Software you should atleast know about

My First Upload

Regarding must-have or at least software that you should know about that should get on your personal computer.

All are open-source because who has enough money these days for special-purpose software? Plus if you're looking to buy some fancy bespoke software then you're in the wrong place to begin with as those are more advertised by those (not pointing fingers) other tech informational blogs telling you about how Grammarly is the best! I think it is due to my lack of actually trying anything else out apart from pro writing aid which I did manage to have a small look at simply getting the same job. (but you can probably tell by my writing level you can see that I can't afford it either)

MOVING ON

To the actual main part where you can skip everything else and just look for the list of the actual thing we're all here for (im guilty of it too) but if you did indeed read this far then treat yourself to those delicious cookies in that cookie jar but in case you dont have one then get one. (What is the difference between Cookies and Busicuits?)

• Notepad++

Being exactly what it says in the name (A virtual notepad) but with the two +'s being featured alongside it insinuates that there is more to it than you might think.

Being perfect for all noting tasks which also makes you look cool while doing it and while the brand new Windows 11 version of the built-in notepad does also kinda scratch my itch (hot-take I know). Notepad++ is like the remedy to never requiring you to scratch ever again.

• Speccy & Recuva

If you ever need tech help or rather if you've ever used the Windows OS for a short while then you've probably run into some sort of problem. (unless you haven't which in that case teach me) and usually when you start digging and debugging and unluckily dont reach a conclusion to your problem then you'll end up asking for help. (OR AT LEAST YOU SHOULDn't instantly go crying to tech support about why your computer isn't working because of your 11 non-updated drivers) I recommend the r/TechSupport Discord because they've without fail solved every problem I've ever had but back to Speccy. Sometimes these angels will require more than just your input but also what they're dealing with hence Speccy which simply provides you with a summary of all the hardware in your PC so you don't have to get scared by the somewhat complex Task Manager.

• Novabench | Userbenchmark

Building upon the perfect Speccy and Recuva duo comes Novabench and or Userbenchmark both being great ways of seeing not just if everything is working as intended but also grading your entire PC. Why I'm including both of these programs because they are indeed different yet still accurate. so far Novabench seems to treat the whole interaction like a gymnastic tournament grading each part of your PC separately to then giving it an overall grade at the very end which you can share with your friends or whatever else you want to do with it. But if you ever have been interested in this space of the internet before or maybe not even at all then you've probably heard of User benchmarks being pretty much the leader in this space grading your PC with funny words like NASA PC and the such.

However, while writing this I thought why not run a test right now however a problem I've been having for a while and maybe you as well as when it says "Server is full" Why not get that pro version nudge wink? to where then we hop to the most reliable part of the entire internet... Reddit: DD to where they state that Userbenchmark pretty much sucks soo... I'd just use Novabench my score is 1418 so just hope you beat it because my PC ain't the topcat.

• TightVNC | Wolow

If you own more than one device then instantly this piece of delicious steak is something you require. If you've ever found yourself in bed realising you needed to send an email or something to someone but you're too lazy to get up and the documents that you need are all on your desktop or laptop? then TightVNC is exactly what you need. Now unless you make use of cloud storage (Shout out to OneDrive I know people are sus about it but it gets the job done cheaply) the only way to access those files is on your PC so what I do (unless you have a better way then please tell me) is make use of another software known as Wolow which allows you to WOL standing for Wake-On-Lan and apart from some minor configuration it's super easy to setup meaning that you're able to simply turn on your PC and TightVNC after being properly installed will open as is meaning you're able to fully access your entire PC from your phone is the perfect remote tool and if you know what you're doing unlike me) there are ways on how you can alter every piece of this to working remotely to a level of outside your house for the same free price turning WOL to WOW and TightVNC/VNC to idk.

You may have heard about RealVNC or whatever but I have to and used to be a lover until I became a hater or rather broke because the features I loved became hidden behind a monthly paywall (The worst kind unless it's bearable) to where the gorgeous creation known as TightVNC became apparent allowing for the same services pretty much for your devices: Laptop, Desktop, Mobile etc. all for the teeny tiny price of nothing. (Music to my ears)

Note. On mobile and such the app name is different for IOS its Remote Ripple but all you gotta know be on the website.

• WinDirStat

If you need more storage check out the new Sea of Thieves update because for some reason ITS LIKE 100 GB!!!! then I recommend WinDirStat for clearing stuff up. You can also get those programs that do the job for you but usually it's just deleting stuff that is kinda just nicer to have like cache etc. while with this you can see EXACTLY where the storage is being taken up.

• Procrastitracker

The story behind me stumbling across this program is probably one for another day but what I'll tell you is that if you want to see your habits for example how long you've truly been watching those YouTube videos with this you can see it to the second.

It works too only when it's focused so it's pretty damn accurate but if you are multi-tasking and switching between tabs it might not work as well but still overall gets the job done.

Note. Last official build made for Windows 10 but I find it works more then fine on Windows 11

• Driver Identifier

I NEVER used to consider drivers to be something I always thought Windows truly did take 100% care of but if you do personally get into the nitty gritty with some random products no one has ever heard of downloading weird drivers and software along with it there's a chance that Windows has their limits for you as they did for me. With Driver Identifier an easy-to-use free software you can simply see what going wrong with your system while also helping you easily fix the noticed damage being the perfect all-in-one package for all your driver needs and with such a large amount of options out there usually ALWAYS requires some sort of payment personally I've found this to be the best tool for the job out there.

• Volumey

For those that LOVED THAT GOD MUSIC EXPERIENCE OUT THERE, Volumey is the perfect assistant easily helping change your main Audio output and being that dreamy Windows 7 volume mixer but also being MUCH easier to get to fact only taking a single click!!! It also has support for hotkeys being able to individually control certain applications and their audio is the perfect excuse to make use of that ENTIRE numpad for every startup application that's a bit too loud.

• Audacity

If you ever decide you're gonna make your own Christmas Album or even just want to do some of that DL . to .wav conversion good good... THEN AUDACITY THE ONE FOR YOU It's free and it's perfect at least for everything I've needed it for but I ain't fiddling with music too much in-depth and more for the whole recording, volume control and exporting aspects. But im sure it got what you need ;)

• Vivaldi

Now where is a software blog without a little bit of bias coming to the first mention of a Search Engine which I recommend for downloading all of the above? If you're looking at this now you're probably using Google or some awesome-looking Opera/GX browser and if you use anything else then you probably heard about your browser from watching a video that one time where they said this and that you completely listened without doing research and stuck with it until now but if instead you looked at your 'Edge' or 'firefox' and felt that this exact search engine was the one for you then fair enough but all I ask is that you glance at Vivaldi.

The customizability of an opera search engine.

The usability is like nothing else out there.

The simplistic feel is as simple as you want it.

or even as much complexity as you could ever want.

I feel that Vivaldi is the Search Engine truly being exactly what YOU want it to be checking and marking every single personally set box I compared it against.

And if you are in the Market of Search Engines then it's probable that you've come across those videos saying that Opera is sus yada yada to where I tell you that Opera is even a child of Opera being created by old CEO's and you know what else had a similar origin story? Steam.

So all I say is check out perfection.

• Steam/OBS

(Honourable mention WallpaperEngine)

STEAM first of all is the greatest software being made ever in the history of all time apart from search engines and actual browsers they're pretty important. (Shoutout to Tim) but Steam even can use BROWSERS it's an all-in-one and everything you need on a PC allowing for easy installation of the greats like OBS and WALLPAPER ENGINE *Collective Gasp*... Look I know that Wallpaper Engine costs money but I had to add at least one program that costs a couple pennies to the list what is a blog without just a little bit but just HEAR ME OUT... For the price of £3.49 or $4.61 or € 3.49 (That's all I got on my keyboard) then you can get UNLIMITED access to an UNLIMITED amount of awesomeness AND it can be entirely offline for those foil that fellas and ladies out there so basically it is free especially if you're doing some of that girl maths. end of personally REQUIRED AD. Back to OBS another great software in which YouTube tutorials will become your best friend to truly understand what the hell is going on over there but as soon as you figure it all out you'll completely fall in love and be entirely dedicated to it for the rest of your life. Hell don't listen to me talk about it take it from the man the myth the legend Kevin Hart Kevin Hart YT Clip

• Clipchamp

Now... Im quite the sucker for compatibility and prefer to keep all my eggs in one basket but not in the way that the saying actually is talking about but instead more like if Steam has a built-in VC feature and we be playing on Steam hosted games then WHY THE HELL I GOTTA USE DISCORD NOW I'll settle with Skype because of the awesome ringtone but damn know... So Clipchamp if you too like to keep it simple and not have a billion different types of everything for the smallest things then making use of Office 365 and Clipchamp will make everything that much easier though there is a paid package if you're not doing super mega complex video stuff and simply just need to add some text and cut and some shi then Clipchamp perfect but if you need those extra additions like... I dont know what you call them but overall the low-down stuff is FREE: DDD the big dawg stuff MONTHLY PURCHASES juisdhgjkdsfghjd The vein of my existence.

• PDF24

If you are not a fan of the whole Adobe thing because I feel that stuff is built a bit too much for their friends over on the MAC *vomit* then PDF24 the perfect PDF tool being unless you're artistic and all that probably the only reason you even make use of Adobe whatsoever but now that can all end today but simply just getting PDF24 and probably having the same if not even better features for...... FREE :D

• Nullpomino | Microsoft Store Games

If you do own your very own PC then why not have a little fun with it? Some simple age-old games can simply be found on the Microsoft store ranging from retro singeplayer to competitive multiplayer games so whatever you have an itch for you'll find it and probably with a free price tag. Of course however, if you are looking for something more specific (Like I was at the time finding this beautiful piece of software) then www. is there for you having an even greater amount of free and more specific games just like Nullpomino being a free open-source program entirely made to match all of your Tetris desires. Because after hearing about that one kid going beyond beating Tetris it got me in the mood to start playing again and no longer during school but even while at home where you can simply just try to beat old records in such a range of different game modes.

Overall if you want to play Tetris get Nullpomino but if you're looking for something specific then give the web a go as with 8 billion people Im sure that someone has made what you're looking for and if you want something but dont know yet try out the Microsoft Store or one of those nice top 10 videos on YouTube.

Note. Forgot to add the actual main benefit being that a simple little game can be played offline so if you cut out here and there then you got yourself a little minigame to hop in until it come back on again.

• Pennywise

Now. I found out about this PERFECT ITCH SCRATCHER through an interesting circumstance of which I may not be the only one going through which I learned through Reddit BUT.

Anime

Anime has one true way to be watched and that's through the use of the subs watching a Spanish movie entirely in English is WRONG as those lips can never really match up so the EXACT SAME GOES FOR ANIME it must be watched subbed HOWEVER the problem with this is that I can't speak/listen to the language its in because I don't know it ((slightly different for Spanish im learning on Duolingo ;) Hola chicas tu es muy bonito) So to solve this I thought instead of having my head on a swivel similar to an Owl I thought why not try out PiP to hopefully drag the video onto the designated monitor I'm working on WHICH WOULD HAVE WORKED PERFECTLY!!!! but for some reason, PiP doesn't know what subtitles are instantly foiling my plans BUT dont worry because this is where Pennywise comes in to save the day.

I know it sounds a lot like a piece of malware and honestly, you could just use any old search engine to get the same thing done BUT I feel that with your bookmarks and all those different vital UI tabs in the way it takes up more space than needed so an entirely extra software to get the whole job done perfectly for you is exactly the best way to do it and with even the ability to control opacity, it truly makes Pennywise pure perfection.

• Custom Cursor

If you've ever been using your PC and just felt that something was off or missing then Custom Cursor is EXACTLY what you've been looking for.

I am sure that after all that time using the same old cursor where maybe the coolest it has ever been was when you found out how to add that trailing effect like in a Roblox obby which I admit is pretty badass BUT IT COULD BE BETTER.

With Custom Cursor pretty much anything and everything you can think of exists as its very own two-part cursor set and it's so easy to use and FREE.

So what more even needs to be said? awesome coolness for a free price tag is a yes from me.

Note. Can be used exactly how you want it. Just for browsers or all over your desktop (still free)

The End

Click to go back :D