Top 10 Free Windows Programs (You've Never Heard Of)

[@crossbowbeat]

IOBit Unblocker 0:41 HashTab 4:38 Meazure 6:21 Speccy 7:11 MediaInfo 8:20 Media Player Classic 10:19 Chocolatey 11:49

[@a.z.m-arif]

thank you brother

[@Shulamitefire]

Thank you, kindly. Jesus knocks on the door of your heart.

[@zigafide]

Windows is most useful free windows program

[@hydraa3891]

@David Yeah, free, have you ever heard the legend of Microsoft Toolkit ?

[@UpheavaI]

Hydraa haha so tru

[@juliavanderkris5156]

*Linux

[@tairikuokami]

I do not trust it, I rather buy 10 Pro licences for $5. :P

[@zahidshabir4038]

Microsoft Toolkit is a good piece of software for activating Microsoft Windows or Microsoft Office (all versions of Windows Vista up to Windows 10 and all versions of Office 2010 up to 2019) if you have Microsoft Toolkit on a USB that has windows installer on it then it will get deleted (I have noticed this the 3-4 times I have installed Windows) so you need to re download it or pull it from another USB or whatever ALSO a warning to all those who want to get Microsoft Toolkit 99% of all download links that say they are for Microsoft Toolkit are viruses and if you want to get it they have their own official Reddit page (with download links) which has recently been made private by the admins and requires you to ask for permission to join

[@RedFenceAnime]

If you have 7-zip installed you don't need HashTab. 7-zip add a md5&sha hash calculator in your context menu.

[@lucretius8050]

i use HashCalc and just drag and drop, the number of times i need to see the hash is not worth an install.

[@Zszywek]

You can also use the Notepad++ for it. This answer is targeted more for the people who will watch this in the future

[@NCG337]

IObit? *Flashbacks to advanced system care* Haven't heard that name in a while.

[@nico1337]

I would not use the IObit Unlocker just because they make dumb software like advanced system care or driver booster. I use LockHunter instead.

[@TheBest_F-22]

I would just search for the file handle on SysInternal's (now Microsoft's) Process Explorer and close the file handle. → if it is Loaded as a "DLL" instead of an "Handle", just kill the process.

[@nico1337]

@@TheBest_F-22 that's not the same. With LockHunter the process does not get killed and it works.

[@TheBest_F-22]

@@nico1337 I know... But, if You can't _"Close Handle"_ (it's Loaded as a "DLL" - Program declares dependency on it), it's really likely that will cause instability on the Program and make it *Crash* ... If You use 7-Zip, just try _"unloading"_ the "7-Zip.dll" ("Shell Extension") from a running "explorer.exe" and right-click a file with that process... Typically, it's an instant Crash. And then, there's no 7-Zip Context Menus in explorer untill You re-register the Shell Extension with "regsvr32 \7-Zip.dll"... "Closing Handles" in Process Explorer is normally the safe option. Even if, for some weird reason, the program crashes, it will load fine the next time it's opened. But it's preferable (and safer) to just kill the offending process anyway, whenever possible... Bye then. .

[@ashfaw]

There is another unlocker, which goes by the name "Unlocker". I've been using it for years, without any "care" flash backs)

[@xotr8433]

I have heard of all of them after this video!

[@mannoesgehtnix]

Hey ThioJoe, the VLC dark colors being greyed out a bit is due to your gpu settings. If you open Nvidia Control Panel, in the Change Resolution option, there is this option of "Output dynamic range". If you set it to full the colors are fixed :) You have the same option at video->Adjust video color settings->advanced, so maybe you have to change it there aswell Best regards

[@GoodGamer3000]

MPC Black Edition is basically the same thing, but more aesthetically pleasing.

[@devil7660]

Top 10 Free Windows Programs (YOU'VE NEVER HEARD OF) Media Player Classic . . . . .

[@ahmadraza4577]

:-D

[@tcutchi]

Similar to the Start Menu one you mentioned, there is DesktopOk. It saves your desktop layout so you can restore it if Windows messes it up. It can also optionally hide your icons and/or cursor after a set amount of idle time.

[@jrzzrj]

Joe...your videos are always great...but for us who need to conserve time.....It would be great if you inserted a NUMBER of the next subject in the corner (just briefly), so we can skip ahead to what interests us...Thanks....JRZ

[@BRICK8492]

You outta mention Revo Uninstaller (free version) in one of your videos. It lets you uninstall software from a Windows machines, but then goes back and clears out any leftover registry keys and folders/files that the program's built-in uninstaller missed. It's pretty handy, and I use it all the time at my IT job. Definitely recommended!

[@CattopyTheWeb]

Similar to it is IOBitUninstaller

[@raenfox]

A nice free program is Greenshot. I think it's the best screenshot program out there. Normally, when you hit the Print key, it just saves a screenshot of all your screens into the clipboard and you have to paste it into an image procesing software. Greenshot gives you more options. When you hit Print, you'll instead be able to draw a rectangle around the area you wish to screenshot. Once that's done, you'll be prompted with menu options to copy it to the clipboard, save it on the harddrive, open it in an image editor or send it to an Office program, if installed. You also get a few additional shortcuts (for example, if you still want to capture everything, that's CTRL+Print by default, but that can be changed). All in all, a really great software that extends Windows' screenshot functionality in a way that, I think, should have been built-in since XP.

[@PYCMusic]

Lightshot is an amazing free screenshot tool as well. Once you install it, the "prt sc" on your keyboard will activate Lightshot, letting you drag what you want to take the screenshot of, draw/type directly on the screenshot, and even lets you copy it to your clipboard, upload it to their site for quick sharing, or save it on to your PC.

[@roxcyn]

And their website if you don't want to use their software!

[@adispenser]

*Uses Chocolatey to install every program* Probably the best one

[@titanfall3084]

I personally use these free programs, they run portable, directly off a usb stick: MiniTool Partition Wizard - Good partition manager, can manage Linux partitions PCI-Z - Identify unknown devices for drivers Ventural Venmon - Light weight mini system monitor PatchMyPC - Ninite alternative, downloads and updates apps

[@radumurzea6112]

Regarding nr. 9 (MPC): Do note that there are better variants out there, the most popular of which is MPC-HC (HC stands for Home-Cinema), which includes a bunch of extra filters & stuff compared to the regular MPC. I use that one as my main video player, works with pretty much anything (and no codec-pack required).

[@MrStealthWarrior]

I've never thought that MPC is unpopular. I'm using it since the stone age and it runs everything. Runs fast and has litteraly no problems. I've never done any tweaking. Just out of the box. No bugs, no crashes, nothing.

[@Timeriz]

If you only want to send/save screenshots then use lightshot instead of shareX since its way more simple and userfriendly

[@pushpaksil5063]

Overall anything u say this channel is just awesome 😍😍 I am in love with the content

[@manueltaveira1606]

nope ur the only one

[@Dae.]

Manuel Taveira tf is that response lmao

[@hassaankhan8284]

you can also use windows built in snipping tool instead of Share x for screen shot

[@karloseplayz2459]

Best program is BonziBuddy

[@dh8430]

i downloaded bonzibuddy and it gave me a virus 1/10 commenting on my iphone right now

[@dh8430]

@Ninja Knight - Minecraftit was satire

[@dh8430]

@Ninja Knight - Minecraft you're the one who didnt understand the joke

[@jacobmccloskey171]

@@dh8430 r/whooooosh

[@dh8430]

@@jacobmccloskey171 it was a joke

[@njf1410]

One thing I like about Media Player Classic is that you can pause and resume a video by clicking anywhere in the MPC window, unlike VLC where you have to click on the Play button to pause or play.

[@KrishanuRayTech]

And here I am cracking Adobe and Windows for fun

[@minix07]

Is that something ILLEGAL I see

[@EzeePosseTV]

For playback of almost ANY media file I like to use Pot Player. It's free to use and has tons of features. It even renders VR 360 video's too without any lag.

[@Dragons952]

A good one I would suggest checking out is EarTrumpet. It gives users volume control for individual applications.

[@jkennett3192]

Legend has it ThioJoe likes some of the first comments.

[@arpitjain9208]

ShareX is kind of redundant if you're not a power user. just enable screenshots from print screen button and the clipboard then click print screen whenever you wanna take the screenshot and paste anywhere you want to send it.

[@arpitjain9208]

@@electricspider2267 after enabling clipboard when you take screenshots they will be copied to your clioboard too. Just try it first.

[@NotTylr]

WizTree is a great one. Lets you map drive usage. It shows you which files / folders are using the most disk space.

[@staceyevitts4090]

Your videos have really really helped me! There is so much out there that I never knew existed till I found your channel. Thank you so very much! I have been going back and watching tons of your videos.

[@lool8421]

shareX: lets you take screenshots win+shift+S: am i joke to you?

[@lfraz]

He said share not take -_-

[@xldplx]

bruh windows screenshots sucks so bad

[@SirTelias]

I've used both ShareX and qBittorrent for quite a long time. Both are great programs

[@cmdrbozo]

Best multiple clipboard manager, Clipjump. Yes I know there's one built into a recent Win 10 update, but this one is easier, more intuitive once you get the hang of it. Can also strip formatting from pasted text.

[@jordanairXX]

thanks Thio your channel is very useful.. keep up the good work

[@AmodeusR]

Instead of ShareX I use *Lightshot* , I can take a printscreen and choose whether I copy it just after selecting the area I wanted presseing ctrl + c or save on my computer.

[@davinp]

Microsoft did not think to include a Start Menu backup utility with Windows 10. This is why it useful to have a backup

[@polipogas]

I use BSPlayer with video files. If i don't have subtitles it automatically searches 3 different sources for them. It's a pretty simple UI and works great with movies and TV Series

[@Mnrsyhmi]

The best channel so far that i watch

[@whenimbored9640]

First time using KZbin?

[@noob-ww7sy]

Lmao

[@newtuber4freedom43]

Speccy is a great tool. Used it to upgrade my memory. Will be using it to upgrade my main hard drive. There are at least 3 you mentioned that I will check out. Thanks for sharing! 👍🏻

[@Jim_JustGaming]

QuickLook. So useful. It takes the macOS preview (upon pressing space on a file) to Windows, so I can, for example, quickly play a video to check for a specific time stamp while I'm editing a video.

[@Sponandi]

I think WinAero Tweaker needs a mention. It lets you change a variety of appearance options, deactivate Windows features, activate/download classic applications etc etc

[@DraKul78]

And the startup sound!

[@somedude96]

thank you for introducing Meazure. I do a lot of Rainmeter customizations and meazure is REALLY useful.

[@rxnniiee]

VLC is affected by your gpu's Dynamic Range setting (usually Nvidia GPU's) which is running in Limited mode by default. To change this simply open up the Nvidia control panel > Video > Adjust video colour settings. Under Step 2 (How do you make colour adjustments) select "With NVIDIA settings", navigate to the Advanced tab below that and set the dynamic range to Full (0-255) from the default Limited (16-235).

[@K3M15A]

VLC 3 BSoD my PCs and laptops. Switched to PotPlayer. More stable and better playlist options. and geezass, so many options!

[@stevenmyers3647]

Thanks, lots of good stuff here. Keep up the good work.

[@eds5709]

Thanks for summing op these programs Joe. I'll sure try out some of them. Compliments for your channel and continuity of useful tips and news.

[@MohsenFarajYT]

the "meazure" program will really handy in designing web pages and Photoshop... i always had problems with understanding how big is 1 pixel thank you alot!

[@misophoniac]

Why did I never heard of Meazure, such an amazing software that will suit my AHK GUI creation and zone detection ! thanks !!

[@WhiteArmour]

Some of these are amazing, thank you ThioJoe!

[@CoMmAnDrX]

I use Unlocker v1.9.1 from Empty Loop, seems to be the only app to really kill whatever is attached to a file or even a flash drive you're trying to eject. Sadly the newest version is Malware I use MPC with K-Lite Codecs

[@dashw]

for taking screenshots, lightshot is better. just press prntscr, select the screen part/size, press ctrl+c and done

[@bridgendesar]

Tixati torrenter, no ads, very clean. Xplorer2 file manager, like the old 3.1 file manager, in that you can have more than one folder open side by side and on tabs (one thing I love is the sort order doesn't care if it's a file or a folder, the last one will be at the top, as opposed to windows putting files after folders, which means a lot of scrolling to get to files)

[@---xv3zf]

It is possible to make utorrent more usable by disabling ads manually. For that go to options>preferences>advanced and just disable anything that has words like "offer" (they should be near the bottom of the list)

[@toshirokardevaand2772]

MPC usually plays any video file I can throw at it. Only sometimes it asks for some codec. Also, I like it's old style UI. MediaInfo is useful, I will try it. Chocolatey is cool! I always liked that in Linux you can just type a command to download and install a program.

[@authenticpoppy]

And the program auto updates as long as the repository location is good and up to date. MPC is awesome. The extension packs are what makes it *really* useful.

[@7Bydand9]

Thanks Joe, extremely informative video, some useful Apps you have highlighted for use.

[@schaddly]

a couple of the most useful free programs i use are Izarc, a file zip/extractor that literally can read any compressed file,, reccuva, which has been most helpful in recovering deleted files after cleaning the recycle bin, and iobit uninstaller. iobit for those pesky programs that just wont come off your list of programs or you need a disc that youve long lost. and finally Alcohol 120. for making iso of discs. perfect for small install discs for bluetooth dongles, or wifi adapters, or w/e.

[@MooreMoDz]

Great Tips! :)

[@Triad637]

Appreciated this article! When 1:11 deletes fail, sometimes using menu choice 'Unhide Hidden Files' still fails. Now with your suggested IOBit app, I don't throw as many paperclips. Thx!

[@crashsmash1461]

This is epic theiojoel.

[@TakuCityPop]

I tested MPC and VLC side by side at the exact same frame which was a dark frame and you are right there is a difference MPC adds more contrast it would seem and more colour in a way.

[@damyr]

Finally some useful video from ThioJoe. I knew you can deliver it, that's why I'm still subscribed to you. 👏👏👏

[@Yamralko]

You're doing great job. Keep it up. Thank you.

[@kingneutron1]

Thanks, very informative video :)

[@rabindrajoshi9258]

1. Lock Hunter is an alternative, not so popular but as good (and I use it). Tried IOBit long ago, didn't work well, probably was in active development (should be fine now, other than pushing their products, maybe!). 2. Naah... Not for me! 3. I use the built-in screenshot tool, snagit for complex things (INCLUDING OCR). Firefox send for sending files. 4. Been using HashTab for very long now. AWESOME!! 5. Heard of JRuler as alternative, never had to actually measure. All thanks to Adobe for including ruler 😎! 6. CCleaner is shit, but Speccy is lit. More info than zCPU. 7. I think you can get media info from properties, not as much but bitrate and length is enough for me! 8. qBitTorrent has been my torrent client since uTorrent pushed ads, that was a long ago. (Tip: Flud for Android). 9. Pot Player, splayer and VLC. Pot player never fails to play anything! 10. Had Chocolatey once. Downloads everything to user appData, not always apreciated!

[@itsmezack1674]

I agree with your comments, I don't really appreciate Chocolatey putting everything in the user appdata but it makes programs quicker to install so I just deal with it.

[@clirimfurriku]

I'd suggest to use potplayer instead of VLC or MPC, it is the best player I've used, and can play almost all videos even if you don't have the Hardware decoder for it. You definitely should have a look at it. (I've played 4K H265 on a old laptop, dual core no HW decoder and worked so well)

[@XenoTravis]

Do people actually use tiles? The first thing I do is get rid of them all and make it look like the windows 7 style.

[@XenoTravis]

@@Ayzoniri I don't have a problem. I just think most people would find it ugly and too much for the start menu. Id rather have short cuts on the desktop and on the Taskbar

[@genyalyons1707]

Travis Hunt KZbin PhD i use (classic shell)

[@loganbroughton2394]

Travis Hunt KZbin PhD I have the opposite, my desktop has no shortcuts just the wallpaper and everything is in the start menu lol

[@TheKingTywinLannister]

Amazing. Well done. Thanks!

[@togbot3984]

You forget to mention Ms paint 😉

[@melonheadthecherrybomb5886]

Congrats. You are now 45.222% smarter.

[@nimphilia]

​@@melonheadthecherrybomb5886 Scaramantradrejzeuchtafapiczerinehiclangkikotranantemandoponenchenleyowoharazcherperachemouche

[@XSAlliN]

Media Player Classic (and Home Cinema) - are no longer active projects. Fortunately, there's still a fork of those two - that's actively updated/maintained. As in: Media Player Classic - Black Edition (MPC-BE).

[@xheralt]

I have never, in decades, from Win3.11 -> W95 -> W98 -> W7 -W10, come across a need for IObit Unlocker. Usually, closing all Explorer windows and reopening them clears up files open under the surface. My free screenshot utility of choice is Greenshot. Local or cloud saves, and the integrated photo editor has some neat features. Speaking of photo viewer/editors, IrfanView has been going strong since Win95 and is still a must-have for me. It can open damn near any format of pictures, and most audio & video formats as well! Including Flash!

[@rangerhawk]

It would be good to drop links to where you downloaded each app. Searching for the apps leaves more possibility of malware, and viruses.

[@Shulamitefire]

Excelent suggestion; thanks, kindly. Jesus is knocking on the door of your heart, too.

[@user-zg9nv7xg8e]

IObit Unlocker is an AdWare, i scanned it via VirusTotal

[@sugercane7213]

IObit do not make adware...

[@SwordOfTheNebulae]

IObit unlocker is on chocolatey, and they check everything, so it can't be

[@kingstonmocktail7744]

Speaking of VLC and MPC, I just remembered there was a time where Power DVD was a thing

[@Kitulous]

OMG NOSTALGIA INTENSIFIES fr fr

[@glennlopez6772]

Hello! Thanks most informative but too many topics to digest. I would prefer understanding the subject than memorising every thing. Most if not all videos on this channel are inspiring. Thanks again

[@Exarchy]

when im still 10, whenever i want to find videos and then found this guy, im like "damn its this guy again, will this work?" bcs i still didn't know english back in the day so i dont read the descriptions XD when i watch the wifi amplifier one, im like where to buy this thing called aluminium foil lol

[@Wis-ti]

I think one program to highlight in a video is SmallPDF. I've worked on projects where I modify about 80+ pages of PDFs (split, merge, rearrange, and convert from word) and it allows you to rearrange/delete either full documents or each individual page. Another great use case is after using a commercial scanner where you have 20 pages, but you need each one to be a separate document or image. I haven't found something that works as well as it does. (And the free version has a simple bypass to the 2 per 24 hours rule if you use it sparingly)

[@shreyjaiswal5250]

Thank you. I have been looking for a free alt to Adobe Acrobat Reader and I will def check this out.

[@Wis-ti]

@@shreyjaiswal5250 Glad I could help you find it! I do want to note that they have taken some of their stronger features and made them unavailable to free users, but overall I still recommend it.

[@hewfrebie2597]

their is a program called *7zip* which is a great compression and archive file also it has another which does check the Hash algorithm just like how a Hash file functions but it is better to use it and it is greater than WinRAR so I recommend using it because their is no trial contains other feature such as password protection. Oh did I forget to mention that it is open source? IT IS!! I highly recommended.

[@TheBest_F-22]

He actually had it as an option on His context menu while explaining the Hashes program... 🤣 (And that doesn't inject and run heavy code into the File Properties window, a real pain with very Large Video Files...) Bye then. .

[@marufbepary100]

my suggestions are: - splashtop - authy - glary utilities - qttabbar

[@ikeeptime]

glary utilities may be the best bit of freeware on the internet.

[@Mazxlol]

I love MPC because it plays videos very well on shitty PCs where VLC struggles. Also MPC lets you download subtitles in seconds! I use both VLC and MPC but lately i am leaning towards MPC. VLC has a lot more useful functions though.

[@azaph_yt]

Media Player Classic is great, use it with madVR codec, plays everything and has lots of customization. I also noted the colors issue with VLC in comparison. nice tools btw. didn't know about most of them.

[@ahtoh1]

I noticed that you have FLUX on windows 10. Win 10 has night light build in.

[@fariselkady]

yeaaah buuut flux is better for me because i can disable it anytime with the hotkey which makes it a ton easier than going to settings everytime

[@88Timur88Bahmudov88]

@@fariselkady you can place night mode button into notifications panel and turn it on or off with 2 clicks

[@fariselkady]

@@88Timur88Bahmudov88 thx

[@TedTheKay]

Great list... although you should consider using 7zip instead of WinRAR

[@spudhead169]

How about the top 10 KZbin videos that have a title ending with a preposition?

[@user-cx2bk6pm2f]

Pretty cool!. I'm gonna do do a couple of these!

[@KrissFliss]

I got one too, it's called Classicshell wich brings back the windows 7/Vista or XP start menu.

[@whitewolf6730]

Thank you for your time and excellent vid,😁

[@frankcich1423]

ThioJoe - At least three of your recommendations (IObit Unlocker, ShareX, and Meazure) are either Spyware or are infected with Spyware. I found out the hard way.

[@MichaelwAEL]

What is the hash for HashTab given its purpose you would think they would provide it.

[@MichaelwAEL]

Emailed developer and their reply - Don’t worry. Instead of just giving you a hash, we signed the installer, which involves a hash of the installer signed by the private key from our public code-signing certificate. Much better. More secure. Google “code signing”. What company promotes a hash program but does not trust the hash such they will not give you the hash of their own executable? Thio, what is the risk of a dll and should you block with it a firewall?

[@xozeintk8093]

Thank You Thio

[@MZZenyl]

ThioJoe, aka the clickbait overlord of tech KZbin.

[@poluefemus]

iobit unlocker is the one ill be getting

[@peterfixit7221]

10:04 I specifically use utorrent 2.2.1, not bloated only prompts to update once

[@atlantiasea4315]

Yes I have gone through this as well. Files on my pc I can't delete. Drives me crazy! ;) Thanks again!

[@RoiratNews]

OMG! Chocolatey! Just EXACTLY my kind of desert. Thanks for that one!

[@AceMcCrank]

mtpaint is super light and useful for pixel art. Though, it does have a small learning curve.

[@furryface1057]

i watch 2 of yas , Chris Titus Tech and ThioJoe for Computer stuff and windows or linux stuff and different OS's , my peace of Computer Heaven

[@m.raedallulu4166]

I like the way you speak and demonstrate !

[@lindadigiovanni3248]

Love ur videos learned so much from u

[@Makoto03]

Thank you so much. I'll give that screenshot app a tryi.

[@zahidshabir4038]

If qBitTorrent does NOT force start when you boot windows like µTorrent does (µTorrent will always start on startup if it was on when you last shutdown the PC even if you close the program it just minimises to the system tray meaning you have to close it again in system tray or in task manager to make sure it doesn't start on the next boot and even though starting µTorrent on next boot is an actual option in the settings disabling it only stops the program from launching if was NOT running at all when you last shut down the PC) also µTorrent has lots of annoying ads (which can supposedly be disabled by paying a fee for the premium version which doesn't add much to the feature list and the main problem it fixes is the annoying mostly R* rated ads) and from what I saw in your video there was no ads in qBitTorrent

[@shikhanshu]

awesome tools... useful video as always... thio rulez!