You just turned on your new PC or Mac and wondering where to start? This comprehensive guide brings together the must-have software to transform your new machine into a complete workstation. From security tools to creative software, discover a selection of 50+ free and paid programs with their official download links. This list will help you save time when setting up your computer.
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🔒 1. SECURITY & PROTECTION
Antivirus
- Avast (free) : https://www.avast.com
- Norton (paid) : https://norton.com
VPN
- ProtonVPN (free) : https://protonvpn.com
- NordVPN (paid) : https://nordvpn.com
🌐 2. BROWSING & COMMUNICATION
Web browsers
- Mozilla Firefox (free) : https://www.firefox.com
- Google Chrome (free) : https://www.google.com/chrome
- Brave (free) : https://brave.com
Messaging & Video
- Discord (free) : https://discord.com
- Zoom (free) : https://www.zoom.com
- Signal (free) : https://signal.org
- Teams (free) : https://www.microsoft.com/microsoft-teams/group-chat-software
📝 3. PRODUCTIVITY & OFFICE
Spreadsheet, text editor, presentation
- LibreOffice (free) : https://www.libreoffice.org
- OpenOffice (free) : https://www.openoffice.org/download/index.html
- Microsoft 365 (paid) : https://www.office.com
For PDFs
- Adobe Acrobat Reader (free) : https://get.adobe.com/reader
Advanced text editor
- Notepad++ (free - Windows) : https://notepad-plus-plus.org
Organization
- Trello (free) : https://trello.com
- JIRA (free/paid) : https://www.atlassian.com/software/jira
- Slack (free) : https://slack.com
🎵 4. MULTIMEDIA & CREATIVE
Media players
- VLC Media Player (free) : https://www.videolan.org/vlc
Audio editing
- Audacity (free) : https://www.audacityteam.org
Simple photo editing with layer support
- Paint.NET (free - Windows) : https://www.getpaint.net
Professional photo editing
- GIMP (free) : https://www.gimp.org/
🔧 5. UTILITIES & SYSTEM
ZIP, RAR compression/decompression
- 7-Zip (free) : https://www.7-zip.org
- WinRAR (paid) : https://www.win-rar.com
System cleanup
- CCleaner (free/paid) : https://www.ccleaner.com
🔌 6. DRIVERS & COMPONENTS
Graphics drivers
- NVIDIA GeForce (free) : https://www.nvidia.com/drivers
- AMD (free) : https://www.amd.com/support
Drivers, SDK...
- Microsoft various (free) : https://www.microsoft.com/download
Printer drivers
- HP : https://support.hp.com/drivers
- Canon : https://global.canon/support
- Epson : https://epson.com/support
⚙️ 7. PROGRAMMING
Java Runtime Environment
- Java (free) : https://www.java.com/download
IDE
- Visual Studio Code (free) : https://code.visualstudio.com
- Eclipse (free) : https://eclipseide.org
- WebStorm (paid) : https://www.jetbrains.com/webstorm
- Xcode (Mac) : https://developer.apple.com/xcode
- Android Studio (free) : https://developer.android.com/studio
🎮 8. GAMING
Platforms
- Steam (free) : https://store.steampowered.com/about
- Epic Games Store (free) : https://store.epicgames.com/download
🧠 9. AI PLATFORMS
Chatbots
- ChatGPT : https://chatgpt.com
- Le Chat : https://chat.mistral.ai/chat
- Perplexity : https://www.perplexity.ai
- Gemini : https://gemini.google.com
- Meta.ai : https://www.meta.ai
- Copilot : https://copilot.microsoft.com
- Grok : https://grok.com
- Claude : https://claude.ai
Images
- Midjourney (paid) : https://www.midjourney.com/home
- Leonardo (paid) : https://leonardo.ai
Audio
- Suno : https://suno.com/home
- ElevenLabs : https://elevenlabs.io
📋 10. INSTALLATION CHECKLIST
Recommended order:
- Security (Antivirus, password manager)
- Drivers (GPU, system components)
- Browser and communication
- Office suite
- System utilities
- Specialized software according to your needs
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Key Takeaways
Final tips:
✅ Always download from official websites
✅ Check Windows/Mac compatibility before installation
✅ Configure automatic updates
✅ Create a restore point before major installations
This article will be updated regularly to include useful missing software. Bookmark this page for your next installations!
Does this article save you time? Share it and help other users optimize their new PC/Mac!
✅ Always download from official websites
✅ Check Windows/Mac compatibility before installation
✅ Configure automatic updates
✅ Create a restore point before major installations
This article will be updated regularly to include useful missing software. Bookmark this page for your next installations!
Does this article save you time? Share it and help other users optimize their new PC/Mac!