Recommended general utility programs?

Jed Shields

Jed Shields

Jed Shields

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Joined
23 Apr 2007
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Cardiff-ish, Wales
Hello all,

I'm looking for recommendations for "must have" utilities, or certainly ones that you think are worth trying.

I'm currently using:

Ashampoo Winoptimizer 2019, free version that seems okay. Does some benchmarking as well which is nice.
I've also got CC Cleaner free demo that seems to do similar things.

IObit Software Updater, again free version. I like the idea of something that will scan my programmes and check if I need to update. The problem with the free version is that I can only do a small amount at a time. I think I can get the full version for about £8.

Avast Free Antivirus

CPU-Z - great little program that gives a lot of PC info.

Do you recommend anything? I don't mind paying one off fees as long as it's not too expensive, if you think it's worth investing in. I'm not so keen on annual fees though...

Cheers,

Jed
 
Crystal Disk Info, HDtune, Hard Disk Sentinel Professional - to check if your storage is failing.

Crystal Disk Mark - test the speeds of the ssd/nvme/hdd.

HWiNFO - Monitors nearly everything.

Furmark - GPU stress test.

Prime95 - CPU stress test.

VirtualBox - Great for running & testing new/old OS's. Useful for old hardware that new OS's stop supporting. For example the old printer that won't seem to give up.
 
I use
Security - Avast one and Malwarebytes
Patchmypc for easy software updates
Wisecare 365, replacing revo uninstaller and ccleaner(too many paid for extras)

smogsy said:
@Jed Shields you could argue that avast is no longer needed on Windows 8+
https://www.av-comparatives.org/tests/real-world-protection-test-july-october-2021/
Click to expand...
The test results do look really good, still behind Avast but not a lot.
I am considering using Microsoft just to reduce the usage and apps but I've not really used it in years, does it in the same way as Avast ? blocking/popup so on? would the minor worse results make any diffrence
 
smogsy said:
@Jed Shields you could argue that avast is no longer needed on Windows 8+
https://www.av-comparatives.org/tests/real-world-protection-test-july-october-2021/
Click to expand...

absolutely you could, but you should consider system impact as well. Microsft is the worst when it comes to resource usage.

Performance Test October 2021 - AV-Comparatives

So although you dont really gain a lot in terms of protection by using a 3rd party app, there's plenty out there that are much lighter on a system than MS.
 
james.miller said:
absolutely you could, but you should consider system impact as well. Microsft is the worst when it comes to resource usage.

Performance Test October 2021 - AV-Comparatives

So although you dont really gain a lot in terms of protection by using a 3rd party app, there's plenty out there that are much lighter on a system than MS.
Click to expand...
true even so, MS av will still run in the background even if If "turned off mode" & still use some resources & will still get updates, so in some respect your doubling your Resources.
 
smogsy said:
true even so, MS av will still run in the background even if If "turned off mode" & still use some resources & will still get updates, so in some respect your doubling your Resources.
Click to expand...

Realtime scanning is the biggest problem with defender. If you switch it off, it stays off. The AV comparatives tests show the difference in performance against avast and others. I'm not saying it's terrible because its not, but the performance inpact is real. I still use defender but only because a) i'm not paying for a virus scanner and b) i can't put up with the constant nagging to upgrade free versions, heh.
 
all free unless says so on specific ones
gpuz for gpu monitoring
void tools everything--replacement to windows search
sidebar diagnostics--displays hardware info in a sidebar instead of
having to open software to look
vlc or potplayer for audio and video
thunderbird--for collecting emails
7zip or bandizip --zip,rar files
audacity for tweaking audio files
free download manager--downloading files obviously
keepass--password manager
macrium reflect--free and paid versions of that--clone and image back up
windirstat--shows files on drives to help see whats taking up space
signal rgb--so i dont need 3 different softwares to control all my rgb
some paid effects in that but plenty free ones
theres probably others too
theres also a section for useful freeware in the forums
you might find some stuff in there
 
Here is what I have installed on my PC and have done for years. These in tandem provide all I need to maintain a smooth sailing Windows install which is why I've not had to do a fresh install since Vista and have only ever been doing in-place upgrades to Windows each time and cloning over to a new HDD to SSD to NVMe etc each gen.

Some of the others not highlighted like WinSCP FTP client, 7Zip etc are specific to my needs and may not be useful for you so didn't bother highlighting them :p

Utilities.jpg
 
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