Downloads
These are files that I typically install while working on Windows machines. These are almost all free (although they may take donations; if you like the software enough it doesn't hurt to toss a few bucks towards the developer) so no worries along those lines. The links all lead to the closest I can get on the vendor's website.
- Synology Drive Client - Software to sync folders with a Synology NAS
- SumatraPDF - A no frills PDF, epub, etc viewer
- pCloud - The cloud storage provider that I've finally settled on
- IrfanView - View nearly any graphic format for pictures (don't forget to grab the Irfanview plug-ins for additional support)
- FreeCommander XE - File Manager with many more options that the regular file manager that comes with Windows
- VeraCrypt - Create an encrypted drive and protect your files
- Sysinternals - All sorts of handy utilities
- Notepad++ - Freeware text editor; much better than just notepad
- Remote Utilities (Agent) for remote utilities support
- WaterFox - Based on Firefox but even more privacy focused. (add-ons I always install are Ublock Origin, Bitwarden, Auto Tab Discard (if you have a lot of tabs open at one time), ClearURLs, DuckDuckGo Privacy Essentials, and Pay by Privacy)
- Bitwarden (browser extension or desktop) - Password vault - don't leave home without one
- WinSCP - Nice tool for copying files between machines - either by FTP, SCP, WebDAV, SFTP, and more
- Malwarebytes Free - Malware remover
- ImgBurn - Software to write data to optical disks
- WizTreeFree - I used to use WinDirStat until I recently ran across this. Much faster results
- File Locator Lite - Need to find some text inside of a file which you don't know the name of? Use this.
- Everything - very fast file finder
- VLC - Video/Music player that handles all formats
- 7-Zip - the file compressor that handles all the rest
- Greenshot - Straight forward screenshot tool
- ShareX - Screenshot on steroids
- HWInfo - Gather hardware info for your Windows machine
- Webroot (free trial) - There's nothing that's free to download without registering so if the built-in Windows Defender isn't enough for you this would be the next likely candidate (at least in my opinion)
- PDF XChange Editor - A nice, reasonably priced PDF editor
- LibreOffice - Why pay for MS Office when there's a free version that's almost identical?
- InControl - Small app to prevent Windows 10 from trying to force you to go to Windows 11
There was a interview that the Minnesota Historical Society did with Michael Pindegayosh (Grampa) in 2006; here's the transcript and the audio files from it.