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A list of excellent software that I have used and am using now, including software for Windows and macOS, some useful Chromium browsers extensions also included.
Commonly Used Software
Maybe this part should be called like “Must Have Software”? I just have no idea about their categorisation.
Image Viewer
Honeyview
A free image viewer with the ability to display EXIF as well as convert image format, and support tons of image formats including PSD and DDS.
Zip & Unzip
Bandzip
Free software with powerful functions, you can set it to open the unzip folder automatically and delete the original zip file after a double click. Please note that there will be ads after version 7.0, if you dislike the ads, please use version 6.29 with auto upgrade off.
7-Zip
7-Zip is a free and open-source software with extraordinary performance, but its GUI is awful.
Downloader
FDM
Free Download Manager, can replace Chrome's default downloader once the plug-in is installed.
Motrix
Free and open-source software with a nice-looking modern GUI, support magnet link and thunder link.
Media Player
Potplayer
Free and lightweight player with a wide range of settings and customizations. Please note that versions released between 2019 and 2022 might show ads in the corner.
mpv
A free, cross-platform, and open-source player, might be the best media player on Windows despite its lack of a proper GUI.
VLC
Aa free and open-source, portable, cross-platform media player software and streaming media server.
Web Browser
Microsoft Edge
The new Edge browser is now built on Chromium and thus can offer the same performance as Google Chrome. You can sync your user profile with the Microsoft account logged in.
Google Chrome
One of the fastest browsers with many great plugins and can sync user data with a Google account.
Mozilla Firefox
A free and open-source, fast and private web browser developed by the Mozilla Foundation.
Writing
Onenote
A free and cross-platform digital notebook developed by Microsoft, allows users to sync notes across devices via OneDrive.
Microsoft Office
Most new computers come with office365 pre-installed. You can use Office Tool Plus to install it by yourself.
TeX Live LATEX
A document preparation system used for the communication and publication of scientific documents.
XMind
A mind mapping tool.
Grammarly
Real-time grammar correction tool.
EBook Reader
Aquile Reader
Free epub eBook reader for Windows.
Book Bazaar Reader
Free eBook reader with support of EPUB, MOBI, PDF, FB2, and TXT format.
PDF
CleverPDF
Powerful free online PDF tools.
Nitro PDF Pro
Nitro PDF Pro comes with a full suite of tools to edit, OCR, convert, combine, sign and protect PDFs in a modern, intuitive user interface.
Adobe Acrobat Pro DC
A full professional version of the Acrobat PDF editor that was released for Windows and macOS by Adobe.
Video Meeting
ZOOM
A proprietary videotelephony software program developed by Zoom Video Communications.
Microsoft Teams
A proprietary business communication platform developed by Microsoft, as part of the Microsoft 365 family of products.
Reference Management
Zotero
A free and open-source reference management software to manage bibliographic data and related research materials, such as PDF files.
ZotFile
Zotfile is a Zotero plugin to manage your attachments: automatically rename, move, and attach PDFs (or other files) to Zotero items, sync PDFs from your Zotero library to your (mobile) PDF reader (e.g. an iPad, Android tablet, etc.) and extract annotations from PDF files.
Better BibTeX for Zotero
Better BibTeX (BBT) is an extension for Zotero and Juris-M that makes it easier to manage bibliographic data, especially for people authoring documents using text-based toolchains (e.g. based on LaTeX / Markdown).
Utility
File Transfer
Onedrive
A cross-platform file hosting service operated by Microsoft, with 5 GB of storage space free of charge.
LocalSend
LocalSend is a cross-platform app that enables secure communication between devices using a REST API and HTTPS encryption. It doesn't require an internet connection or third-party servers.
iTunes
Transfer files between iOS Devices and Windows PCs.
File Preview
Bring the macOS Quick Look function to Windows, which enables a very quick preview of file contents by pressing the Spacebar.
QuickLook
Free and open-source software with plugin support.
Seer
Free software.
Quick Launcher
Mac Like Spotlight Search in Windows.
uTools
A free and powerful launcher with a large variety of plugins.
Wox
This is the launcher I used to use, but it hasn't been updated in a long time.
Screen Recorder
OBS Studio
OBS (Open Broadcaster Software) is free and open source software for video recording and live streaming.
Mouse Functionality Enhancement
WGestures
Modern mouse gestures for Windows.
Logitech G Hub
Logitech mouse configuration software with support for DPI settings, button programming, and onboard memory settings.
Volume Control
EarTrumpet
EarTrumpet is a powerful volume control app for Windows that allows you to control different apps’ volumes separately.
Screenshot
Snipaste
Snipaste is a simple but powerful snipping tool, and also allows you to pin the screenshot back onto the screen.
File Search
Everything
A fast and easy-to-use search software, which can show the result in real-time.
System Utility
Microsoft PowerToys
Microsoft PowerToys is a set of freeware system utilities designed for power users developed by Microsoft for use on the Windows operating system.
Dism++
A set of system utilities including junk file cleaning, startup item management, etc.
TrafficMonitor
TrafficMonitor is a network monitoring software with floating window feature for Windows.
Security
ESET
Antivirus Software with Spyware and Malware Protection. There are three different versions, and I am using the Internet Security version.
KeePassXC
KeePassXC is a modern, secure, and open-source password manager that stores and manages your most sensitive information.
Disk Cleanup
Duplicate Cleaner
A tool for finding and removing duplicate files from your computer.
SpaceSniffer
A freeware disk space analyzer for Windows that make use of the Treemap concept to view the current disk usage.
Virtual Machine
VMWare Workstation Pro
A hosted hypervisor that runs on Windows and Linux, it enables users to set up virtual machines and use them simultaneously. Each virtual machine can execute its own operating system, including versions of Microsoft Windows, Linux, BSD, and MS-DOS.
Nox Player
A free emulator that lets you play android apps and games on Windows PC and macOS.
Reinstall Windows
Refus
A utility that helps format and create bootable USB flash drives, such as USB keys/pendrives, memory sticks, etc.
UltraISO
An ISO CD/DVD image file creating/editing/converting tool and a bootable CD/DVD maker.
Remote Control
TeamViewer
A cross-platform remote control software.
VNC Viewer
A cross-platform remote PC software.
Mouse Without Borders
A software that allow you to control up to four computers from a single mouse and keyboard, and you can copy text or drag and drop files across computers.
Desktop Customization
Rainmeter
Rainmeter allows you to display customizable skins on your desktop, from hardware usage meters to fully functional audio visualizers.
Wallpaper Engine
Wallpaper Engine enables you to use live wallpapers on your Windows desktop.
TranslucentTB
A lightweight utility that makes the Windows taskbar translucent/transparent on Windows 10 and Windows 11.
Hardware Tuning
Information Utility
AIDA64
AIDA64 provides extremely detailed information about both hardware and installed software, helps users diagnose issues, and offers benchmarks to measure the computer's performance.
Tbtool
A set of hardware utilities.
AURA Sync - ARGB
Armoury Crate
Armoury Crate is a free unified software tool that enables you to connect, configure, and control ASUS ROG products for your PC setup.
G.SKILL Trident Z Lighting Control
A software for G.SKILL Trident Z RGB memory lighting control. Please note that this software may conflict with other LED lighting control software.
Aura Sync
Aura Sync software can control the lighting of ASUS Aura RGB products. It can also synchronize lighting with other Aura Sync products to create an integrated lighting effect.
Fan Tuning
AI Suite
Software to monitor the system status and adjust the fan speed on the Asus motherboard.
Monitor Mangement
Dell Display Manager
Dell Display Manager allows you to setup, manage, and control Dell monitors on the Windows operating system.
Dell P2418D Driver
Driver for Dell P2418D Monitor, including the ICC profile.
Twinkle Tray
Twinkle Tray lets you easily manage the brightness levels of multiple monitors.
Coding
Accelerating Hair Loss in Programmers!
IDE
Visual Studio
The most comprehensive IDE for .NET and C++ developers on Windows for building web, cloud, desktop, mobile apps, services and games.
VS Code
Microsoft Visual Studio Code is a free, powerful, lightweight code editor for Windows, macOS and Linux.
PyCharm
Intelligent Python IDE from JetBrain.
IntelliJ IDEA
The Java IDE for Professional Developers by JetBrains
CodeBlocks
A free, open-source, cross-platform C, C++ and Fortran IDE
Tools
Git
Git is a free and open source distributed version control system designed to handle everything from small to very large projects with speed and efficiency.
XShell
An SSH Client with superior session management, advanced customizations, and an intuitive UI, free for Home and School users.
Jupyter Notebook
An open-source project that lets you easily combine Markdown text and executable Python source code on one canvas called a notebook.
Windows Terminal
The Windows Terminal is a new, modern, fast, efficient, powerful, and productive terminal application for users of command-line tools and shells like Command Prompt, PowerShell, and WSL.
Unity
Unity is a cross-platform game engine developed by Unity Technologies
Development Environment
Java
Java Development Kit
C
MinGW-w64-MSYS2
Python
Python for Windows
Anaconda
Anaconda Distribution equips individuals to easily search and install thousands of Python/R packages and access a vast library of community content and support.
Useful Websites
draw.io
draw.io is free online diagram software for making flowcharts, process diagrams, org charts, UML, ER and network diagrams.
DeepL
Translate texts & full document files instantly.
Z-Library
Z-Library is a shadow library project for file-sharing access to scholarly journal articles, academic texts and general-interest books.
Sci-Hub
Sci-Hub is a website providing free access to scholarly literature.
Photopea
Photopea is a web-based free photo and graphics editor.
AudioMass
AudioMass is a free, open source, web-based Audio and Waveform Editor.
BibGuru
BibGuru is a free citation maker that can generate bibliographies, reference lists, and in-text citations in seconds.
Chromium Extension
Saladict
All-in-one professional pop-up dictionary and page translator which supports multiple search modes, page translations, new word notebook and PDF selection searching.
Dark Reader
Dark Reader is an open-source browser extension designed to analyze web pages. Dark Reader will generate a dark mode that aims to reduce the eyestrain of the user.
Adblock Plus
Adblock Plus (ABP) is a free and open-source browser extension for content-filtering and ad blocking.
Floating Player
Watch videos in a floating window Picture in Picture (PIP) outside the browser window or on top of any other application. (Suitable for cyberloafing🐶)
infinity New Tab (Pro)
Infinity New Tab (Pro) is an extension developed based on html5, which can replace the browser's start page and new tab page to improve its aesthetics and productivity.
KeePassXC-Browser
Official browser plugin for the KeePassXC password manager，which can automatically pull usernames and passwords from KeePassXC and populate them directly into website fields.
Music Mode for YouTube
Blocks the video keeping only the audio on YouTube and YouTube Music.
Violentmonkey
An open source userscript manager.
macOS
I only use XCode on macOS, thus only a few software are listed here. You can check the following link to find more awesome software.
Awesome Mac
Awesome macOS software
Coding
XCode
Xcode is Apple's IDE for macOS, used to develop software for macOS, iOS, iPadOS, watchOS, tvOS, and visionOS.
Visual Studio Community for Mac
Visual Studio Community for Mac is a full-featured and free IDE for creating modern applications for Android, iOS, macOS, as well as web applications and cloud services.
Visual Studio Code
Microsoft Visual Studio Code is a free, powerful, lightweight code editor for Windows, macOS and Linux.
Sourcetree
Sourcetree is a free Git GUI client for Windows and Mac that offers a visual representation of your repositories.
Mono Framework
Cross platform, open source .NET framework.
iTerm2
iTerm2 is a replacement for Terminal and the successor to iTerm.
The new Edge browser is now built on Chromium and thus can offer the same performance as Google Chrome. You can sync your user profile with the Microsoft account logged in.
Onenote
A free and cross-platform digital notebook developed by Microsoft, allows users to sync notes across devices via OneDrive.
Onedrive
A cross-platform file hosting service operated by Microsoft, with 5 GB of storage space free of charge.
Keka
Keka is a full featured file archiver for macOS
Security
KnockKnock
Malware installs itself persistently, to ensure it is automatically executed each time a computer is restarted. KnockKnock uncovers persistently installed software in order to generically reveal such malware.
LuLu
LuLu is the free, open-source firewall that aims to block unknown outgoing connections, protecting your privacy and your Mac.
Utility
uTools
A free and powerful launcher with a large variety of plugins.
CheatSheet
CheatSheet is a free utility app that lets you see keyboard shortcuts with a press of a button.
MOS
A lightweight tool used to smooth scrolling and set scroll direction independently for your mouse on MacOS.
iGlance
iGlance is a small system monitor that displays current stats about your Mac on the menu bar.
AlDente
MacOS menu bar tool to limit maximum charging percentage.
AppTrap
Uninstall apps by drag-and-drop to the trash on your Mac.
Rectangle
Rectangle is a window management app based on Spectacle, written in Swift.