Recommended Apps
Where possible, I will always prefer F/OSS apps over proprietary and paid apps.
You can read about why on another page that I haven't written yet — probably on my personal website.
Scroll down to see more app recommendations and read more details about them.
Software classes
User — media, browser, text editor, office software,
OS components — file browser, search indexer, image viewer,
OS interface — theme switching, shell tweakers, wallpaperers,
OS core — package managers,
Hardware — drivers, device control,
Protection — VPN, DNS, firewall, antivirus, password manager, 2FA manager
Top Picks
Text editors
Notepad++ — only runs on Windows. Very configurable. Fast, not laggy. Automatically preserves all your unsaved files. Has syntax highlighting for 80+ languages. Has a dark theme. It is fully open source.
Download from GitHub — https://github.com/notepad-plus-plus/notepad-plus-plus
Visit their homepage — https://notepad-plus-plus.org/
Code editors
Until recently, VS Code seemed like the only reasonable app. There are several others, but VS Code features the most useful functionality, extensions, etc; and it is fully cross-platform.
However, yesterday I discovered that there is a fully un-Microsoft'èd version of VS Code, called VSCodium. So far, it seems to be identical to VS Code, except it isn't branded with MS stuff and (hopefully) isn't full of their telemetry & other spyware.
VSCodium —
Download from GitHub — https://github.com/VSCodium/vscodium
VSCodium homepage — https://vscodium.com/
Firewalls
MalwareBytes Windows Firewall Control — Pretty good, pretty simple, gives you popup notifications that something is trying to access the internet.
Download from their homepage (Binisoft) — https://www.binisoft.org/wfc
SimpleWall — there is also a fork that I need to check out. Setting it up is pretty simple, although there's some things to configure, so read my guide ( → ) and also search for information online yourself!
Download from GitHub — https://github.com/henrypp/simplewall
DNS providers
Using any alternative provider allows you to circumvent most blocks that have been put in place by your . Some DNS services also provide a little more privacy, but it is really is only a little. More info about DNS, privacy & encryption here.
NextDNS — Quite simple to set up and get going.
Download from their homepage, and set up your account — https://nextdns.io/
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