Essential Downloads: For Windows Computers

We have put together the following list of essential programs we believe every computer should have. Just click on the blue website address for any download you want and follow the instructions on their website.

All the programs we mention below have a free option!

Antivirus

This is an essential program for any computer to have. Install only one of these. They are listed in no particular order, however Avira has done well in speed and detection tests.

avira-profile-image Avira
A free anti-virus program. "Protection for your devices, privacy and identity".
www.avira.com
avast Avast!
"Avast Free Antivirus comes with antivirus and anti-malware"
www.avast.com
AVG AVG Anti-virus
A free anti-virus program and anti-spyware program.
www.free.avg.com
panda security Panda Security
A free anti-virus program. "Panda Free Antivirus protects you while you work, play, or browse the Internet".
www.pandasecurity.com
defender Windows Defender (Windows 10, 8.1)
In Windows 10 "Defender" is an anti-virus and anti-malware program, it is built into the operating system and is turned on as standard unless you install a different virus scanner. To open it, open the start menu and type in "Defender". If you do install a different antivirus program Defender will turn off automatically.
security essentials Windows Security Essentials (Windows 7 & Vista)
In Windows 7 & Vista Defender does not come as standard and it is called Security Essentials, you can download and install it from the link here.
https://support.microsoft.com/en-gb/help/14210/security-essentials-download

Anti-Malware

Malware is a big problem on computers, from popping up annoying adverts to worse. It can let someone else use your computer without your knowledge. We would recommend using no more than one of these programs.

ogCobog Malwarebytes
"Malwarebytes builds industry-leading anti-malware and internet security software to keep you safe from today's online threats".
www.malwarebytes.com
(Click on "Download" for the free one as they have a paid for version too)

Web Browser

A web browser is essential to viewing the internet, you are using one right now! But did you know there are many different options!? You can install one or many of these, but you can only have one as your default web browser.

Google_Chrome_icon_(2011).svg Google Chrome
One of the most popular browsers around, it is fast to start up and loads webpages quickly. This is a browser made by Google.
www.google.co.uk/chrome
Firefox-logo.svg Firefox
Another free browser, this one is made by an independent non-profit organisation. It has frequent security and feature updates. They put a heavy emphasis on privacy and security.
www.mozilla.org/en-GB/firefox
Opera_2015_icon.svg Opera
Opera sells it's self as the fastest browser on the planet. I have not checked out this claim! But what I can tell you is that is uses the same technology as Google Chrome to actually show you the website.
www.opera.com
microsoft_edge_logo_detail Microsoft Edge (Windows 10)
This comes built into Windows 10, it is a new browser from Microsoft and replaces Internet Explorer. To Open Edge, open the start menu and type in "Edge" and click on the program which appears. The logo will look similar to the one on the left. Read more microsoft.com/en-gb/windows/microsoft-edge
Internet_Explorer_10_logo.svg Internet Explorer (Windows 8.1, 8, 7 & Vista)
This comes as standard for Windows 8.1, 8, 7 & Vista users. We would suggest trying one of the other browsers if you find some websites don't quite work or look right.

Office Programs

There are some free alternatives to Microsoft Office which we think work really well. We have listed a couple below, we would also recommend a good PDF reader. You can install multiple Office programs, but they might all try to be the default which may cause confusion. You can only have one as your default program for each file type (word documents, spreadsheets, etc...).

libreoffice LibreOffice
A free alternative to Microsoft office and built from OpenOffice but with updates, LibreOffice offers the same programs, including word processing and spreadsheets...
www.libreoffice.org
open office OpenOffice
A free alternative to Microsoft office, it includes a word processing program, spreadsheets drawing program as well as other office related programs.
www.openoffice.org
Note: OpenOffice was last updated in 2015 and development has stopped, you may want to try LibreOffice instead. If you already have OpenOffice installed don't worry as it will keep on working as before.
adobe Adobe PDF Reader
Windows 10 comes with a built in PDF reader, but if you don't have Windows 10 or want an alternative this is the one we would recommend.
get.adobe.com/uk/reader

Other programs you might want to use

From faster computers to millions of free music tracks we have software suggestions for you. You can install all of these programs together without problem.

spotify Spotify
"Spotify is a digital music service that gives you access to millions of songs for free." There is also a paid for version with no adverts.
www.spotify.com
LastPass LastPass
“LastPass remembers your passwords so that you can focus on the more important things in life.” It allows you to have complex 60 character long passwords without you having to remember them. Works on desktop, phone and tablet.
lastpass.com
skype Skype
Free video or voice chat to anywhere in the world! This program also allows PC to Phone calls, but often these are charged.
www.skype.com
vlc VLC Media Player
VLC is a free multimedia player that plays most media files (audio, video) as well as DVDs, Audio CDs, VCDs, and various streaming files (some online radio for example). Ideal for Windows users who want to play a wide selection of media files. If you find you can't play a DVD or video file then this is the program you most likely need.
www.videolan.org/vlc/
faststone_large FastStone Image Viewer
"It has a nice array of features such as image viewing, management, comparison, red-eye removal, emailing, resizing, cropping, color adjustments, musical slideshow and much more."
www.faststone.org
google_photos Google Photo Uploader
"Back up a lifetime of photos", this app requires a Google account. The free version backups a limited resolution photo to Google's servers (Or Google's Cloud if you will). From here you can easily keep them private or share a select a few with friends & family, or the world if you wish.
photos.google.com/apps
Thunderbird Thunderbird
This is the email client from the makers of Firefox. If you are not wanting to use Webmail to check your email then this is the program we would recommend.
www.mozilla.org/en-GB/thunderbird/
CCleaner_logo_2013 CCleaner
This program cleans up your computer and protects your privacy, the aim of the program is to speed up your computer and make it faster and more secure.
www.piriform.com/ccleaner

Note: We don't recommend this for Windows 10.

Advanced Software

These are some of the programs we use, you probably don't need these in every day life, but it is worth knowing they exist in case you come across a problem which might be solved by one of these.

Irfanview-logo Irfanview
This program opens almost any type of graphics file, from PNG, JPG to EPS and TIFF. The program also allows simple editing and manipulation of images including resize, crop and changing the meta data of images.
www.irfanview.com
150px-Inkscape_logo_2 Inkscape
"Inkscape is a professional vector graphics editor for Windows, Mac OS X and Linux. It's free and open source." This software allows you to create vector graphics. Vector Graphics are images which can be scaled to almost any size. This software is tricky to use
inkscape.org
JPEGmini_150 JPEGmini
A program which reduces the file size of jpeg & jpg images. jpeg images are usually created when you take a photo, so this software is ideal if you want smaller image file sizes before uploading them to the internet. The free version gives you 20 image file size reductions per day.
www.jpegmini.com
paint-net Paint.Net
Want to 'photoshop' your photos without buying Photoshop? Or just want to have a play at editing photos? This is ideal and offers much more control than the built in "Paint" program in Windows. "Paint.NET is free image and photo editing software for computers that run Windows."
www.getpaint.net

Note: Sentences inside "quote" marks are taken directly from the advertising material for that product. Downloads are not listed in any particular order and we have not received any money to recommend any of these. LastPass gives us a free month of their premium product if you follow the link on this page.

As ever we can't be responsible for the content of external websites, if you spot a problem or broken link please let us know, thank you.