Hardware, software, and configuration recommendations for Windows users.

I am finding in 2021, making suggestions to folks the same ones I’ve had the past 5-10 years. There are also some newer things out there that people may not be aware of, that will help them in their day-to-day activities. I decided this might be a good time to put a page together on this.

Last Updated: March 4, 2021

Hardware#

  • If you’re building out a computer or replacing a part, look up NVMe or SSD drives that have “SLC-caching”. A lot of drives are TLC-based right now (2021), and they can wear out quicker.
  • Monitors, look for ones that have FreeSync and low-glare. Pre-calibrated monitors are good for photo and video editing, but they do cost more; you can also use a “Spyder” or similar device to get the same effect.
  • CPU (if you’re picking a system, or building one): I personally am an AMD fan, but if you’re using Intel you should avoid the Celeron or Pentium-D chips for anything that’s not a really basic use case. Whatever you find might have the old security bugs that have been patched out the past few years, and they also aren’t as efficient as the newer chips.
  • RAM: if your system doesn’t have DDR4 in it (as of 2021), it’s going to be hard to find replacement parts at a good price. Also, make sure you have at least 8GB if you’re doing whatever, 16GB if you’re gaming, 32GB if you’re an IT professional, and 64GB+ if you’re doing VFX.
  • WiFi: 802.11ax is the main wireless standard as of 2021. Any new adapters should be using 802.11ac or 802.11ax; 802.11a/b/g/n is obsolete.

Software#

  • WinRAR is dated shareware at this point. I’ve been using 7-Zip for years now, though I wish some of these other compressors were being used (PeaZip had some, but I found it to be unusable after a while).
  • I used to recommend Avast for anti-virus, but I’ve been on ESET for years now, and have had employers switch over to it too. Microsoft’s anti-virus solution works as a default, but I’m not sure they ever optimized it for speed.
  • BleachBit if you need to “clean your system”. I haven’t recommended CCleaner in years.
  • Cyberduck instead of FileZilla for downloading files from FTP (please let that die), SFTP, and cloud storage.
  • Greenshot is pretty good as a screen capture tool. Does cropping, highlighting, and obfuscation.
  • ImageGlass is pretty much a universal image viewer.
  • Mailbird: doesn’t cost much; great if you’re not tied into an Outlook/Exchange environment, and dealing with multiple e-mail accounts.
  • NAPS2: scans documents, then saves them in image or PDF formats. I got to help code a bit of this in the past.
  • qBittorrent if you need to download torrents; which in my own case has been Linux ISOs and Humble Bundle purchases.
  • PowerToys: growing set of utilities for improving one’s experience while using Windows.
  • VLC for movies, music, streaming, and whatnot.
  • Visual Studio Code for editing text files and source code. It has quite a large number of useful add-ons and customizations.

Features#

Other#

  • Please stop turning off IPv6 because you think it’ll fix your network problems. It’s been baked into Windows since Vista, and helps the OS do a lot of stuff automatically for you (file-sharing, finding other devices, etc). Windows also uses it for gaming! If you want help, come on over to r/ipv6 for some community support & resources.
  • Jitsi Meet is a good Zoom / Slack / Discord / FaceTime replacement for video & audio chat. Might even be safer too; it’s mostly peer-to-peer, and the chats disappear after the conversation ends.
  • Quad9 is a decent privacy-focused DNS service; 1.1.1.1 is also a good one. If you’re at work, you’d have to ask your IT people about this.