Top 10 Free Windows Utilities

Free Windows utilities for media playback, drive management, file recovery -- and other things! Links to all of the utilities on my list are as follows (and no peeking until you have watched the video!):
VeraCrypt: www.veracrypt.fr/en/Home.html
NoteTab Light: www.notetab.com/notetab-light
Etcher: www.balena.io/etcher/
SD Memory Card Formatter: www.sdcard.org/downloads/form...
Macrium Reflect Free Edition: www.macrium.com/reflectfree
MP3Tag: www.mp3tag.de/en/index.html
AngryIP Scanner: angryip.org/download/#windows
VLC Media Player: www.videolan.org/vlc/index.en...
Irfan View: www.irfanview.com/
Recuva: www.ccleaner.com/recuva
All of the above links are provided in good faith as legitimate download sources, but you should always exercise caution when downloading and installing free applications.
You may also find useful some of my other videos as follows:
Top 10 Free Windows Applications:
• Top 10 Free Windows Ap...
Top 10 Free Video Editors:
• Top Seven Free Video E...
Drive Cloning & Imaging (demos Macrium):
• Drive Cloning & Imaging
VeraCrypt Encrypted USB Drive:
• VeraCrypt Encrypted US...
More videos on computing-related topics can be found at: / explainingcomputers
You may also like my ExplainingTheFuture channel at: / explainingthefuture
#FreeUtilities #FreeWindowsSoftware #ExplainingComputers

[@walts555]

👍 A lot of terrific advice in a short video. Showing install links, choices and setup screen details is a nice touch. All that detail with your compact phrasing makes for a nice pace and overall length. Quite rare in KZbin land! Thx.

All the British class and elegance of this teacher and without paying anything!

[@marcosavbg]

@@sw11500 LOL

[@persona83]

Também acho. O cara é muito bom!

[@julianadams5753]

I'm very pleased to find that I have already downloaded and am using several of the utilities you cite as your favorites. And certainly I will be downloading several more which I'm quite sure I can put to good use. It is so wonderful to be able to sit at my desk and, in a sense, with minimal effort "pick your brain" from across the pond. Love your videos! I continue to learn much. Another viewer sums it up well: "All the British class and elegance of this teacher and without paying anything."

[@thiaramus]

Just wanted to add... Such a great channel! Watching it make me feel like a kid again. Nerdy one 🤓. It make me feel cozy and happy. Like I am re-discovering wonders of computers all over again. Thank you for that!

[@ExplainingComputers]

Thanks for your kind feedback. :)

[@BoyAditya]

not a complete Sunday without watching rerun cartoons from my childhood and watching your new video. I hope you always be healthy, Mr. Christopher.

[@ExplainingComputers]

Thanks for this. I too like old cartoons! I was watching "Wacky Races" the other day. :)

[@DavidxBoyd]

You’re such a pleasant and helpful person - I’m glad I found this informative channel.

[@whothefoxcares]

and links to each product that *DONALD J. TRUMP* approved of.

[@trongod2000]

@@whothefoxcares You seem to need to take the WHO's advice and get one man out of your head before you drive yourself and those around you crazy.

[@MicrobyteAlan]

Really liked this episode and I’m a macOS user. Loved the old photos of the type of machines I used to work on. Thanks as always from Orlando.

[@patthesoundguy]

Great list! There were a few I use nearly every day but a few I had not heard of yet that I will be adding to my must have lost. Thanks again for another great video

[@DouglasQuaid999]

This is great, please do more videos like this

[@62shalaka]

Your videos are so well done and helpful. Thank you so much!

[@fxs7224]

I look forward to your show every week! Thanks

[@stegoboard7495]

Installed IrfanView right after watching this video. It's nice to have a traditional image viewer again for Windows 10. Excellent video Chris. Presentation as always..... is excellent.

[@augurseer]

Yay. Sunday morning and Chris is here.

[@brainstewX]

There is one substitution I would make: Win32 Disk Imager for Etcher. Win32 Disk Imager can write images to flash drives like Etcher can, but it can also rip the flash drive into an image file, which Etcher cannot. One of my favorite Windows utilities is mp3gain. It is a lossless way to change the volume of mp3s. It is most useful when some songs in the collection are whisper quiet, and others are earth shatteringly loud. Having them all at a consistent volume, and me not being forced to ride the volume control between songs, makes for a more enjoyable listening experience.

[@simonestarace5249]

Thank you mister for showing those Windows utilities. Some of them I never heard about but thanks to you I want to see how they works. Thank you.

[@geofftottenperthcoys9944]

Funny thing is, I actually use a lot of these programs already, but it is a pretty good list, please keep up the good work mate, and hello from Western Australia! Just used macrium to clone a new windows drive from a SSD to NVME.

[@tonyweavers4292]

Thanks for another great video Chris.

[@bejarano1960]

Total Commander (formerly Windows Commander) is the most useful utility I've ever used on my Windows computers. It is a replacement for the native Windows Explorer file manager, but much more versatile and powerful. I believe it is considered to be shareware, so there is a free, fully functional version with a delay upon startup, or you can make a donation and receive a key which will bypass the startup delay. This utility has been #1 on my must-have list since I began using it over twenty years ago. The author continues to make improvements and add features. I keep Total Commander open on my desktop at all times, and often I will keep two of them open, giving me four panels in which I can manage my files and drives.

[@zonghui]

Great list! I use a lot of these myself. Always nice to have a list of useful software so that others may benefit.

[@smyrtgyz]

Thank you for your time and computer information on hardware/software and networking over the years!

[@tapank415]

you forgot 7zip sir !!!!!!!

[@ExplainingComputers]

It was so close to being on this list! :)

[@tapank415]

ExplainingComputers Thanks for the heart Sir! :)

[@AndreiNeacsu]

7-Zip is the first thing that I install on a new Windows of Linux reinstall.

[@simonestarace5249]

7zip saved me from zipping files. Glab it exist something like this.

[@tapank415]

Dalle Smalhals haha with unlimited trial

[@ElmerFuddGun]

It should be illegal to have those *fake download buttons* on the intended download page! - 3:51 They must get more from those "advertisers" for putting in the delay before it starts downloading. That's why I would *NEVER donate* to support a product that plays those games to take advantage of the uneducated computer user.

[@Kenobi5001]

Totally agree, even normally cautious people can fall foul of these things in times of stress or when you are in a rush. It is dishonest.

[@macsnafu]

Yeah, I try to avoid those download sites if I can find an alternate site to download the software from.

[@davidprice2861]

ElmerFuddGun Yes, it’s deceitful and sharp practice at the very least. The consumer authorities won’t lift a finger though.

[@jonmkyle1]

The question you have to ask yourself is, “Do I like free software, or don’t I?” If these types of adds were banned, many of the programs you enjoy for free would not be available, or would charge a fee. Asking the government to get involved, to “protect is,” would create more problems then it would solve. Be carful what you wish for!

[@PatMcDonald41]

Totally agree ...

[@CanadairCL44]

Thank you Christopher, I found this video really useful (Just like all the others you have made!)

[@Diptentu]

I don't know how can I thank you enough, but the recuva software saved my uncle's only wedding video thumb-drive. I'm a long time viewer and YT recommend this video to me and I tried the recuva and worked like a magic. Love and well wishes from India.

[@ashwinmohan4503]

Hi, The greatest tip I found was to uncheck the other bloatware (surrogate apps whathaveyou) during installation. Most of these addons are hidden and needs to be unselected in customized install. Nice video and I know its hard to make such stuff interesting!! Not for good old Chris! Keep it up my man :-)

[@us3rqz1]

Two days after watch this video I've used Recuva to restore some important files for my girlfriend. Thank you so much Chris!

[@ExplainingComputers]

Result! ! This what KZbin is all about. :)

[@danmanx2]

Thanks for the video. Windows 10's image preview is the most bloated slow software I've seen in all the versions of it. I used to have Ifranview years ago for viewing and I completely forgot about it. This is why your channel is one of my favorites. EVERY single item on the list is completely useable and a great piece of software. Thanks for the great list.

[@WalterPetrovic]

This was very helpful, esp with the Mp3Tag software. It made indexing my music so much easier. I fixed 500 songs in less than an hour, whereas, using preferences in the windows explorer (and not to a high degree of accuracy), and taking over a hour to do 50, just a few days ago. This is great and know that you are appreciated.

[@ExplainingComputers]

Glad that MP3 Tag worked out for you! That is a great time saving. I too have used it to edit lots of files really quickly.

[@mrteatime4116]

In my opinion, Spacesniffer is a great option to see where your data is located on your selected drive. It also shows you visually how big these files are, so you can easily identify the biggest files for example.

[@NotEvenDeathCanSaveU]

Yeah its great.. I use it very often to see what garbage is eating away my os partition. I also like stuff like potplayer for videos, its pretty small, portable and when compared to vlc I never had issues opening and playing anything, ever. Its more conveniently modeled after former software called kmplayer that was pretty much one of the best media player before the guy sold it and it got infested with ads and malware. Then also notepad++ what becomes a completely different really powerful software with all the modules there are for it, it makes like modding games so much easier and faster, or really editing hundreds of files at once if needed, or searching thru them for some code. Another would be virtual clonedrive, a super lightweight iso image mounting, great for like isos of games etc. Other software looks like a bloatware compared to this thing. There is also a thing that makes win10 or 11 windows into tabs, forgot how its called but its directly embedded into the explorer and it makes the work so much faster and more convenient with all the features.. No more opening of 20 different windows overlapping eaxh other. Should be easy to google it, its very popular and works within explorer so not a separate program.

[@clangerbasher]

Windows Subsystem for Linux. You can even run WINE in it. :)

[@martyburgess341]

Thank you! I've been looking for a utility for recovering lost files. Also I love VLC Player. It plays my DVDs seamlessly and in high quality. 😊

[@chriholt]

Great video Chris. I use all of those except Texttab and Veracrypt, I had never heard of either one of them, so I’ll have to check them out!

[@therealdebater]

Digest of all suggestions so far: 1-4a Rename - batch file renamer 7Zip - file archiver, compresses, encrypts AVIdemux - video file splitter and simple editor Angry IP Scanner (legacy) AnyDesk - remote control desktop Audacity - audio capture Blender - 3D image editor Breaktaker - recommends when you should take a break Bulk Rename Utility CDex - rip CDs Calibre Chocolatey - command line download and install software Classicshell - get the classic WindowsStart menu back CompactGUI Crystal - Disk Info and Disk Mark utilities Defraggler - file defragmenter DesktopOK - save the postion of the desktop icons Diagram Designer - flowcharts and other diagrams Directory Opus (not free) - replace Windows Explorer EASUS ToDo Backup free version EagleGet - download manager Etcher (from Balena) - write onto Flash memory Everything - instant file search F.Lux (f.lux?) - adjusts the screens brightness FastStone Image Viewer FileMany - duplicate file checker Filebot portable - properly scraping and renaming Movies and TV Shows FontViewer Foobar 2000 - audio Fork - GUI client for 'git' (version control system) Foxit Reader - PDF viewer Freac - rip CDs Free Download Manager FreeCAD FreeFileSync - file backup GIMP - graphics/image editing GVIM - text editor GifCam - capture desktop to GIF Glasswire HWMonitor - read all your PC's sensor data Handbrake - video encoding ImgBurn - create images from CD and DVDs Inkscape, IrfanView - image viewer Jarte - word processor Jump Desktop - remote connection K-Lite Codecs Kdenlive - video editing KeePass - password vault Keytext - create and automate keystroke entry LibreOffice - MS Office alternative (cf OpenOffice) MKVToolnix/MKVCleaver - muxing/demuxing MKV files MP3DirectCut - MP3 files trim and splice MP3tag.de Macrium Reflect free Malwarebytes - anti-virus MediaInfo lite MiniTool Partition Wizard free MuseScore - music notation MusicBrainz Picard Ninite - quickly install curated selection of software from web Notepad++ - text editor Notepad++, Notetab lite OBS Studio, OpenHardwareMonitor OpenOffice - MS Office alternative (cf LibreOffice) PDF24 - convert and create PDFs Paint.NET - image editor Parsec Patchmypc Photofiltre PicPick - multiple tools including visual on-screen ruler Plex - streaming videos PotPlayer - playing all sorts of video formats Process Explorer PuTTY - telnet, secure PureRef, Qbittorrent Rainmeter - add gadgets to desktop RealVNC - Remote GUI desktop connection Recuva - Recuva only does 100 MB free though is the problem. Rejetto (www.rejetto.com/hfs/?f=intro) - portable https file server with GUI Rename Master - mass file rename Rename-It! - mass file rename Resolve RetroArch - retro gaming emulation Revo Uninstaller Rufus - similar to Etcher SD memory card formatter SUPERAntiSpyware (anti-virus) ScreenToGif, SpeedCrunch - In-line calculator with advanced functionality (Matlab-like) Sphinx Windows Firewall Control. SyncToy - really simple local backups Sysinternals - many system tools TeamViewer, Treesize Free VLC - video player Veracrypt.fr VirtualBox Wallpaper Engine (not free) WinDirStat - what's using up space on disks WinMerge - text diff (comparison) WinRAR - file archiver, compresses, encrypts (beware its licence terms) WinSCP Windows 10 Firewall Control Windows Subsystem for Linux - techies rave about this Wireshark - network packet sniffer Wiztree - what's using up space on disks XnView - image viewer Thanks to everyone who contributed.

[@ExplainingComputers]

Really helpful post. Thanks for doing this. :)

[@tadejsadar7033]

Yep, great post. Should be pinned.

[@tadejsadar7033]

You can add also WizTree

[@MarlowPreston]

You should look into MPC-HC, Foobar2000, XnView. Along with possibly WireShark and Notepad ++ as well I tend to strongly prefer MPC-HC (called K-Lite Codecs on Ninite which is another thing that might be worth looking at if you haven't yet) on my PCs just because of the various codex optimized for the content I normally watch which is long MKV files, while I've generally seemed to have issues with VLC, it's sort of laggy last time I tried it, when I mostly just want it to play, scrub back and forth, and quickly take screenshots with and without subtitles. Foobar2000 in general for playing music and editing music files, most of which for me is in flac or wav format since I love high audio quality, along with music streams like R/a/dio, all of which scrobbles to Last FM, Libre FM, and ListenBrainz through pluggins. I used XnView a bit back when 64 bit IrFan View had not Unicode support, along with Sage Thumbs so I can have thumbnails for files not WIndows Explorer normally doesn't have previews for like some texture files for stuff like mods. And for stuff I don't really have a strong opinion on, WireShark is something I used once to make sure I disabled telemetry for Nox Emulator correctly, but I image it'd be useful for safety checking programs, and I use Notepad ++ with DS spell check (with custom dictionary settings like making it US English) just to quickly write up and spell check things, and very rarely to look at coding, but it might be an alternative to notetabs light you might want to take a peak at.

[@RobertDeloyd]

I'm bookmarking this video and will download all of these useful programs :) Thanks!

[@scottlinovitz2880]

Great choices, even a few I've never used (NoteTab Light, Recuva), I'm going to give them a try. Thanks.

[@augurseer]

Irfan view. Wow. Bringing me back to old days. Good list. Still use. VLC recuva. And the rest almost daily.

[@xxxggthyf]

Veracrypt: Because if you die unexpectedly you don't want your family finding your collection of por.... Errr.... Recipes.... Yeah... That's it.... Recipes.

[@SugarBeetMC]

Yes, valuable porridge recipes.

[@nilpo19]

Except that the encryption method is broken and they can see it anyway.

[@xxxggthyf]

@@nilpo19 As far as I know the encryption hasn't been broken. Do you have a credible source for that claim please?

[@impoppy9145]

@@xxxggthyf I personally use an old TrueCrypt portable version. Even the FBI can't crack it, that's why they shut it down and deleted or modified all downloads.

[@xxxggthyf]

@@impoppy9145 Again I ask for a credible source that VeraCrypt has been compromised. I'm pretty sure the FBI doesn't have the power to shut down IDRIX who developed VeraCrypt and are based in France.

[@foolfunk]

very useful , alot of these i've never heard of but really needed

[@dictrix]

Just came across this very informative post. So glad to see someone else uses i-View. Its been one of my go to tools for years as it does a lot more than just work with images. With it's huge array of plugins, it deals with many audio and video formats too. One tool which I always load on any new Windows pc is Format Factory which converts Video, Audio, Pictures, Documents, DVD/CD/ISO between and to various formats. It may be a bit slow for some, but once you've set it up you can leave it to finish in its own time - it won't rip copy protected items, that's not what it's made for.

[@Kaxlon]

A really awesome file manager is called Total Commander. It's so much more, you can edit the menus, add shortcuts to calculate space before copying, you can FTP directly into your domain, you can add buttons, etc. After a while you will have everything in one place. No need to stress out searching for files in Explorer. And if you get the maxed out version then search for Total Commander Ultima Prime. It has several of the apps from this video built-in right into the Commander. Edit: It's also available for smartphones.

[@R_C420]

Lol at the Mr. Scissors stuff. Smiled when I noticed the shirt. Lmao when I seen the mp3s. Edit. You need a custom windows theme EC styled chip font Custom icons featuring Mr scissors and Stanley et al Bag Crinkle bootup sound White and Gray visuals

[@ExplainingComputers]

Love the idea of an EC Windows theme . . . I'll be on that now! :)

[@R_C420]

@@ExplainingComputers I thought you might like that silly idea. For some inspiration Floppotron just released a new tune.. and it's amazing

[@jessecausey131]

Excellent utility list, very useful.

[@hdg9860]

All are very solid recommendations. Thank you!

[@igly3542]

MusicBee Rufus (USB install images) Windows Post Install Images Chocolately for a Linux-esque app repository Vivaldi Internet Browser Open Shot Video Editor Audacity Audio Editor Notepad++ text editor Executor - Desktop app Launcher Rainmeter - Desktop customization Ear Trumpet for easier sound control Winaero Tweaker to change enviornment variables (This one can mess your computer up if you don't know what you're doing) Group Policy editor (ditto)

[@igly3542]

Oh and Solid list dude. Good looking out on the bloatware add on call outs in the video. Nobody likes getting two programs when they just wanted the one.

[@wbdill]

I prefer Notepad++ over NoteTab light. Also ninite is the best for installing and updating freeware utilities without accidentally installing freeware. KeePass for password locker.. Clipomatic - multi clipboard tool. Cathy - drive cataloging utility. PicPick - screenshot utility.

[@refugiorizo9287]

I found this video very informative, thanks for uploading it.

[@AndrewGulak]

Awesome video Chris! Also validating. The only thing I wasn't using was Etcher. I was still using Unetbootin. I've corrected that though. Thanks again!

[@bayt3ch]

MiniTool Partition Wizard Free Edition is one of my favs. I haven't used Infran View in years but going to give it a spin since the photo viewer in Win10 is....

[@tadejsadar7033]

MiniTool is amazing free tool. Works great, without a glitch.

[@frigbychilwether]

Where can we download the Mr Scissors album ? I hear the musical work of Stanley the Knife is cutting edge !

[@ExplainingComputers]

You watch very closely! :) So far the Mr Scissors album is only on T-shirt! teespring.com/stores/explainingcomputers

[@freesaxon6835]

😬😁😁😁

[@marcosavbg]

LOOOL

[@dso2805]

Great video, once again! Thank you so much...

[@Vip3rGTX88]

Half of those utility are of use to me and the rest i already use or not in my interest, thx for sharing these useful tools.

[@velociraptor8984]

A great one is a program called "EVERYTHING" witch in my opinion should have been integrated in windows ! this program finds INSTANTLY anything you search for and contrary to Windows having to scan all the drives in the computer everytime you search something ...

[@fjfaraujo]

Thanks you already mentioned it here... "Everything Search Engine", from Voidtools, is the first thing I install on a new Windows... Brilliant!

[@gerardtaulats5973]

Wow, completely amazed about this one. It REALLY is INSTANT

[@JLITZ88]

WOX better everything built in

[@neccros007]

Chris, also whats good to use is Ninite.com. It allows you to install a lot of apps and utilities w/o added crap and its a simple one file installation. Also you can rerun that one file again to update all the apps in one shot. SD Card formatter also works on USB thumb drives the same as SD cards. How does Note Tab light compare to Notepad++?? And I use MP3 tag on FLAC files as well... works great!

[@AstroTechGuy]

Ahh, Thanks for the list, Chris. I heard the first time about Angry Ip Scanner and find it very useful for me. And again a nice and informative video. Greetings from germany :--)

[@ExplainingComputers]

Hello from the UK! :)

[@piers389]

I started watching this video over two hours a go. I paused it once you mentioned VeraCrypt as I wanted to find out what happened to TrueCrypt. That led on a Wikip(a)edia marathon where I found the tales of contract killings, drug smuggling, illegal arms sales, court cases and all sorts of other information. I really didn't expect to find that when looking up information about software! Anyway, good video as always, Christopher.

[@ExplainingComputers]

Oh, the TrueCrypt thing . . . yes . . . indeed!

[@niallwood]

Is it even a Sunday without watching Explaining Computers??

[@xxxggthyf]

Nope.

[@Okurka.]

Yup. Australians get the video on Monday.

[@claub2621]

@@xxxggthyf haha, good one m8, i lol'd so hard :))

[@stevenkaeser8583]

A decade ago I would have recommended the “Sysinternals” suite of utilities to get to the nuts and bolts of Windows. Your utilities make the computer more functional and useful, but sometimes to have to get a good look under the hood.

[@GeorgeSauciuc]

Thx for Recuva tip!

[@NPrescott]

Thank you as always for your outstanding quality content! I am always excited to see your "free software" or useful software videos. I never heard of Krita before I watched your video and now I use it all the time. I always learn something new from your videos. :D

[@ExplainingComputers]

Krita is indeed great software, and deserves more use. :)

[@_BlackSpectrum]

And yes notepad ++ is what I use I think it's graphics are much better than note tab light !

[@bodar]

And the syntax coding is indispensable, though I use Sublime Text at work, because they bought us licenses. For PowerShell, I just use the built-in ISE. Atom is also free, though I haven't played with it yet -- atom.io

[@monday6740]

Graphics ? Basic text files don't even support font usage ...

[@uzmazarrin8727]

You are my professor I glad That I am your student Plz like if you have respect for explainingcomputer

[@rmhutchins7]

I enjoyed your video. It was very helpful. Thank you!

[@einjarjar]

Thanks for this listing. It was really usefull. Fast, compact and straight-to-the-point -programs are becoming a rarity nowdays.

[@gonace]

Kind of like the list, but I'd add Hardware Monitor and/or CPU-Z, GPU-Z to the list :)

[@nurglerider781]

I regret there is but one Sunday a week.

[@pt7309]

I love the way you explain . Very classic.

[@ExplainingComputers]

Thank you! 😃

[@MubeenFarooq]

I am already using Mp3Tag,Vlc,Etcher

[@fesmithy]

Some of these are available from the ninite site, and you don't have to worry about unchecking all those nasty crapware installs.

[@chaosordeal294]

Ninite only installs to your C: drive, which is just dumb. I don't need Notepad++ to run from my SSD.

[@prisonpapers765]

Good stuff Chris and something to think about in depth on a few programs such as encrypting ones work.Sometimes I get to relaxed on that issue.Thank you for reminding me of that an to back up files,and saving to a secure place.I must go back and review some of your videos.I want to master Davinci.And graphics programs.Just got a Wacom tablet to aid me in that adventure.This was an informative,and a Fun video.Another winner Chris thumbs up from NYC U.S.

[@oSpecialx]

Thank you very much for this list of useful programs!

[@ExplainingComputers]

You are welcome!

[@markvd1008]

Recuva only does 100 MB free though is the problem.

[@AmyraCarter]

I have one or two of these as is. VLC Media Player is how I view videos offline, and Notepad++ is how I do advanced text editing, which is reserved mainly for coding and certain other types of text files not auto-associated with notepad. As far as having 64-bit exclusivity, I only ask why is it necessary. Until 32-bit is obsolete (it won't be any time soon unless 96-bit or 128-bit OS is already in the works), I don't see the point. I'd of said that paint.net/GIMP should of been included, but since those are less utility than applications, yeah. There's this software I have installed that allows one to make folder links with relative ease, makes it easier to understand for the novices out there, it's called Link Shell Extension. I used it to link my Trackmania United Forever User Folder in C: to the one I use in the larger partition where all my programs and files are installed (in retrospect I should of made the C: partition larger than ~28GB). Addendum: I have the majority of my music files in .mp3 format, but I have a lot of other music files in .ogg format (.mp3 doesn't allow for looping). Ogg files are actually really good quality, and take up less space.

[@ExplainingComputers]

Thanks for this Amy -- and I agree on the 32-bit side of things. :)

[@TheSpeculatingApe]

I started using VLC Media Player for an odd reason. About five years ago I was checking the total power draw of a new computer I'd built. At idle the computer drew about 50W. VLC added about 5W, but Windows Media Player added 15W. I knew that some tasks, like gaming or graphics rendering, used a lot of power, but I was surprised to find so much difference between two media players. btw, Irfan View finally gave me something I'd been looking for: Windows Preview-like functionality for RAW images. Very helpful for a quick sort and cut on a new batch of photos. Thanks for the tip!

[@evanj571]

Very very useful programs. Thank you for the video! 😊👍

[@uzefulvideos3440]

I think Ditto, IOBit Unlocker, SuperF4 and an Uninstaller like IOBit Uninstaller or RevoUninstaller should be on every Windows System.

[@bodar]

Windows 1809 added a cloud clipboard history, but Ditto is still better, IMO. Perfect for work.

[@foeof]

Notepad++ is the best Windows freeware txt editor.

[@josematos1978]

yes thank you its good to have people xplain step by step what some of thes programs do keep it up .

[@taidee]

Thank you Prof...great applications you have here.

[@kevg3563]

Where was Notepad++ ? I brilliant free text editor that you just can't do without.

[@keithd5181]

The Compare PlugIn for NotePad++ makes it even better. Great little utility.

[@Ragun5]

Mr Scissors Goes Wild.. why i cant stop to laugh XD Oh and BTW what do you think about CCleaner?

[@ExplainingComputers]

I don't personally use CCleaner, and indeed never have. There have been issues reported with it recently.

[@simonestarace5249]

I can confirm that CCleaner can give some issue to your PC.

[@Ragun5]

@@simonestarace5249 hm ok THX :) now i consider to get rid of it

[@simonestarace5249]

@@Ragun5 Yes it's better to get rid of because I had a problem with CCleaner with my GPU and I had to format my drive to solve the problem. I hope nobody gets the same problem I had.

[@buccleuch7621]

Excellent tips. Thank you

[@paraskevasvidakis5097]

I enjoy very much listening to your video as I say you are the best teacher

[@XSpImmaLion]

Great list Chris... most of which I already use, and that's why it's great. xD /jk Adding some others: 7zip - don't get the free trial forever Winzip, get 7zip. mplayer - if for some reason VLC is too heavy for you, or you get some weird codec problems in some ancient movie files, try this one. Media Player Classic (MPC-HC) - same as above Notepad++ - popular alternative to notepad more towards coding Keepass - password manager with local storage video production stuff - shotcut, audacity, OBS, GIMP, Camstudio... This one may sound a bit weird and you do have to take extremely good care for getting it from a reputable source, but afaik, it's kinda unique in what it does: h2testw1.4 - it's a small software designed to make a hard test on the size of USB pendrives and SD cards. Something that became necessary because the market is flooded with fake pendrives and SD cards that are actually small sized, hacked to display on Windows as large sized ones... like an 2Gb pendrive that shows up as a 128 or 256Gb one. The only way to really know is doing what this piece of software does - copying a bunch of filler files there until it reaches capacity. The hacked ones will reach it's true capacity and start deleting files... I've gotten fake stuff from Amazon and other websites, so people really have to be careful. It's the first thing I run on a newly purchased pendrive or sd card, and Amazon staff accepts this as proof that it's a fake product (at least on the only fake one I've got so far, they did). Oh, I also recommend checking all the other stuff made by the company that does Recuva - Piriform. It's all good. These are the ones I can remember right now...

[@grizzZlyBear]

Linus??? Is that you from the future??

[@kingmekrillinme4831]

This! Lol

[@oscar-tm3zb]

I usually edit HTML with Notepad++, but good to see there is a free alternative made specifically for it! Thanks!

[@25hztolife86]

Very handy video. I'm going to try the notepad alternative.

[@ElmerFuddGun]

I think you should be showing the *current versions* of your recommendations. You can then show us why you are using an older version. Then we can see the differences and decide for ourselves. - 5:09 Maybe the newer version works better, detects more IP addresses or is faster. I don't know because you didn't show us. I've used the older no installation required version of Angry IP Scanner but like its desktop icon 5:27 it is looking dated.

[@ExplainingComputers]

All utilities shown are the current version, aside from Angry IP Scanner, where I very clearly stated in the video that I use the legacy version because it does not require an install, or the installation of Java. I would not recommend anybody installing Java unless they have very good and specific reasons to do so. :)

[@MahmudulHasan3044]

I'd like to mention some utilities from " Most wanted " categories based on my experience. -- NOX player. Light and far better Android Emulator than bluestack. -- Picmos Tools, A bundle of dozens utilities like photo, video editor, screen recording etc. Beware from Addons/advertisement came with this. --- Speccy, Know more and indepth about your pc hardware. --- "Everything" realtime search tool. Search indepth in your pc, before single second. --- Yumi; Multiboot creator. Create, add, remove any OS from your removable boot device..... now and then.... Anytime. --- EasyBcd; Boot Entry editor, customisation- (Know before use) ---- " FormatFactory" Video converter. light and powerful. easy to use. Windows build in tools: --- Windows+W shortcut. try it to see what happens. --- "Phone', A microsoft app to synchronise,show your phones media and message. also you can send SIM message from PC. --- "Connect to phone " ; Cast,control easily your phone's screen from pc screen. Microsoft made it too easy, fast and useful..

[@stephenbeets00001]

I tried Nox Player and I unfortunately have to disagree with your "recommendation". On my system at least, it was WOEFULLY slow, loaded a completely black screen and nothing in it seemed to work. Nox apparently thinks my Intel Mobile 965 Express chipset's built-in video processor is cancer as it insists on me having either an Nvidia or ATI actual hardware graphics card. There is NO setting to modify this behavior or get Nox to recognize the hardware I have. Bluestacks was also woefully slow, but at least it would run on my laptop without bitching about my video card. In short, though, I can't recommend ANY Android emulators because laptop users who don't have the cash to drop on brand new machines will not be able to get them to run well enough to be usable. You have to have a high-end (read Ryzen Threadripper or equivalent) machine having probably a minimum of 32 cores, 128 GB of RAM and some kind of extremely fast (and thus mostly unaffordable to anyone less than rich) video card, maybe two or more, in order to just barely run either Bluestacks or Nox Player. Not recommended! Not recommended at all!

[@piers389]

Great list, Mahmudul! Thank you.

[@MahmudulHasan3044]

@@stephenbeets00001 Hey, sorry to know ur experience. Any virtual player really needs mid specs. I don't know why NOX behaved this way in your pc. But any emulator is just for take fancy taste, its not mandatory for us. I just said from my experience compared to all other player. I own just core I5+4GB+mSata. works fluently beside more than 10 tabs+2/3 users of Chrome. Anyway, User experience may vary.

[@mixermaster10]

EMU is also a great simulator, I'd say even better than nox.

[@MahmudulHasan3044]

@@mixermaster10 Oh I missed it. Thank you for let me know. I'll try it soon.

[@pete-the-nete]

Glasswire is a must for me. Having found it, I wouldn't/couldn't do without it. Great videos... keep 'em coming.

[@ExplainingComputers]

I had not come across Glasswire. Looks great. I will try it out, thanks. :)

[@UnfilteredMedic]

This is awesome. I have a use for most of these.

[@majorextrasun8880]

Other good free software: Kdenlive, Resolve, GIMP, Paint.net You should've put at least one video editor on this.

[@ExplainingComputers]

This is a list of utilities, not full applications. Kdelive, DaVinci Resolve, GIMP and so on appear in my list of the Top 10 Free Windows Applications or Top Seven Free Video Editors. :) kzbin.info/www/bejne/iHOrg5-ioJJ_iac

[@simonestarace5249]

He mentioned someone at the end of the video.

[@benhoward3049]

Rufus and handbrake

[@loupgarou1317]

Have used InfranView for years, Vlc media player as well, very informative....

[@rolfsinkgraven]

Very informative video and some proggys i did not know yet thnx.

[@charlsieirish578]

Thanks... try Ninite. It has a collections of useful applications... Also, there is this neat utility called FolderChanger which I use to organize my computer files and folders easily. Google for "folderchanger" to get it

[@windycarney8793]

k.

[@arafip]

Notepad++ better?

[@hopydaddy]

Your channel is very useful. I love your explanations...

[@nutsnproud6932]

Thanks Chris. I learned a few things today. I use PuTTY a lot to connect to my Raspberry Pi on the console.

[@nuxnux308]

You might want to add TreeSize Free by JAM Software. It's a very useful tool to see what is taking up space on your disks.