The eight worth replacing
Photos opens at its own leisure and treats your local folder like a cloud preview — ImageGlass or XnView MP open instantly and read every format. The Media Player app still plays codec roulette, which is exactly the problem VLC and MPC-HC solved decades ago. Notepad finally has tabs, but Notepad++ still crushes it on anything beyond a quick note: sessions, compare, macros, search and replace across files. And the Snipping Tool is fine for one screenshot a month; ShareX handles scrolling captures, OCR, region rules and automatic upload.
Paint is charming for five minutes; Paint.NET does layers, effects and adjustments without asking for money. Clipchamp pushes sign-ins and subscription nudges where CapCut and the free DaVinci Resolve simply edit video. WordPad is deprecated and leaving Windows — LibreOffice Writer is the honest successor. And Edge in its default role as PDF viewer is a small container ship where SumatraPDF is a speedboat: same destination, different fuel bills.
The four to keep
The keepers share one trait: deep system integration that third-party replacements must fight rather than use. Removing or replacing them buys nothing and costs stability. They are also the four every optimization guide tells you to gut — which is the fastest way to recognize a bad guide.
- Windows Security (Defender): top-tier detection with none of the paid suites' nagging — keep it
- Calculator: instant launch, history, unit and currency conversion, programmer mode; replacements are slower or ad-wrapped
- Task Manager: after the Windows 11 refresh it covers processes, startup and performance without help
- File Explorer: it is the shell — replacements fight the system instead of extending it
Swapping defaults without breaking anything
The switch itself takes two minutes: Settings → Apps → Default apps, pick the app, set it per file type — .jpg, .png, .pdf and the rest. Keep the stock apps installed; they weigh little, some cannot be removed, and a few return after feature updates anyway. When installing the replacements, watch the bundled-offer checkboxes — the price of free is attention. If an app later resets its association after an update, redo the two minutes and move on.
Questions and Answers
What is the best replacement for Windows Photos?
ImageGlass for raw speed and format support, XnView MP if you manage large libraries — both open instantly where Photos pauses for its own interface.
Is it safe to remove default Windows apps?
Safe to leave installed and simply replaced as defaults — that is the better route anyway. System-critical ones cannot be removed, and some stock apps come back after feature updates.
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