12 best open source tools to save time, money and boost Windows performance

My favourite open-source tools help me save time, money, and hassle while making Windows smoother and easier to use every day.

Being a Windows user since Windows 98, I have seen many upgrades to the OS, but every version still leaves you wanting something more. Over the years, I have tried many open-source tools, some of which have become a daily part of my PC usage. Today, I am sharing these open-source tools with you so you can also improve your Windows experience without spending a single penny.

These open-source tools will make the experience better without spending money.

By Amit Rahi

For the past seven years, I have tracked consumer tech through constant shifts in hardware, platforms, and the way people actually use devices. Covering everything from budget gear to flagship hardware, I focus on what readers need to know, not on buzzwords or launch cycle hype. My expertise spans gaming laptops and chairs, high-performance PCs, gaming monitors, printers, smartwatches, earphones, headphones, Bluetooth speakers, tablets, and more, with a particular emphasis on how these products hold up in daily use. Reviews, explainers, buying guides, and news pieces all share the same goal: giving readers enough detail to make confident decisions without wading through fluff. Away from deadlines, I spend a lot of time gaming and watching films and anime, which naturally filters back into the work. Performance, comfort, display quality, and sound are judged the way players and viewers experience them, not just by lab numbers, which keeps my coverage grounded in real scenarios rather than just benchmarks.

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Quick Look

If you used macOS at any point and came back to Windows for whatever reason, one feature you must be missing is the preview feature. Select the file, hit the Space key, and you get an instant preview. This is a feature that I miss too, so I found an alternative called Quicklook, available on the Microsoft Store. It uses the same shortcut keys that are used on macOS. This perfected the Windows OS for me on my laptop.

PowerToys

PowerToys is a set of powerful tools for Windows created by Microsoft itself for power users. This is an app that you can install from GitHub or the Microsoft Store and start using with no setup required. There are more than a dozen amazing utilities that can make your experience way better. One tool that I use is the universal search bar that mimics Spotlight search on macOS.

Local Send

My job requires sharing files across multiple devices, including Windows, Mac, Android, and iOS. And it is very frustrating to use multiple tools to share files across these devices. Local Send makes everything so smooth and hassle-free. This app is available on every possible OS you work on. It is a very simple tool, and the only requirement is to connect both devices to the same Wi-Fi network.

Windows10Debloater

Windows10Debloater is a simple utility which does exactly what its title says. It debloats your Windows 10 PC and removes almost every useless tool that consumes the PC’s resources like RAM or storage while running in the background. If you are building a new gaming PC with a fresh install of Windows, this tool will help you a lot in debloating every unnecessary piece of software that you won’t need on your gaming PC.

KeePass

Any password manager that is available right now saves your passwords in the cloud, and if that makes you anxious, then I have just the utility for you. KeePass Password Safe is a tool that saves all your passwords locally on your computer. The tool looks a bit old-school in terms of the user interface, but it features every security feature that a modern-looking password manager offers.

JDownloader

JDownloader is an open-source download manager tool which comes with features that you won’t get on the default download manager on any browser, including Chrome, Firefox, or any other browser. This tool lets you pause the downloads anytime you want and resume them without losing the download progress. Similarly, if the internet connection drops, you won’t lose any progress.

Brave Browser

Brave Browser is a well-known secure browser which is built on Chromium from the ground up. There are features that you won’t find on the Chrome browser itself, like an AI assistant which helps in various tasks, including summarising a long article. It includes some of the most useful security and privacy features to keep your browsing experience secure.

GIMP

GIMP is a free and open-source alternative to Adobe Photoshop. It is a powerful tool that can be used to edit photos on the same level as any other professional photo editing software. This tool is available for free on almost every desktop operating system, including Windows, macOS, and Linux. It does include graphic generation features, just like in Photoshop or any other image editing tool.

ShareX

ShareX is a multipurpose tool for Windows, mainly used for capturing screenshots or recording the screen. There are tools to annotate the screenshots before saving them. It also includes a simple set of tools, including a colour picker, an on-screen ruler, and file sharing, making it a perfect open-source tool for any graphic designer.

OBS Studio

Anyone who has ever dreamed of being a streamer must have heard of this tool called OBS Studio. This is the go-to software for all needs—whether you want to record your gameplay or stream it live on YouTube or Twitch, it can do it all. It is a very customisable tool, and it is available for free for all desktop operating systems.

Shotcut

If you want to edit your videos and can't decide which video editor to choose, then Shotcut is one free app you should consider trying. It is a simple video editing tool that comes with every feature that you can ask for in a video editing tool. It supports all file formats, and the user interface is beginner-friendly to help you get started quickly.

WinDirStat

WinDirStat is a lifesaver when it comes to storage management on a Windows PC. It scans your PC's entire storage and shows you all the folders in a tree format. It also shows you how much storage each folder is using, so you can delete them and get your storage back. I run this app on every Windows PC I own to delete all the unnecessary files I have on them.