r/software
•
u/absolutely-jaked
•
Sep 10 '21
Discussion What I do/install on every Windows PC - Software Essentials
Hello, I have to spend a lot of time finding software that I like installing on my PC, so I thought I would write a pretty extensive guide on what I do to set up a new PC and the software on it, hope you like it.
Also, if anything is wrong with the formatting on this post I apologize as this is the first post of this size and scope I have made.
First thing you should always do is get your Windows up to date as much as possible, get all of your drivers up to date then start here. Create a system restore point here. You never know.
Changes in Windows
There is an extra power plan that many may not be aware of, if you do not have the option for Ultimate Performance, run the following command in a command prompt and reopen the power plan option and select it;
powercfg -duplicatescheme e9a42b02-d5df-448d-aa00-03f14749eb61
If you want Windows Update to never get in your way, you can set your Internet Connection as "Metered" in Settings and then set Windows Update to never download updates on a metered connection.
Open Control Panel and go to Programs and Features. Select Turn Windows features on or off, then tick Hyper-V, Windows Sandbox, and Windows Subsystem for Linux. Hyper-V allows you to create and manage virtual machines, Windows Sandbox allows you to open a temporary Windows installation in a VM that will disapear on close, and Windows Subsystem for Linux grants access to a lot of Linux-y things inside of Windows. Some of this is only availble on Windows Pro, and a lot of this is stuff that you may never use, but its a why not scenario really.
If you are on a desktop PC, create a custom rule under inbound rules in Windows Firewall to allow all programs over all IPs. If you are on a secure network, Windows Firewall is mostly just going to get in the way in my opinion.
Right click on your C: drive, go to properties and uncheck the box at the bottom that says "Allow files on this drive to have contents indexed in addition to file properties". This basically turns off Windows indexing for the drive, and you can do this for all of your drives to remove something the system will be doing in the background. You can do this to all of your drives, just be aware that if you search for files a lot in the start menu, how well that functions will be affected. If you have a drive that you only store games on for example, turn off Indexing for that drive as well.
MSI mode utility - Allegedly if you download this tool, run it as admin, and ensure that your GPU has the msi box ticked, it can improve performance. I have not tested thoroughly so your mileage may vary.
Create a system restore point here. You never know.
Initial Installs
- Ninite - I like to manage installs myself, however I recently learned that if you rerun the same Ninite installer down the line it will update the programs you have installed with it. Therefore, I use Ninite to install everything in the Runtime section and rerun it now and then.
- O&O ShutUp10 - Lets you disable a lot of the annoying telemetry features of Windows 10.
- NVCleanInstall - A surprising amount of people don't know about this, but this is by far the best way to install Nvidia drivers. Install the latest drivers without installing all of the telemetry components that come with the normal drivers.
Firefox
Firefox is my browser of choice, it is the best browser for security, features the best available add-ons and is my personal favourite, if you use Chrome and refuse to switch then skip over this section. Below I will list the MANY add-ons that I have installed.
- AdBlock - Pretty self-explanatory to most I would presume, blocks ad's on websites where it can.
- Augmented Steam - Improves the Steam website experience quite a lot, it's not something I usually use but when I do this helps a lot.
- BetterTTV - Same as above except I use Twitch a lot more so this is even more important.
- Bias Finder - Was very useful while Trump was president, helps alert the reader to the possible bias that can be found on many news sites.
- CanvasBlocker - Prevents websites from using Javascript APIs to fingerprint them. Put simply, prevents a method that websites use to track you.
- ClearURLs - Similar to above, another anti-tracking tool.
- Close Tab in Context Menu - Small usability improvement, allows you to right-click on tabs for an option to close them.
- CSS Exfil Protection - Protects you from a method attackers can use to steal your data using CSS.
- Dark Reader - Adds dark mode to all websites. I work in IT, so this really helps my eyes.
- Don't touch my tabs! - Prevents tabs opened by a link from changing the previous tab.
- Enhancer for YouTube - Adds loads of features to YouTube.
- Facebook Container - Prevents Facebook from tracking you, I use Facebook as little as possible but my family and friends seem to insist.
- Google search link fix - Prevents Google search results pages from modifying your search result links when you click them.
- Grammar and Spell Checker - LanguageTool - Does what it says on the tin.
- Honey - Automatically finds coupon codes.
- HTTPS Everywhere Encrypts the web and keeps you more secure.
- I don't care about cookies - Gets rid of cookie warnings.
- Keepa.com - Amazon Price Tracker - Adds price history charts to Amazon.
- Link Cleaner - Clean URLs that are about to be visited.
- LocalCDN - Fork of Decentraleyes, another thing that prevents tracking.
- minerBlock Blocks crypto miners on the web.
- Night Owl - The best dark theme IMO. This is of course personal preference.
- Old Reddit Redirect - Redirects reddit.com to old.reddit.com. I prefer old reddit, this is again preference.
- Open Image in New Tab - Customizable context menu item for opening images in a new tab.
- Open in Steam - Opens Steam links in the client.
- Open Tabs Next to Current - Open new tabs always to the right of the current one.
- Page Translator Revised - The one feature I miss from Chrome is that whole pages can be translated, this is the next best thing.
- Privacy Badger - Automatically learns to block invisible trackers.
- Privacy-Oriented Origin Policy - Prevent Firefox from sending Origin headers when they are least likely to be necessary, to protect your privacy.
- Reddit Enhancement Suite - Adds features to Reddit.
- Redirect AMP to HTML - Automatically redirects AMP pages to their HTML versions.
- Remove reddit app promos - Does exactly what it says.
- Search by Image - Add's reverse image search to context menu's.
- Terms of Service; Didn't Read - Adds a summary of a site's TOS.
- Universal Bypass - Bypass's sites that make you wait (like adf.ly) or sites that make you do something and even some trackers.
General Software
- Notepad++ - Open source and free powerful Notepad replacement.
- ImageGlass - My favourite image viewer, ultimately down to personal preference, but I like how simple this is.
- 7-zip - Easily the best WinZIP alternative.
- rufus - Most reliable software to make bootable Windows install media.
- Search Deflector Download from the store, redirects searches from the start menu to your browser/search engine of choice.
- Path Copy Copy - Adds a context menu item to copy the current path in Explorer.
- Lightshot - I hate how bloated and filled with unnecessary features that other screenshot tools have, this is simple, fast and can be activated with the prntscrn key.
- EarTrumpet - Adds better features to the Sound icon in the System Tray.
- Aerial - Adds very nice screensavers, this is preference but I like it.
- TaskbarX - Centers taskbar icons and gives better transparency features.
- Ungoogled Chromium - I keep this as a spare/backup browser.
- Libre Office - IMO the best Office suite if you don't have access to MS Office, though I tend to just use Google Docs for everything anyway.
Gaming Stuff
- Discord - I reckon everyone knows about this, free voice chat client.
- Ubisoft Connect, Origin, Epic Games Store, GOG Galaxy, Battle.net - I hate how many of these you need, but it is what it is.
- Steam - Ol' Gabes gaming emporium, pretty self-explanatory. One tip however, disable Broadcasting in settings. It will improve your download speeds for some f*ckin reason.
Media
- qBitTorrent - The best and most relaible torrent client in my experience.
- Plex - I run a Plex server, it allows you to run a "Personal Netflix" with your own media.
- MP3tag - Music meta-data editor. Keeping your music meta-data uniform and correct will always help in the long run, this is coming from someone who had to fix the metadata on a 10,000 file library recently.
- Handbrake - Video file converter, can reduce file sizes with the right settings and is compatible with basically all file formats.
- FileBot - Automatically renames TV Show files so that programs can organize them correctly. Became paid software after version 4.7.7, you MAY be able to find installers for that version elsewhere on the internet but I could not POSSIBLY tell you where.
- Shotcut - If you do not want to sail the seven seas to aquire the Adobe suite, this is by far the best free video editor out there in my opinion.
Tech Tools
- restic - This is a bit involved to setup, but is by far the best backup tool.
- HWMonitor - Hardware monitoring, temperatures, usage etc.
- TreeSize - In my opinion this is the best tool to find where your disk space is going.
- WD Data Lifeguard Diagnostics - Used this tool a lot in my IT Support job, quickly and easily test drive health.
- mRemoteNG - Open source, tabbed, multi-protocol, remote connections manager. Works with RDP, VNC, ICA, SSH, Telnet and more.
- WinSCP - SFTP and FTP client.
And finally create another system restore point.
Hope that people find this helpful and not too reductive since lists like this exist elsewhere. Thanks for reading.
r/software • u/Capital-Employer-902 • 7h ago
Looking for software How do I get SPSS software?
Hello,I want SPSS software , I'm in desperate need but short of money ,so could any one tell me the free source from where I can download and further install /run the software.
r/software • u/Friendlyy_Lemon • 8h ago
Looking for software Looking for a PDF Reader with progress bar in % percentage
Hello there, I am currently using Foxit PDF to read my books on PC and does not have a progress bar in percentage about how many pages I read.
I have this feature in my Kindle, but this book I am reading is heavy and I prefer to do it in my PC to avoid lag issues.
Any PDF Reader/Viewer software with this feature? Thanks.
r/software • u/GeoMoDi • 1h ago
Looking for software Need help guys, i need to find a software that looks for string of text every 15 seconds on the entire screen.
Dies anyone know, or recommends and app that can do this? I have line 9 open chrome windows and I need to look for a a text inside every window, I tried extensions, and a screen capture tool, but it only found one string in the entire screen, I need the tool to find the strings in any part of the screen. Any help is greatly appreciated.
r/software • u/tillacat42 • 2h ago
Looking for software Looking for recommendations to import a checklist into a document
I run a small physical therapy clinic. I have a very specific need and I don’t know if there is a product that can help me with this or if there’s a way to do it between Microsoft excel or word?
We currently see patients and keep a paper flow sheet of all of the exercises that they do. Then, at the end of the session, the therapist does a note on the patient and designates which exercises apply to which billing code that they are charging. I want to try to reduce paperwork time because they are basically duplicating their work by doing the flow sheet and typing the note. If I don’t have the flow sheet though, it makes it difficult for other therapists to take over that patient’s treatment. I would like to try to find a way to have a digital flow sheet that is somehow imported into a note.
I am trying to find a way to have a checklist that is customizable on an iPad or laptop. I would like to find a way for them to type a description of what they are billing into a word document and then checkmark which exercises apply to that code and have them imported below the description in a list. They need to be able to update the checklist with how much weight, how many reps, how many sets, etc.
Is there some sort of software that would do this?
r/software • u/Dreamer_tm • 3h ago
Looking for software Looking for Local Software with Same Functionality as Google Photos
Hi everyone,
I am looking for a local software that has the same functionalities as Google Photos, including the ability to view a timeline of my photos. I am specifically looking for a Windows app that can group people, create memories, create slides and videos, and allow me to view my images in a timeline format.
What I mean by timeline is that I want to be able to use a slider to move back and forth in time and have the software display all the images I have of people from that time period. I would also like to be able to view other albums (created by the software) about that time, such as visits to a particular city or event.
This feature would be extremely helpful in organizing my photos and videos, and would allow me to easily find and view images from specific moments in time. In addition, I am hoping to find a software that can help me manage and organize my media files without relying on cloud-based services. I want to have full control over my files and not worry about privacy issues or potential data breaches.
If you have any recommendations for software that can offer these features, please let me know. I would appreciate any suggestions or advice on this matter. Thank you in advance!
r/software • u/unhappy_coder • 4h ago
Other Is blender the best low cost choice? Also, Should I get Nomad sculpt for my IPad Pro?
I am a soon to be graduating art and tech major that’s going to be utilizing 3D assets for the foreseeable future due to my immense interest in video games. Due to my status as a broke college student however, I will need to switch over from Cinema 4D once my student subscription expires. I have decided that this would be the best community to ask; if there is a better community to post this question to, let me know.
My current workflow is basically made up of starting on my laptop cinema 4D to make a base mesh, transferring that base to forger on my IPad Pro for any sculpting needed (if it even is needed), then going back to the laptop for topology, texturing, rigging, and pretty much everything else.
The only issue I have encountered was finding applications similar enough to cinema 4D and forger that doesn’t cost an arm and a leg that is not blender or nomad sculpt. I have taken this issue as a sign that this may be the best combo option to go with for my workflow, but I want to double check before I go on to purchase Nomad sculpt and spend more time figuring out and organizing blender’s formatting.
I am not really worried about performance, as I got my 12.5 inch iPad Pro 5th gen specifically for these sorts of things and the laptop I currently use is able to run and render in cinema 4D well enough for now and I also have a powerful backup option that already has blender if it somehow goes caput.
I am mainly looking to use these assets for 3 main things; animation, Graphic design work, and game asset creation.
What I am mainly worried about is nomad; I do have some experience working with blender. The only thing I would like to know in regards to blender is wether it is currently the best alternative to cinema 4D in regards to usability without costing an arm and leg, or if there is a better alternative that has the same usability as cinema 4D. Any other comments about blender are also welcome, as I am not exactly well versed in blender.
As for Nomad, these are my two main concerns that will make or break my decision:
Usability- This one is based upon specifically Nomads UI and camera movement, as I have seen negative reviews in regards to both. I encountered this sort of issue before with procreate, where I had no idea how to use some of the touch controlled tools (think, swiping a layer to access the delete button). In that case it was resolved with tutorials and such, as it was more of a “I didn’t know how to do this” issue rather than a “this ui too tedious and difficult to use” sort of issue; but I would like to know ahead of time which kind of usability issue nomad has if it does have it. If it’s the former I would like to know that before I purchase just so I can find resources to help me figure that stuff out, I don’t mind learning a new tool; if it is the latter and Nomad is extremely difficult to use (like with the UI or moving my view of the model) I’d rather save that 14 bucks and find an alternative that’s more useable.
Glitching- I have seen reviews state this, at least in the App Store . I have a lot of memory available on my iPad and I know it’s a very powerful and reliable “little” bugger, so I’m not worried about it crashing the second I run it. But I would like to avoid encountering anything else that may be isolated to the application itself rather than a lack of RAM or my system. Anything minor or in regards to things other than sculpting, importing, and exporting are not a huge concern of mine, as the primary purpose will be sculpting models and exporting them to other programs for refinement. However if anything major is present (it crashing whenever a tool is used, being unbelievably slow, being unable to do an essential task like exporting, etc.) then that’s going to be a deal breaker.
Any recommendations and suggestions are welcome and appreciated; thank you guys in advance.
r/software • u/Flaky-Oil • 1d ago
Other Hello everyone! I've just noticed that Windows' free HEVC codec isn't available on Microsoft Store anymore, fortunately I've downloaded one several months ago and now it's up on Internet Archive! Enjoy!
archive.orgr/software • u/MrCactochan • 7h ago
Release A colorfull alternative ?? For terminal..
github.comr/software • u/danielsepulvedar • 15h ago
Looking for software Seeking software to automatically reorganize project schedules in video production
I own a video production company and we handle multiple projects simultaneously, so planning is crucial to ensure timely delivery. However, we often face an issue in the post-production phase where clients make unexpected changes or request urgent modifications. This requires us to reorganize our Gantt chart (which we manage through ClickUp) while also taking into account each employee's technical capabilities. Since we have many projects ongoing, this manual process is time-consuming. Hence, I am searching for software that can automatically adjust the calendar in response to unexpected changes, thus streamlining the process and saving time.
r/software • u/Tuntematon_Keilaaja • 9h ago
Looking for software Looking for circuit wizard 2
I've been looking for a download of circuit wizard 2 everywhere but can't find it. Does anyone have it?
r/software • u/CinnamonCajaCrunch • 1d ago
Release Check out my awesome Gimp Plugin that does layer effect text styling just like Photoshop - binaries and source code here http://gimpchat.com/download/file.php?id=61859 - Windows Binaries go in C:\Users<YOUR NAME>\AppData\Local\gegl-0.4\plug-ins (create plug-ins folder if it doesn't exist)
galleryr/software • u/Traditional-Insect54 • 12h ago
Software support Topaz Video Ai 3.1 most stable version?!?
Which 3.1 version of Topaz Video Ai is the most stable one? Im using the 3.1.11 version and it crashes after 5 sec every time i try to upscale a 2h movie from 1080p to 4k.
Any suggestions?
r/software • u/fabiorzfreitas • 1d ago
Looking for software What's the best (split-screen) WYSIWYG note taking software
I've been using Joplin and love it, but there has been a couple bugs for a very long time that annoy me.
I'm basically looking for something on Windows that can sync to Android, has split-screen/dual-screen WYSIWYG and uses hierarchic (as in notebooks/folders) note nesting.
Thanks!
r/software • u/FanDidlyTastic • 23h ago
Looking for software Need a Realtime Overlay for Duplicating sections of the screen as an Overlay, elsewhere
I am looking for an software overlay that basically allows you to specify portions of the screen, that are then duplicated elsewhere for better visibility. I plan on using it with the MMO Guild Wars 2, so I can duplicate my ability icons into a different part of the screen for easier viewing whilst playing (I don't like looking away from my target).
An example of what I mean, here: https://imgur.com/a4q9BVV (it's the abilities in a cross shape, copied from the ability bar at the bottom)
r/software • u/NewbieWithARuby • 1d ago
Looking for software Software that combines multiple PDFs into 1 based on prefix
I have a lot of PDFs that all need combining into larger ones based on a filename prefix.
E.g.
61452-7372 61452-6262 61452-7711 73234-0025 87656-1182 87656-0928
From the above list I would want files exported to be 3 PDFs, one titled 61452 that combines all 3 of the listed PDFs into a document and likewise for 73234 and 87656
Does such a piece of software exist?
r/software • u/chefgamerttailor • 1d ago
Looking for software Storyboard pro mac
Looking for storyboard pro at an, agreeable, price ( 0 ) Got an m1 and need a help finding where to get it safely
r/software • u/Fun-Carpet2526 • 1d ago
Looking for software Too many bookmarks - any program that can sort it through, categorize, put it in order for me?
I need some sort of magic program for all my bookmarks, that can help me not get mad when going through old bookmarks. Any help?
r/software • u/WholesomeChungusKun • 1d ago
Looking for software Simple Editing Software for Fast Rendering?
All I need to do is change the audio track on a video. I need to do this simple act on a large number of videos. In Vegas it takes about double the video length to render this one change.
Is there any software that can do this faster?
For those curious I have an i7-4770 w/ GTX 770. The HDD is basically new and still quick.
r/software • u/ThomasHasThomas • 1d ago
Looking for software Best "speech-to-text" software/solution...?
Hi
In 2023 which one is (are) the best solutions to convert english speech to english text... Either from "live" recording or via saved audio file. Online solutions are ok too, but i would probably prefer some "offline" solutions (in order to have "safety" that my speech/text is not going anywhere - cannot be seen by someone else - privacy). But website/online solutions are ok too i guess, just would prefer the offline more.
Which ones are the BEST (most accurate etc.) in 2023...?
(and if there is even some free option that is super/quite good) thrown that in too :-) ).
Thank you
r/software • u/Kenya-West • 1d ago
Discussion Need Power Automate Desktop usage examples
Like, examples more related to basic/everyday routine/software development/file system/text extraction/software action chaining/backup actions. Not data analysis, visualisation, media processing, or maths.
Can I get examples of such using?
r/software • u/Aleashed • 1d ago
Looking for software Need software to create secure backups of files/folders structures, possibly entire logical partitions
I would prefer to be able to add some kind of protection on the backups of my PC boot drive user folders and other-non boot partitions. I got WinRar which lets me store most files and allows encryption. I got Macrium free which lets me clone whole disks to other disks but requires duplicate drives rather than a large one.
I got a lot of customized paths and I want to be able to unencrypt a backup file into a new drive assigned the same letter and have everything work in case current D drive breaks or gets erased. Likewise I got non OS directories in the C boot drive I want to backup separately from the OS either to transfer to a fresh install or restore if lost. OS would be backed up separately with software or windows restore if I must. Don’t need schedule backups, just to get back to the start where everything works.
Is there something a little more elegant than Winrar? I don’t mind buying a license unless it’s unreasonably expensive. Winrar uses temp folder copies which are a problem if the boot drive is nearly full. Adding and removing files causes everything to be repacked which takes time.
Macrium has premium features but I’m not sure if there are better alternatives. I tried backup software many years ago but it was very complicated and didn’t work that well. A lot of backup software out there looks sketchy. What is the Microsoft Office of PC backups?
r/software • u/Kayllas • 1d ago
Looking for software Recommendation for Order Tracking and Customer History
My wife is a florist and currently handwrites all her orders as customers call or walk-in for orders that need to be delivered at a future date and files them away into folders. She is looking for a "simple" program that would allow her to enter/track orders on a tablet/laptop with basic info such as date, delivery location, and notes on what was ordered/what the card needs to read. Those are her basic requirements, but ideally she would like to run a report of her orders for the next 7-14 days as well as associate an order with a customer so she can track where customers routinely have flowers delivered and the messages they request to be included on the card.
I have considered building this using PowerApps & Dataverse, but I don't want to bear the blame if she runs into issues.
I greatly appreciate any ideas/insight you may have!
r/software • u/Johner118 • 1d ago
Looking for software What is the best free or cheap software for creating step by step instructions with screenshots
I have to create several manuals and step by step guides for our inventory software. I am thinking something somewhat similar to Steps Recorder where it takes a screenshot every input but better.
r/software • u/shinigamiDante • 1d ago
Looking for software Looking for software to manage archive, basically an information some sort of physicals archive with the end goal that it can do search and create, read, update and delete the information inside.
I'm looking for the free version if possible, it doesn't have to open source too.
thanks