frequently, but they could get pretty advanced if you’d like.
Apart from capturing screenshots and recording GIF/mp4, it also supports other utility tools like color picker, screen ruler, image editor, file sharing, etc. A must-have tool for designers and web developers.
- Homepage: https://getsharex.com/
- Open-source: https://github.com/ShareX/ShareX
ScreenToGif — Screen recorder
ScreenToGif is an open-source, easy-to-use tool that allows you to record your screen, webcam feed, or sketch board drawings. Afterward, you can edit and save the animation as a gif, png, video, psd, or png image.
- Homepage: https://www.screentogif.com/
- Open-source: https://github.com/NickeManarin/ScreenToGif
Loom — Screen recorder
Loom is a freemium app to record and instantly share video messages of your screen, cam, or both sith others. A popular choice for a collaborative work environment.
- Homepage: https://www.loom.com/
OBS Studio — Live streaming and recorder
OBS Studio is a heavyweight but a popular tool amongst streamers. It’s free, open-source, and a cross-platform software for video recording and live streaming.
- Homepage: https://obsproject.com/
- Source-code: https://github.com/obsproject/obs-studio
Free video editors
Shotcut
https://shotcut.org/ — Free, open-source, cross-platform video editor. It also supports screen and webcam recording.
OpenShot
https://www.openshot.org/ — Another free and open-source video editor.
VSDC
https://www.videosoftdev.com/ — Free suite for editing video and audio files.
Lightweight text editors
Notepad++
Notepad++ is an open-source text and source code editor and Notepad replacement that supports several languages.
- Homepage: https://notepad-plus-plus.org/
- Open-source: https://github.com/notepad-plus-plus/notepad-plus-plus
Sublime Text
Sublime Text is a sophisticated text editor for code, markup, and prose. Available for Windows, Mac, and Linux.
- Homepage: https://www.sublimetext.com/
Notepad2-mod
Replace the built-in Notepad app with a modified open-source version that adds extra features like advanced Find & Replace, line numbers, Word auto-completion, Syntax highlighting, Code folding.
- Homepage: https://xhmikosr.github.io/notepad2-mod/
Local Markdown editors
Local MD editors are editors where 100% of your content is stored in a folder on your local machine, nothing goes out. You could still use external services like Google Drive, Dropbox, etc., to keep your folder backed up.
If you’re looking for online markdown editor apps, there are a few popular ones like Notion (https://notion.so) or Roam Research (https://roamresearch.com/).
New note-taking apps pop out all the time on HackerNews. See latest search results.
Typora
Typora is an excellent markdown editor for writing and exporting content in markdown format. Unlike other markdown editors, it provides inline-preview, which means there is no need to open a side preview pane to see how it looks.
It’s gone paid now (~$15), but it looks like you can continue to use the free trial indefinitely even after the trial period is over.
- Homepage: https://typora.io/
Obsidian
Obsidian is a relatively a heavyweight md editor app as it’s built on top of Electron; however, it’s way more feature-rich, for example, backlinks, graph view, plugins support, etc. Preferred app for those who’re into building an extensive knowledge base, aka the second brain (Zettelkasten ftw!).
- Homepage: https://obsidian.md/
RemNote
RemNote is also built on Electron but has unique features like Anki flashcards.
- Homepage: https://www.remnote.com/
WinDirStat — Drive usage
WinDirStat is a free and open-source disk usage statistics viewer and cleanup tool. Useful to find unnecessary large files taking space on your disk.
- Homepage: https://windirstat.net/
- Open-source: https://sourceforge.net/projects/windirstat/files/
Windows10Debloater
(for advanced users)
Windows10Debloater is an app to debloat Windows 10, e.g., remove Windows pre-installed unnecessary applications, stop some telemetry functions, stop Cortana from being used as your Search Index, disable unnecessary scheduled tasks, and more.
- Homepage (Open-source): https://github.com/Sycnex/Windows10Debloater
Bulk Crap Uninstaller
(for advanced users)
BCU is a free tool to bulk uninstall programs with advanced automation. It excels at removing large amounts of applications with minimal to no user input while requiring next to no technical knowledge.
- Homepage: https://www.bcuninstaller.com/
- Open-source: https://github.com/Klocman/Bulk-Crap-Uninstaller
O&O ShutUp10++
(for advanced users)
It’s a free antispy tool for Windows 10 and 11. O&O ShutUp10++ means you have full control over which comfort functions under Windows 10 and Windows 11 you wish to use, and you decide when the passing on of your data goes too far.
- Homepage: https://www.oo-software.com/en/shutup10
Autoruns — Stop auto-running apps
(for advanced users)
Autoruns allows you to permanently stop programs that start auto-running in the background during startup, thus making your PC slow. This small tool exposes hidden auto-running programs not shown in the Task Manager → Startup tab.
- Homepage: https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/sysinternals/downloads/autoruns
SUMo — Software update monitor
SUMo is a free tool that quickly scans your machine for out-of-date software, lists them all, and then provides options to update them.
- Download: https://www.kcsoftwares.com/?sumo
Advanced Task Managers
Below are some good alternatives to the built-in Task Manager (ctrl+shift+esc) with more features.
TaskExplorer
(for advanced users)
Task Explorer is an advanced Task Manager tool with emphasis on monitoring what applications are running and finding out what applications are doing.
- Homepage (open-source): https://github.com/DavidXanatos/TaskExplorer
- Download: https://github.com/DavidXanatos/TaskExplorer/releases
Process Explorer by Microsoft
(for advanced users)
Ever wondered which program has a particular file or directory open? Now you can find out. Process Explorer shows you which handles and DLLs processes have opened or loaded.
- Download: https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/sysinternals/downloads/process-explorer
Uncategorized
Panda Dome — Lightweight Antivirus
Built-in Windows Defender still can’t catch all viruses (especially at run-time). Panda Dome is a lightweight antivirus companion runs in the background and actively provides extra protection.
- Download: https://www.pandasecurity.com/en/homeusers/free-antivirus/
7-Zip — File archiver and encrypter
7Zip is a free and open-source replacement of WinRAR. It supports various formats (zip, rar, tar, gzip, etc.) with a high compression ratio and encryption (password-protected zip/rar files).
- Homepage: https://www.7-zip.org/
- Open-source: https://sourceforge.net/projects/sevenzip/files/
Cut-off internet of other devices
(for advanced users)
Tools that enable you to turn off the internet connection of any devices connected to the same WiFi / LAN network.
- Netcut by Arcai: https://arcai.com/download_netcut/
- Selfishnet: https://www.google.com/search?q=selfishnet+windows
Well, that’s all from my side. Which are your favorite Windows tools?
💬 Discuss on Github
That’s all, folks!
Hiring React Devs (in IST timezone) for my
AI Startup.