Essential free programs for Windows
Just got a new computer or reinstalled the system? Start with these programs. They are all free, every link goes to the program's official source and versions are checked daily against official repositories. Each need has a few options; pick the one you like.
Web browser
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Mozilla Firefox 159.0
Mozilla Firefox is a free and open-source web browser developed by Mozilla.
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Google Chrome 156.0.8078.80
Google Chrome is a free web browser developed by Google LLC, built on the open-source Chromium engine.
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Brave 156.1.98.63
Brave is an open-source, privacy-focused web browser based on Chromium.
Video and music player
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VLC media player 3.0.24
VLC media player is a free and open-source multimedia player developed by the VideoLAN project.
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mpv.net 7.1.2.0
mpv.net is an open-source media player for Windows that wraps the mpv playback engine in a modern graphical user interface.
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MPC-HC 2.8.4
MPC-HC (Media Player Classic Home Cinema) is a lightweight, open-source media player for Windows.
Archives (zip, rar, 7z)
Office and PDF
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LibreOffice 26.8.2.2
LibreOffice is a free and open-source office suite developed by The Document Foundation.
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ONLYOFFICE Desktop Editors 10.0.0
ONLYOFFICE Desktop Editors is an open-source office suite developed by Ascensio System SIA.
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SumatraPDF 3.6.1
SumatraPDF is a free, open-source multi-format document reader created by Krzysztof Kowalczyk for Windows.
Photo and image editing
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GIMP 3.2.6.0
GIMP (GNU Image Manipulation Program) is a free and open-source raster graphics editor used for photo retouching, image composition, and graphic design.
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paint.net 5.1.12
Paint.NET is a free image and photo editing software designed for Windows PCs.
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Krita 5.3.4.1
Krita is a professional, open-source raster graphics editor designed primarily for digital painting, concept art, and 2D animation.
Screenshots
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ShareX 21.0.0
ShareX is a free, open-source screen capture and productivity utility for Windows.
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Greenshot 1.3.328
Greenshot is a lightweight, open-source screenshot utility designed for Windows.
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Flameshot 14.0.0
Flameshot is an open-source screenshot utility designed for capturing and annotating screen regions.
Screen recording and video
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OBS Studio 33.0.0
OBS Studio is a free and open-source application designed for video recording and live streaming.
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HandBrake 1.11.2
HandBrake is a free and open-source video transcoder developed by The HandBrake Team.
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Shotcut 26.9.27
Shotcut is a free and open-source video editor developed by Meltytech under the GPL-3.0 license.
Messaging and email
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Telegram Desktop 7.3.3
Telegram Desktop is an open-source, cloud-based messaging client developed by Telegram FZ-LLC.
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Signal 8.33.0
Signal is an open-source, encrypted messaging application focused on user privacy and security.
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Discord 1.0.9267
Discord is a communication platform designed for voice, video, and text interaction among communities, gaming groups, and friends.
Passwords and security
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Bitwarden 2026.10.3
Bitwarden is an open-source password manager developed by Bitwarden Inc.
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KeePassXC 2.8.0
KeePassXC is a community-driven, open-source password manager designed to store credentials securely on your local machine.
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VeraCrypt 1.26.29
VeraCrypt is an open-source disk encryption program maintained by IDRIX, based on the TrueCrypt codebase.
System tools
- Everything 1.4.1.1032 Everything is an open-source file search utility for Windows developed by voidtools.
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PowerToys 0.102.3001
PowerToys is an open-source set of system utilities developed by Microsoft to customize and enhance the Windows desktop environment.
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WizTree 4.33
WizTree is a high-speed disk space analyzer developed by Antibody Software for Windows.
Install them all with one command
The command below installs every program on this page from the official repository. Use the bulk install tool to pick only the ones you want.
winget install --id Mozilla.Firefox -e; winget install --id VideoLAN.VLC -e; winget install --id 7zip.7zip -e; winget install --id TheDocumentFoundation.LibreOffice -e; winget install --id GIMP.GIMP.3 -e; winget install --id ShareX.ShareX -e; winget install --id OBSProject.OBSStudio -e; winget install --id Telegram.TelegramDesktop -e; winget install --id Bitwarden.Bitwarden -e; winget install --id voidtools.Everything -e