I'm fairly selective about what I install on my Windows PC.There are plenty of popular apps I've consciously never installed, and a few I've tried and deliberately got rid of.In every case, though, the reason is the same: I don't see a good enough reason to give them space on my computer.
Google Chrome Popularity isn't enough to make me switch Chrome is the most popular desktop browser in the world, accounting for about 71% of desktop browser usage (July 2026), so it's probably the most surprising app on this list.But having used it both personally and professionally, I just don't see the pull.Edge is already my browser, and because both are built on Chromium, I don't worry about website compatibility or Chrome extensions.
I also find that Edge drains my laptop's battery more slowly than Chrome, and I like its tighter integration with Windows.Copilot is another useful part of my workflow, particularly when I want to quickly summarize a news article, extract key points from a long PDF, or refine a long live chat conversation into key points.Admittedly, Edge has recently lost some features I particularly liked, including Sidebar, and Drop is also on its way out.
Even so, I still don't feel the need to switch to Chrome or another browser.Adobe Acrobat Reader My PDF workflow doesn't need another app I used to think Acrobat Reader was one of those apps you simply installed on a new Windows PC.These days, I don't see the need.
Edge already handles virtually everything I do with PDFs, so installing another dedicated reader would mostly just give me another app to maintain.I can open PDFs, search them, fill in forms, highlight and annotate text, add text boxes, and sign documents directly in Edge.For the PDFs I actually deal with, that's more than enough.
Acrobat is undoubtedly useful if you need its more advanced tools, particularly for editing PDFs or working with complicated documents.I just don't need those features often enough to justify keeping a separate app installed.WhatsApp Some apps are better kept on my phone I understand why people install WhatsApp on Windows.
Having your messages on a larger screen and being able to type with a keyboard is convenient, especially if you use WhatsApp constantly.I tried the desktop app, though, and eventually decided I didn't want it on my PC.For me, having WhatsApp on Windows ended up being yet another source of interruptions while I was working.
And because people knew that I had WhatsApp on my PC, they'd expect a quicker reply.I don't use WhatsApp Web on my PC either.My rule is simply that WhatsApp stays on my phone.
VLC I prefer a player that's built around playback Close VLC is one of those apps that seems to appear on every list of essential Windows software—but I've never really needed it.Windows Media Player handles most of the videos I watch, and if I want something more capable, mpv is the lightweight, no-nonsense player I'd turn to.It takes a very different approach, with a minimal interface and a focus on simply playing media.
VLC is an excellent choice if you need its broad format support and extensive options.I don't have a workflow that requires it, so I have no reason to install it.Microsoft Teams My old PC didn't like it Teams was one of the apps I uninstalled from my old PC.
It seemed to use resources even when I wasn't using it, and I didn't need another app taking its share of resources that were already in short supply.That was enough to make me ditch the desktop version altogether.These days, even on my new computer, I use Teams in the browser when I need it.
I can open a tab for a meeting or conversation, then close it when I'm done.I don't have to worry about it running in the background or sending me notifications when I'm doing something else.If you use Teams all day for work, the desktop app might make more sense.
But for the meetings I actually join, the browser has never felt limiting.WinRAR I rarely need more than basic extraction For a long time, installing WinRAR felt like one of those things you just did when setting up a Windows PC.If you regularly downloaded compressed files, you knew you'd eventually encounter something Windows couldn't open.
That's much less of an issue now.Modern versions of Windows 11 can extract several common archive formats directly from File Explorer, including ZIP, 7z, and RAR.That covers what I need, whether the file came from a colleague or something I downloaded.
I know 7-Zip is another popular option, and both it and WinRAR offer plenty more if you regularly create archives, split large files, or protect them with passwords.I can't remember the last time I needed any of that.Most of the compressed files I encounter are things I'm opening rather than creating, so File Explorer gives me everything I need without installing another app.
Google Drive I don't need a desktop sync workflow I've always been aware that I could install dedicated Google Workspace apps on my Windows PC, but because so much of what I do with Google is cloud-based, I've never felt the need to.The browser has always felt like the natural place to use Drive, even when I was deeply embedded in the Google Workspace ecosystem in a previous job.I can open Drive, find a file, edit it, share it, or upload something without having another app installed on my PC.
That's particularly useful because I don't need my Google Drive files to appear as though they're stored locally.Obviously, this works best when I have an internet connection, but that's rarely a problem for me.Opening a browser tab when I need Drive is perfectly sufficient.
I don't need a dedicated app for something that works just as well in Edge.Popular doesn't always mean necessary I don't think any of these apps are bad, and I can see why they're popular.I just don't think popularity is a good enough reason to install something.
These days, I'd rather start with what Windows and my browser can already do, then add software only when I genuinely need something more.
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