Photo by CC user Ben Franske on Wikimedia Commons

Love them or hate them, Microsoft has created many programs that we simply can’t live without. If you don’t have some of the following applications, they can be purchased through providers such as My Choice Software.

With that in mind, check out the best programs that this iconic tech company has released to the world over the years.

1) Windows 10

While some people have strong feelings about this operating system, Windows 10 is considered by many experts to be the best OS that Microsoft has ever released.

Despite the sour taste left in the mouths of Windows 7 and 8 users by the company’s efforts to persuade them to upgrade for free over the past year, those that have made the jump have found features like the re-designed Start Menu and virtual assistant Cortana to be worth enduring the lengthy installation process.

This operating system also comes with Edge, the ancestor of now defunct Internet Explorer. A drastic improvement from the former browser, Edge has learned from the mistakes of its predecessor, making it worthy of being your #1 web portal again.

2) Microsoft Office 2016

Despite being challenged by free alternatives like Google Docs and Libreoffice, Microsoft Office 2016 still has features that still makes it worth your while to buy this productivity software suite.

With word processing, spreadsheet, presentation and database capabilities that add more value through innovation then their bargain basement competitors, Office has remained a fixture in corporate settings.

A couple of examples include this suite’s ability to share files over the cloud with other Office users, and Word’s ability to not only check spelling and grammar, but to also suggest synonyms and translate words into other languages.

3) Microsoft Security Essentials

While there was a time when certain leaders in the computer security space had a vastly superior product, other players have narrowed the field since then.

One of those providers was none other than Microsoft; unbeknownst to most users, every copy of Windows from 7 onwards has shipped with a free anti-virus program known as Microsoft Security Essentials.

While other products are said to have more robust updates when it comes to virus definitions, the reality is that there isn’t that much of a gap between Microsoft and the other guys.

When you consider that Security Essentials is free versus a sizable subscription fee that the competition charges, chances are good that you’ll be fine with this value-packed anti-virus product.

4) Skype

Although it started as its own company, Microsoft made a move to acquire Skype in 2011 for $8.5 billion USD.

Seeing how a large portion of the internet’s video telephony traffic passes through this service, it turned out to be one of its smartest business deals in a long while, as more customers than ever use its free and paid services.

If you use a PC, there’s an excellent chance that you have used this program to keep up with friends and family across the country and the world on a regular basis.

5) Solitaire

Even in 2016, this program is an office worker’s standby to burn time after a hard day at work. Being immune to internet outages, this game is a guilty pleasure of many shameless time-wasters … like us.