5 Free Windows Apps You’ve Probably Never Used (But Should) – BGR

Being one of the most popular desktop operating systems, Windows has access to a wide selection of apps. Some of these apps are available via the bundled Microsoft Store; however, others are scattered across developers’ own websites, Git repository hosting services like GitHub, and third-party software repositories. This makes it slightly tricky to discover or stumble upon cool and interesting Windows apps.

However, across our multiple roundups, such as essential Windows apps, and apps to install first on a PC, we have tried to highlight some of the best from the world of Windows. But we have barely scratched the surface of the Windows app ecosystem. So, here are five more Windows apps that have likely flown under your radar, but are great for boosting productivity and enhancing the overall experience of using Windows. More importantly, all our recommendations are available as free downloads, so you don’t have to worry about spending a dime.

Although Windows 11 natively includes support for per-app volume control and output device selection, it’s not the most seamless experience, and often requires multiple clicks. This has resulted in the development of EarTrumpet, a free and open-source application that makes it easy to control and manage the audio settings of your PC without needing to rely on Microsoft’s solution.

EarTrumpet has several features, including support for per-app volume control, easy sound output switching, and audio routing to different devices. You can even set up hotkeys to quickly trigger the app and some of its major components, such as changing the default audio device. The app also has a modern design and supports dark mode. Most importantly, you can download EarTrumpet directly from the Microsoft Store, resulting in seamless and trusted app updates. So, if you’re someone who has to right-click on that volume button in the system tray more than you would like, EarTrumpet is certainly worth considering.

We all often copy and paste content on our PCs, and while we can get a basic history of our clipboard contents by default on Windows 11, Ditto Clipboard is a free utility that significantly enhances the clipboard experience by adding several new features and improving the others. Unlike the native clipboard, which is limited to 24 items, Ditto can be configured to hold hundreds to thousands of items. It also supports search, making it easier to find the stored clipboard items, something you can’t do natively on Windows.

Among other highlights, Ditto keeps your clipboard items as long as you want, supports pinning and grouping items, and syncing across multiple PCs on the same network. It also supports everything Windows can copy, including text, images, code snippets, and more. Moreover, you can view thumbnails of copied images in Ditto Clipboard history. Like EarTrumpet, Ditto Clipboard can be downloaded via the Microsoft Store for easy and secure access.

As mentioned, Windows software is scattered across websites and app repositories. However, you can centralize your app installation and update workflow by installing UniGetUI, a universal app manager that comes with an easy-to-use graphical interface and gives you access to the vast app repositories that are otherwise accessible only via the command line, such as Winget, Scoop, Chocolatey, Pip, Npm, and .NET Tool.

UniGetUI supports download, installation, updates, and uninstallation for any of the apps available via the supported package managers. You can even update apps that you installed from other sources via UniGetUI as long as the app is available via one of the above package managers. You can also bulk install, update, or uninstall programs. Moreover, you can create a list of your selected packages that you can use for quick installation on other machines or restore on the same PC if needed. Like most of our other recommendations, UniGetUI is available for free via the Microsoft Store.

With frequent downloads, app installations, system backups, and more, things can quickly balloon up and fill your PC’s storage, and after a certain point, it can be tricky to figure out just what is eating up all your storage. Apart from frequent low-disk-space warnings, a full drive can become fragmented and lead to a shorter lifespan. This is where WizTree comes into play. It’s a powerful Windows utility that can help you analyze your storage drive and identify which files and folders are hogging the most space. You can then use those learnings to delete any unnecessary data and reclaim drive space.

One of the biggest positives of WizTree is its speed; it’s significantly faster than the competition and can crawl through terabytes of data within seconds. It can also show all your data in a visual tree map, find duplicate files, locate space hogs on File Explorer, and supports not just internal storage but also external and network drives. WizTree is available as a free download for personal use via the company website.

If you’re someone who likes to store their music locally on their PC, MusicBee is a must-have. It’s widely considered one of the best free music managers and players for Windows, especially if you have a large local library. It treats your collection as a music database rather than a selection of files, and can help you organize it with automatic seeding of tags, artwork, and lyrics. You can also use its organization capabilities to rename and move music files automatically based on tags.

It can also play the majority of audio file formats, has support for advanced audio interfaces, such as WASAPI and ASIO, for leveraging high-end audio cards, and includes 10-band and 15-band equalizers. Moreover, there is support for plugins to extend its functionality and for skins to customize the player’s look and feel. Finally, you can use MusicBee to sync or convert files as needed to make them playable on other devices. MusicBee is available as a free download via the company’s website and Microsoft Store.