Recently, I have suggested my favorite apps which I install first on a new Windows computer. We covered four applications in the first article and these in the second; Microsoft365, Google Drive, and LibreOffice as the top three possible choices for a great production suite. They counted as #5 as you only need one and they are all excellent. And I ended last time with Thunderbird for an email client, #6, and VLC for your best viewing and listening experience as #7.
Today we move on to #8, which some may choose to use and some may not. But since Covid struck, many people started and continued to use communications and meeting software. Meeting software is not just for business any longer either. Again, since Covid, families all over the world use different applications for meeting “face-to-face” via the internet. With your phones you may use Android apps or with an iPhone it is FaceTime. With a PC there are many choices. Google Meet, Teams.com from Microsoft, Zoom.us, and many others. I have used the most popular and some of the “B” team. However, at this point in time, I would recommend Zoom as my number one choice. Believe me, I have used many others, and it is still my choice; although many of the others are good. Another one that I do not use and have never recommended is Skype.com, another one owned by Microsoft. However, I imagine Skype will be replaced by Teams, which is a much better platform. Whichever one you use, enjoy it. My wife and I use it to talk to relatives that live over a thousand miles away. Of course, on a computer or tablet it is better, but on your phone, it is pretty slick too.
Number 9 on the list is a great app I first wrote about four years ago, PatchMyPC (patchmypc.com). It has only improved over time. PatchMyPC does updates on many applications that you have installed on your computer. It is like running Windows Updates on your PC, but for individual programs and not only the operating system. It is very helpful in keeping your applications secure, and working at top efficiency with all their improvements. I run it every few days as it only takes a minute or less to evaluate your applications and then provided updates. It is free for home users, so another plus! It does not get every application as there are millions of them; however, out of the 50-60 applications running on my computer, it only misses three. I would advise you to use it to keep most everything up to date.
The final one in my list of 10 is “Your Phone” which is another Microsoft product. (Just recently, since I wrote this, the name changed to “Phone Link“, thanks MS.) I gave you detail this past summer in a previous article. But this one goes on my computer at the beginning of setting up a new computer. It gives you the ability to text through your smartphone as if you were using your phone. You can send and receive texts, run apps that are on your phone, view and edit photos on your phone, etc. all from your computer screen. It really is a help. For me, while working on my computer, I will see someone text me on the monitor and text them back if I choose to. I can also only up my phone on my computer as if it is in my hand. I can run programs on my phone, again from my PC, if needed. This is a very helpful tool for me.
