5 missed Home windows 11 apps that lightened my workload without cost

In 2025, the Microsoft Retailer is crammed with several excellent third-party applications, and most of the most helpful ones are fully free to obtain and set up. Over time, I’ve gathered an awesome many applications that elevate my very own private computing expertise, with each bit of software program neatly nested away inside my PC’s Start Menu.

Listed below are 5 Home windows 11 apps particularly that make my life simpler on the common, regardless of not costing a single penny and whereas additionally being freed from ads and pesky upsells as well.

FlairMax

Fluently wrapped music recognition for PC

FlairMax is a free Home windows 11 music recognition app that works equally to the favored Apple-owned Shazam service. Actually, underneath the hood, FlairMax can faucet into Shazam’s wealthy audio database, along with providing ACRCloud core recognition help. Whereas technically nonetheless in beta, FlairMax is sort of polished from a consumer interface perspective, being constructed utilizing Microsoft’s Universal Windows Program (UWP) app know-how and making use of a number of Home windows 11 and Home windows 10 design rules for a clear and intuitive end-user expertise.

With Microsoft having eliminated Cortana-powered music recognition from the core of Home windows again in 2018 (via Windows Central), FlairMax is the very best various I’ve but come throughout. It options customizable interface components, it surfaces numerous music streaming hyperlinks for every track recognized, and it even ships with help for synced lyrics.

Easy QR Code Maker

Having a QR code generator can turn out to be useful

Easy QR Code Maker is a free Home windows 11 software that does precisely what it says on the tin. By feeding this system an internet site URL, plain textual content, or plenty of different information factors, it might probably spit out a custom-made scannable QR code inside seconds. QR codes can turn out to be useful for shortly accessing on-line sources or paperwork, and the power to create and customise codes by way of a devoted app is the form of factor that you just may discover utility for whenever you least anticipate it.

Now, there are a number of different QR generator companies accessible each on the internet and throughout the Microsoft Retailer itself, however I am personally a fan of Easy QR Code Maker due to its clear, minimalistic design language, its skill for use whereas absolutely offline, and its promise of an ad-free expertise and no hidden charges or different strings connected.

Monitorian

An important instrument for multi-monitor PC setups

Monitorian is a free and light-weight Home windows 11 utility that permits you to regulate the brightness of particular person shows inside a multi-monitor desk setup with ease. A devoted flyout showcases all linked screens inside a single area, with choices to manage every show’s brightness independently or, alternatively, all collectively in unison. Monitorian does require exterior screens to be Show Information Channel (DDC) / Command Interface (CI) appropriate in an effort to operate appropriately, and so particular person mileage could differ. In any case, having a show brightness slider for my Dell monitor inside arm’s attain is a real time saver, and it is extra intuitive than counting on the show’s clunky in-line {hardware} controller.

EarTrumpet

Granular, highly effective management over your PC’s audio

EarTrumpet is a deceptively easy Home windows instrument that punches well above its weight. Serving as a substitute for Home windows 11’s default quantity management interface, EarTrumpet supplies fast entry to superior audio settings, presents quite a lot of hotkey shortcuts, and ships with a strong audio mixer. As a free and light-weight utility, it is exhausting to complain about EarTrumpet, although I do want its interface was modernized with modern Fluent Design principles for some added bonus factors within the fit-and-finish division.

Fluent Flyouts

The pliability of Home windows 10 with the design sensibilities of Home windows 11

Again in the Windows 10 days, essential system utilities every had their very own corresponding flyout interfaces throughout the Home windows Shell. Accessible by way of the taskbar’s system tray part, there have been bespoke popups for audio, date and time, battery, networking, and extra. As of Home windows 11, most of those flyouts have been consolidated into the all-purpose Fast Settings pane, which presents a extra streamlined expertise on the expense of flexibility.

The free and open-source (FOSS) Fluent Flyouts software, which continues to be being actively developed and improved upon, goals to port the multi-flyout conduct native to Home windows 10 whereas sustaining a slick WIndows 11-style design language within the course of. On the time of writing, accessible flyouts embrace a traditional clock with seconds displayed on-screen, a calendar, and an unbiased brightness slider. In a future replace, a devoted battery flyout can be anticipated to reach, which can permit for simpler management over a PC’s numerous energy profiles.