Getting a new PC comes with this peculiar feeling like your whole tech life has got a fresh new start, and you want to preserve this forever.
You’ll promise never to let the dust come near it, probably planning to get a screen protector too, and you swear you’ll shutdown it properly every night, unlike the old PC that had its power button stuck inside.
Now, I am no judge of your new PC’s future, but I am sure you are itching to fill it up with awesome apps to get the best experience.
If you want to make sure your new PC has the best security, stays clean from junk data, stays at top performance, and has a bunch of utility apps to make your day-to-day tasks easier, then I got your back.
Below I have compiled a list of Windows apps that I believe will perfectly round off your new PC experience with better security, performance, and usability.
VLC Media Player
If I had a dollar every time Windows Media Player disappointed me, I would be buying a new PC too. Honestly, WMP is way too barebone with awful format support. If you are using your PC to run audio/video files, I’ll recommend you opt for VLC Media Player.
VLC supports almost all types of formats natively and comes with dozens of plugins to further customize it. You can download videos right from the player and even start watching them while they are being downloaded. You can increase volume up to 200%, change media player skins, manage playlists, download and manage subtitles, and much more.
Best of all, VLC Media Player is completely free to use without any limitations or ads.
Avira Prime
Coming to the security of your new PC. If you want an all-in-one security solution that protects your PC from malware and protects your online privacy, then Avira Prime is perfect. Avira Prime protects from malware threats and also comes with a built-in unlimited VPN to protect online privacy.
Apart from full malware scan and real-time protection, Avira Prime also secures your browser activity by blocking malicious websites/downloads and keeping your apps and drivers up-to-date. It can automatically configure your PC and browser to disable privacy-invasive settings, and the built-in VPN ensures you stay anonymous online.
It also comes with some side features like a built-in secure password manager and a PC cleaning tool.
IObit Driver Booster
Up-to-date drivers are the key to the stable performance of your PC in the long run. You need to make sure your PC has the latest drivers to enjoy the latest gaming features and avoid performance issues. IObit Driver Booster can not only update your PC’s Outdated drivers, but it can also install new drivers when they become available.
You just need to run a scan, and the tool will automatically detect and list outdated drivers for you to update. It has a free version and a Pro version. The free version works fine for updating most drivers, but the Pro version is recommended for access to rare drivers and priority to game boosting drivers.
Alternatively, DriverFix is also a good option that lets you update all drivers with a single click.
Advanced SystemCare
You will definitely need a PC optimizer tool, too, if you want to avoid the decrease in performance over time. Advanced SystemCare is my favorite PC cleaning tool that keeps your PC free of junk and at the top of performance. Not only it cleans your PC, but it also customizes your PC settings to get the best performance.
It has a built-in gaming mode that disables all extra background processes to free all resources for games. Furthermore, it also speeds up your browsing by automatically fixing browser settings and remove privacy-invasive data. For regular cleaning, the free version is more than enough. You can get the Pro version to get stronger scanning capability and browser-related features.
FixWin
Even on a new PC, you are bound to deal with software problems from time to time. Although you can fix them manually, many problems can be fixed automatically using an automatic problem-solving tool.
FixWin is one of the most powerful tools to fix Windows problems, and it’s completely free.
FixWin has fixes for hundreds of common Windows problems categorized under 6 categories, like File Explorer or System tools. You just need to find the problem you are facing and click on Fix to fix it automatically. You can also learn more about the causes and how to solve a specific problem.
Greenshot
Taking screenshots is one of the most common tasks for any PC user, but the basic screenshot options of Windows are very limited. If you want to take screenshots in different styles and easily save or share them, you’ll need Greenshot. It’s a free and highly customizable screenshot tool that lets you take screenshots based on a window, region, full screen, and even scrolling screenshot.
You can annotate the taken screenshots and automatically save them in your desired place on your PC. There is also an option to upload the screenshot to online storage directly. I also really like its intuitive interface; all the options are divided into 7 categories that make it very easy to customize it.
Although it isn’t necessary to get this app, if you want more from your Windows 10 start menu, Start Menu X is perfect. It’s an alternative start menu that replaces your regular start menu with an even more powerful one. It lets you create groups of folders and apps without changing their actual location. You can hover over a folder to easily see subfolders.
You can customize the look of the start menu and its icon and manage items by dragging around. It also has a handy timer-based power options feature that lets you shut down or restart the PC after a specific time.
IrfanView
Windows Photos app is good for viewing images, but that’s it. You don’t get any extra editing features other than basic crop, resize and annotation, etc. If you want a powerful but easy-to-use image viewer tool, then IrfanView is worth a try. It’s a small tool to both view and edits images. For editing purposes, it might not be as powerful as GIMP, but it’s definitely among the top photo editing tools.
You can convert, compress, optimize images with filters and enhancers, and perform other editing tasks. It also has powerful viewing features like slideshow, rotation, customizable zoom, HEX view, etc. IrfanView is completely free, and you can further upgrade its functionality with plugins.
Your Phone
Our lives heavily depend on both our PC and smartphone and while working on the PC, it can be very distracting to reach for the phone to see notifications and manage them. Your Phone app by Microsoft lets you seamlessly manage your smartphone right from your PC.
You can easily view your Windows PC notifications and reply to messages and receive/decline calls. You can even view media files on your phone and move them to your PC wirelessly. Overall, it’s the perfect companion app for Windows, so you may never have to take out your phone while working on the PC.
Backiee
Wallpapers are the key to your PC’s good look, and your new PC definitely deserves to look its best. Backiee is a wallpaper app that lets you discover thousands of wallpapers of your choice and easily apply them to your desktop. You can also create slideshows using your favorite wallpapers.
You can create your personal list or choose from your favorite category, and the app will automatically apply them based on a predefined schedule. If you have the Backiee app on your Android or iPhone, then it can also synchronize your favorite wallpapers to all the devices.
Bonus recommendation
On top of these apps, I would like to introduce two websites that can give you tools that will be perfect for your new PC. NirSoft offers hundreds of free tools that are really powerful for fixing or getting more information about your PC. I have already compiled a list of my favorite NirSoft utilities; you can check it out to get started. I am sure you’ll find a bunch of tools that will enhance your new PC experience.
Ninite is another awesome website that offers some of the most common tools for Windows and lets you download all of them in bulk. Some of the tools I have listed above are also available on the Ninite website, like VLC and IrfanView. The website will download and install all the selected tools in one go and also keep them updated. Definitely worth using if you want to save time installing your favorite apps for Windows.
To conclude
All the above apps, when combined, will give your new PC better security, privacy, performance, and utility. Some of these apps also have paid versions, but the free versions are more than enough for basic use.
