This is a list of "usually installed" software that I always (or almost always) have installed on any personal computer I use.
It's generally meant to be an overview for myself, but maybe someone else will find some use for this. Please do not take this as a "must-have" list. I just like to have some place to keep track of this.
This is primarily a Windows-only list. While the majority of these programs have a Linux version, it's intended for Windows installations.
Some software have been 'marked' with an emoji to signify something.
| Emoji | Meaning |
|---|---|
| ✔️ | Personal recommendation for anyone to use, regardless of technical ability or experience. |
| 🔷 | Software available through Ninite for easy installation. |
| 💵 | Software that typically costs money, or that I specifically have an upgraded license for. |
| 🍫 | Available via the Chocolatey package manager. |
- If you "live in the terminal", I highly recommend checking out Chocolatey or alternatively Scoop. Essentially package managers for Windows.
- Updates as of April 8th, 2021:
- I have started adding Chocolatey package names for new software. I have yet to update the rest of the list to include all package names.
- There's also a changelog at the bottom of this document that will include all changes from this day onwards.
| Name/Link | Notes | Marks | Chocolatey name |
|---|---|---|---|
| Mozilla Firefox | N/A | ✔️🔷 | |
| Google Chrome | N/A | 🔷 |
| Name/Link | Notes | Marks | Chocolatey name |
|---|---|---|---|
| Mozilla Thunderbird | Email client | 🔷 | |
| TeamSpeak | Voice communications. TS is mainly used as a backup in case Discord has an outage or something. | ||
| Discord | My primary voice and text communications - Canary version | ||
| Slack | Text communication for work (mostly) | ||
| Chatty | IRC client designed for Twitch - Requires Java 🔷, but there is a "standalone version" for Windows that has Java bundled with it, so you don't have to install Java on the system. | ||
| Mailbird | Mail client | 💵 | |
| ProtonMail Bridge | Client for bridging ProtonMail to a local mail client. Bridge requires a paid ProtonMail account (affiliate link) | 💵 | |
| Keybase | Encrypted communication platform to help make PGP easier to use |
| Name/Link | Notes | Marks | Chocolatey name |
|---|---|---|---|
| VLC Media Player | N/A | ✔️🔷 | |
| Spotify | Music streaming and offline sync. | 🔷💵 | |
| foobar2000 | Music player for local files and it's great | ||
| Plex app | Desktop client for direct-streaming from my Plex server 💵 (Plex Pass) |
| Name/Link | Notes | Marks | Chocolatey name |
|---|---|---|---|
| 7-Zip | Archive (de-)compression | ✔️🔷 | |
| Bandizip | Similar to 7-Zip | ||
| WizTree | Disk usage viewer (WinDirStat alternative, seems to be much quicker than WDS) |
| Name/Link | Notes | Marks | Chocolatey name |
|---|---|---|---|
| Notepad++ | Great text editor that is a great replacement for the standard Windows Notepad | ✔️🔷 | |
| Visual Studio Code | 👌 PowerShell support - VSCode settings/config | ||
| VSCodium | VSCode without telemetry - VSCode settings/config | ||
| Sublime Text 4 | Text editor | 💵 | |
| Sublime Merge | Git GUI client | 💵 | |
| WinSCP | Windows client for SFTP/FTP | 🔷 | |
| PuTTY | N/A | 🔷 | |
| cmder | Console emulator package - Replaced this with Windows Terminal, though I still have it installed. | ||
| Windows Terminal | Microsoft actually made a proper terminal app. Windows Terminal settings (personal). | ||
| composer | PHP package manager | ||
| Node.js & npm | JavaScript development | ||
| DB Browser for SQLite | For the rare times I need an SQLite browser | ||
| CSVFileView | For the times I need to look at CSV files | ||
| HeidiSQL | MySQL/PostgreSQL/MSSQL client | ||
| MobaXterm | 🔥 SSH/RDP client with tabs, folders/categories etc. | 💵 | |
| Python | Both 2.x and 3.x (for various different open-source tools and software) | ||
| Git | It's Git, I don't know what to tell you. | ||
| JetBrains PhpStorm | PHP development | 💵 | |
| JetBrains DataGrip | Database management | 💵 |
Recording, editing etc.
| Name/Link | Notes | Marks | Chocolatey name |
|---|---|---|---|
| GIMP | Image editing | 🔷 | |
| Avidemux | Basic video editor. Great if you only need a simple cut/delete video editor and not much more. | ||
| Audacity | Audio editor | 🔷 | |
| Open Broadcaster Software (OBS) | Video recording and livestreaming | ||
| Handbrake | Video conversion | ||
| Bandicam | Video recording software I also help translate 😃 | 💵 | |
| ffmpeg | Open-software CLI software for managing video, audio or streams | ||
| yt-dlp | CLI software for media downloading/archiving. Supports a large list of services - Based on youtube-dl |
||
| Mp3tag | Used for when I need/want to modify the metadata of audio files |
| Name/Link | Notes | Marks | Chocolatey name |
|---|---|---|---|
| Dropbox | N/A | 🔷 | |
| Nextcloud | Self-hosted cloud storage | ||
| Google Backup and Sync | Normal Google Drive | 🔷 | |
| Google Drive File Stream | G Suite, mounts like a network share | 💵 |
| Name/Link | Notes | Marks | Chocolatey name |
|---|---|---|---|
| KeePass 2 | Password manager | 🔷 | |
| KeeWeb | Password manager compatible with KeePass databases | ||
| Authy Desktop | Desktop application for the Authy 2FA app | ||
| Bitwarden | Password manager - Desktop application for Bitwarden | ✔️💵 | |
| YubiKey Manager | For managing my YubiKeys |
| Name/Link | Notes | Marks | Chocolatey name |
|---|---|---|---|
| Steam | Games | 🔷 | |
| Origin | Electronic Arts games | ||
| Ubisoft Connect | Ubisoft games - Replaces Uplay | ||
| GOG Galaxy | All-in-one launcher for managing games scattered across multiple launchers. |
| Name/Link | Notes | Marks | Chocolatey name |
|---|---|---|---|
| ShareX | Screenshots, quick file uploading | ✔️🔷 | |
| qBitTorrent | Torrent client | 🔷 | |
| VirtualBox | Type 2 hypervisor for virtual machines (development/testing). | ||
| Vagrant | Management tool for virtual machines (VirtualBox) | ||
| ProtonVPN | Client for ProtonVPN (affiliate link) | 💵 | |
| Mullvad VPN Client | Client app for Mullvad | 💵 | |
| OpenVPN client | For connecting to my own VPN server | ||
| WireGuard | Also for connecting to my own VPN server (experimental) | ||
| Logitech Gaming Software | Keyboard + mouse - no direct link, because direct links only link to the specific version | ||
| Glorious Model O software | For my Glorious Model O mouse | ||
| Open Shell Menu | Up-to-date version of Classic Shell | ||
| WhatPulse | Tracks my every move :^) | ||
| ActivityWatch | Tracks time spent in applications and such (similar to WhatPulse). Open source and stores data locally. | ||
| Rufus | Great tool for creating bootable USB drives | ||
| Joplin | Notes app with support for encryption, links up to my Nextcloud installation | ||
| Deluge | Remote management for the torrent clients on my, uh, Linux ISO servers. |
||
| GPG4Win | GPG management | ||
| Not Another PDF Scanner 2 | Document scanning | ||
| Microsoft PowerToys | Makes using Windows better for power users. | ||
| XSplit VCam | Webcam software so I can blur my background during meetings and hide my messy room | 💵 | |
| Sumatra PDF Reader | PDF reader. Open source | 🔷 | |
| EarTrumpet | Alternative volume mixer for Windows 10 | ✔️🍫 | eartrumpet |
| ModernFlyouts | Alternative media popout thing | ✔️🍫 | modernflyouts |
Changelog was started on April 8th, 2021. Any changes prior to that date are available via the diffs in the GitHub Gists Revisions tab.
- Media management
- Added
yt-dlp, replacesyoutube-dlas youtube-dl is no longer being actively maintained. - Removed
youtube-dl-gui
- Added
- Development
- Updated Sublime Text 3 to 4.
- Added Sublime Merge
- Media players
- Removed
spicetify-clias I no longer use it.
- Removed
- Added
ModernFlyouts(Utilities)
- Started changelog
- New column to all tables for listing each software's Chocolatey package name.
- TODO: Software may still have Chocolatey packages available, but they're just not listed because I'm too lazy to go through the list and update everything. Soon™️
- New "icon" for indicating (🍫) that something is available on Chocolatey.
- Added:
- spicetify-cli (Media players)
- EarTrumpet (Utilities)