How-To Geek

We all have apps we have to install on Windows—without them, the OS just feels lacking or incomplete. While some of these are paid or freemium apps like Photoshop and Notion, many are completely free and sometimes more powerful than their premium alternatives. Here are three such free apps I consider must-haves on every Windows installation. In fact, two of these are actually made by Microsoft and should've just been included by default.

We all have apps we just have to install on Windows—without them, the OS just feels lacking or incomplete. While some of these apps are proprietary, like Steam or Photoshop, many are free and open source (FOSS), meaning Microsoft could include them with the OS without having to worry about licensing issues. Here are three such FOSS apps I consider must-haves on every Windows installation—two of which are actually made by Microsoft—that should’ve been included by default.

Samsung Galaxy phones are some of the best around, with endless customization options and packed with underrated features. Unfortunately, many of those aren't enabled by default and go unnoticed. It's easy to overlook the best Galaxy phone features, including one that I use every single day.

Though new appliances often boast of “smart” features, the execution is often disappointing. The truth is that you can bring actually useful smart features to your trusty old appliances with some cheap upgrades and a few minutes of your time.

I'm not a fan of renting your router from your ISP, but I'm also not a fan of advising people to waste their money. If you already have your own router and you're unhappy with your Wi-Fi, you might be tempted to buy one of these useless networking upgrades, but I'm here to say: wait a bit. You may be able to fix the problem without spending a penny instead.

It's a sad fact of life that, when it comes to tech, things often get worse rather than better. Google Search used to be good and is now horrific, streaming services used to be simple and are now horribly fragmented, and printers have become actively hostile. Google's and Amazon's smart speakers are no different, but thankfully there is an alternative that bucks the trend.

Christopher Nolan is a tier above the rest. Few filmmakers wield more power and influence in today's Hollywood than Nolan. His name alone can sell a movie. A "Christopher Nolan movie" is now an event, and his latest offering, The Odyssey, will be one of 2026's lasting memories.

Windows 11 is fairly customizable even without reaching for external solutions. It's just that Microsoft scattered many of its customization options all over the place instead of keeping them together in the Personalization tab. You can find some in other sections of Windows Settings, some are hidden away in places you have to go out of your way to access, and others can only be enabled via PowerShell.

The solar revolution is in full swing, and for good reason. Making free energy while the sun shines is good for you and good for the planet, and a home battery system seems like the next logical step.

Excel's SUMIF and SUMIFS functions both let you add up values that match criteria you specify. The problem is that many people treat them as separate tools: SUMIF for one condition, SUMIFS for multiple conditions.

HP's OmniBook 3 might not pack the latest-and-greatest processor, but it still delivers solid performance for the price. I was actually quite impressed by the IPS display and performance of this mid-range laptop, and I think you will be, too.

Not every week can be a banger of new material on HBO Max, but that's OK. When your back catalog includes some of the best series ever out on television, a quiet week is just an invite to crack open the vault.

Linux isn't really just one operating system. It's the bones of an operating system, in the form of the Linux kernel, but everything beyond that is up for debate.

Android Auto is all about convenience, and for a long time, that's all I cared about. Google Maps and Waze work well enough that it's easy to ignore what they're doing in the background, right up until you look at the actual data categories they pull from your device. Once you see that list, going back to treating them like neutral tools gets a lot harder to do.

Finding a three-row SUV that fits both your family and your budget has become increasingly difficult. Many of the most popular options now start well into the $40,000 range, and adding a hybrid powertrain usually pushes prices even higher.

PivotTables have a reputation for being one of Excel's most intimidating features, but they're really just drag-and-drop tools for summarizing data. Once you understand the basics, you can turn thousands of rows into clear, meaningful reports in minutes while exploring your data without ever changing the original spreadsheet.

I clearly remember how happy I was when we finally got rid of the clacky keyboard that came with our original IBM PC clone in the early 90s and switched over to a quiet modern membrane keyboard. To me, this felt like the future, but then mechanical keyboards have made a massive comeback, and now carry the reputation that they're simply better than the alternatives.

Most people shopping for a used Toyota SUV end up looking at the RAV4. It's one of the safest recommendations in the segment, with a reputation for reliability that's hard to argue with.

While it hasn't had the best reputation lately, Plex is still one of the biggest platforms around for streaming your own media — and it's down right now.

For years, a handful of familiar SUVs have dominated sales charts with little challenge from the competition. But 2026 has shaken up the market, with supply constraints, shifting buyer priorities, and changing powertrain strategies giving some models an unexpected opportunity to climb the rankings.