Top 5 Essential Apps for Every New Windows 11 PC in 2026

A new PC arrives with a clean Windows 11 desktop and almost nothing on it. Here is what we install first on machines we set up, and just as usefully, what you do not need to pay for.

Two of the five below are free. We say which, because a list where everything happens to be for sale is not advice.

1. An office suite

Documents, spreadsheets and presentations. Free alternatives work, and LibreOffice is genuinely usable, but formatting still drifts when you exchange files with people on Microsoft Office, and that is the whole problem with a CV or a tender document.

If you go with Office, it is a one-time purchase that does not expire. Office LTSC 2024 Standard covers Word, Excel, PowerPoint and more, and costs less than buying the three apps separately. If you only need one of them, the individual licences are cheaper still.

We do not sell Microsoft 365 subscriptions. If you specifically want the subscription with its cloud storage and monthly feature updates, that comes from Microsoft directly, and we will tell you so rather than sell you the wrong product.

2. A browser that is not the default

Free, and worth two minutes. The Microsoft Edge that ships with Windows 11 is decent and well integrated. Brave blocks trackers and ads by default, which on a metered connection also means less data spent loading things you did not want.

That second point matters more here than in reviews written elsewhere. Ad blocking is a data saving before it is a privacy feature.

3. An antivirus, or not

Windows Defender is included and it is no longer the weak option it was ten years ago. For a machine used for browsing and documents, it is often enough, and we would rather say that than pretend otherwise.

A paid suite earns its place when you want the extras around the antivirus: a password manager, a VPN bundled in, protection on several devices at once, or cover for a family’s phones and laptops together. We stock Norton, McAfee and Avast, from one device up to ten.

4. VLC for media

Free. The Windows player still stumbles on some video formats, and VLC plays essentially everything without hunting for codecs. Download it from VideoLAN, not from a mirror site.

5. A VPN, if you use public Wi-Fi

We do not sell VPNs, so take this as a recommendation rather than a sales pitch. If you work from cafés, co-working spaces or hotel Wi-Fi, a VPN encrypts the connection between your laptop and the network, which is the situation where it genuinely protects you.

Some antivirus suites include one, which is often the cheaper route than a separate subscription. Check what the licence you are buying already covers before paying twice.

Paying for the ones that cost money

Microsoft and the antivirus publishers all want a card that handles international payments. If you do not have one, that is the only reason a licence has been out of reach, and it is the problem we exist to solve.

At checkout you pick your country and pay from your mobile wallet: MTN MoMo and Orange Money in Cameroon, and Airtel Money, Moov Money, Wave, M-Pesa and others across fourteen countries. Keys arrive by email within five minutes as a rule, two hours at the outside.

If you also need the operating system itself, the Windows licences are on the site.

Common questions