Download of the Week

Cloud storage is convenient, but it also means trusting someone else with your files. Cryptomator encrypts them locally before they reach Dropbox, Google Drive, or other cloud service you use. The open-source app uses AES-256 encryption to protect both file contents and filenames, and works across Windows, macOS, Linux, Android, and iOS.

1Retro automatically backs up and syncs retro game saves across devices and emulators, letting you pick up where you left off without manually moving files. It works across OS with support for RetroArch, MiSTer, OpenEmu, RetroBat, OnionOS, and more.

Sublime Text has upgraded its plugin environment, while adding file icon themes and improving performance when saving many files and checking Git status. While other code editors embrace AI, Sublime Text sticks to what it does best: being a fast, lightweight code editor.

Comfy Desktop lets you generate AI images and video locally using your own GPU, with popular models such as Stable Diffusion, SDXL, Flux, Wan, and others. It wraps the powerful ComfyUI workflow system into a desktop app that handles installation, dependencies, and more, removing much of the hassle from running generative AI on your own hardware.

MPC-HC is a lightweight and highly customizable Windows media player, with strong codec support through its bundled LAV Filters and excellent compatibility with advanced renderers. Version 2.8.2 adds ReplayGain volume normalization, smoother seeking and file launching. For more recommended playback and streaming apps, check out our Essentials Software guide.

Krita is a feature-rich digital painting app built for artists, with customizable brushes, layers, drawing assistants, graphics tablet support, and animation tools. The latest 5.3.4 release adds animation and timelapse exports on Android and improves recorder reliability.

Photon Studio is a desktop image editor with layers, masks, adjustment tools, smart objects, retouching and native PSD support. Features such as subject selection and background removal run locally, with no subscription or paid feature tier. It's available for Windows, Mac, and Linux.

Managing RGB hardware from different brands often means installing several separate utilities, which is exactly what OpenRGB aims to avoid by controlling compatible lighting from one application. Version 1.0 marks a major step forward with support for more devices, a redesigned profile system, background service operation, including PawnIO and Qt6.

Google's Gemini desktop app is now available for Windows 10 and 11, providing quick access to the AI assistant from anywhere with an Alt + Space shortcut. The app also supports Google app integrations, multi-step tasks with Gemini Spark, and image and video generation.

DaVinci Resolve 21.1 expands its AI capabilities with tools for generating speech, aging or de-aging faces, removing motion blur, and more.

The Nvidia App brings together driver updates, graphics settings, and other GeForce features in one place. Its latest update expands the Statistics Overlay with CPU temperature, power consumption, and clock speed monitoring, available through the Custom view and in-game with Alt + R. For more ways to configure the app, check out our Nvidia App settings guide.

Omarchy is an Arch-based Linux distro built around Hyprland, designed to provide a polished and ready-to-use desktop without the usual setup work. It comes with developer tools, applications, and keyboard-driven workflows, while integrating AI agents that can help troubleshoot problems, modify the system, and create plugins and other customizations.

HWiNFO combines detailed system information with extensive sensor monitoring, making it useful for checking temperatures, power usage, clock speeds, and other hardware behavior in real time. It can also help troubleshoot performance issues.

Audacity 4.0 is a major overhaul of the popular audio editor, featuring a redesigned interface, improved clip editing, a new project format, and native ASIO support on Windows. Some features haven't made the transition yet, including MIDI tracks, but are expected to return in future releases.

Built in Rust, Zed is a modern code editor focused on speed and collaboration. It supports Git, debugging, remote development, AI agents, and extensions, with native versions for Windows, macOS, and Linux. Zed is also part of our Essential Apps for Windows and Mac.

Calibre remains one of the best free tools for managing, converting, and organizing ebook libraries. Version 9.14 adds AI-generated book covers in several styles from sci-fi and romance to pulp fiction, plus improved tag searches, and support for Anthropic and Grok backends.

Affinity combines professional photo editing, vector graphics, and publishing tools in one free app for Windows and macOS. Owned by Canva, it supports formats such as PSD, AI, PDF, SVG, and IDML, and is also featured in our Essential Apps selection.

Transmission is a free BitTorrent client known for its low resource usage and simple interface. Available for Windows, macOS, and Linux, it supports the core features expected from a modern torrent client while keeping the application lightweight and straightforward.

ProtonVPN is a privacy-focused service with a strong free option that includes unlimited data, no ads or artificial speed limits, and a strict no-logs policy. Its open-source apps are available across major desktop and mobile platforms, with free users able to connect one device at a time.

Nvidia has released DLSS 4.5 Ray Reconstruction, bringing its 2nd-gen Transformer model to all RTX GPUs. The upgrade promises improved lighting, temporal stability, and detail in motion, while reducing artifacts such as ghosting. An early access update to the Nvidia App lets users enable this in 30 supported games, including Cyberpunk 2077, Alan Wake 2, and Resident Evil Requiem, with a wider release coming in September.

CPU-Z remains a favorite for checking processor, memory, and motherboard details, but version 3.01 makes it more useful for troubleshooting. The new Validator V3 can quickly scan for more than 100 potential issues, including overheating, outdated drivers, hardware problems, and bloatware.

Todoist is a free task manager with a clean interface that lets you quickly capture to-dos, set recurring deadlines and priorities, and organize everything into projects and lists. It works across desktop, mobile, and the web, and is also one of our Essential Apps for Windows and macOS.

Modern OS can handle common archives on their own, but PeaZip gives you finer control over compression, broader format support, encryption, split archives, integrity checks, and file conversion. It's available for Windows, macOS, and Linux. PeaZip is also featured in TechSpot's Essential Apps.

Media Player Classic - Home Cinema is fast, lightweight, and plays virtually anything without unnecessary extras. Its classic interface stays out of the way, while advanced users can fine-tune playback with custom filters, shaders, and renderers such as madVR. MPC-HC is also one of our Essential Apps.