These are heavy hitters apps for every Windows device, which when absent, make the Windows experience worse.
If you’ve been a Windows user for a while, things can be . frustrating, to put it mildly. First, Microsoft released Windows 11, which felt like a half-baked beta product choked by unwanted AI features and a bad UI. If that wasn’t enough, it sent Windows 10 to an early graveyard on Oct. 14, 2025 — leaving literally hundreds of millions of PCs vulnerable and transforming them all into e-waste in one fell, arbitrary swoop of hardware requirements. Provided you haven’t thrown up your hands and moved to Linux instead of Windows 11, there’s one thing that can always make the situation better: good, free software.
I’ve covered a lot of Windows apps for all different needs at SlashGear. Here are five free apps you should install as soon as you upgrade to Windows 11, and five that make it easier to leave Windows 10. The vast software ecosystem on Windows is one of the reasons people stick around despite Microsoft’s shenanigans. This time, however, we’re looking at the heavy hitters essential to every Windows device. These apps, when absent, make the Windows experience objectively worse. The following are my « ride-or-die » apps, as it were, and, maybe, they’ll become yours as well.Joplin
Frustrated with the best note-taking apps out there these days? You’re not alone. Notion is beautiful, but its notes don’t save automatically offline. Apple Notes is minimalistic and straightforward, but Apple-only. Obsidian is an awesome second brain, but the built-in syncing costs $4 a month. You get the idea. Joplin is, in my view, the best cross-platform note-taking app — and the best notes app on Windows — because it does virtually everything right.
Joplin is 100% free to use, open-source, and powerful, supporting any number of formatting options, attachments, and some notes collaboration. It’s got a built-in web clipper, plug-ins, custom themes (for the app and the editors), and support for Markdown as well. It uses end-to-end encryption to keep your notes safe (surprisingly uncommon for notes apps) and it works on all major platforms. Perhaps best of all is that Joplin is built to sync itself with your cloud service of choice. So if you’re already paying for Dropbox or OneDrive, Joplin will put the notes folder there so you can open files seamlessly on other devices — and enjoy the security of your chosen cloud provider.
Joplin does have a paid syncing plan, but it’s not obligatory and allows you to self-host instead if you prefer. The only real downside I can think of with Joplin is that note syncing is not instant; syncing happens at automatic 5-minute intervals, so you’ll have to get into the habit of clicking the synchronization button more frequently if you find yourself jumping between Windows and other instances of the app. Thankfully, Joplin has a pretty good system for catching and fixing conflicting copies.Ente Auth
You should always enable two-factor authentication for your accounts, period.
