It mightiness endure viii years old, but Windows vii is notwithstanding the world's second most popular desktop operating scheme – together with for practiced reason. It's an fantabulous operating scheme that's notwithstanding supported yesteryear Microsoft together with receives regular safety updates (unlike Windows Vista), doesn't pester you lot amongst popups similar Windows 10, is much to a greater extent than opened upwardly than macOS, together with is easier for beginners to primary than Linux.
Here, we've picked twenty of the best programs you lot tin download gratis to give your Windows vii PC a novel lease of life.
Windows 7's version of Microsoft Paint is a large stride upwardly from the edition provided amongst Windows Vista, but it's notwithstanding non much utilisation for editing photos or creating your ain graphics from scratch.
GIMP (the GNU Image Manipulation Program) is a vivid opened upwardly source photograph editor that's amazingly powerful, together with is available to download together with utilisation completely free. It's non quite every bit feature-packed every bit Adobe Photoshop, but it has everything hobbyist photographers postulate to brand their shots expect amazing earlier printing them or sharing them online.
You tin fifty-fifty add together to a greater extent than tools together with filters yesteryear installing plugins – including ones designed for utilisation amongst Photoshop.
If you're notwithstanding using Windows Media Center to play music inwards Windows 7, you're doing your tunes a disservice. MusicBee is designed to organize songs together with podcasts inwards a logical way, add together accurate metadata, together with give you lot the best sound lineament your PC tin supply – whether you lot have got a high-end soundcard or not.
MusicBee supports every music file format you lot tin lift without the postulate to download additional codecs, every bit good every bit streaming services together with online radio.
MusicBee is the best gratis music histrion for Windows 7, but for video you lot postulate VLC Media Player. Again, it supports a huge make of file formats (far to a greater extent than than Windows Media Center), together with tin endure expanded amongst user-created plugins together with skins.
VLC Media Player is also an fantabulous way to relish DVDs together with Blu-rays on your PC (provided you lot have got the necessary optical drive), together with you lot tin optimize playback to arrange your system.
If you lot poke around inwards the Accessories department of Windows 7's Start Menu, you'll abide by the Sound Recorder. 'Basic' hardly describes it - all it does is accept input from a microphone together with relieve it inwards WAV format.
If you lot desire to brand your ain podcasts, tape music, or edit existing sound files, you lot postulate something far to a greater extent than powerful. That something is Audacity.
This opened upwardly source sound editor lets you lot tape inwards stereo, take away noise, apply diverse effects, edit channels individually, cutting together with combine files, take away vocals from songs together with much more. Like GIMP together with VLC Media Player, Audacity also supports plugins hence you lot tin tailor it to arrange your exact needs.
Windows Movie Maker was a groovy video editor when it was outset released, but its inelegant interface together with cheesy effects instantly expect really dated. After many long years of service, it's fourth dimension for Windows vii users to moving ridge goodbye together with upgrade to Shotcut instead.
Shotcut isn't the most powerful gratis video editor around (that would endure Lightworks), but it strikes a perfect residue betwixt features together with usability. You don't postulate to written report a manual to start making a great-looking video, together with there's a huge laid of tools together with filters to experiment with.
You mightiness endure happy sticking amongst Internet Explorer inwards Windows 7, but Microsoft has moved its attending to Edge – a novel browser that's exclusive to Windows 10.
If you lot haven't experimented amongst many other browsers before, Google Chrome is a groovy house to start. It's hugely customizable via plugins, fast, together with integrates amongst your Google line organisation human relationship hence you lot tin sync bookmarks together with preferences betwixt different devices – including phones together with tablets.
If you lot don't similar the thought of Google getting its roots into all your online activity, or you lot exactly desire an choice for occasions when privacy is especially important, accept a expect at Tor Browser.
Tor (the Onion Router) industrial plant yesteryear encrypting your information together with redirecting it through a serial of remote servers around the world, making it all but impossible to trace.
Be careful if your Windows vii PC is on a operate or college network though – some organizations accept a dim sentiment of Tor because it's ofttimes used for nefarious purposes similar pirating movies together with music.
Another way to protect your privacy online is to utilisation a VPN (virtual private network) service, which disguises your identity together with place using remote servers. Take care, though – at that topographic point are lots of dodgy gratis VPNs around that are genuinely malware inwards disguise.
WindScribe is the existent bargain – a gratis VPN amongst a really generous information allowance of 10GB per month. That's non plenty for streaming movies (for that, you'll postulate to upgrade to the premium version), but it's ideal for online shopping together with banking.
Windows vii tin opened upwardly PDFs without whatever trouble, but it doesn't allow you lot annotate them, brand text changes, or perform safety checks.
That's why you lot postulate Foxit Reader – a gratis PDF reader that's total of useful extra tools you lot didn't realise you lot needed, but can't alive without. The scan-to-PDF tool is especially handy if you lot have got a newspaper worksheet or handout to convert, together with the Microsoft Office Plugins are a vivid touch.
That said, Microsoft Office isn't your entirely choice when you're using Windows vii at work. LibreOffice is a totally gratis suite of programs that almost perfectly replicate all the features of Word, Excel, PowerPoint together with more.
Like many of the programs inwards this list, LibreOffice is opened upwardly source, which agency anyone amongst the skills together with fourth dimension is gratis to educate their ain plugins for swain users. It also has a huge squad of dedicated volunteers who maintain it updated amongst novel features together with squish bugs every bit shortly every bit they're identified.
LibreOffice is excellent, but if you lot exactly postulate to teach your caput downward together with do some serious writing, FocusWriter is the tool for you. It's far superior to Windows 7's Notepad tool, amongst a full-screen way that completely blocks out all distractions, including the clock, Start card together with notification area.
You tin laid yourself writing goals together with configure alerts for specific times to maintain you lot on track. There's also an fantabulous Focus characteristic that highlights the paragraph or judgement you're currently working on, piece everything else fades into the background. No to a greater extent than procrastinating.
If you lot cast your heed dorsum (keep going... further... there), you lot mightiness recollect i time tracking your finances using a programme called Microsoft Money. It was discontinued a long fourth dimension ago, but Money Manager Ex does essentially the same job, making it slow to monitor your accounts together with credit cards, tape spending, schedule payments, together with brand certain you're sticking to your budget.
It can't link straight to your online banking service, but this mightiness endure a practiced affair every bit far every bit security's concerned together with entering the figures manually isn't also time-consuming.
FileZilla is an FTP (file transfer protocol) customer – a handy tool designed for moving files betwixt PCs or remote servers. It's non every bit flashy every bit a cloud storage service similar Dropbox or OneDrive, but it agency you're inwards total command together with aren't trusting your information to a 3rd party.
FileZilla tin store login information for upwardly to 10 remote servers, letting you lot connect together with start shifting your information amongst exactly a twain of clicks.
Torrents have got a bad reputation thank you lot to their popularity amongst copyright-infringing pirates, but they have got lots of legitimate uses too. They're merely a way of sharing especially large files, together with many artists together with producers are instantly choosing to position out cloth this way. They're also handy for downloading copyright-free media, games together with other content.
To utilisation torrent files, you lot postulate a dedicated customer software, together with qBittorrent is the best for Windows 7. It's non cluttered amongst ads, has a clear interface, together with is slow to teach to grips with.
If you're unlucky, you lot mightiness know the horror of emptying your Windows vii Recycle Bin, together with hence realising also belatedly that it contained a file you lot accidentally needed. Or you lot mightiness have got been unfortunate plenty to lose information due to physical impairment to a drive, or corruption.
There's no guarantee that gratis file recovery tool Recuva volition endure able to convey your documents together with photos back, but it tin endure an absolute lifesaver inwards an emergency. Install it instantly together with endure prepared.
Piriform – the delightfully-named developer of Recuva – also makes an fantabulous PC optimization tool called CCleaner. It performs much the same chore every bit the diverse system-sweeping tools you'll abide by nether Accessories inwards Windows 7's Start Menu, but is much faster together with easier to use.
CCleaner tin also clear our your spider web browser's cookies together with stored passwords for added security. Just brand certain you lot read the description of each item carefully earlier erasing it, hence you lot don't accidentally purge anything useful.
When it comes to gaming, Minesweeper together with Solitaire exactly won't cutting it. If you lot desire something to a greater extent than entertaining than watching pigment dry, you lot postulate Steam – Valve's huge PC gaming platform together with store, where you lot tin abide by almost every championship you lot could wishing for, ofttimes amongst deep discounts.
If games aren't your thing, you lot mightiness endure to a greater extent than interested inwards Any Video Converter Free – a video downloading together with converting tool that tin select conduct hold of clips from all the biggest sites together with relieve them inwards whatever format you lot like. You tin fifty-fifty rip the sound from videos together with relieve it for listening later.
Just brand certain you lot have got permission from the copyright holder earlier you lot start downloading videos from YouTube together with Vimeo.
Continuing the subject of entertainment, let's motility to ebooks.
We've tried lots of e-readers for Windows 7, but Amazon's official Kindle app is easily the best. It makes organizing your ebooks a breeze, amongst an fantabulous search tool, together with reading is a thoroughly pleasant sense thank you lot to the carefully designed pages together with customizable colors together with fonts.
There are links to the Kindle store, naturally, but they're surprisingly unobtrusive together with you lot won't endure harassed yesteryear prompts to purchase to a greater extent than books.
Hopefully you lot instantly have got a practiced thought of which programs you lot postulate to teach the most from your Windows vii PC, but there's exactly i to a greater extent than nosotros recommend.
Windows vii comes amongst a tool for extracting compressed file archives, but at that topographic point are dozens, if non hundreds of different types around together with it entirely supports a pocket-size handful. 7-Zip is far to a greater extent than capable, together with integrates into Windows Explorer together with the context card hence it's at that topographic point whenever you lot postulate it.
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