Microsoft Windows systems come with dozens of native applications. Many of these are installed by default, others are pinned, but not installed.
A click or tap on the Start button lists the pinned apps, another on the all apps button all of them.
At least some of these apps may be third-party apps. Microsoft earns a bit of money when it includes these into Windows and users install them. Apps may vary from region to region, but it is usually an assortment of popular game or entertainment apps.
The apps that I use regularly
I have to admit that I don’t use native apps all that much. In fact, I use 5 native apps frequently and some occasional. The occasional ones include apps that do get opened when a file type association is mapped to a native app and not another app that I use instead.
Here are the apps that I use regularly:
- Calculator — useful to make quick calculations.
- Notepad — it is not as powerful as Notepad++ or other apps, but the plain text editor offers all the options that I need for a quick edit.
- File Explorer — I use the default file browser and manager on Windows, and not an alternative that is more powerful. It is fine for basic tasks.
- Microsoft Edge — Edge is not my default browser, but I have the habit of using all major browsers. If I would not write about browsers, I probably would not use Edge all that much.
And that’s it. Not a lot.
The apps that I use sometimes, usually by accident
- Media Player — lots of better players out there. It may play obscure media files at times or corrupt ones that other media players don’t play, but this is such a rare occasion.
- Microsoft Paint — usually only when I type Paint to load Paint.net and get Paint instead.
- Microsoft Photos — usually when I try to open an image that has a format that is still associated with Microsoft Photos. To slow and cumbersome to use.
- Microsoft Store — only for my weekly series at Betanews.
- Microsoft OneDrive — to keep an eye on it for reviews and news.
The apps that I don’t use at all
I don’t use any of the following apps.
- Games — don’t play them at all, no time for that.
- Mail, Calendar, Outlook (new) and People — Use Thunderbird as my email program.
- Maps, News, Weather — Prefer to access these in a browser to avoid ads.
- Microsoft OneNote — no use at all for this note taking app.
- Microsoft To-Do — no use for this app
- Snipping Tool — it is a good screen capture tool, but PicPick and several others are better.
- Sticky Notes — no need to place notes on the desktop.
- Xbox (anything) and Game Bar — some may find these useful, I have no use for these apps.
How to remove apps on Windows
You can remove most apps on Windows in the following way:
- Open Start > Settings > Apps > Installed Apps.
- Click on the three-dots menu next to the app that you want to remove and select uninstall from the menu.
- Select uninstall again when the remove prompt is displayed.
Some apps may not be installed. This is going to change soon for users in the European Union and European Economic Area. Users from these regions will be able to remove Edge and Bing Search natively, just like other apps.
Those outside need to use third-party tools for the job. My recommended tool is O&O AppBuster, but there are other tools and PowerShell options available as well.
Now You: which apps do you use and don’t use on Windows?
An interesting list. An exercise I have never sat down and really thought about. There’s not many of the Windows native apps that I actually DO use.
I use:
Calculator (occasionally, although I mainly reach for my old Casio FX 82MS that lives on my desk)
Snip and Sketch (because it is quick and simple, and sometimes Faststone Capture with its extra features)
Notepad (but only when I have to – I’ve never ventured into the ‘enhanced’ notepad progs that a lot people seem to use… probably because I don’t get into programme coding apart from tweaking the occasional config file in Thunderbird.)
I don’t use:
Media Player (VLC or Winamp is my mainstay.)
Mail app [Argh!!] (I use Outlook 2010 for my main email, but Thunderbird with all my other email accts set to IMAP so I can quickly check for any false positives that collect in the ‘spam’ folders of my various other email accts. Also, since I recommend Thunderbird to my cust’s I need to keep familiar with it to be able to offer them support.)
Paint (I prefer Faststone for day-to-day use and GIMP for touching up graphics.)
Edge (I use Slimjet, Firefox, Chrome and Brave for general use . I avoid Edge mostly, however, as I too have cust’s who use it, it pays to use it occasionally just to keep familiar with it.)
Photos app (It’s so slow to open. Faststone works for me.)
Sticky notes (we have a refrigerator for that!)
Games (I waste enough time on the PC as it is! We have hens to watch in the backyard for entertainment if I get bored :-). Actually, I tell a lie… I do have a couple of yachts sailing online on sailonline.org. I suppose you would class that as ‘games’.)
Maps (Since you mentioned it, I have only just discovered it even exists! … but no, I’d use Google Maps if I needed maps.)
Microsoft To-Do (old-school pad and pencil works best for me)
Microsoft One-Note (I’ve only ever met ONE person in my life who has uses it… a university student. I imagive it must be one of those programmes you learn to use and then decide to use it to organise your entire life… or else you absolutely never waste your time getting into at all.)
Thanks again Martin for the interesting article. Always worth reading.
On my main PC, the Windows apps I use most often are Notepad, Calculator and Weather (the last version before they used a different weather provider- 4.53.50501.0). If it wasn’t for Windows 10, I probably wouldn’t use their Weather app! I occasionally use the Store to update core Windows extensions like HEVC, WebP, etc. and I sometimes use Edge to render some one-off webpages. Other than that, I do not use any other native Windows apps.