To further Tannin's comment re Google making a PS killer program ... it should be remembered that this Nik collection is a plugin for PS(or LR).
That is, Google are making PS and/or LR better with this product!
Why would they make such a product(Nik collection)free and then attempt to create a competing product(whatever new software) for the product(Adobe's) they just made better!
I haven't installed LR again with Win10, and as I don't have PS .. a plugin for those Adobe products don't really suit my purposes.
BUT!!!
You can run these (so called) plugins on their own, even if you don't have the required Adobe software installed.
All the Nik software is actually standalone software, it's just made so that it's linked to a plugin link via the respective Adobe software.
And you can run the Nik software without needing the Adobe software installed(or if you just simply wish to do so without the need for the Adobe software).
You need to locate the executable files for each respective Nik program.
To find the .exe, for example on a Windows 64bit system, it's most likely installed to C drive, Program files(not program files (x86)!), Google, Nik Collection, and from there under each respective directory appropriately named.
A few notes: you may find a Google directory in your Program Files (x86) folder too. That is almost certainly installed by Google because of Chrome trying to infest your PC in some way.
Mine exists because I actually use my Google Drive allocation .. I've lost count of how many times I've explicitly told Chrome to
'go away'. Not in that folder. If you have an x86 (32bit) PC .. that's be a very old or cheap system by the way!) .. then you won't have a Program Files (x86) folder .. it'd still be located in a folder called Program Files.
Anyhow, once you find those executable files(don't open them!! .. they will almost certainly be useless on their own like that).
What you need to do, is one of a couple of things(or both if you prefer).
1. to use the programs without the assistance of any other program, that it truly standalone .. easiest way to use them is to locate each exe file and right click it and
send to .. desktop!!
Now you have a shortcut to the program on your desktop.
If having all those shortcuts on your desktop is cumbersome, you could create folder on the desktop and move them all to there.
But to get this to work, you just drag an image to the shortcut, and the respective program will then open with that image loaded.
You can't(or at least I can't) open the program and then load an image into it.
Note that it only really works (for me) on TIFFs and JPGS, I don't have any Adobe file types to try it on.
To exit the program you need to cancel or save the file. Note that saving the file always overwrites the original file you opened it with. If this is important to you then make sure you open the program with a duplicate file!!
2. Another way you can get these 'plugins' to operate is to link them to any software that has a 'Open With' routine.
The two that come to mind for me .. are ViewNX2(and CaptureNX-D) and Fast Stone Viewer(FSV).
Locate the option to add the executables to the software you prefer to work with and add it to the Open With dialogue option.
Works well with ViewNX2, that I initially tried(haven't yet tried FSV).
Another note for VNX2 users ... and I use VNX2 as an example as it's
editing ability is pretty hopeless!! These Nik apps now help out enourmously tho!
The gotcha with ViewNX2 is that you
NEED to convert any raw file you want to edit before you load it into any of those Nik apps.
This is primarily because the Nik software doesn't really recognise raw files, and also because when they save, they save to the original file that they were opened with.
There is a chance(although I think unlikely) they could corrupt your raw file .. as they don't recognise them!!.
What will most likely happen is that if you accidentally open a raw file in any of those Nik apps, and then save, it will simply throw an error saying can't save raw file type or something.
Also, you may think if you can open a raw file with the Nik software ... why .. !!!!
Even tho I opened an NEF file in one of those programs, the truth is that ViewNX2 didn't actually send it a proper NEF file, it created a temporary tiff file and the Nik program tried to save it as a NEF.
Just use tiff if you want high quality final edits!
Anyhow, it all works.
The dragging of images to the Nik shortcuts is a bit tedious, but does work .. is handy, just tedious.
Easier to get to them via another image viewing program, most of which will have an Open with option.
Unless you need Nikon's ViewNX2, I'd recommend FSViewer.
hope that helps.