20 picks so far

Apps worth installing.
More every week.

Every pick says what it does, what it costs, which Windows it runs on and how to install it.

Everything

Find any file or folder by name the instant you start typing.

Instead of Spotlight file search, HoudahSpot

FreeSearch

ShareX

Screenshots, screen recordings and GIFs, with annotation and one-click sharing.

Instead of CleanShot X, Shottr

FreeCapture

PowerToys

Window layouts, a launcher, a color picker and more than twenty other utilities from Microsoft.

Instead of Magnet, Rectangle

FreeUtilities

Flow Launcher

A fast, keyboard-first launcher for apps, files, web searches and plugins.

Instead of Alfred, Raycast

FreeProductivity

Windows Terminal

Tabs, panes and profiles for PowerShell, Command Prompt and WSL in one fast window.

Instead of iTerm2, Terminal

FreeDeveloper tools

Ditto

Keeps everything you copy, so you can search your clipboard history and paste it again.

Instead of Paste, Maccy

FreeClipboard

WizTree

See exactly what is filling your drive, scanned in seconds.

Instead of DaisyDisk, GrandPerspective

Free for personal useDisk space

QuickLook

Press the spacebar to preview any file, just like on a Mac.

Instead of Quick Look

FreePreview

7-Zip

Open almost any archive, and make smaller ones than ZIP.

Instead of The Unarchiver, Keka

FreeFiles

Lively Wallpaper

Animated and interactive wallpapers: videos, web pages and shaders on your desktop.

Instead of Dynamic wallpapers, Plash

FreeCustomization

LocalSend

Send files between your PC, phone and Mac over Wi-Fi, with no cloud and no account.

Instead of AirDrop

FreeSharing

SumatraPDF

A tiny, very fast reader for PDFs, ebooks and comics.

Instead of Preview (PDFs)

FreeReading

ImageGlass

A fast, clean image viewer that opens almost any format, including HEIC, WebP, AVIF and RAW.

Instead of Preview (images)

FreePhotos

EarTrumpet

Volume control for every app, right from the taskbar.

Instead of SoundSource, Background Music

FreeAudio

Twinkle Tray

Adjust the brightness of external monitors right from the taskbar.

Instead of MonitorControl, Lunar

FreeDisplay

AutoHotkey

Hotkeys, text expansion and automation with a few lines of script.

Instead of Keyboard Maestro, BetterTouchTool

FreeAutomation

Rainmeter

Desktop widgets for system stats, weather, music and more, fully customizable.

Instead of iStat Menus, Übersicht

FreeCustomization

Notepad++

A fast, free text and code editor with tabs, syntax highlighting and plugins.

Instead of BBEdit, CotEditor

FreeDeveloper tools

UniGetUI

Install, update and remove apps through winget, Scoop, Chocolatey and more, from one window.

Instead of Homebrew, Applite