Software

My favourites

dupeGuru – Scans selected folders to detect and delete duplicate files by either content hash or filename, making it painless to reclaim wasted disk space.
https://dupeguru.voltaicideas.net/

Process Explorer (procexp) – A Sysinternals “Task Manager on steroids” that exposes every running process, thread, DLL, handle, and even GPU activity so you can spot malware or hung apps in seconds.
https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/sysinternals/downloads/process-explorer

Process Monitor (procmon) – Real-time capture of file-system, registry, network, and process events for deep-dive troubleshooting when “why is this app failing?” isn’t obvious.
https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/sysinternals/downloads/procmon

7-Zip – Open-source archiver/unarchiver with a famously high compression ratio; reads/writes 7z, ZIP, RAR, ISO, TAR, and more.
https://www.7-zip.org/

Audacity – Multitrack audio recorder and editor that covers everything from quick trims to full podcast production.
https://www.audacityteam.org/

HWiNFO – Live hardware diagnostics showing CPU/GPU sensors, temperatures, voltages, SMART data, and lots more for stress-testing or inventory audits.
https://www.hwinfo.com/

draw.io (diagrams.net) – Drag-and-drop diagramming for flowcharts, network maps, UML, and wire-frames; saves straight to local files, Google Drive, or OneDrive.
https://www.drawio.com/

FastStone Image Viewer – Lightning-fast image browser/editor with bulk convert, crop, annotate, and slideshow features that beat most “built-in” viewers.
https://www.faststone.org/

GIMP – Full-featured raster graphics editor; the de-facto open-source Photoshop alternative with layers, masks, and extensive plugin support.
https://www.gimp.org/

Google Earth Pro – 3-D globe with high-resolution satellite imagery, historical layers, Street View, and measurement tools for site surveys or geography lessons.
https://www.google.com/earth/

KeePass – Local, encrypted password-manager database with auto-type, browser plugins, and portable mode—no cloud vendor to trust (or blame).
https://keepass.info/

Nmap – CLI/GUI network scanner for host discovery, port auditing, service/version detection, and rudimentary vulnerability assessment.
https://nmap.org/

Notepad++ – Lightweight text/code editor with syntax highlighting for 80+ languages, regex search/replace, and macro recording.
https://notepad-plus-plus.org/

PuTTY – Rock-solid SSH, Telnet, and serial console client with key-auth, tunneling, and session profiles in a single tiny EXE.
https://www.chiark.greenend.org.uk/~sgtatham/putty/

Rufus – Blazingly fast utility for burning ISO images to bootable USB drives—Windows installers, Linux distros, rescue media, you name it.
https://rufus.ie/

Scratch – Block-based visual programming environment that makes coding concepts click for kids and absolute beginners.
https://scratch.mit.edu/

SD Card Formatter – Official SDA tool that properly formats SD/SDHC/SDXC cards to avoid the “card not recognized” headache in cameras and Raspberry Pi.
https://www.sdcard.org/downloads/formatter/

SumatraPDF – Ultra-lightweight reader for PDF, ePub, MOBI, CHM, and comic-book formats; launches in a blink and never nags.
https://www.sumatrapdfreader.org/

VLC – Swiss-army media player that handles virtually any audio/video file, stream, DVD, or Blu-ray without codec packs.
https://www.videolan.org/vlc/

WinDirStat – Colorful treemap disk-usage analyzer that instantly shows what’s hogging space so you can delete the worst offenders.
https://windirstat.net/

WinMerge – Side-by-side diff and merge tool for files and folders; great for code reviews or syncing backups, with patch-file support.
https://winmerge.org/

WinSCP – GUI SFTP/SCP/FTP client with dual-pane file manager, integrated text editor, and scripting/automation hooks.
https://winscp.net/

XMind – Feature-rich mind-mapping and brainstorming app with export to PDF, Markdown, or HTML for easy sharing.
https://xmind.app/

OBS Studio – Open-source powerhouse for live-streaming and screen-recording; supports unlimited scenes/sources, RTMP output to Twitch/YouTube, and plug-in video filters.
https://obsproject.com/

Emby – Self-hosted media-server that automatically collects artwork, metadata and transcodes on-the-fly to web, Android TV, Roku, iOS and more.
https://emby.media/

Proxmox VE – Debian-based hypervisor that bundles KVM virtualization, LXC containers, ZFS-aware storage and web-UI clustering—great for a home-lab or production cloud.
https://www.proxmox.com/en/proxmox-ve

Windows 11 / 10 – Microsoft’s flagship desktop OS with NTFS, WSL2 Linux subsystem, BitLocker, and the world’s biggest app ecosystem.
https://www.microsoft.com/windows

Ubuntu Server – Canonical’s LTS Linux server build; apt-based, cloud-init-ready, and blessed with five years of security updates out of the box.
https://ubuntu.com/server

Publii – Static-site CMS that lets you build and update a full blog locally, then push the generated HTML to any web host or GitHub Pages.
https://getpublii.com/

Microsoft Flight Simulator (2020) – Photorealistic civilian flight sim that streams Bing satellite data for the whole planet; IFR/VFR training aids, real-time weather, VR and mod marketplace.
https://www.flightsimulator.com/

Microsoft Flight Simulator 2024 – Next-gen release adding career missions (aerial firefighting, search & rescue, cargo, etc.), deeper weather physics and upgraded planetary rendering.
https://www.flightsimulator.com/microsoft-flight-simulator-2024/

DaVinci Resolve – Industry-grade NLE combining editing, Fusion VFX, Fairlight audio, and world-class color-grading in one free/pro Studio app. https://www.blackmagicdesign.com/products/davinciresolve

Microsoft 365 (Office 365) – Subscription suite (Word, Excel, PowerPoint, Outlook, Teams) plus 1 TB OneDrive storage and continuous feature drops across desktop/mobile/web.
https://www.microsoft.com/microsoft-365

Adobe Photoshop – The de-facto standard for raster image creation and retouching—layers, smart objects, generative fill (Firefly), and endless plug-ins. https://www.adobe.com/products/photoshop.html

Adobe Audition – Pro-level waveform and multitrack audio workstation; perfect for podcast mastering, sound design and batch noise reduction. https://www.adobe.com/products/audition.html

ChatGPT – Conversational large-language model from OpenAI that can draft text, answer questions, write code, and brainstorm—API and web UI available. https://chat.openai.com/

Home Assistant – Open-source home-automation hub that unifies Zigbee, Z-Wave, Matter, MQTT and 1 000 + integrations under a powerful YAML or GUI rule engine. https://www.home-assistant.io/

pfSense CE – FreeBSD-based firewall/router platform with pf packet filter, OpenVPN/IPsec, WireGuard, traffic shaping and a full plug-in repo. https://www.pfsense.org/