Five Windows apps a ZDNET writer always installs on new PCs

A ZDNET writer says there are five Windows apps they always install first on new PCs: the Brave browser, VLC Media Player, ShareX, WPS Office and Todoist. The author prefers Brave for its privacy features, noting Brave Shields block third‑party trackers, phishing attempts, cross‑page cookies and malware.

They say Brave can let users view ad‑heavy news sites, includes its own VPN, supports Chromium extensions and can sometimes break websites because of aggressive ad blocking, but is still recommended for keeping users safe online. VLC Media Player is praised for playing a wide range of formats (MP4, MOV, WAV, FLAC, Flash, MPEG‑A AVC, DovX among others).

The author highlights VLC’s basic editing features—adding subtitles and controlling subtitle speed—and a soundboard for adjusting audio settings, calling it reliable and easy to use. ShareX is described as more capable than Windows’ Snipping Tool, offering multiple capture methods and video recording plus extensive editing tools: shapes, text, cropping, emoji stickers and blur or pixelation.

The app can upload captures directly to third‑party services such as Google Drive and Imgur; the author says first using ShareX in 2021 vastly improved their workflow. The author prefers WPS Office over LibreOffice for everyday use, saying WPS is more reliable and has better compatibility with Microsoft Office files.

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