30+ free and cheap apps for Windows 10

Now that Microsoft has announced that Windows 10 will be replaced by Win11, it’s a good moment to look again at some of the applications, tools and software that I (or someone I know) couldn’t do without on a Windows 10 machine.

I’m a cheap geek. I’m willing to pay for software if that’s what I have to do to keep myself from being the product that the software vendor is really selling, but I’m not willing to spend a lot. Every tool in this list is either cheap or free. And they all serve a specific purpose or make my life easier.

1. Meet with anyone with online-meeting software

Zoom

Zoom has kept most of us informed and connected during the pandemic, and maybe also driven us a bit crazy. The pandemic quickly exposed several of the product’s shortcomings, such as a lack of end-to-end encryption and the ability of uninvited “Zoom bombing” guests to interrupt meetings that were not password-protected, but all that was soon fixed. And Zoom is not the only game in this space; other platforms include Microsoft Teams (which recently also added end-to-end encryption), GoToMeeting, Skype and Cisco Webex. Zoom is, however, the default word we use to describe attending an online meeting. We’re all Zooming now.

Zoom, Microsoft Teams, GoToMeeting, Skype and Webex: free, with paid options available

2. Remote access software allows remote fixing

Every now and then, my 92-year-old dad gets stuck on his Windows 10 computer, and as a dutiful daughter, I can either drive over to his house and fix it or remote into it using remote-control software. Once again, the pandemic was behind a lot of people opting for the second choice when faced with similar situations.

Splashtop

But look out for creeping cost escalation with these tools. Over the years, I have used several remote-control programs that started out extremely cheap and slowly got more expensive until they approached the cost of premium software. Periodically re-evaluate your tools and be prepared to move to new ones if you can get them more cheaply.

I currently use Splashtop, which includes remote printing. With the business version of the software, you can enable two-factor authentication, which I’d say is essential when attackers could use your access to remote into another computer and then demand ransom.

Another option is Windows 10’s built-in — and therefore free — Quick Assist tool. The one catch is that you have to have a Microsoft account in order to provide remote assistance.

Splashtop: starts at $5/month; Quick Assist: free

3. NirSoft tools for password cracking

Nirsoft

NirSoft has one of those sites that look a bit sketchy — and your antivirus software might flag it as malicious because its password-cracking software can be misused — but I couldn’t live without the tools it offers. If you’ve ever forgotten a password in a Windows program or website and can’t reset it, its password-exposing tools are a godsend. I call them “password-exposing” because these utilities simply remove the protection that the operating system employs when it saves and stores passwords.

Even if you haven’t forgotten your passwords, using these tools to see what could be found by an attacker on your machine can be an eye-opener. You just might stop saving passwords in your browser and on your computer.

NirSoft Windows password recover tools: There are several, and they’re all free.

4. NirSoft tools for examining BSoDs

BlueScreenView

That’s the dreaded blue screen of death. When I get a BSoD after updating to the latest feature release, I want to know just what went wrong. NirSoft’s BlueScreenView tool can help. True, its diagnoses can be unclear, but they are definitely more informative than the frowny face that Windows gives you. If you remain in the dark, though, you can often find helpful folks in various forums who are able to diagnose what’s going on with your computer.

BlueScreenView: free

5. Be prepared for the worst with backup software

Macrium Reflect

Windows 10 is trying to get us to move away from traditional backup, but I’m still a fan of old-fashioned full backup-and-restoration software. I’ve been using Macrium Reflect. You can choose the free version or a paid version that ensures that your backup can’t be deleted by ransomware. That’s what I’m using, and I also adjust the bootloaders of my workstations so that they allow an easy option to boot into the recovery console.

Macrium Reflect: free, and starting at $75 for a perpetual license for one PC

6. Find your memory hogs with TreeSize Free

TreeSize

When I stumble on a computer that doesn’t have enough space in the C drive, I use TreeSize Free to identify the memory hogs. The Windows-native disk cleanup helps with this sort of thing, but it can miss a lot. TreeSize Free points out where I’ve forgotten to clean up after myself. I often find that I have old and forgotten downloads taking up a lot of space, or cached image files from browsers. Just remember that the WINSXS folder should never be touched!

TreeSize Free: free, as the name says

7. Control patching with WUshowhide

Microsoft

WUshowhide has been my tool of choice to hide unwanted drivers and Windows updates (that’s the “WU” part), but it didn’t survive when Microsoft retired all tools written with SHA-1. Fortunately, a site called Oldergeeks.com kept a copy you can download if you want to hide troublesome updates or block them from installing. By the way, Oldergeeks.com is a great repository of tools that have been vetted (by the self-described older geeks who run it) to ensure that they are malware-free, annoyance-free and generally helpful. I guarantee there is something on this site that you just can’t live without.

WUshowhide: free

8. Keep patches at bay with WUmgr

WUmgr

Over on GitHub, the WUmgr tool also allows you to block specific updates. You can find a great overview of how to use the tool on the AskWoody forums. Both WUshowhide and WUmgr illustrate that there is a clear need for more control over Windows updates, a need that Microsoft has yet to fill.

WUmgr: free

9. Patch all your programs with Ninite

Ninite

Keeping a Windows computer and all its applications up to date is a complex task. Ninite helps even enterprises to deploy updates across networks.

Ninite: free for consumers, per-PC pricing for businesses

10. Diagnose what ails a slow computer with Sysinternals Autoruns

Microsoft Sysinternals

The Sysinternals tools are a bit geeky, but it’s worthwhile to climb the learning curve. Sysinternals was once an independent company led by Mark Russinovich, but when he joined Microsoft, the Sysinternals tools were folded into the Microsoft toolkit. Autoruns lets you see what is set to automatically run on startup in your system. That can be handy for diagnosing a bootup slowdown, but also just to review what is going on in your system.

Sysinternals Autoruns: free

11. Find out what’s going on in your computer with Sysinternals Process Explorer

Microsoft Sysinternals

Process Explorer can diagnose issues with a system much more granularly than Task Manager, showing the expert user the interaction of software on the system. IT professionals often use it to determine what is holding a file open, thus causing a software program to fail to load properly.

Sysinternals Process Explorer: free

12. Convert a real computer to a virtual one with Sysinternals Disk2Vhd

Microsoft Sysinternals

When I was virtualizing my physical machines, I used Disk2Vhd regularly. It’s the best and easiest way to turn a system, even a workstation, into a virtual machine. It’s pretty amazing how easy it makes this task. If you ever want to keep an old copy of a workstation just in case, this is a great tool.

Sysinternals Disk2Vhd: free

13. Add more logging with Sysinternals Sysmon

Microsoft Sysinternals

Sysmon should be installed on every workstation and server you run, to log potential attack patterns. It doesn’t provide any analysis of what’s going on, but merely exposing more logging for analysis is helpful.

Sysinternals Sysmon: free

14. Go beyond Windows Defender to block viruses

Microsoft

Windows’ built-in antivirus software, Windows Defender, is free, and one I strongly recommend using. If you prefer to have a third party keep an eye on the security issues of Windows, choose one from the official list of Microsoft recommended vendors. Misbehaving antivirus software can be worse than nothing at all, so choose a reliable vendor with a proper business model.

Antivirus software: free to low cost

15. Go beyond Edge to keep browsing

Mozilla / Lucas Benjamin (CC0)

The built-in Edge browser is fine most of the time, but even though it and Chrome are now both Chromium-based, I come across the occasional website that works with one and not the other. The fact is, you want an alternative ready to go whenever you come across a site that is balky with Edge. Besides Chrome, other alternatives are Brave, Firefox and Opera. You might find that some of these are faster than Edge and Chrome.

Chrome, Firefox, Opera and Brave: free

16. Save passwords with LastPass or RoboForm

LastPass

OK, all the cybersecurity experts say writing down your password is a big no-no. But you need to use strong (read: hard to remember) passwords, and reusing them is also a no-no. And we’ve already noted that letting the OS remember your passwords can lead to trouble. So what should you do? Password managers such as LastPass or RoboForm (both of which I recommend) ensure that your passwords are secure, complex and available (but only to you).

LastPass: free to $3/month; RoboForm: free to $1.99/month

17. Tame spam with Gmail

Google

Webmail is free and readily available, but is there any reason to choose one over another? Gmail provides excellent spam filtering capabilities to help keep your inbox orderly. And while you’re at it, why not sign up for more than one account? I have email addresses that I use only when signing up for things that I know are going to spam me for the rest of my life. Since I don’t use those emails day to day, the spam is out of sight and out of mind.

Gmail: free

18. Untie yourself from the desktop with web-based Office

Microsoft

If you have SharePoint or OneDrive, you can use a free web-based version of Office and get access to your files no matter what machine you are using. As great as that can be, I’ll be the first to admit that I switch over to the desktop version of Excel whenever I need a more advanced spreadsheet.

Web-based Office: free

19. Gather like-minded people with Google Groups

Google

Need to trade thoughts with people on a particular subject? Set up a list in Google Groups. I use it for the Patch Management.org listserve for tracking side effects of the latest patches.

Google Groups: free

20. Build a bootable image with Rufus

Rufus

Rufus makes it easy to build a bootable flash drive, so you can tinker with the installation software while remaining confident that you have a bootable image to fall back on. You can also use Rufus to download any version of Windows 10 if you want to store a specific feature release version.

Rufus: free

21. Maintain browsing privacy with ExpressVPN

VPNs can be very useful, and for much more than tunneling into your corporate website remotely. A VPN will cloak you from the websites you visit and let you spoof your location so you can view videos that would otherwise by geographically blocked for you. Just don’t download free VPN software. In fact, don’t even do a search for free VPN software. Malware awaits you if you do. I use ExpressVPN for my needs.

ExpressVPN: $99/year

22. Print out a directory of files with DirPrint 4.0

DirPrint

I don’t know if printing out a listing of the files in a directory is something many people do very often, but I do it all the time, and I have found a really good tool to help me with that. DirPrint 4.0 lets you print to a printer, a PDF or a CSV file that can be opened with Excel.

DirPrint 4.0: $19.95

23. Use a second mail client

eM Client

I use Outlook, but I like to keep it for business email and use something else for social email. Thunderbird and eM Client are good alternatives, providing comparable mail functions and features but without the bloat and the annoying inability to search mail contents.

Thunderbird: free; eM Client: free to $24.95 and up

24. Edit photos with IrfanView

Irfan Skiljan

IrfanView is a very slim but versatile tool. In addition to its tools for editing images (for non-commercial use only), it can play video and audio files, and it even has some image-creation and painting capabilities. IrfanView can also create screensavers and slideshows from collections of images, with optional accompanying MP3 audio. Bottom line: If you need to do anything with images and Photoshop isn’t in your budget, this is the tool for you.

IrfanView: free

25. Reset an admin password

There are many tools for re-enabling an administrator account or resetting an unknown password, but I use these two free methods on a regular basis. The first is the classic NTpass

pogostick.net

wd reset tool (works on Windows machines running NT through 8.1). The second can be learned by watching this short (under five minutes, if you skip the music intro) YouTube video. In it, Dana Epp demonstrates the non-Microsoft-approved but very effective method of using boot media to change  passwords for your domain computers without the credentials. Just don’t skip the part where Epp warns you to use this approach very carefully. And as this other Epp video shows, if you have physical access to a computer, you can reset a password.

NTpasswd: free

26. Gather all your social accounts with Franz

Franz

If you use a lot of social media, private messaging, and chat sites, you might long for one password to rule them all. That’s what you get with Franz. It brings all your social feeds into one location so you don’t have to log into multiple applications. I love being able to handle Twitter, Teams, Yammer and all sorts of other accounts with a single application.

Franz: free for three services, up to $5.99/month for unlimited

27. Uninstall misbehaving applications with Revo Uninstaller

Revo

Most of the time, I can uninstall applications via Control Panel/Programs and Features. But every now and then, a misbehaving application just doesn’t want to uninstall itself. Revo nicely removes the misbehaving application without harming the OS.

Revo Uninstaller: free, and up to $17.98

28. Lighten your PDF load

Nitro Pro

Many of us have gotten used to employing full-fledged PDF programs at work, but are they something we need nowadays on our home machines? Probably not. You can use Windows to save Office files as PDFs, and you can open PDFs in a browser. Editing PDFs or filling in PDF forms are tasks that don’t come up very often in my home life. For a lightweight PDF program for personal use, I recommend Nitro Pro and CutePDF.

Nitro Pro: $177.99; CutePDF: free to $49.95

29. Keep your icons where you want them with Fences

Stardock

It’s annoying to want to click on a desktop icon and find that it’s not exactly where it should be. You can stop those icons from wandering with a program from Stardock called Fences.

Fences: $9.99 and up

30. Get back your old Office menu

The Office ribbon has been around now for over a decade, but that doesn’t mean everyone has fallen in love with it. Some people are still hoping Microsoft will revert to the pre-Office 2007 look. If that describes you, you might want to check out third-party tools such as Office Classic

Office Classic Menu

Menu. Maybe there’s some truth in the joke that the 2008 recession was caused by the productivity hit produced by Office 2007.

Office Classic Menu: $19.90

31. Keep your telemetry to yourself with O&O Shutup10

O&O Software

Software vendors, most certainly including Microsoft, love gathering user telemetry, but we don’t all feel like sharing. That’s where O&O Shutup10 comes in. Besides telling Windows to mind its own business, it now has the ability to remove the “Meet Now” button on your task bar and stifle “News and Interests.” In short, it allows you to be boss of your machine instead of the other way around.

O&O Shutup10: free

32. Organize your music streams with Sonos S2

One final note: As I was going over the applications I use all the time, I realized that one category I used to use quite regularly has disappeared from my routine. I can’t remember the last time I used a program to rip music CD-ROMs. Like most of the developed world, I’ve moved away from playing discs and MP3s to streaming music, in the form of a Sonos music system in my case. So among the apps I am using is the Sonos S2 application, which I have installed on my home laptop so I can control the music streaming on my Play speakers.

Sonos

But the days of ripping music and putting it on my Plex server are over. That’s the tech world for you: always moving, forever changing. I guess that’s why we update these lists!

Sonos S2: free

Have a favorite tool that I missed? Tell me about it on the AskWoody Lounge Tools forum.