Best free software you install on every PC?

[Kev94]

I still use older hardware for some jobs and I am not convinced every upgrade is worth the money.

The boring answer is often the right one but people want something more dramatic.

What is the general feeling here?

[Isaac_9]

People love chasing the newest feature drop when a well-configured Windows 10 install with a solid ad blocker runs circles around bloated hardware. 7-Zip and IrfanView have been on every machine I own for over a decade because they just work without telemetry nonsense.

[CacheLayerSquid]

Hard disagree on clinging to ancient gear forever. At some point the power draw alone costs more in electricity than dropping a hundred bucks on a used enterprise off-lease OptiPlex, not to mention the security nightmare of running unpatched legacy setups.