Each 5 years or so, I make a listing of the apps I take advantage of most often. It is all the time fascinating to see how the listing has modified over time, and it often says one thing concerning the computing panorama. After I did that train this yr, I used to be astonished on the adjustments.
Half of the apps I used 5 years in the past are now not on my listing in any respect in 2025. They have been changed, generally, by apps which might be tightly linked with web-based companies and cloud storage and might run on any desktop, laptop computer, or cell system.
Seven of the ten apps I take advantage of each day supply absolutely useful free variations, typically with paid choices to unlock further options or to take away some utilization limits. Of the eight apps I pay for, none nonetheless supply a conventional perpetual license, favoring a subscription mannequin as a substitute. I do know that is a hot-button difficulty for some readers, who’re adamant about their distaste for paying month-to-month or annual charges. I want the predictability of these preparations as a substitute of the massive jolt to the price range that comes with main upgrades. And I am additionally completely satisfied to help unbiased builders.
The most important shock for me is how a lot much less I take advantage of the Microsoft 365 desktop apps (previously often called Microsoft Workplace). If it weren’t for Excel, I am unsure that I might nonetheless be keen to pay for my Microsoft 365 subscription. I’ve stopped utilizing OneNote fully, and I take advantage of Phrase rather a lot lower than I used to. I lastly acquired bored with Quicken, Spotify, and Adobe Acrobat, all of which had simple replacements.
In fact, this choice displays my work habits and my private preferences. Your wants are undoubtedly completely different, so your listing will not be the identical as mine. I encourage you to share your favorites within the feedback part under.
1. Microsoft Edge
A contemporary browser has one job: to render webpages that work as they have been designed to work. Given the realities of the fashionable net, meaning a browser that is primarily based on the de facto normal, utilizing code from the open-source Chromium venture. For most individuals, the plain alternative is Google’s Chrome browser, however you may also select one other Chromium-based browser: Microsoft Edge, or Courageous, or Vivaldi, or considered one of these much more obscure choices. I’ve used Microsoft’s model, Edge, for 5 years, and see no purpose to modify now.
The present iteration of the Microsoft Edge browser is, so far as most web sites are involved, simply one other occasion of Google Chrome, with help for all of the extensions written for that juggernaut. However three options which might be constructed into Edge are sufficient to make me snug utilizing it as my default browser. Crucial is Monitoring Prevention (proven right here), which stops a good quantity of on-line surveillance and serves as an efficient advert blocker. I am unable to think about seeing this carried out in Chrome.
The opposite two killer Edge options for me are vertical tabs, a characteristic that makes it attainable to tell apart what’s on every webpage even when you’ve got dozens of tabs open, and the immersive reader, which strips away muddle from a web page so you may think about the content material. (For extra particulars, see “I made Microsoft Edge my default browser due to these three killer options.” )
I nonetheless make a copy of Chrome put in on my Home windows desktop, however I hardly ever run right into a web page that requires me to modify. I additionally use Edge on my MacBook Professional and on iOS and Android, with historical past and favorites synced throughout all these platforms.
2. 1Password
- Function: Password administration
- Value: Subscription-based. Particular person, $3 a month; Household (5 customers), $5 a month; Workforce and Enterprise plans obtainable
- Data: 1Password
After I arrange a brand new PC, Mac, or cell system, the very first thing I set up, with out exception, is the 1Password app and its companion browser extension. (For a full evaluation, see: 1Password: My favourite password supervisor is a vital safety device.)
It has each characteristic you count on from this class of software program, together with a sturdy password generator that may create and save actually random, unguessable credentials, help for two-factor authentication, and the flexibility to create and sync passkeys throughout a number of units. I’ve a household plan ($5 a month, billed yearly), which makes it simple for my spouse and me to maintain particular person credentials in addition to a shared vault for companies we entry with a single account.
1Password can also be obtainable as an app for iOS, Android, MacOS, and Home windows and makes use of the identical synced, encrypted database for all platforms.
I am snug with permitting 1Password to retailer and sync my encrypted password recordsdata. As a result of it is a zero-knowledge structure, nobody on the firm has entry to the contents of these encrypted recordsdata; that knowledge can solely be opened utilizing my distinctive native password, accompanied by the encryption key.)
3. Workona
- Function: Tab administration
- Value: Subscription-based. Free, with limits; Professional plan $7 a month, Workforce and Enterprise plans obtainable
- Data: Workona
By any affordable normal, I’ve too many browser tabs open proper now. However I do not care, as a result of I’ve a secret weapon that helps me maintain these tabs underneath management — a service referred to as Workona. I have been a paid subscriber for greater than 5 years, and it is grow to be an indispensable a part of my on-line toolkit (see “Too many browser tabs? This spectacular extension is my favourite answer.”)
Workona permits me to arrange tabs, bookmarks, notes, and duties into teams referred to as areas that sync throughout units; I can share areas with staff members, and join cloud-based productiveness companies (like Slack and GitHub) to increase the capabilities of an area. I apply it to Microsoft Edge, but it surely’s additionally obtainable as an extension on Chrome and Firefox on all main desktop platforms.
The free version of Workona limits the variety of areas and assets you may create, but it surely may be adequate in case your wants are modest. I pay $7 a month for a Professional plan that provides me limitless areas for a single person and another helpful options, equivalent to Google Drive integration. Workforce and Enterprise editions are additionally obtainable.
At any given time, I might need greater than a half-dozen areas open, every in its personal browser session. On Edge, these areas combine with tab teams, so I can rapidly transfer tabs between areas. Better of all, if a browser crashes or I have to restart my pc, I can reopen all these tabs rapidly with out shedding any work. I am unable to think about working with out it.
4. Obsidian
- Function: Textual content editor
- Value: Free, with subscription-based sync and publish choices obtainable
- Data: Obsidian
For a few years, Microsoft Phrase was my predominant textual content editor. It was completely important within the days when not less than half of what I wrote was destined to be revealed in guide kind, with in depth formatting and a concentrate on web page format. Nowadays, although, nearly all the things I write is revealed on-line — as a webpage or a e-newsletter. For these makes use of, Phrase is overkill, and its formatting is commonly as a lot of a hindrance as a assist.
My longtime colleague Mary Jo Foley would little question recommend I take advantage of Notepad, however that is a bit too barebones for my style, even with latest characteristic additions. Which is why I now do most of my writing in Obsidian. This easy-to-use app, developed by a small staff that began in 2020, makes use of the light-weight Markdown language to create structured paperwork with wealthy formatting that may be saved as textual content recordsdata. It is also a good way to seize and retailer interview notes and snippets of analysis — it is fully taken over that position from OneNote, one other Microsoft Workplace app I used for many years that I now not use commonly.
I’ve mapped Obsidian hotkeys to some acquainted Phrase shortcuts, and I’ve additionally put in a plugin that provides outlining capabilities to my paperwork. It is all remarkably simple. (The Obsidian group has created hundreds of plugins.)
Obsidian will not be open supply, but it surely has a sturdy plugin mannequin that permits third-party builders to increase its options. This system itself is free, with no limits. I pay $8 a month (billed yearly) for optionally available add-on companies that permit me to sync as much as 10 vaults and 10 GB of storage throughout units, with a revision historical past of 12 months. There’s additionally an choice to make use of Obsidian as a back-end for a easy web site.
5. deck.blue
- Function: Bluesky feed administration
- Value: Free. Superior options obtainable with membership, $2 a month
- Data: deck.blue
Earlier than Twitter modified its identify and have become a conceit venture for the political obsessions of the world’s richest man, it was a vital supply of data and a technique to construct communities. It was additionally a firehose of data, and the one smart technique to maintain monitor of that torrent of tweets and threads and lists was with the assistance of an app like TweetDeck, which turned a subscribers-only characteristic referred to as X Professional in 2023.
I’ve since changed Twitter with Bluesky, which follows lots of the similar person expertise conventions pretty much as good ol’ Twitter and might be simply as overwhelming. To get essentially the most worth out of Bluesky, you could comply with lots of or hundreds of accounts, which might flip your private home web page right into a river that flows so quick no human can sustain utilizing the web-based app.
The answer is a third-party web-based app referred to as deck.blue, which helps you to slice and cube your feed into completely different views, every contained in its personal column. Like TweetDeck, it permits you to present lists in columns and has a sturdy set of choices for filtering undesirable content material. You possibly can run deck.blue in a browser or do as I do and set up it as a progressive net app. It is free, however I pay $2 a month for a membership that unlocks help for a number of accounts; it additionally pays the developer, Gildásio Filho, for whom this can be a full-time job.
6. NewsBlur
- Function: RSS reader
- Value: Free, open supply. Premium subscriptions, beginning at $36 a yr, unlock some superior options
- Data: NewsBlur
They instructed you RSS was useless. I’m right here to inform you that is not precisely true. The RSS feed could be very a lot alive, albeit not fairly as vigorous as in its heyday, earlier than the Google Reader app was abruptly discontinued. (Should you’ve by no means heard old-timers speak of Google Reader, here is my obituary from 2013: Embrace, lengthen, extinguish: How Google crushed and deserted the RSS business)
RSS is brief for Actually Easy Syndication, an ordinary that permits publishers to create “feeds” that you may learn in an app that understands RSS. Amazingly, many giant web sites nonetheless help RSS, which makes cross-platform apps like NewsBlur extremely helpful. It is obtainable as an internet app on the desktop and as a local app on iOS and Android, and its characteristic listing is genuinely spectacular.
I take advantage of NewsBlur to maintain monitor of all kinds of data. The RSS feed for Microsoft’s Home windows Weblog, for instance, makes it simple to trace new Home windows Insider builds. To remain in contact with Apple information, I comply with John Gruber’s Daring Fireball. The New York Occasions and the Washington Put up have RSS feeds, and a few actually enlightened publishers like Speaking Factors Memo even have members-only feeds, so paying subscribers (like me) can learn posts in a local app as a substitute of subscribing to an e mail e-newsletter. That, to me, is the most important benefit of NewsBlur — serving to to maintain muddle out of my Inbox.
7. Microsoft Excel
- Function: Charts, spreadsheets, and lists
- Value: Included with Microsoft 365 Private, Household, and Enterprise subscriptions: $100 a yr and up
- Data: Microsoft 365
For greater than 25 years, the 4 desktop apps that make up the core of what was Microsoft Workplace have been a fully important a part of my working day. (I even wrote a half-dozen books about them!) That has all modified prior to now few years.
Outlook (Basic) continues to be the primary app I open within the morning, however Microsoft says I’m going to have to modify to Outlook (New) eventually, and with out gifting away my emotions concerning the substitute, I can inform you I’m trying significantly at options. I open Phrase a couple of times per week, largely for reviews, letters, and invoices, and use Obsidian for all the things else text-related. I sometimes stumble by PowerPoint a couple of times a yr, at most.
However I take advantage of Excel each day. I take advantage of it to investigate knowledge and create charts, like those on this article about why these “Home windows 11 market share” numbers aren’t dependable. I take advantage of it for lists, easy and complicated, and to check merchandise earlier than making main purchases. I lastly acquired bored with utilizing Quicken and found out the way to maintain monitor of my private and enterprise funds in a group of spreadsheets that may make my late father, a CPA, proud.
The web model of Excel is free, however I pay $12.50 a month for a Microsoft 365 Enterprise Customary subscription that features Excel and all the opposite desktop Workplace apps, plus an Alternate On-line license, and 1 TB of OneDrive for Enterprise storage.
8. VLC Media Participant
VLC Media Participant is a free, open supply device that may play practically any audio or video file, no matter its format. It has been round without end, maintained by the nonprofit VideoLAN group, primarily based in France. I wrote about it practically a decade in the past, when it was the most effective free various DVD participant in the marketplace, and at the moment it handles each bodily and streaming codecs with aplomb. It does not require downloading dodgy codec packs to work, and it runs on each conceivable platform.
I have never touched a DVD or a Blu-ray disk in ages, however I nonetheless have a group of saved video recordsdata, that I often wish to watch, and that is the best device for the job.
On Home windows PCs, make sure that to obtain and set up the full Home windows package deal. That model can also be obtainable within the Microsoft Retailer; simply keep away from the outdated, limited-feature VLC UWP app. The simplest technique to set up it’s with the built-in winget package deal supervisor. Should you’re snug at a command line, simply kind this: winget set up videolan.vlc.
9. MediaMonkey 2024
- Function: Music organizing and enjoying
- Value: Free; $40 improve to Gold version unlocks premium options
- Data: MediaMonkey
Regardless of the benefit of streaming tunes from companies like Apple Music and YouTube Music, I nonetheless have a considerable private music assortment in digital format. Among the tracks in that assortment are copies ripped from outdated CDs that are not obtainable on any industrial service. Others are reside recordings, obtained instantly from the artist or from authorized on-line companies and likewise unavailable for streaming. With a bit of additional effort, I can add these recordsdata to the cloud, however I nonetheless should handle them domestically.
For these tunes, MediaMonkey 2024 (obtainable on Home windows and Android, however not MacOS or iOS) is an indispensable device. Its built-in participant handles nearly any audio or video file, together with lossless music tracks in FLAC and ALAC codecs, in a vogue that is extra organized than the one-track-at-a-time VLC. It could rip CDs, stream music to exterior units, robotically tag MP3 recordsdata and add album artwork, and even sync tracks with my iPhone and Android units. The free Customary model is completely succesful, however I paid the $40 improve worth to get pleasure from quite a lot of very helpful superior options within the Gold version.
10. Snagit 2024
- Function: Screenshots and display screen recordings
- Value: Subscription-based, $39 per yr
- Data: Snagit
Actually, I’m not positive once I started utilizing TechSmith’s Snagit to seize, crop, and annotate screens for my books and on-line posts. It was positively on the insistence of my guide writer within the earlier century (the corporate and its flagship product have been round since 1990), and it is without doubt one of the only a few survivors from these years.
The great of us at TechSmith have carried out an excellent job of preserving that software program related greater than three a long time later. Each new model will get a couple of new options, like the flexibility to seize a fast display screen video for posting on-line. I am completely satisfied that I can save screenshots within the cloud service of my alternative, so I can discover that excellent screenshot with a fast search.
Snagit switched to a subscription mannequin a couple of years in the past. The default worth of $39 a yr, which permits a subscriber to run the software program on two units, is affordable. As a result of I purchased my licenses years in the past, I am locked right into a legacy plan that is a few third of that worth. I will not change.
