I know you are asking for FOSS alternatives, but for those who are looking to just restore the old programs:

https://win7games.com/

Notepad++ or Notepad3, Paint.NET (not OSS), SpeedCrunch

The best alternative to Paint for me is Online

https://viliusle.github.io/miniPaint/

I don't know why it is called Mini, it's a very powerfull and complete editor. I use it as PWA, also selfhostable

Instead of Notepad

https://www.giuspen.net/cherrytree/

Calculator, curious, and complete this one

https://preccalc.sourceforge.net/

• arbitrary precision (up to 100,000,000 significant digits !!!)
• complex numbers
• fractions
• lists, vectors, matrices
• history (shortcuts ctrl+up, ctrl+down)
• calculator can write all results to a log file
• commands if, goto, print, return
• unlimited number of variables
• frequently used formulas can be saved as macros
• calculator can be translated to other languages

https://preccalc.sourceforge.net/screenshots.shtml

Haven't used anything but Notepad++ in years.

Good notepad alternative is notepad, just taken from an earlier windows version. Best version of it is the early one from Windows 11 though, the one that just added autosaving and tabs. It's the perfect balance of simplicity and usability for a temp note taking app imo.

That is, if you just need a program with a text field and nothing else. If you want something more useful in general though, then the obvious answer is Notepad++.

Kate and/or Notepad ++ for your text editing needs and maybe Krita for a Paint alternative.

put portable apps on it. hopefully you switch to linux at some point but if you don't moving your applications to the next machine will be way easier.

I always loved Editpad and LView.

cudatext as a notepad replacement. It's closer to a full featured text editor, but is very quick to startup with no extensions installed.

I have no idea about replacing paint, but irfanview for simple viewing, cropping, resizing, swapping formats, etc.

For calculator stuff I sometimes just open the Python REPL. If you know the language (even a little bit) it does all the things and more. Every time I try to use the Windows calculator it annoys me trying to find the right button and them accidently putting another operator instead of equal or vice versa.

I use Notepad++ for notepad stuff. Can work just like the OG one but also has a bunch of useful features.

Just use my phone for calculator

Krita for paint, but it's not really lightweight.

Notepad: Notepad++ or Visual Studio Code. Or if you like terminal windows: https://github.com/microsoft/edit

Paint: https://www.pinta-project.com/ seems to have Windows builds.

Calculator: https://qalculate.github.io/ is the best I know of.

maybe just grab old win32 versions from 10/7/xp?

Kate is your friend for text editing. Probably other KDE apps too if they are also available on Windows.

I'm using Notepads. It doesn't have so many features like notepad++, but it gets the job done.

@PiraHxCx Notepad++??Moffsoft Freecalc (moffsoft.com/freecalc.htm)

@PiraHxCx also....Greenshot (replaces Snipping tool)Irfanview (picture viewer)VLC (video/music player)Strawberry (music player)

On the Windows 11 install I was forced to use, I installed vim and helix through scoop. And python/julia works for calculator.