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

Media server & player

Jellyfin

jellyfin.org

Download from GitHub

Text editor

Notepad++

notepad-plus-plus.org

Download from GitHub

Code IDE

VSCodium

vscodium.com

Download from GitHub

Firewall

SimpleWall

github.com/henrypp/simplewall

Download from GitHub

VPN

I don't have a good suggestion yet

DNS provider

NextDNS

nextdns.io

Download from GitHub

Internet masker

Cloudflare WARP

one.one.one.one

Download from one.one.one.one

System file search

Everything

www.voidtools.com

Download from their site

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/

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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/

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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

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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/