Advice Request What are the essential programs that you will still install on your Windows system in 2026, and what are the programs that you will stop using?

[lokamoka820]

As the new year approaches, tech enthusiasts will be reviewing their installed applications, identifying those they consider essential on their systems, as well as those they no longer need, either because built-in Windows programs are sufficient or for other reasons. So, if you're one of these users, I'd like to hear your thoughts on the following points:

• What essential programs do you still install?
• What programs did you previously use but no longer use?

Thank you.

 

[Divine_Barakah]

As the new year approaches, tech enthusiasts will be reviewing their installed applications, identifying those they consider essential on their systems, as well as those they no longer need, either because built-in Windows programs are sufficient or for other reasons. So, if you're one of these users, I'd like to hear your thoughts on the following points:

• What essential programs do you still install?
• What programs did you previously use but no longer use?

Thank you.

For me the most important thing to install is a system imaging software. After that you can test and rest assured that you can revert any damage you've caused.

The rest is a matter of preferences.

My current setup is mainly focused on performance and set-and-forget.

I have backups on two external HDD that i only connect when I need to backup.

The most important files are synced to Koofr and Filejump on real time. In case anything goes wrong, I have backups stored on two HDDs and two cloud providers.

 

[Parkinsond]

A. Security:
1. Windows Hybrid Hardening Light
2. Fort Firewall
3. KeePass XC

B. Productivity
1. MS Office
2. PDF-XChange Editor

C. Media
1. Media Player Classic - Black Edition
2. Enable Windows photo viewer

D. Monitoring
1. Crystal Disk Info
2. Core Temp

 

[Smoke]

I don't tend to keep many things on this PC outside of gaming related programs & music so the only program I consider essential is HiBit Uninstaller.

 

[RoboMan]

I will be keeping my antivirus and probably renew it (Kaspersky Standard).

I will keep using Adguard Premium in my phone.

I will not renew SysHardener.

 

[Divine_Barakah]

So I am going to list my apps

Security:
1 Eset Essential
2- Adguard VPN
3- Adguard DNS
4- Cryptomator
5- Dashlane
6- Enpass

Productivity:

1- Wondershare PDFepement
2- Swifdoo PDF
3- MS Office
4- OnlyOffice
5- TidyTabs
6- Joplin

SYSTEM Utilities

1- Smarty Uninstaller
2- Kerish Doctor
3- Hard Disk Sentinel Pro
4- Macririt Partition Expert Pro
5- AOMEI Backupper Pro
6- Winrar

Browsers

1- Vivaldi
2- Brave
3- Firefox

Cloud Storage

1- Koofr
2- Filejump

 

[Sampei.Nihira]

I have these softwares on my PC and will continue to use them in 2026.
The only unknown is Chrome.
Only if I can no longer use uBlock Origin will I replace it with another Chromium-based browser that will continue to support that extension.

• 7-zip
• SumatraPDF
• CCleaner 6.39
• Paint.net
• LibreOffice
• Thunderbird
• Pop-Peeper
• Chrome
• Firefox
• OOAPB
• OOSU10
• Hard_Configurator
• CPU-Z
• Process Explorer
• SophosScanAndClean

 

[TairikuOkami]

• What essential programs do you still install?

Hasleo Backup Suite (PreOS)
System Informer Canary (SysTray)

Windows Repair Toolbox Portable covers everything else

• What programs did you previously use but no longer use?

RAMdisk, sadly 11 keeps fighting it, symlinks with onedrive do not work, Edge refuses to link user's folder, temp and exes refuse to run, it is a mess now.

 

[Divine_Barakah]

Hasleo Backup Suite (PreOS)
System Informer Canary (SysTray)

Windows Repair Toolbox Portable covers everything else

RAMdisk, sadly 11 keeps fighting it, symlinks with onedrive do not work, Edge refuses to link user's folder, temp and exes refuse to run, it is a mess now.

How is your experience with Hasleo? Assuming you've used Aomei beofre, what are the differences between the two?

 

[TairikuOkami]

How is your experience with Hasleo? Assuming you've used Aomei beofre, what are the differences between the two?

I used EaseUS as well, others refused to install. I use a full system backup, so not much of difference, all worked just fine. Hasleo is only one with free PreOS now.

 

[Minimalist]

Programs that I still use instead of Microsoft's built in:
Total Commander instead of File Explorer. For me it's just better at managing files.
Firefox instead of Edge, with uBlock Origin as mandatory extension. I just like it better.
Macrium Reflect instead of Windows Backup. Can't be compered IMO.
Either Eset Nod32 Antivirus or McAfee Antivirus instead of Microsoft Defender. Both are lighter on my system.

Microsoft's software that I still use:
Microsoft Firewall instead of third party. I don't see a need to use something other.
Microsoft Office instead of alternatives. For me it's just better.
Edge as backup browser instead of Chrome. Since it's already installed...

 

[Divine_Barakah]

I used EaseUS as well, others refused to install. I use a full system backup, so not much of difference, all worked just fine. Hasleo is only one with free PreOS now.

I do, too, prefer full system backups. btw pre-os boot menu is a lifes-saving option. I did not realise that until my system crashed and did not have a recovery usb.

 

[Back3]

I had to reinstall Windows last week...

Security
Configure Defender
NextDNS
Windscribe
Bitwarden
Siriusllm
KeepassXC

Productivity
OnlyOffice
Thunderbird

System Utilities
Everything
Hibit Uninstaller
UnigetUI
Autoruns
Wintoys
SSDBooster
Peazip

Browsers
Chrome
Librewolf

Cloud
Icloud
Megasync

 

[Dave Russo]

Security:
Defender
Appguard , Cyberlock use both differant computers
Adguard
Hitmanpro scanner{startup scan ,
Macrium Reflect
Productivity:
Microsoft 365
outlook
Utilities:
Kerish doctor
Revo uninstaller
Browsers:
Edge
Chrome

 

[simmerskool]

I have these softwares on my PC and will continue to use them in 2026.
The only unknown is Chrome.
Only if I can no longer use uBlock Origin will I replace it with another Chromium-based browser that will continue to support that extension.

• 7-zip
• SumatraPDF
• CCleaner 6.39
• Paint.net
• LibreOffice
• Thunderbird
• Pop-Peeper
• Chrome
• Firefox
• OOAPB
• OOSU10
• Hard_Configurator
• CPU-Z
• Process Explorer
• SophosScanAndClean

I forgot I have OOAPR app on my system, ran it and removed 10 unnecessary apps, and then re-evaluated my backup, and ordered a new 4 tb external ssd to start the new year. great thread!

 

[Deletedmessiah]

Total Commander, Everything search, Sumatra pdf, Foobar2000, Freefilesync, Irfanview, Mpc hc, Edge or Chrome. Firefox fine too. Maybe will try brave or something else one of these days.

 

[Neno]

Directory Opus
Fences (if I had to choose one program )
Reg Organizer
eM Client
Firefox
NetLimiter (4)
IDM
MS Office
Notepad++
SumatraPDF
WorkingHours
Visual Studio Code

 

[lokamoka820]

Thank you all very much for your kind and helpful responses. I will make a comprehensive change to the programs I have installed, thanks to the inspiration I have gained from your answers.

 

[Marko :)]

I don't have a lot of programs installed, here's the entire list.

1. Brave
2. Firefox
3. VLC media player
4. YouTube Music
5. FreeTube
6. ImageGlass
7. Filen.io
8. LightShot
9. Cloudflare WARP
10. Windscribe
11. qBittorrent
12. Revo Uninstaller
13. WinRAR
14. Microsoft Office
15. Lenovo Legion Toolkit

I stopped using cleaners, optimizers, telemetry blockers 9 years ago and that's when I stopped having issues with my PC. I just stick to the the list above and that's pretty much everything I need.

 

[Parkinsond]

I don't have a lot of programs installed

For me, this is indeed "a lot"