Hello friends! If you are looking for free programs for your desktop or laptop computer, here you will find an interesting selection with some of the best freeware and open-source programs available for Windows.
In this volume, we have added some outstanding applications such as a deleted file recovery tool, a music recording station, and a portable software system, among others. Let’s go there!
15 free PC programs you should try
Cakewalk: One of the best DAW or free programs for music recording and production on PC. It allows you to add unlimited tracks, it is compatible with audio, MIDI, and VST inputs. One of the oldest applications in the sector with 30 years behind it.
Recuva: The best free program to recover deleted files on Windows. It allows you to do both quick scans and in-depth analyses, which usually always gives better results (although the scanning time also takes much longer, as is logical). In any case, an essential application.
Notepad++: A replacement for the classic Windows notepad, with the particularity that it is designed for editing code. The application is capable of detecting different programming languages such as C++, Java, HTML or Perl, highlighting the syntax, and listing the lines to be able to code more comfortably. It also allows you to record and play macros.
Boxcryptor: A tool that encrypts your files stored in the cloud for greater information security. The data is end-to-end encrypted and is compatible with most services such as Dropbox, Google Drive, or OneDrive, among others. The free version of Boxcryptor allows you to encrypt a cloud and operate from two devices.
PortableApps.com Platform: A portable software system that brings together hundreds of free applications in a single centralized place that we can run without having to install anything on the computer. Open source platform.
iSpy: Open-source video surveillance software. With this tool, you can use your USB cameras, IP cameras, and other devices as a security system for your home. It allows video recording, and remote access and is compatible with Alexa and IFTTT. Available for Windows, Linux, and macOS.
Q-Dir: A file explorer for Windows that has 4 navigation panels. Highly recommended for those who always have many windows open, or need to copy and move files between multiple folders on a regular basis.
FreeOffice: One of the best free alternatives to Microsoft Office. It includes all the basic applications of an office suite, such as a word processor, spreadsheets, and presentations. All this with a design very similar to that of Microsoft and compatible with the usual Office file formats.
OneDrive: Microsoft cloud storage application, similar to Dropbox or Google Drive. It allows you to make backup copies of important files on your PC, and in Windows 10/11 it is already pre-installed as standard, although it can also be downloaded as a stand-alone application. It offers 5GB of free storage.
Rambox: A personalized workspace where you can access all your web applications neatly from one place. In practice, it is much more convenient than using the browser and allows you to work and organize more easily.
Windscribe VPN: I don’t normally recommend free VPNs, but I’ve been using this one for quite some time and it’s never given me any problems. It offers 32GB of free data every month, with a limited but reasonable number of servers to choose from and remarkable speeds. Of course, as with any VPN, make sure it is disabled if you are going to carry out any delicate management on sites like PayPal or your bank.
TeamTalk: Free chat, audio, and video conferencing tool for PC, Linux, and macOS. It differs from other similar applications because it has its own independent server. It also includes the typical file-sending and desktop-sharing functions.
PC Health Check: A simple utility developed by Microsoft with which you can find out if you can install Windows 11 on your PC. In addition to that, the application provides a summary of the health status of your computer.
Adobe Acrobat Reader: Adobe invented the PDF format, which gives it a certain prestige when we talk about applications for reading this type of document. In addition, Acrobat Reader is also one of the best utilities for signing PDF documents easily (and for free).
Photo Anonymizer: A privacy-oriented application with which you can remove all EXIF data, GPS information, and any other metadata that an image may contain.