The first applications we knew were the ones on the desktop.

With the growth of mobile over the past decade, there has been lesser software created for desktop operating systems.

But lest we forget it was desktop applications like the Microsoft Office suite that helped millions of people all over the world and, in turn, boosting the desktop market which made Microsoft and Apple billion dollar companies.

There are desktop applications that make a huge impact even in the present day like Chrome and Skype.

In this article, we cover offbeat ones that have helped immensely and are must-have software whether you are a Windows or a Mac user.

Essential Software For Windows And Mac

1. Skitch

Over recent years, images have come to the fore and are the most created and shared content. Skitch is a great utility tool to do quick work on images. With Skitch, you can blur specific areas in the images quickly, add text, shapes, and callouts. You can also crop images easily. Skitch can be great for creating tutorials as well, where you have the arrow feature to point to objects in your image. Created by Evernote, this is a simple tool that makes life super easy.

It is discontinued for Windows but you can still install and use it on your Windows PC with the help of the link we have shared below.

Link: Skitch | Download For Windows

2. Grammarly

Isn’t content the king? There is a content race out there to create the most catchy, and valuable content. This also means to create content that is high quality, devoid of errors and grammatically correct. You can be picked up by top blogs for guest blogging only if your content falls into the above category. But in our hurry to generate fast and quick content there will be errors which are inadvertent.

Grammarly is a tool that helps you correct your document while you’re typing it. Grammarly checks for spelling mistakes, contextual errors, sentence construction and more. This is the best grammar checking tool there is. It has both a free and premium version.

Link: Grammarly

Also Read: 15 VLC Keyboard Shortcuts

3. Just Color Picker

A tool for designers, graphic artists, and others related to the same field, which is guaranteed to save them a lot of hours. Designers are always looking for the perfect color for their text, their backgrounds and much more. Have you come across a background color on a website that has made you go wow. And you wanted to know what it was? Just Color Picker makes it super easy to just hover over the color and gives hex code from the image. And the best thing is that it is less than 5 MB which makes it the most essential utility.

Link: Mac App Store | Just Color Picker For Windows

4. Screaming Frog SEO Spider

SEO reviews are an underrated aspect of SEO. Everybody does keyword research and find out what keywords they should rank for. People focus on link building as well. But reviewing your SEO situation for your website can be a helpful way to figure out where you stand. Screaming Frog SEO spider is a tool for the PC and Mac that helps you take stock of your website’s situation. It gives you a comprehensive listing of your meta descriptions, your H1 tags, your backlinks, 404 errors and more. It’s a tool that adds a lot of value for a website owner.

Link: Screaming Frog SEO Spider

Suggested Read: Torrent Auto Download And Exciting Automation Hacks

5. Recordit

How about a tool for making super fast GIF’s? GIF’s are the rage right now because they are fun, easy to create and easy to consume. They are an advanced version of an image without the hassle of watching a full video.

Recordit.co helps in creating GIFs. All one has to do is click on the record button and go through their GIF screens and stop recording. Recordit creates an easy URL that can be used to share the GIF. You can use this also for showing people a step by step action of something.

Link: Recordit

6. f.lux

Our eyes weren’t built for staring at computers. With a growing rate of device usage addiction, in just over a few years the rate of use of mobile and desktops have increased. Our eyes aren’t used to this new medium yet and it can be harmful. Flux is here to help. According to them, using computers during the day is fine because it’s bright, but during the night we aren’t supposed to be looking at a light like a sun. It modifies your computer screen to adapt to your room to give you neutral and consistent lighting that does not hurt your eyes. If you are using your computers all the time. Get flux now!

Link: f.lux

Also Read: Activate Night Mode On YouTube

7. ProtonVPN

Internet nowadays has become the first place for everyone which also increases various risks and threats online. ProtonVPN is one of the best VPN tools for desktops that will help you browse the web by keeping your IP address secure and hidden. It will assign you an IP from another country, which will make sure that you are not getting tapped or targeted by any suspicions websites and will keep your data safe.

Not only this, but you can also use VPN services to access websites that are not available in your region and watch Netflix content from other countries, etc. Though it has paid plans, you can always start to use it for free.

Link: ProtonVPN

8. Dropbox

Many of you surely use your PC or laptops whether its Windows or macOS to do official work. Then Dropbox is one of the tools that you must have. As you might know, Dropbox is a cloud storage where you can keep various items like photos, documents, files, etc. without using up any space on your computer. But that’s not the only thing it is beneficial for. Using Dropbox you can easily share desired files with your colleges, friends or family.

And what more, it is not always necessary that you carry your PC or laptops with you. So with the help of smartphone(which you always carry) application for the same you can easily access all the content on the cloud that you stored from your PC and vice versa.

Link: Dropbox

9. AirDroid

Now while working on desktops it can be frustrating to check your devices every time it pings. With the help of AirDroid, you can simply connect your Android devices to either Windows PC or macOS using AirMirror and even control it from there. It will also let you interact with apps, type using your keyboard straight from the desktop. What more, it can also be used for sharing files and streaming games from smartphones to the computer screen. One more thing to add, you can use your device remotely with the help of an internet connection or connect a device simply without using the internet on AirDroid.

Link: AirDroid

Also Read: How To Play PUBG Mobile On PC

10. Sublime Text

If you deal with coding, develop apps or software then this is a must-have software. The good thing about this tool is that it supports various programming and markup languages like C++, Python, etc. And not only this, but you can also add more programming languages to it with the help of plugins. These plugins are usually community built and are totally license free. It supports various themes and easy to use interface with quick navigation to files, symbols, etc. The good thing about Sublime Text is that it is cross-platform compatible and completely free to use.

You can also check the comparison between Notepad++, Sublime, and Atom.

Link: Sublime Text

Some Honorable Mentions

Phrase Express is a tool that helps in auto-completing commonly used words and phrases. Organize frequently used text snippets.

Pidgin is an instant messenger application that has all your messengers in one place. This helps in avoiding tab clutter on your browser.

Must-Have Software for Windows and Mac Wrap-Up

There you go! A list of all cool and must-have software tools that help you make your life easier. Desktop apps aren’t dead! Thanks for stopping by and stay tuned for more awesome content!