These Windows apps are no longer useful (and possibly dangerous for your machine).

Many Windows applications are no longer needed today. Some of them may even pose a danger to your car.

It’s the same with all computers: little applications accumulate over time, like that utility you downloaded for this or that, but which always runs in the background. Especially since Windows also has its fair share of viruses. Whether you have an old computer or not, you should make a list of installed applications from time to time and decide which ones you can do without.

Here are some Windows apps that you should get rid of immediately because they are too old, pose a security risk, or are fraudulent.

CCleaner and other cleaning tools

Windows 10 and 11 clean themselves up pretty well. No need for a dedicated app, let alone CCleaner. CCleaner has been a very effective Windows cleaning application. But in 2017, it was acquired by Avast, who began to add a whole bunch of non-essential features and other monitoring tools to it. While the app has evolved in the right direction today, it doesn’t make much sense to use a utility like CCleaner these days.

Back-up technologies such as Flash, Silverlight, Java

Adobe Flash no longer exists. Fortunately. But it may still be on your computer. The same goes for old frameworks and technologies like Microsoft Silverlight, Java or Shockwave. Go to the list of installed applications and if you see any, get rid of them immediately.

A free screen capture utility like Lightshot.

Lightshot is a free utility for taking screenshots and sending them to the cloud. This is convenient, but creates a security risk. It is better not to use any third party tool to take screenshots of your personal data. Especially a solution like Lightshot that connects to the cloud over which you have no control.

Use the native Windows tool or ShareX, probably the best third party tool in this category.

Cortana

Cortana is one of the Microsoft projects that never came to fruition. In Windows 10 it was already hidden, in Windows 11 it disappeared. But Cortana can still run in the background, consuming memory and resources. Use the Windows10Debloater script in PowerShell to get rid of it in a jiffy.

Applications such as Bonjour, QuickTime, iTunes and more.

If you installed iTunes once in 2014, you still have at least five Apple apps installed on your computer. Now iTunes is no longer needed, and if you want to backup or sync your iPhone to PC, you can use a third party tool (or just iCloud).

Go to the application list and uninstall everything related to iTunes like Bonjour, Apple Software Update, Apple Mobile Device Support, QuickTime and iTunes.

Viruses from manufacturers

If you bought your Windows PC from a manufacturer other than Microsoft, chances are it comes preinstalled with apps you don’t need. Navigate to the list of installed apps to find them. Use Should I delete this? to see if you can remove them immediately.

McAfee malware

McAfee is one such insecure antivirus application. And it has been proven that it can be very difficult to completely remove them on Mac. It is often pre-installed on the PC and is not easy to use. On Windows, it’s easy to uninstall it directly from the application list.

Torrent apps like uTorrent and BitTorrent

uTorrent was the best Torrent app for Windows for a while, BitTorrent was in second place. But uTorrent began to introduce ads and unnecessary bells and whistles – the same thing, by the way, did BitTorrent. uTorrent even hid the cryptocurrency mining script without telling its users about it.

Remove those apps and switch to qBittorrent which is safe, free and open source.

WinRar

Everyone needs an application to extract archives, but it doesn’t have to be WinRar. This app hasn’t received a real update in 20 years and offers a 40 day lifetime trial. It doesn’t get blocked if you don’t pay, but it keeps showing the annoying popup. Upgrade to 7-Zip, free and easy.