(logo beeping) - [Falcon] If you're
playing games on a computer, there are a ton of essential programs that you need to know
about and they're free. Hi folks, it's Falcon,
and today on Gameranx, 25 free PC programs
every gamer should have. At number 25 is Patch My PC or Ninite. These programs allow
you to update or install a lot of essential programs at once. And they're also really great for quickly setting up a new PC. This'll get you pretty
much everything you want right out of the gate. A lot of the programs listed here aren't exactly PC gaming-specific, but a lot of them are really useful for the day-to-day stuff
you'll do on your computer. Both Ninite and Patch My
PC are widely recommended. They're both fine to use. Ninite's very simple, while Patch My PC is a
little bit more granular. They both have upsides and downsides. So check 'em out. See
which one you prefer. But it's a really useful program. At number 24 is OpenRGB, which setting up RGB
lighting for your computer can actually be pretty annoying. Seems like every manufacturer
and developer out there has a different program
with different settings, but OpenRGB can make
adjusting your RGB lighting a lot easier. It's open-source. It's not proprietary. And it works with both Windows and Linux. And it's got a really simple
interface, has a low overhead. It's really easy to use. But be sure to check the
supportive devices list before you attempt to use the program 'cause certain hardware
will not work with it. At number 23 is GOG GALAXY. A useful, all-the-one launcher for every game you have installed, which'll automatically compile
games from Steam, Origin, Epic Game Store, pretty much
everything else, into one list. It even lets you choose
which version you wanna start if you have the same game
on multiple launchers. And it's also great for
compiling your friends list. If you don't want to use a
launcher tied to a storefront, Playnite is a more basic
but effective alternative. It's open-source as well. But GOG GALAXY is pretty much... I mean, it's great. At number 22 is KeePass. It allows you to store
passwords so that it auto-fills. Very handy-dandy for
dealing with the many logins that you have to deal with if
you play a lot of online games or use one of the many, many launchers that publishers force on you. There are a lot of different versions of this type of software out
there, so do your research. KeePass seems to be the
most common recommendation. So, yeah. But that doesn't necessarily
mean it's the best. Do some research first. But we found this one to be pretty good. At number 21 is WizTree. This is a WinDirStat alternative, which, if you're unaware, is a fast and easy way to clearly see what's taking up so much
space on your hard disk in a visual manner. Because space management is
always a huge issue for gaming, you know, file sizes, keep
getting bigger and bigger, this is a really useful
thing to have around. WinDirStat is actually
more popular than WizTree, but, at this point, it's very slow. It still works. It's a fine program. But there are alternatives, and WizTree is generally the
one that we think is the best. Try it out and you'll see
exactly why we say that. At number 20 is XLink Kai, a pretty cool program
that allows you to play LAN-enabled games online
for a lot of consoles like Xbox, Xbox 360,
GameCube, PS3, and even PS4. Like for games that have
ended online support, this is really good 'cause this
program lets you get online and play with your friends or games that you just
wouldn't normally be able to. It's entirely peer to peer, so getting it all set
up isn't the easiest. But you'll be able to play classic "Halo Online" with your
friends once it is all set up, which is pretty damn cool. At number 19 is disabling sticky keys, which is not actually a program or an app, but is absolutely essential for any gamer. You know it, you hate it. Sticky keys is the bane
of all gamers out there. Disabling it isn't easy. It's actually buried fairly
deep in the settings menu. Nut to do it, here, go to
settings, ease of use, keyboard, and uncheck the shortcuts for
sticky keys, toggler keys, and filter keys. There, you can tap on your keyboard to your heart's content now. Why is this still a thing in 2021? At number 18 is the GEForce Experience, which is hardware accelerated
recording software. Which is super useful
for screen capturing, as long as you have an NVIDIA GPU. You can also use it to set
video settings for games and download the latest NVIDIA drivers. But the most useful thing about it is definitely the
ability to capture video. It's easy to set up and easy to use, both for capturing
video and for streaming. At over 17 is AMD
ReLive, which is similar. It's recording software,
but for AMD GPUs instead. It's also effective. It's
also very easy to use. But I have a little
less experience with it than the GEForce Experience. If you've got an
AMD-supported card it's free and it works well from what I have heard. At number 16 is Lightscreen,
which is useful software for taking and processing screenshots. Takes a lot of the tedium out of sorting and capturing them as well. It works in the background
where you just configure where you want your screenshots to go and what you wanna do with them. It's a great option for any video game meme makers out there who don't wanna bother with
actual video recording software. At number 15 is MSI's Afterburner, which is hardware monitoring software that lets you tweak settings
to your heart's content. It doesn't require an MSI card either. It can be used with both
AMD and NVIDIA GPUs. The best, most well-known, and
trusted overclocking software is this, MSI Afterburner. If you wanna push your
new GPU to the limit, this is the software you need to use. Now, even if overclocking, isn't something you
want to experiment with, it's still a very useful piece of software for checking your settings
and running benchmarks to see how powerful or how
well your PC really is working. At number 14 is HWiNFO, a lightweight program, very
useful for hardware analysis, monitoring, and reporting. It's unobstructive, doesn't
take up a lot of space, and it's very well-designed. It is an excellent alternative
to MSI Afterburner. If you have no interest in overclocking, this is good hardware
monitoring software for you. Keeping in mind that MSI
Afterburner also does do that, it's just if you really, really want a discreet piece of
software for that purpose. At number 13 is Rivatuner
Statistics Server. Also known as RTSS. This is sort of a standard
for frame rate monitoring. And you can use it in
conjunction with Afterburner. You can also set global
frame rate limits with it, like monitor frame rates and frame times. For people who really want
to tweak their graphics, Afterburner and Rivatuner
are pretty much essential. At number 12 is DDU, the
Display Driver Uninstaller. A simple program that allows you to uninstall drivers for testing. You'll need this when
the latest NVIDIA drivers start giving you problems. And they will. This program should only be used if the standard Windows uninstaller fails at uninstalling the drivers. And that does happen a pretty
fair amount of the time. It's actually a much more common
issue than you might think. A lot of PC problems
stem from bad drivers. And a full removal and re-install
can fix a lot of issues. At number 11 is Vortex,
the Nexus Mod Manager. Originally called that,
the Nexus Mod Manager. This program is essential if
you wanna get deep into modding with games like "Skyrim" or "Witcher 3." Basically anything. It simplifies the process of modding. So you can download mods,
automatically sort them, activate or deactivate them and launch the game through one interface. This program eliminates most
of the frustration of modding. It makes it so much easier and, frankly, a lot of the variables are just taken out of the process. You just download, install,
delete as you want. At number 10 is the
NVIDIA Profile Inspector. An open-source tool that
works pretty much the same way as the NVIDIA Control Panel. But it has a lot more or options that don't normally
appear in that program. Like it's useful for adjusting settings that can't be done in-game. Either for games that are older or don't give you a lot of
graphics options in the menu, but you can use this
program to force stuff like anti-aliasing or V-sync. Forcing V-sync is particularly useful if you have a lot of older games, like "Hitman 2" or "Dead Space." Games that break when they run
at a super-high frame rate. And being able to force V-sync
actually makes them playable, but it does a lot of other
useful things as well. At number nine is Notepad++. Pretty much just a better
version of Notepad, as the name implies. Great for taking notes, but especially useful when
you need to edit an .ini file to get old games to work properly. Seriously, it seems kind
of like a pointless thing. Like, just an improved version of Notepad. But it's something I end
up using pretty constantly and it's great for a lot of
situations, including gaming. If you wanna go beyond gaming, it's very good for writing code. You don't necessarily
need those functions. They're there though. Like I said, being able to
edit an .ini with color coding and various tools, however, is very nice. At number eight is Borderless Gaming, a simple program that lets
you turn windowed games into full-screen games. Basically, useful for any game that doesn't have a
borderless full-screen option. It's useful for getting older games to run properly in full screen, as well as playing games
with multiple monitors so that you can do things
on your second monitor without the game locking
your mouse or forcing focus or anything like that as well. You'd be surprised how many
uses this type of thing has. So if you have any of
those types of situations, consider Borderless Gaming. At number seven is Widescreen Fixer. A utility that really tells
you what it does in the name. It lets you play older games that don't have widescreen
options in widescreen resolution, regardless of if they're
supposed to allow it or not. It's pretty much specifically
for use with old games. The website it was hosted
on has been down since 2014, but the program itself is very useful for getting widescreen settings
to work with certain games. Even though it's kind of
outdated at this point, it's still really nice to have if you like to play older games. I mean, those games are
outdated as well, correct? It works well with a large list of games and removes the hassle
of having to deal with unique widescreen fixes for every single game you wanna play. At number six is Flawless Widescreen, which, at first glance,
sounds like a similar thing. However, it allows you to configure FOV, so games that are built to
be 4:3 don't look terrible when you play them in widescreen. Certain Xbox 360 era games on PC have just absolutely
horrible FOV settings, especially when you try to
play them in widescreen. And, in most cases, there's
no way to adjust them in-game. And this program lets you fix that. A recent example I experienced, "Rainbow Six: Vegas 2" on
PC has an extremely narrow, horrible FOV and you
can adjust it normally and this program fixes it. Like, I'm not like an
FOV snob or anything. And yes, those do exist if you're unaware. But it was legit really annoying and possibly even a little
disorienting to play. So this was great for
fixing issues like that. At number five is JoyToKey, which allows you to map
key and mouse inputs to a controller, which is great for games that do not have controller support or ones that don't let you
change button inputs at all. You can just also use the built-in controller mapping setting on Steam. You can find that under
settings, controller, and that lets you adjust
the controller mapping for any game in your Steam library. But that's also just for stuff that you can launch with Steam. Xpadder is another good
alternative, but it's not free. JoyToKey is probably the easiest to use and most well-known. It's good enough for quick
and dirty controller changes and it's free. At number four is SuperF4, which is very useful
for exiting out of games if they freeze or get stuck, which is especially common in older games that don't play nice with Ctrl-Alt-Del. This is an issue that
I've been running into a lot lately for some reason, and having a force restart PC is not my favorite thing to do. So having this simple
program installed is great. All you do is press Ctrl and F4 and a game will immediately stop. At number three is DisplayFusion. A multiple monitor config program that makes it a lot easier to
adjust, tweak, and organize how you want to display
information on your monitors. The actual settings related to
multiple monitors for Windows are bare-bones, so this
program's pretty nice if you've got two or more
monitors plugged into your PC. At number two is Everything. Have you ever tried to find a
specific file in a game folder and you just couldn't? Windows Search is slow, inaccurate. Pretty crappy, honestly. And for anyone who likes to
mess around with their games by modifying save files
or adjusting the 'fig, having a decent search
can be really helpful. Everything is a simple tool
that lets you locate files and folders way faster
than the Windows Search. And it's also a lot more accurate. It's especially good If you, I don't know, work on a gaming channel and
keep a ton of video files you need to search through constantly. Windows Search can take minutes
to find things sometimes, and it's not guaranteed
it's gonna find it. Everything is a lot
faster and more accurate. And yeah, it's only good for
a very specific type of gamer. But if that's you, then this is a godsend. And finally, at number one
is Bulk Crap Uninstaller. You can mass uninstall all
this garbage when you're done. It lets you uninstalled
programs or registry keys, and stuff that wouldn't normally appear in the Windows program lists. It's totally open-source,
has no built-in bloat, and just does what it says it does. That's all for today. Leave us a comment. Let
us know what you think. If you liked this video click like. If you're not subscribed
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right here on Gameranx.
