Getting a new computer is always exciting. You have a shiny new machine with a much faster processor and maybe even a powerful GPU for all your latest games. It's enthralling using a new PC for the first time, but as much as we loveWindows 11, we know the experience isn't perfect out of the box.
Thankfully, the ecosystem of apps on Windows is pretty much never-ending, so there are plenty of ways to make that experience better. Here are ten apps you should check out if you want your shiny new PC to be even more useful to you.
10 HWiNFO
Monitor your PC's performance
This one may not be for everyone, but if you're pushing your PC hard, it's a good idea to have it handy. HWiNFO, as the name suggests, lets you see detailed information about the PC you have. You can learn all about the CPU and its underlying technologies, along with the GPU and other components.
How to check CPU temperature in Windows 11
CPU temperature is a crucial indicator of your PC health and CPU performance
Most notably, though, HWiNFO also gives you insights into how that hardware is being used, so you can see usage percentages for each core on your CPU, as well as for the GPU, and you can even check the temperature of each component and whether it's thermal throttling. This can be crucial for identifying key points on your PC that may be causing it to perform below expectations, and just to help you maintain the overall health of the system in the long term.
HWiNFO
9 O&O AppBuster
Get rid of all that bloat
Microsoft bundles a lot of apps with Windows 11, on top of a bunch of shortcuts that appear on the Start Menu by default. Plus, if you've bought a laptop, there are probably many more apps you don't need included.
To get rid of all that trash more easily, O&O's AppBuster is a great solution. This tool offers a way to remove multiple apps that come with Windows 11, including modern apps and even some that are hidden from normal install methods. There isn't much more to it, but being able to delete these apps you don't need is a great way to save some space and resources on your machine and help it run faster.
O&O AppBuster
8 ClickMonitorDDC
Making external monitors better
Windows has a frustrating limitation where you can't change the brightness of an external monitor using the built-in slider, so you usually have to install a dedicated app from the monitor manufacturer or use the navigation on the monitor itself to change those settings, which gets very cumbersome.
ClickMonitorDDC is a fantastic solution for this, as it gives you the ability to change the brightness, contrast, and other monitor settings directly within Windows 11, while also being a very lightweight app that takes up almost no space on your PC. Plus, if your monitor has speakers, the app can change your monitor's volume setting, too.
There are other apps with similar features, such as Twinkle Tray, but the reason I picked ClickMonitorDDC is that it also lets you create shortcuts using your keyboard and mouse to change monitor settings. For example, if you scroll the mouse wheel while holding down certain keys, you can instantly adjust the brightness to your desired level without having to open any specific UI. It's really convenient.
ClickMonitorDDC
7 Equalizer APO
Make everything sound better
Everyone has different tastes when it comes to listening to music, watching movies, or even listening to in-game audio. Speakers also have differences in responsiveness and range, so customizing the sound profile is important. Equalizer APO is an app that can do exactly that.
With Equalizer APO, you can apply a virtually unlimited number of filters to your audio outputs, so you can hear things the way you prefer, as well as apply incredibly detailed equalizer settings to change how each part of the sound spectrum sounds. It's a more advanced tool than most people need, but if you want an audio experience tailored to your specific tastes, this is the way to do it.
Equalizer APO
6 Vivaldi (or other browsers)
Ignore Edge
Let's be honest, Microsoft Edge is actually a solid browser, but the company has been cramming all kinds of useless features into it. If you want a fantastic browser, you're going to have to find it online, and while many options are great for different things, my recommendation is Vivaldi.
Vivaldi is one of the lesser-known options, but it offers a ton of features that are actually useful and turn the browser into a productivity tool to the point where you might not need a lot of other apps. The browser itself has cool features like a split view allowing you to view as many sites as you want at a time without having to open multiple windows and organize them. But it also serves as an e-mail client, RSS feed reader, calendar, task list, notes app, and more. The sidebar interface makes it easy to use all these features without leaving your current page, and you can even add full websites to the sidebar.
Because it's based on Chromium, all Chrome extensions work here, too, and if you want customization, Vivaldi also has in-depth customization options like no other browser, letting you remove, arrange, and personalize buttons to your heart's content.
5 Beeper
One messaging app to rule them all
Normally, I wouldn't necessarily recommend a social app as something everyone needs to install, but Beeper is special. You've probably heard about it before, but it's a service that brings together all major messaging services into one app with a unified, cohesive user interface. That includes Discord, Facebook Messenger, Instagram and Twitter DMs, WhatsApp, and more.
There have been "all-in-one" apps in the past, but they're usually just a wrapper for each service's web client. Not here. This gives you a proper user interface that looks great for every service, you get fully-functioning notifications, and you have options like marking conversations as low priority or archiving them. These options even sync with the original services in some cases, so chats I had muted in WhatsApp were marked as low priority automatically in Beeper.
Until recently, Beeper had a waitlist, but now, anyone can join, and I frankly can't stop singing its praises.
Beeper
4 UniGetUI
Install and update all your apps in one place
Installing all your apps after setting up a PC can be a hassle, and keeping them all up to date is just as cumbersome. That's where package managers come in, and UniGetUI is arguably the best one out there.
UniGetUI isn't just one package manager, it's a unifying interface that brings together multiple package managers, including Winget, Chocolatey, and options for Scoop, the Node Package Manager (npm), pip, and more. You can search for packages on all these different package managers and install them all using the same UI. you can also easily keep them up to date with automatic update checks and notifications, and there's even a widget for Windows 11 to track updates in a ore convenient way.
What's more UniGetUI can back up your apps into a bundle file, which you can save and use to quickly set up another PC much more quickly. It's an amazing app to have on any computer.
Image credit: UniGetUI UniGetUI
3 Auto Dark Mode
This feature should just be built into Windows
Auto Dark Mode is an app that frankly shouldn't exist, and that's because what it does should just be a built-in feature in Windows. This app does something simple: it automatically enables or disables dark mode based on the time, and you have a few options for it.
One option is to tie dark mode into the night light feature in Windows, which automatically kicks in at sunset and turns off at sunrise. You can also make it follow the sunset and sunrise at your specific location separately from night light, in case you don't use that feature, or set custom hours for dark mode to be enabled. On top of that, you can make it so your wallpaper, accent color, and mouse cursor all change when dark mode is enabled. It's really handy and it's honestly baffling Windows doesn't have something like this built in yet.
Auto Dark Mode
2 Flow Launcher
Who needs the Start menu?
Flow Launcher is an incredibly simple concept for an app, but the productivity boost it provides is fantastic. Essentially, this is a search bar for the files and apps on your PC, and you can bring it up at any time using a keyboard shortcut of your choosing. It's much more responsive than Windows Search, so it's a much faster way to launch apps on your PC compared to the Start menu or the official search method.
But what makes Flow launcher truly fantastic is the extension platform, which adds so many more capabilities. You can use Flow Launcher to open bookmarks from your browser, search the web using the browser you want instead of Edge, search for YouTube videos, or open a specific section of the Settings app. There's so much here, and the ecosystem of extensions is always growing. It's a speedy app, too, and since it's all keyboard based, you can boost your productivity that much more.
Flow Launcher can almost entirely replace the Start menu, and that's no easy feat.
Flow Launcher
1 PowerToys
The best productivity tool for Windows 11
This may come as a surprise, but the best tool to make Windows 11 better is actually made by Microsoft itself, at least in my opinion. PowerToys isn't just one tool, though, it's a whole suite of tools that can enhance your workflow in different ways.
There are over 25 tools in PowerToys right now, and more get added every so often. My absolute favorite has to be FancyZones, which makes it super easy to manage multiple windows on very large or ultrawide monitors, so you can see a lot more content side-by-side. It's so easy to create custom layouts and snap your windows into them that it makes Windows 11 itself feel rudimentary. But that's not all. There are a ton more tools, like one that pins any window above all others, one that makes it easy to rename files in bulk, or one that can resize multiple images to a specific size.
There's so much you can do with PowerToys that it would be impossible to dive into all of it, so you really need to check it out.
Make your Windows experience the best it can be
What apps are essential for anyone to use can vary from person to person, but the apps on this list are beneficial to just about anyone, and they can enhance Windows 11 in great ways. We recommend checking them all out to see how they can make your life better. For me, apps like PowerToys, Beeper, and Vivaldi are indispensable now, but you might find your own favorites here.
