An awesome & curated list of best applications and tools for Windows.
This Awesome Repository is highly inspired from ichait's Awesome osx. Special thanks to egeerardyn.
Items marked with
are open-source software. Items marked with
are free.
Applications
Audio
- AIMP - 32 bit audio processing and multi-format playback.
- Audacity - Free, open source, cross-platform software for recording and editing sounds.
- CDex - CD Ripper (french site, english program).
- Dopamine - An audio player which tries to make organizing and listening to music as simple and pretty as possible.
- K-Lite Codecs - Collection of DirectShow filters, VFW/ACM codecs, and tools.
- Qtractor - An Audio/MIDI multi-track sequencer.
- Reaper - Lightweight application with deep feature set and $60 for individual, non-profit, or small business use.
- Winamp - Music player capable of playing MP3s, MP2s, WAVs, VOCs and MIDI files.
- Mixxx - Free DJ software that gives you everything you need to perform live mixes, veritable alternative to Traktor.
- Musicbee - Like iTunes but better than iTunes.
- MusicBrainz Picard - Picard is a cross-platform music tagger that looks up and rewrite metadata tags.
- VLC - Free media player, works pretty well.
- Foobar2000 - Free audio player for Windows, supports a wide range of audio formats and has a lot of cool features.
- Exact Audio Copy - Transfer files from your CDs to your PC in almost every format.Comes with some pretty niffty features too.
- Kodi - Free and Open Source home theatre software.
- Resonic - Fast and free audio player.
Chat Clients
- Hexchat - IRC client based on XChat
- Waow - Awesome WhatsApp Web Client to deliver you the best WhatsApp experience.
- LimeChat - Instant messaging application.
- Messenger for Desktop - An app for Facebook messenger.
- mIRC - An Internet Relay Chat (IRC) client.
- Telegram - A messaging app with a focus on speed and security, it’s super fast, simple and free.
- Quassel - Quassel IRC is a modern, cross-platform, distributed IRC client.
Compression
- 7-Zip - Open source Windows utility for manipulating archives. Formats 7z, ZIP, GZIP, BZIP2 and TAR are supported fully, other formats can be unpacked.
- Bandizip - A lightweight, fast and free All-In-One Zip Archiver.
- PeaZip - Archiver and file compressor. Extract 7Z CAB ISO RAR TAR ZIP archive files.
- Riot - Compress images either by file size or by many other image attributes.
- WinRAR - A powerful archive manager. It can backup your data and reduce the size of email attachments, decompress RAR, ZIP and other files.
Customization
- TranslucentTB - Make your Windows task bar transparent.
- Windows 10 Login Background Changer - Lets you change the Windows 10 login screen background.
Data Recovery
- Data Rescue - Comprehensive and professional Hard drive recovery software that can recover your photos, videos, documents.
- Ontrach EasyRecovery - Has filtering tools to help sort the large amount of data the software can recover.
- Stellar Phoenix Windows Data Recovery - Remote recovery option to recover data from another computer over a network.
- PartitionGuru｜Eassos Recovery - Data recovery with partition recovery.
- Recuva - Recover your deleted files quickly and easily.
- TestDisk - Powerful free data recovery software primarily designed to help recover lost partitions and/or make non-booting disks bootable again.
Developer Tools
- Alacritty - A cross-platform, GPU-accelerated terminal emulator.
- DB Browser for SQLite - High quality, visual, open source tool to create, design, and edit database files compatible with SQLite
- HeidiSQL - Powerful and easy client for MySQL, MariaDB, Microsoft SQL Server and PostgreSQL.
- Fiddler - Web debugging proxy.
- FileZilla - FTP, FTPS and SFTP client.
- GitHub Desktop - A GUI for using GitHub.
- GitKraken - A beautiful, cross-platform Git client.
- I'm Only Resting -A feature-rich WinForms-based HTTP client
- Insomnia - A modern REST client with an beautiful interface.
- Keylord Cross-platform GUI client for Redis, LevelDB and Memcached key-value databases.
- Pixie - A simple color picker for developers.
- pngquant - Apply lossy compression on PNG files with or wi
- PostgreSQL Database - A comprehensive list of tools.
- Process Explorer - A powerful task manager.
- Process Hacker - Excellent full blown task manager.
- RazorSQL - A GUI for managing SQLite databases which requires major work.
- Redis Desktop Manager Cross-platform open source Redis DB management tool.
- SourceTree - A free Git & Mercurial client.
- Sql Wave - A MySQL database manager.
- SSLyog - A powerful MySQL administration tool
- Vagrant - A tool for building and managing virtual machines.
- Visual Studio - Ultimate Microsoft Developer Tool.
- Visual Studio Code - Lightweight Source Code Editor.
- Wamp - Web development environment.
- Wireshark - A network protocol analyzer.
- Xampp - Apache driven web development environment.
- Zsh - A powerful command line shell.
Documents
- LibreOffice - Open source office suite.
- Microsoft Office - Microsoft's own productivity suite.
- OpenOffice - Software suite for word processing, spreadsheets, presentations, graphics, databases and more.
- NitroPDF - The best PDF Reader you'll ever get.
- Sumatra PDF - PDF, ePub, MOBI, CHM, XPS, DjVu, CBZ, CBR reader.
E-Book Utilities
- Bookviser - Awesome application for Windows 8 devices to read eBooks in a simple way.
- Calibre - Powerful software for e-book management and conversion.
- kobo - Incredibly ugly but powerful software for ebook management and conversion.
- MailBird - IMAP and POP3 email client, featuring customization, complete touch support and multiple language support.
- Thunderbird - Email client with minimalistic design.
- Nylas N1 - An extensible desktop mail app built on the modern web.
- Postbox - The Power Email App
Games
- Warsow - Free & fast-paced FPS game for Windows.
- Awesome Games - List of games hosted on Github.
- GOG Galaxy - Steam-like DRM-free game platform.
- Unity - Free game engine. Easy to pick up and use with a number of tutorials.
- Unreal Engine - Another free game engine. Lots of documentation and easier to pick up, but you pay 5% royalties to Unreal when you make money from UE-based games.
- Steam - Largest online video game retailer. Desktop app allows you to organise your library of games and play them at any time. But you already knew that.
- Origin - Like Steam, but for EA.
- Itch.io - Install, update and play indie games.
Graphics
- Blender - Fully-featured extensible cross-platform 3D content suite.
- Gimp - Open source image editor.
- Paint.net - how can you live without paint.net?
- Inkscape - Free vector-based graphic design software.
- Krita - Free drawing software with a bunch of cool features.
Text Editors
- Atom - A hackable text editor for the 21st Century.
- Brackets - A modern, open source text editor that understands web design.
- GVim - (G)Vim is a highly configurable text editor built to enable efficient text editing.
- Light Table - A customizable editor with instant feedback and showing data values flow through your code.
- Notepad++ - A source code editor which supports several programming languages.
- Sublime Text 3 - The sophisticated text editor.
- Visual Studio Code - Build and debug modern web and cloud applications.
IDEs
- Eclipse - A powerful IDE.
- IntelliJ IDEA - A modern Java IDE.
- NetBeans IDE - A free and open-source IDE.
- Visual Studio - Microsofts official IDE. Supports a multitude of languages via plugins.
- Android Studio - The official IDE for Android, based off IntelliJ's IDEA IDE.
Online Storage
- Dropbox -Simple, elegant and versatile (PC, Macs, Android...) cloud storage solution.
- Google Drive - Cloud storage solution deeply integrated in the Google ecosystem.
- Hubic - Cloud storage for Windows, Linux, MacOsx, iOs & Android
- OneDrive - Best cloud storage solution for Windows users.
- Mozy
- Box - Ability to sync more than 100,000 files and supporting both special characters in file names and file paths longer than 256 characters.
Productivity
- AutoHotkey - The ultimate automation scripting language for Windows.
- Cold Turkey - The only blocker for distracting websites that actually works. (even doesn't let you uninstall it when blocking is active).
- Chocolatey - A package manager for Windows.
- Ditto - Clipboard manager.
- Everything - The fastest file/folder search tool by name.
- f.lux - Automatically adjust your computer screen to match lighting.
- Inkdrop - The note-taking app for Markdown lovers.
- Launchy - The Open Source Keystroke Launcher.
- Listary - Keep files at your fingertips. An unique search utility.
- MultiCommander - File Manager for Professionals.
- Ninite - The easiest, fastest way to update or install software.
- Scoop - A command-line installer for Windows.
- Total Commander - The best file manager for Windows.
- Simplenote - Simple cross-platform note taking app with cloud-based syncing.
- Wox - An effective launcher for windows.
- KatMouse - Utility that enables "universal scrolling" in Windows: scrolling does not need the window to be active/clicked first (i.e. how it works in macOS and Linux)
Terminal
- Babun - Alternative Windows shell based on Cygwin.
- Cmder - Console emulator package.
- ConEmu - Customizable terminal with tabs, splits, quake-style and more.
- ConsoleZ - Modified version of Console 2 for a better experience and a better visual rendering.
- Hyper - A terminal built on web technologies.
- MobaXterm - Xserver and tabbed SSH client.
- mRemoteNG - The next generation of mRemote, open source, tabbed, multi-protocol, remote connections manager.
- MTPuTTY - Multi-Tabbed PuTTY.
- Putty - SSH and telnet client.
- Kitty - advanced Putty (SSH and telnet client).
Utilities
- A-Z of Windows Terminal Commands
- Carnac - The easiest way to record keystrokes during any screen recording.
- Ccleaner - System cleaning utility which is more easy to understand and use for beginners.
- CleanMyPC - A clean computer in no time.
- Far - File and Archive manager. Clone of the Norton Commander.
- Fraps- Video game capture screen recorder that can be used with all games using DirectX or OpenGL technology.
- FreeFileSync - An easy backup solution for files and folders, It supports mirroring/two way sync/update between source and destination.
- Glary Utilities - Provides many more advanced features which are non existent in ccleaner.
- HTTrack- Offline browser utility, allowing you to download a website from the Internet to a local directory.
- LICEcap - Animated screen captures and save them directly to .GIF
- rimraf - A deep deletion module for node. Help to delete files and folders with very long paths
- SDelete - A command line utility that can securely delete a file, or clean the slack space.
- SpaceMonger - A graphical utility to display folders and files in blocks relative to their disk usage.
- Speccy -Detailed statistics on every piece of hardware in your computer.
- ShareX- Lets you take screenshots or screencasts of any selected area with a single key.
- Sysinternals Suite - Tool suite by Mark Russinovich that provides access to Windows internals for troubleshooting: processes, physical ports, disk activity etc.
- Unlocker - Unlock files Windows won't let you delete
- Waltr - Transfer any movie or music file to your iPhone w/o iTunes.
- WinDirStat - It is a disk usage statistics viewer and cleanup too.
- Windows 10 Login Screen Changer - Changes the Windows 10 Login Screen Background.
- ZoomIt - It is a screen zoom and annotation tool for technical presentations. It runs unobtrusively in the tray and activates with customizable hotkeys to zoom in on an area of the screen, move around while zoomed, and draw on the zoomed image.
Video
- K-Lite Codecs - Collection of DirectShow filters, VFW/ACM codecs, and tools.
- mpv - Media player.
- HandBrake - High performance video encoding and conversion tools with a nice GUI.
- VLC - Multimedia player and framework that plays DVDs, Audio CDs, VCDs, and various streaming protocols.
- ScreenToGif - ScreenToGif allows you to record a selected area of your screen and save it as a gif or video.
- PotPlayer - Multimedia player with a wide collection of codecs which also offers extensive configuration options for users.
- SMPlayer - Multimedia player that can save different preferences for any single video.
- Open Broadcaster Software - Free and open source software for video recording and live streaming.
Setup
Windows 10 Setup
- http://www.theverge.com/2015/7/31/9077997/microsoft-windows-10-clean-install-how-to-guide
- http://www.howtogeek.com/224342/how-to-clean-install-windows-10/
- Win10-Initial-Setup-Script - Powershell script to turn off or on various defaults in Windows
Windows 8.1 Setup
Security
- Acrylic DNS Proxy - A local DNS proxy which caches the responses coming from your DNS servers and helps you fight unwanted ads through a custom HOSTS file.
- AdwCleaner - Free removal tool for adware, PUP/LPI, Toolbars and Hijacker.
- Bitdefender - Best outright protection against malware.
- CCleaner - For PC Optmization and cleaning computer.
- Cryptomator - Free client-side encryption for your cloud files.
- ENCRYPTO - Encrypt your files in an elegant way.
- GlassWire - Network security monitoring tool and analyzer that visualizes your network activity.
- IIS Crypto - A utility for configuring encryption protocols, cyphers, hashing methods, and key exchanges for Windows components (eg TLS/AES/SHA for Remote Desktop)
- SpyBot - Search and destroy malware, spyware and viruses.
- System Explorer - An enhanced task manager with support for monitoring and modifying system processes, start-up programs, system services, drivers, shell extensions, and more.
- UnChecky - automatically unchecks unrelated offers from installers.
- Malwarebytes - protects from dangerous threats that antivirus doesn't.
- NetLimiter - Internet traffic control and monitoring tool.
- Tor Project - Enable anonymous communication.
- Windows 10 Paranoid's Guide
- Disable Data Logging - Make Windows 10 more private and safe.
- Viscosity - Fully-featured OpenVPN client, ready for enterprise deployment.
Miscellaneous
Discussion Forums
Windows
IRC channels
Contribute
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License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.