All the necessary programs. What programs are needed for a computer and laptop?

This set provides a list of the most necessary programs that are perfect for installation on a new laptop or device with a new Windows operating system.

Good antivirus protection

1 The first thing that needs to be installed is, of course, good protection. Without a good antivirus, visiting any pages on the Internet or using third-party applications or devices can lead to your computer becoming infected with dangerous viruses and Trojans. To do this, we suggest you use the new, free antivirus solution 360 Total Security, which you can download from a special page on our website.

Multifunctional browser

2 Next, to visit sites on the Internet, you must have an installed, modern browser. There are quite a lot of applications, but each of them is unique in its own way. If you want to spend your time as efficiently and safely as possible while visiting Internet resources and using various services on the Internet, we recommend that you download and install the free Yandex browser. This program has all the necessary tools for effective and safe work on the Internet.

Good file archiver

3 After which you can install a shareware archiver. Most files on the Internet are distributed in archived form, and in order to extract content from them, a special program is needed. We recommend that you download the very good WinRAR application and install it as your main tool for working with archives. You can find out more about it and download it by clicking on the button below.

Multimedia

4 To play music and watch videos, we recommend that you pay attention to the KMPlayer player and the AIMP player. By downloading and installing the proposed programs for working with multimedia files, you can easily listen to music and watch any video, without the need to additionally install codecs.

Optimization

5 During the use and installation of additional programs on a laptop, various unnecessary information and records accumulate in the system, which load your computer and significantly slow down its operation. For such cases, we recommend downloading a special utility called CCleaner, a program for cleaning and optimizing the system. With this application, you can easily delete all unnecessary entries and junk files that accumulate during active use of the laptop.

Here are 5 essential programs that should be installed on your laptop. If this list does not satisfy your needs, then you can always use our website and select from the list all those applications that you want to download to your computer.

Required programs for windows 10 - 7

Hello Readers of my blog! In this article I will tell you about the most necessary programs for Windows 10 - 7. As you probably remember, Windows is not yet ready for use after installation. In principle, not only Windows 7, but also any 8 8.1 xp is not yet ready for work immediately after installation. Even after installing drivers and security settings, there are practically no useful and necessary programs on board your computer. Windows comes with only a few programs that are useful to the user.

These are several toys, the simplest text editor “Notepad”, an advanced text editor “WordPad”, a calculator, an Internet browser (IE-Internet Explorer), a media player, “Paint” - a program for processing simple graphics, programs for PC and OS maintenance. That’s actually all that our favorite OS is rich in. With Windows 10 things are a little better. Microsoft has moved much further. And it included Skype and a student office kit. By the way, the installed IE and media player are also not ready to work. IE is partially unprepared because it can only view text pages and pictures. But the media player is not ready at all, since it needs codecs to play music and videos. Therefore, it is time to install the necessary programs for Windows. The programs that we will consider in this article, I believe, should be installed on almost every computer running Windows 7 - 10. So let's begin.

The most necessary programs for windows 10 - 7

Archivers

1. The very first thing we must install is ARCHIVERS. On the Internet, all programs are compressed or packaged with some kind of archiver. This allows you to waste less disk space for storing information on servers and transmit packets faster over the Internet. Each PC must have at least one archiver, and preferably two. First WinRar- it works very quickly and supports the ability to unzip a large number of different popular archives. And the most important thing is its own, very specific, highly protected Rar format. No one has yet been able to decrypt the passwords set by this archiver.

Second archiver 7-zip. Perhaps this archiver is even more necessary than the first one. You will need it to unpack archives of the new, quickly gaining popularity, 7z format. The archiver is very fast and provides a high compression ratio. Most of the archives on the Internet that you will have to download are in zip, rar and 7z format.

If you are working with a website and need to create archives in GZIP format, then the 7-zip archiver will provide compression 2-10% better than any other archiver.

These two archivers will help you solve almost any problem of archiving/unarchiving software packages received from the Internet.

Codecs

2. The second most important thing would probably be the installation of codecs for playing audio and video files of a variety of formats, without which not a single audio/video player will work. Of all the great variety of different collections, perhaps the best, most stable and generally recognized is K-Lite Codec Pack. According to the developers, their brainchild supports about 400 audio/video formats. In addition, this package is absolutely free and contains a small but very high-quality player. Therefore, it would be a sin not to use it. Highly recommend. After installing this codec pack, all your audio/video players will play almost all media file formats.

Adobe Flash Player

3. The next important step is installation Adobe Flash Player. This program is necessary for playing media files in browsers (Internet explorers) such as IE, Mozilla Firefox, Opera. It is already built-in in Google Chrome and Yandex browser.

Browsers

4. It will be important to install a whole set of browsers. I recommend installing all the popular ones, these are Google Chrome, Mozilla Firefox, Opera, Yandex. Why so many? Can I get by with IE (Internet Explorer from Microsoft)? No, you can't do it! Any of the suggested browsers are much better than IE. Firstly, they are increasingly faster, more stable, and make it easy to manage add-ons. Why is it necessary to install everything? The point is that they are all different and have different useful features that IE does not have. Secondly, in the event of an unexpected failure of one browser, you always have another at hand.

Google Chrome integrated with Google translator. When loading foreign pages, it can automatically translate them into Russian. Translation is often sufficient to understand the content of the pages. Google Chrome can download many files at the same time.

Mozilla Firefox It’s simply not replaceable for those who create and debug websites. It has a huge number of different useful add-ons that other browsers do not have.

Opera one of the fastest browsers in the world. This is especially noticeable on slow Internet channels, when it uses multi-threaded downloading of pages and files, and additional compression of information on its server using special algorithms.

Yandex browser development from Yandex. Very similar to Google Chrome and compatible with its add-ons. Has some limitations. The latest versions of this browser are very fast. Overall a good browser.

There is a great add-on for all these browsers Neuron Search Tools- this extension provides the ability to simultaneously search for information on the Internet via Google and Yandex, and jointly conveniently display search results. Searching with this application becomes much more efficient. I highly recommend it for use.

File download managers

5. Fast, convenient and reliable downloading of files of any size from the Internet will be provided by the download manager Download Master. The program is free, Russian, and practically in no way inferior to paid foreign analogues. Provides multi-channel, fast downloading, and can resume downloading files after a connection break or power outage.

SaveFrom.net application for all popular browsers. Allows you to download videos from more than 20 Internet resources. Very useful application.

Google Chrome has created many obstacles for this application to work. Now SaveFrom.net installs poorly on Google Chrome, but works great from the Internet. Enjoy it for your health. No problems were found on other browsers.

If you only need YouTube to upload videos, then there is a program for this UmmyVideoDownloader. UmmyVideoDownloader is specially designed for downloading videos from YouTube. Very comfortable and high quality item.

Programs for audio/video communication

6. To communicate on the Internet you need at least Skype. There are a lot of programs for text, audio, video communication, but most people use Skype and it has features that other programs do not have. So we definitely need to install Skype. Surely you will need it.

Text editors and processors

7. We replace the poorly functional text editor from the Windows package with a more functional one AkelPad or even more advanced Notepad++(HIGHLY RECOMMEND). Notepad++ allows you to work with a large number of documents at the same time. It remembers the situation when turned off and restores it automatically the next time it is turned on. Allows you to follow links directly from the edited text. It is simply irreplaceable for programmers, as it recognizes code from more than 20 programming languages ​​and helps check it for errors. Detects errors in words and highlights them. Having such an editor on every PC is simply necessary.

8. To create documents of different formats and automated tables, you will need an advanced text and spreadsheet processor like Win Word And Win Excel from the Microsoft Office package. MS OFFICE contains many more useful programs. For example, an email client, a presentation manager, a slide show... On the Internet you can find advanced packages with many additions.

File managers

9. A file manager will provide you with convenience in working with files Total Commander. It has great functionality. The menu of the vehicle itself, the menu of necessary or frequently used programs, two independent windows. Each window can open an unlimited number of tabs, has its own FTP manager, archiver, file viewer, media player.... In general, EVERYTHING is at your fingertips! An extremely convenient and useful program. I highly recommend it to everyone!

Programs for viewing PDF files

10. Foxit Phantom required for reading documents in PDF format. The program is 10 times smaller than its Adobe Acrobat counterpart, much faster and, in addition, allows you to edit PDF documents. I recommend. The program itself is paid, but it can be found for free on the Zver-DVD disk image. If you don’t need editing functions and don’t want to upload a huge image, then you can use the free analogue Foxit Reader or PDF Reader. There are a lot of programs in this class, but I think this will be enough.

Programs for removing locked files

11. Unlocker will help you unlock and delete locked files and folders that cannot be deleted in other ways. A couple more programs of this class that support the Russian language: LockHunter, IObit Unlocker. If, when trying to uninstall, you often encounter messages like “Uninstallation is impossible”, “Access denied”, “Used by another application”, “You do not have enough rights” and the like, then these programs will definitely help you.

Programs for downloading files from torrent servers

12. UTorrent- a reliable, fast manager for downloading files from torrent servers. A very convenient and reliable program for downloading music, movies, disk images.... Second program MediaGet Quite new, but has approximately the same functionality. Both programs are free.

Image Viewers

13. FastStone Image Viewer- an excellent, free, small, fast, lightweight program for viewing images, has the ability to edit the image file, add labels to the picture, optimizes the image code... Highly recommend!

Quickly search files on your computer

14. Everything is designed to search for files on your computer. Incredibly fast. Displays search results when you press each letter, like hints when searching on the Internet. Highlights the found combination of letters in the names of files and folders. Displays file paths. Very fast and convenient program. Free.

The necessary programs for Windows described above, in my opinion, are the most important and necessary, and are capable of meeting the needs of a wide variety of users. I believe that these programs, or at least similar ones, should be present on every computer.

Less important programs

Programs for capturing images and videos from the screen

15. FastStone Capture- takes screenshots from the monitor screen and captures video. Can record system sound or from a microphone. The program is very small and fast. Has a lot of useful little things. There are quite a lot of programs capable of efficiently performing the operation of capturing video from a monitor screen: Bandicam, HyperCam, ScreenCamera, Techsmith Snagit, UVScreen Camera, VirtualDub. They all have fairly similar functionality.

Programs in this class are all paid. Some of them have demo versions - shareware, severely stripped down with poor functionality, sometimes with inscriptions on the screen that make it difficult to watch the video.

The most important leader in this field is considered to be a highly professional Camtasia Studio. It allows you not only to capture images from the screen, but also to edit the captured videos using various effects.

Text recognition programs

16. If you have a scanner or already scanned documents or images with text, then to convert them into text format you will need a text recognition program. The best of its kind ABBYY FineReader.

Automatic Keyboard Switches

17. For those who write a lot of texts using the Latin and Cyrillic alphabet, this will be an excellent assistant Punto Switcher, which automatically switches the keyboard layout based on the words you type and corrects persistent errors. The program is absolutely free, developed by programmers from the Yandex laboratory.

Audio and video players

18. Music and video lovers will need a player Winamp, which has quite rare codecs in its package and is capable of playing recordings from video recorders and surveillance cameras, and also allows you to turn on several copies of the program at the same time, create playlists, adjust the sound timbre and much more.... Free.

There are a great variety of players: Daum PotPlayer, AIMP, BSPlayer, GOM Media Player, KMPlayer, iTunes, ComboPlayer, Ace Stream Media, VLC Media Player, 1by1, Media Player Classic Home Cinema, Light Alloy, TV Player Classic, QuickTime Alternative. They have a wide variety of functionality. Any user will be able to satisfy all their needs.

Windows Cleaners/Accelerators/Optimizers

19. CCleaner useful for quickly and easily cleaning the system from temporary files, unnecessary registry entries, etc... The program does not have the greatest functionality, but it does the minimum required perfectly. Free. There are a great many similar and more powerful programs: Carambis Cleaner, AVG TuneUp, Wise Care 365, Advanced SystemCare, Glary Utilities, Auslogics BoostSpeed, Kerish Doctor, Advanced System Optimizer, System Mechanic, MAGIX PC Check & Tuning. They all have similar, but still different functionality.

If you are very concerned about the cleanliness and reliability of your Windows, then of course any one package will not be enough for you. So, as always, there are functions in other packages that you don’t have. Even just registry cleaners, everyone checks different parts of the registry and sometimes they find something like this... In general, there is a lot to choose from.

To clean the registry, along with other programs, I recommend using trashreg. This is a very small and specific program. Clears the registry of abandoned keys that many demo programs leave on the system. After such cleaning, you can install demo versions again and use their capabilities.

Recovering deleted files

Required programs for windows 10 - 7 - Power Data Recovery

20. Power Data Recovery is a simple but powerful tool for recovering deleted data. Allows you to restore:

1. deleted files and folders;
2. files from lost/deleted/damaged partition;
3. data from a hard to read CD/DVD;
4. digital media data.

I would say the program is very important, but since not everyone needs it, that’s why it’s in the second section. Here are a couple more high-quality, free representatives of similar programs: Recuva, Pandora Recovery. It must be said that there are products with higher functionality, but they are paid: Hetman Partition Recovery, R-Studio, Wondershare Data Recovery.

Graphic editor

21. Adobe PhotoShop- an unsurpassed raster graphics editor. Simply a necessary tool for creating, changing pictures and adjusting photos. Required programs for windows 10 - 7 - CorelDraw

22. CorelDraw- the best vector graphics processor. Almost irreplaceable in this area. The program is not super necessary, but is necessary for creating scalable vector images.

Programs for creating animation

23. Easi Gif Animator will be needed when creating animated pictures or videos. It has the entire arsenal of functions necessary for this. Free.

Programs for working with disk images

24. Ultra ISO will be needed by those who create images of CD/DVD discs. Works with standard ISO disk image format. Allows you to create and edit simple and bootable disk images. Uses third-party programs to burn discs, such as Burning Rum.

Programs for mounting disk images on a virtual drive

Required programs for windows 10 - 7 - Daemon Tools

25. Daemon Tools Lite allows you to mount a CD/DVD disk image onto a virtual drive, which makes it possible to see how the image will work on a real drive. The program has a fairly wide functionality: Emulation of IDE drives, Emulation of DT and SCSI drives, Mounting disk images, Creating images of physical disks, Converting and editing images, Burning disks with images, data and music. Allows you to simulate a large number of different disk copy protections. Allows you to run disc games not from DVD, but from a hard drive, which makes them work much faster. A very useful utility for gamers and those who do not write images to disks, but keep them on the computer. Free.

Postal managers or clients

Required programs for windows 10 - 7 - The Bet

26. Email clients are perhaps the most important applications in modern human computer life. Most users have several accounts in different email services. To ensure convenient management of all mail flows, mail clients have been created. I will list a dozen well-known, and perhaps the best, of the mass of email clients that are available:

The Bet- a great assistant for those who conduct active Emai correspondence. Allows you to download mail from a huge number of mailboxes and organize it into folders. Has a filter designer and much more.

Ms Outlook included in the Microsoft Office software package. The program is very sophisticated. I would say even too much. But maybe this will all be useful to someone.

Mailbird The program is lightweight, undemanding of resources, easy to use and visually attractive.

eM Client- this email client has all the necessary basic functions.

Inky has a trial version that works for free for 14 days. It has quite extensive capabilities.

Claws Mail A rather complex application is intended for experienced users who are not afraid to configure everything manually.

Zimbra Desktop- free open source email client. Zimbra is a cross-platform solution for Windows, Linux and Mac OS.

TouchMail- a convenient email client for owners of tablets or convertible laptops.

Thunderbird from Mozilla is a unique application. The built-in extension system allows you to increase the functionality of the client using numerous tools created by the Thunderbird community.

Programs for reading DjVu files

Required programs for windows 10 - 7 - DjVu

27. DjVu- This is one of the formats of scanned documents. It is usually used for storing and distributing books, manuscripts, and magazines in which there are many images, diagrams, drawings, and formulas. And also for storing scans of historical documents, when an accurate representation of the shade and texture of the paper is required, the most reliable display of all defects, page folds, manual marks and corrections, fingerprints, ink blots, etc.

You can view such files using the following programs: WinDjView, ICE Book Reader Professional, Evince Document Viewer, DjvuReader.

Programs for recording and processing sound

Required programs for windows 10 -7 - Audacity

28. There are also quite a lot of such programs, but perhaps the best one would be small but powerful Audacity. The program works with a mixer built into a personal computer system, as well as external sound sources. It is designed to record audio files of unlimited size.

Allows already recorded files:

1. clean from interference: hissing, static noise, hum;
2. change volume;
3. cut into pieces and assemble as you please;
4. and also compress.

The program is used to record and process digital files. As well as digitization of obsolete sound media: records and cassettes. In addition to its own AUP format, it supports a number of popular extensions. In addition to professional functionality, it is also free.

All the necessary programs for Windows 7 - 10 that we reviewed in this article are mentioned in the article "". There is one note, however. Programs present on the ZverDVD disk - earlier versions can be installed on an OS of any bit depth. Many programs located on the "Zver 2016.3 Windows 8.1 Pro x64" disk have only a 64-bit version. And accordingly, they will not work on 32-bit operating systems.

Are you new to the computer world and want to learn about useful computer programs? Then we will offer you a list of necessary computer programs, which will include software solutions for certain tasks. Next, we will look at the programs that are necessary to work in the Windows operating system.
The content of the article:

The most necessary programs for your computer

The concept of the most necessary programs for a computer includes programs that are needed for full and comfortable work. The required set of computer programs includes:
Antivirus
Not too long ago we told you about... In our opinion, an antivirus should be one of the first installed on a computer, since it is a program that ensures data security. The best anti-virus solution for a computer today is Kaspersky Anti-Virus.
Office suite
In order to be able to work with office documents: a set of text documents, spreadsheets, databases, etc., you need to install office applications. The most popular office suite is Microsoft Office, which includes a set of all the necessary applications. With Word you can type text documents, with Excel you can create spreadsheets, and Access will help you work with databases. In addition to Microsoft Office, there are other office suites, but they are less functional, but free.
Archiver
The archiver is designed for archiving files for the purpose of compact storage or further sending to electronic media or via the Internet. One of the best archivers is the WinRAR program, which has wide functionality and is also largely free.
Browser
A browser is a program with which you can view Internet pages. The most popular browsers today are Google Chrome and Yandex Browser. These programs, of course, are absolutely free. It is worth noting their convenience, speed, stability and the presence of a large number of useful functions.
Codecs
To be able to view videos of various formats, you need to install the K-Lite Codec Pack. This package is free, so we also definitely recommend downloading it to watch movies in “mkv”, “mov” and many other formats. In addition, the Media Player Classic player is supplied with codecs, which includes a wide range of settings.
Audio player
If you love listening to music, then you will probably have a huge number of songs stored on your computer. To make it convenient for you to listen to music, you need to install an audio player. The most popular programs are Winamp and Aimp.

List of useful computer programs

When we have looked at the most necessary programs, we can now mention useful programs for a home computer.

Free useful programs for your computer

Online messenger
An online messenger is a program that allows you to exchange text messages, emoticons and files with other people via the Internet. The best example of such a program is QIP 2012. In addition to the well-known and popular ICQ protocol, QIP has support for a large number of other protocols, which makes it a universal and functional messenger. A convenient program for chatting with friends online.
Voice and video communication
To experience all the benefits of the Internet, voice and video communication will help you. Surely you have already heard about such a program as Skype. Thanks to it, you can make free voice and video calls to your friends, acquaintances and relatives who also have this program installed.
Automatic keyboard layout switch
Very often, when we type text, we forget to switch the keyboard layout and we end up with “abracadabra”. To prevent this from happening, install the Punto Switcher program. Thanks to it, if you forget to switch the keyboard layout after spelling a word incorrectly, this program will automatically correct it and change the layout. In addition, the program has a number of other very useful functions that will be useful to almost any user.
Graphics editor
While using a computer, sooner or later you will be faced with the need to process an image. For example, cropping an object that accidentally fell into the frame of a photo or making an avatar from a photo. In this and other cases, a graphics editor is used on the computer to work with images. Paint.NET is a good free graphics editor with wide capabilities.
Work withPDF files
A large number of books, instructional brochures, etc. which have been converted into digital form are in PDF format. To read this file format, you must install Adobe Reader.
Virtual disk drive
This type of program is designed to create disk images and launch them virtually. For example, you downloaded a disk image from the Internet on which a program or game is located. In order to open this image file on your computer, you need a virtual drive. The virtual drive virtually opens this image as if it were a real drive and a real disk. The DAEMON Tools Lite program will help you cope with this task.

Torrent client
If you haven’t encountered “torrents” yet, you will definitely encounter them again, and we assure you that more than once. The official client program is uTorrent.
Mail client
Most users work with email through a browser, and not through an email client, as was the case before. This is due to the fact that the modern interface and capabilities of mail systems, as well as the speed of the Internet, allow this to be done directly. Nowadays, email clients are used in most cases to work simultaneously with several mailboxes. For example, if you have several mailboxes on the Internet, then the mail client automatically checks them for new messages and loads them into the program, instantly informing you of incoming messages. Mozilla Thunderbird is the email client we recommend. It includes all the necessary properties that are needed to work with mail.
Notebook
Notepad++ is a professional notepad with a lot of features - some of you will find it quite useful.

Paid useful programs for your computer

In addition to the list of free programs that are necessary to work with a computer, there are also paid ones. Among the paid programs, we recommend installing the following software on your computer.
File manager
A file manager is a program designed to manage files both on a computer and on a remote server. That is, if you often move files on your computer from folder to folder, or often access them, then a file manager will provide you with convenient work. The most famous file manager is Total Commander. Although we included it in the list of paid programs, you can use it without activation by clicking on the desired button when starting the program.
Working with CDs
Quite a lot of programs have been released to provide a wide range of options for recording CD and DVD discs. Of all these programs, it is worth noting the Ashampoo program, which has enormous functionality and a very beautiful interface, but, unfortunately, it is paid. Of the free analogues, we can recommend Nero Mikro.
System utilities
And finally, we want to say a few words about a program like AIDA64, which provides the user with information about the installed components on the computer, perform a stability test, performance test, etc. The program is conditionally paid, since without activation it cuts a large number of its functions, but, nevertheless, those functions that are available in free mode are quite enough to obtain the necessary information about components.

Analogues of system programs

Most of the programs that we described above have analogues that are initially installed with the Windows system. As you understand, the functionality of such programs is, of course, lower than those proposed by us, but, nevertheless, it is worth talking about them.
Text editor
Let's start with a text editor. An alternative, although more of a mini-analog, to Word is WordPad. WordPad has a minimal list of functions with which you can type a text document, visually format it, save it on your computer, and even print it. But the biggest drawback is the lack of spell checking. If this is not categorical for you, then WordPad will replace Word for you, but will not replace other applications from Office.
Archiver
The operating system has a built-in archiver that works exclusively with zip archives; in principle, this will be enough to perform a minimum list of tasks, but to open rar archives and other formats, you will need a separate archiver.
Browser
Windows has its own built-in Internet Explorer browser, but using it to visit WEB resources is not the best option. Yes, IE can be considered as an alternative to other browsers, but only as an alternative, not as a primary browser.
Audio/Video player
Watching videos and listening to music can be done using Windows Media Player, but again, this is an alternative.
Graphics editor
Windows has a very good graphics editor - Paint, it can handle the simplest actions for image processing. In addition, in Paint you can not only process images, but also draw.
Notebook
In order to make a few notes, Notepad, included in the package of standard Windows programs, is quite suitable.
Burning discs
Recording and erasing disks can also be done through the system explorer, but it will not cope with more serious recording tasks.
You can tell us about the list of programs you use in the comments, sharing your experience with beginners.

Modern operating systems include a huge complex of software. Despite this, additional applications must be installed to fully use your computer. In addition, it is necessary to install software on the PC aimed at maintaining and optimizing the operating system for its correct and uninterrupted functioning. This article describes only the programs you need. After reinstalling Windows 7, they should be installed first. Installation of the described utilities is required if they or their analogues are not already on your system.

Archiver

A large number of programs are supplied in RAR and ZIP formats, so the first thing you should do after installing the OS and drivers is install the archiver. The undisputed leader among such programs is Winrar. The application will require the purchase of a license.

If it is not possible to pay for the necessary programs for Windows 7, the best choice among archivers would be 7-zip. The utility can work with a large number of formats. File operations can be performed by drag and drop. The only drawback of the utility is the interface. Users who are accustomed to commercial products will find it unfinished and inconvenient.

Codec set

What programs are needed for Windows 7 if the computer will be used as a multi-purpose platform or multimedia center? In this case, installation of codecs is required. The fact is that today there are a huge number of multimedia file formats. The operating system after installation can work with a minimum of them.

By installing a set of codecs, the user will be confident that 90% of video and audio files will open in any player. The most popular package is K-Lite Codec Pack. The distribution includes not only codecs, but also a convenient player.

Internet browser

After installing the OS, it already has the Internet Explorer Internet browser, but in terms of convenience and security, this program cannot be compared with industry leaders. That's why the programs you need for Windows 7 include a third-party browser. Today the best products are Google Chrome, Mozilla Firefox, Opera.

Do not install the Amigo browser under any circumstances. In addition to its components, it installs advertising modules. If browsers from foreign manufacturers are not suitable, it is better to opt for a product from Yandex. Yandex Browser is based on Chrome, but includes components from a domestic developer that make working on the Runet more comfortable.

Adobe Reader

When describing the necessary programs for Windows 7, one cannot ignore utilities for reading PDF files. An alternative to Adobe Reader is Foxit Reader. The last solution is less popular, but copes with its functions no worse than the leader.

A large number of instructions and manuals are supplied in PDF format. They will allow inexperienced users to explore the functionality of applications. If you have difficulties choosing a driver or connecting equipment, the instructions for the devices will help in solving problems.

CCleaner

During the operation of the OS, a large number of unnecessary files accumulate on the hard drive: browser cache, temporary files, image thumbnails, incorrect registry keys. In order for your PC to work stably, you should regularly remove junk. It is difficult to perform this procedure manually, which is why you need to install CCleaner.

The application is absolutely free. The interface has been translated into Russian. After installation, the program adds itself to startup and enables system monitoring. When the computer needs cleaning, the utility will notify the user about this with a pop-up message.

Auslogics Disk Defrag

Defragmentation applications are also necessary programs for your computer. Windows 7 includes applications for HDD defragmentation, but the speed and quality of third-party products is a level higher. Auslogics Disk Defrag is distributed free of charge. It can defragment all popular file systems. Before you start optimizing your disk, it is recommended to clean up the garbage. The utility's interface is simple, so even inexperienced users will not have any difficulties in using it.

The program contains a scheduler for delayed launch of HDD optimization. The application may automatically shut down your computer after defragmentation is complete. The program also has a service that monitors the status of the hard drive and performs optimization when the PC is idle.

Antivirus

The necessary programs for Windows 7 that must be installed first are antiviruses. Malware is constantly evolving. Today it is impossible to guarantee stable operation of the OS without installing anti-virus software.

You need to choose an antivirus from well-known manufacturers. The leaders in the segment are NOD, Dr. Web, Kaspersky Internet Security. If commercial products are not suitable, you should pay attention to Avast, AVG, Comodo.

If earlier computers were something inaccessible to the average person and were used by a few, now no one will be surprised by stationary computer systems, laptops or mobile devices, which can also be classified as computers. There are tens of thousands of manufacturers, numbering in the hundreds, but each of them contains mandatory and necessary programs for a computer. Let's try to briefly describe what is needed for the normal functioning of any computer system.

Programs required for computer operation

If we talk about the most necessary software, first of all, you need an operating system. We will start from the fact that it is already installed.

What is the necessary set of programs for a computer? It can be roughly divided into several main categories: device drivers, software packages for system protection (antiviruses), utilities for operating the OS, applications for working with office documents, programs that provide full Internet access, archivers, packages for improving the quality of video playback or audio, as well as specialized software responsible for the advanced capabilities of computer systems.

Windows OS programs

So, let's look at the simplest computer programs. The list of Windows operating systems, unfortunately, does not meet all the requirements of modern systems. The fact is that after installing the operating system itself, it contains a minimal set, mostly focused on the use of system utilities.

In fact, it is of no interest to the average user. However, you can find something here. This applies to Windows. But, depending on the version of the operating system itself and the hardware, not all devices may have appropriate drivers. As is already clear, the consequence is partial or complete inoperability of one or another component. That is why correct installation of the required driver is one of the priority tasks for any system.

Drivers

What programs are necessary for a computer from this point of view? First of all, a “native” utility called DirectX. It was missing in earlier versions and had to be installed manually. Now DirectX is included in the standard set of Windows OS.

It is worth noting that this is a universal utility not only for diagnosing basic hardware or some software components. DirectX is also a program for setting up a computer and a tool for finding out the versions of device drivers. With its help, you can determine whether it is worth installing a new driver, and in general, whether it is available in the system itself.

Installing missing drivers

To do this, you can use standard Windows features. For example, "Device Manager" in Control Panel. All devices with missing or incorrectly installed drivers are marked in yellow. Using the Properties menu on the tabs, you can find buttons for installing, updating and uninstalling the driver, as well as disabling the device itself.

For example, when it is disabled, the system will display a message indicating that a new device has been detected and will offer to install the appropriate software from its own distribution. This doesn't always help. If the installation fails, you will have to install the driver from the original disk, any removable media, or from the Internet if the network connection is active.

Minimum list of required programs for a computer in Windows

As already mentioned, in the Windows OS itself the list of programs is very limited. Therefore, it is extremely difficult for the average user to work with what is available immediately after installing the operating system, because many of the tools that are so necessary for work are simply not available. Let's look at the most basic ones. Applications can be found using the sequence “Menu” / “All Programs” / “Accessories”.

The installed utilities will be listed here, as well as the “System” folder, which contains the necessary programs for the computer that are responsible for diagnostics, maintenance, administration and system recovery.

Standard programs

As for the average user, from the entire proposed list (say, in Windows 7), at best, he may need only four applets: Paint, Explorer, Notepad and WordPad.

However, it is worth considering that the Word document viewer also has extremely limited capabilities not only for editing the corresponding files. These applications are also not able to recognize some other formats. That is why it is worth installing additional software that can work with other types of files.

In addition, the Start menu itself contains utilities such as Internet Explorer for working on the World Wide Web and Outlook Express for simple operations with email.

Utilities

Among the utilities included in the standard Windows set, three components are worth mentioning. The most necessary programs for a computer (not counting the others) are presented here as follows: “System Restore”, “Disk Cleanup” and “Disk Defragmenter”.

The first utility is responsible, as is already clear, for restoring the system to an earlier operational state (checkpoint). The second ensures the removal of unnecessary or unused files and folders from the hard drive. The third allows you to defragment, moving frequently called programs, files and directories to the fastest areas of the hard drive, which significantly speeds up access to them.

Microsoft Office

When talking about what the necessary programs for a computer are, one cannot fail to mention such a well-known software package as Microsoft Office. You can't go anywhere without him today.

The applications included in this package allow you to work with almost all the main types of standard documents known today, not counting some specific formats. Let's highlight the most basic programs:

Microsoft Word - text editor with advanced capabilities;

Microsoft Excel - table and tabular data editor;

Microsoft Power Point - presentation creation system;

Microsoft Access - a tool for working with databases;

Microsoft Outlook is an email application with a wide range of functionality.

Of course, there is a lot more, but it is unlikely that an inexperienced user will use absolutely all the programs presented in the standard office suite.

Antiviruses

Now let's move on to the cornerstone. Anti-virus protection has become an integral part of any system. It is no secret that there are now a huge number of viruses, as they say, for every taste. Here you have viruses, the action of which disables the system, and OS and password crackers to gain access to confidential information, and Trojan horses, and computer worms, and keyloggers, etc. It’s simply impossible to list everything. Therefore, to be completely confident in their security, every user should use anti-virus packages with the latest databases. It is better if the virus signature databases are updated automatically. But this depends only on the developer and

It is clear that you can find a lot of packages in this list. There are certain choices to be made here. For example, not every free program has enough capabilities and means to prevent virus attacks, or on the other hand, paid applications are not affordable for everyone. Here you can install trial versions, renew keys (like NOD applications), or use “hacked” utilities, although this is illegal. You will have to decide for yourself which package to choose. It is worth paying attention to the fact that professional software products such as Kaspersky, although they provide maximum protection, nevertheless use the computer’s system resources to a very high extent.

However, in any case, such a program for the computer system in terms of protection is mandatory to install.

System Maintenance

In terms of services, optimization and speedup, Windows doesn't have a lot of tools. In this case, it is better to install third-party utilities such as TuneUp Utilities, Ashampoo WinOptimizer, Advanced System Care and others. Such packages can optimize the system in 1-Click Maintenance and offer many additional modules.

In fact, any of these applications is a program for setting up a computer in terms of its system part. In some cases, it is worth installing special applications that are responsible for devices or correct removal of unused ones. However, in most cases they are paid. In general, you can install such packages only at your own peril and risk. Therefore, there is no need to do much experimentation.

Internet

Many people dislike Windows' native Internet tool (Internet Explorer). And there is a reason for it. We won't go into technical details. At the very least, this browser seems too slow and awkward to use. That's why it is also jokingly called a tool to find and download Opera.

However, you can now find a lot of browser systems. These are, say, Opera, Google Chrome, Mozilla Firefox, Safari, Yandex Browser, etc. The list can be continued almost indefinitely. Here you just need to test each application to choose the best option for yourself.

Don’t forget about specialized downloaders that can speed up file downloads. This can be anything: from ordinary “Download Wizards” and programs from to practically illegal programs that work with torrent trackers.

Archivers

The archiver application is an integral part of the system, especially when the user actively uses the Internet, downloads applications, installs new ones from removable media, etc. It is no secret that any programs for installation on a computer are supplied in the form of a Setup installation file (sometimes with additional information files, less often in the form of dynamic libraries connected to work through hosts such as DX, VST, RTAS, AAX, etc.). But, as a rule, such files take up a lot of space. In order to save disk space, they are packed into special archives that are smaller in size.

It is precisely archivers that allow you to extract all data from files of this type. The most famous ones here are WinRAR, WinZIP, 7-ZIP, etc. But here, as with browsers, it is better to immediately study all the capabilities of the application, and only then use it for everyday tasks.

Connecting tablets and smartphones

As for connecting mobile gadgets, which have recently gained incredible popularity, here you can use the “native” utilities that come with your smartphone or tablet. For example, for Apple devices it is iTunes, for Samsung gadgets it is programs like Samsung Kies, etc.

If the software is not included in the package, you can find universal utilities on the Internet that allow you to work on a computer terminal or laptop with a specific device via a USB connection or Bluetooth.

Multimedia

It is impossible not to say a few words about audio and video playback. The problem here is that the system does not always have special codecs and decoders that are responsible for correct work with files of these types. Audio and video encoding and decoding technologies do not stand still. So it is better to install the latest package containing all the tools. The simplest option may be the K-Lite Codec Pack software product. This, as they say, is a universal remedy for all occasions.

However, when setting parameters in a task, you need to select all components. Perhaps some of them will not be needed, but it is not worth the risk. You never know what situations may arise.

Conclusion

It is important to understand that this article provides only a brief overview of the programs and applications that are necessary to operate your computer or use its advanced capabilities. However, it is worth noting that this is a basic functional set that no modern user can do without. Naturally, there are still a huge number of tools that allow you not only to expand the functional base, but also to gain some convenience when working. However, as is already clear, it is simply impossible to describe them all.

The only thing that can be noted is the desirable installation of means for partitioning the hard drive into logical partitions. After all, if the system crashes, the information stored in the virtual partitions will remain unchanged. And after restoring the system, you will be able to use the saved data as if nothing had happened.