Looking for 'must have' programs - All suggestions welcome!!

Nisko said:

My friends have already made their suggestions. I am performing a clean install of Windows 10. Most of you have what you consider programs that are very valuable to you and would be just as valuable to many other users - including me. What better place to ask but in this forum!! If you have a program that helps your computer run better or it's a program that has a use for the general population, please take the time to post the names of those programs here. Anyone interested in a program can look it up on their browser - so just the program's name please. Of course, if you want to elaborate on how it helps you, please go ahead. I'll post my favorites when this post is fully answered. Thank you very much...........

I run the following on all my systems:

- Windows 10 Firewall Control (from Sphinx Software. Allows for control of the Windows firewall easily and can prevent programs from "phoning home")

- WinPatrol (tracks changes to start menu, etc.)

- Malwarebytes Anti-Exploit Free (good addition to virus checkers)

- 8GadgetPack (bring back the gadgets like digital clock, CPU usage, Network meter, etc.)

- Chrome browser and the following extensions: WoT (Web of Trust), HTTPS Anywhere, uBlock Origin, Disable HTML5 Autoplay

- MPC-HC (for playing video and music)

- IrfanView (for viewing and simple editing of pictures)

- Macrium Reflect Free (for imaging and restoring system)

- 7-Zip (for decoding everything from ZIP to RAR)

- CCleaner (for cleaning up temp files and unused register entries)

That is the basic set I use and recommend. I use the free versions of all of the above. I'm sure folks here have a load of others.

The only thing I can add is to not use CCleaner for registry cleaning. There's no proof that it helps out. Use it for other cleaning tasks.

My 2c

BunnyJ said:

The only thing I can add is to not use CCleaner for registry cleaning. There's no proof that it helps out. Use it for other cleaning tasks.

My 2c

While I agree that registry cleaning is mostly useless, if someone is going to do it, everything I've read says that CCleaner is the least harmful. Since folks still insist on doing it, I thought I'd add that it does registry cleaning.

TheSchaft said:

While I agree that registry cleaning is mostly useless, if someone is going to do it, everything I've read says that CCleaner is the least harmful. Since folks still insist on doing it, I thought I'd add that it does registry cleaning.

I agree that if someone want to do that CCleaner is the best of all of the tools to use.

Two other free programs that I use: Rufus- to create bootable USB drives, and Mini tool partition wizard.