Ten small free utilities that each fix a specific annoyance in Windows — missing Caps Lock indicators on laptop keyboards, accidental startup sounds in quiet rooms, touchpad mis-clicks while typing, and seven more in that vein. None of them are household names, but each one has saved me enough time on my own machines and in repair-shop days that I keep reinstalling them on every fresh Windows build. Here’s the full list, what it fixes, and where to download it.
Applies to: Windows 10 (22H2) and Windows 11 (23H2, 24H2, 25H2) | Last updated: April 20, 2026
Key Takeaways
- KeyboardLeds solves the missing Caps Lock / Num Lock indicator problem on laptops and wireless keyboards.
- CapCut is a genuinely capable free video editor — no watermarks on the desktop version, even on the free tier.
- Bitwarden remains the default answer for free password management — open source, cross-platform, and far safer than letting your browser store passwords in plain text.
1. Fix Missing Caps Lock / Num Lock Indicators with KeyboardLeds
If you’ve ever typed out a password on a laptop and wondered afterwards whether Caps Lock was on — KeyboardLeds is the fix. It shows the current state of Caps Lock, Num Lock, and Scroll Lock either in the system tray or as an on-screen overlay. Desktop users with a dedicated keyboard LED don’t need it, but almost every laptop and most wireless keyboards ship without those indicators now.
Recommended settings: enable only Caps Lock and Num Lock notifications, set the overlay to disappear after three seconds, and let it start with Windows. That gives you the signal when you need it without cluttering the screen.
2. Stop Embarrassing Startup Sounds with AutoMute
Picture opening a laptop in a library or a meeting and Windows chimes at full volume. AutoMute fixes exactly that by muting system audio during events you choose — shutdown, sleep, and log-off are the ones I enable. The next boot is silent by default, so you can open the lid anywhere without announcing yourself to the room.
It also exposes a global keyboard shortcut to toggle system mute on or off. Newer laptops have a dedicated mute key for this, but it’s genuinely useful on desktop keyboards that don’t.
3. Block Accidental Touchpad Clicks with TouchpadBlocker
Most modern laptops let you disable the touchpad with a Function-key combination, but older or budget machines don’t — and their palms still land on the touchpad mid-sentence. TouchpadBlocker suppresses touchpad clicks for a configurable window of milliseconds after every keystroke, which eliminates the stray cursor jumps and selection resets. If your laptop uses a Synaptics touchpad, you also get a shortcut to fully enable or disable it.
I’ve installed this on more family members’ machines than I can count — it’s the single most effective fix for “my typing keeps jumping around on Word.”
4. Convert Videos Between Formats with Any Video Converter
Any Video Converter is a general-purpose format converter with a surprising amount of light editing built in — cropping, watermarking, basic compression, and splitting. The free version caps downloads from external sites at 720p, but for local file conversion it’s unrestricted. Worth keeping around for the one-off “why won’t this MOV play in Premiere” moments where you don’t want to fire up a full NLE.
If you’re doing proper video editing rather than occasional conversion, skip this and install DaVinci Resolve instead — it’s the same tool I edit every YouTube video on.
5. Edit Videos Like a Pro with CapCut
CapCut is the most capable free video editor I’ve tested — auto-captions, keyframing, background removal, and a library of stock music and fonts, and none of it saddles you with a watermark on the free desktop version. It also runs on low-end hardware that chokes on DaVinci Resolve or Premiere. A handful of the premium effects are behind the paid tier, but the core editor is free.
For full install steps and the settings I use, see my CapCut install guide.
6. Recover Lost Product Keys with ProduKey
ProduKey by NirSoft pulls your Windows and Microsoft Office product keys out of the current install, or from an external Windows folder mounted from another drive. Perfect for “my laptop died and I need the OEM Windows key off the old SSD.” Your antivirus will likely flag it — that’s because the same techniques it uses to read your keys also fit the definition of a key-stealer. Temporarily whitelist the folder you put it in.
If you’re not sure whether your Windows key is even stored on-disk (OEM vs retail), my guide to finding your Windows product key walks through the built-in methods as well.
7. Supercharge Copy and Paste with CopyQ
CopyQ is a clipboard manager with a persistent history. Every time you copy something, it saves the entry — text, images, file paths — and lets you search back through everything you’ve copied, pin the useful ones, and organise them into tabs. Windows 11’s built-in clipboard history (Win + V) covers the basics, but CopyQ is faster, more configurable, and remembers entries across reboots by default.
If you write code, answer the same emails repeatedly, or fill out forms with boilerplate, CopyQ saves hours a week.
8. Remote Into Any Computer with Chrome Remote Desktop
Chrome Remote Desktop is the free remote access tool I recommend to anyone who doesn’t want to deal with TeamViewer’s nag screens or AnyDesk’s commercial-use accusations. It runs inside any Chromium-based browser (Chrome, Edge, Brave), secures sessions with a PIN, and works equally well for helping a family member across the country and grabbing a file off your own desktop from your phone. Requires a Google account.
9. Secure Your Passwords with Bitwarden
Bitwarden is the default answer for free password management. Open source, end-to-end encrypted, and available as a desktop app, browser extension, and mobile app that all sync through the same vault. The free tier doesn’t gate anything essential — unlimited passwords, cross-device sync, secure notes, password generator. The paid tier adds features like emergency access and a built-in authenticator.
Using your browser’s built-in password manager instead is a common mistake — browser stores are easy to dump with any malware that gains user-level code execution. Bitwarden’s zero-knowledge vault protects even against that.
10. Upscale Images with AI Using Upscayl
Upscayl is a free, open-source AI upscaler that takes a low-resolution image and regenerates it at 2×, 4×, or 8× — without the blurry nearest-neighbour artefacts traditional upscalers produce. Useful for salvaging old photos, rescaling stock images for a thumbnail, or cleaning up screenshots for presentations. It runs locally (models are downloaded on first use), so no upload to a web service required.
For a deeper walkthrough of Upscayl’s models and settings, see my Upscayl guide.
Conclusion
Every tool on this list fixes a specific, recurring annoyance that Windows itself hasn’t solved. None of them are flashy, but installing three or four of them on every new Windows build pays back the time within a week. If you want a broader optimisation pass — debloating Windows, removing pre-installed apps, tuning the installer — my Winhance guide is the single biggest place to start.
Frequently Asked Questions
Is CapCut desktop really free with no watermark?
Yes, the desktop version exports without watermarks on the free tier. A handful of advanced effects, premium templates, and AI features are gated behind CapCut Pro, but the core editor — timeline, keyframes, transitions, auto-captions — is free and unlimited.
Why does my antivirus flag ProduKey as malware?
Most of NirSoft’s utilities read from system memory or protected registry locations to extract credentials and keys — the same techniques real malware uses. Legitimate tools get swept up in the signatures. Temporarily whitelist the folder, run ProduKey, and remove the whitelist afterwards. The tool has been maintained for over a decade without incident.
Does Chrome Remote Desktop work on mobile?
Yes. The mobile apps (iOS and Android) connect to the same host you set up on the desktop, so you can grab a file from your home PC or help a family member from your phone.
What happens if I forget my Bitwarden master password?
Bitwarden uses zero-knowledge encryption, so even Bitwarden staff can’t recover your vault. If you lose the master password, the vault contents are unrecoverable. Write the master password down somewhere physical and store it safely — this is the one password you should never just “remember.”
Is CopyQ better than Windows 11’s built-in clipboard history?
For casual use the built-in Win + V history is fine. CopyQ wins when you need more than 25 entries remembered, want entries to persist across reboots, need search across clipboard history, or want to organise snippets into tabs — none of which the built-in manager supports.
