Looking for good/helpful software for windows to get. Stuff that offers QoL improvements etc
And no I don’t care about Linux so don’t bother suggesting I switch to it.
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Sharex. The ultimate scree shotting utility. There are dozens of post capture tasks like upload to website, copy to clipboard, save to file, etc. You can do all of them at once, and it even caputes gifs!
F.lux removes blue from the screen. Makes it easier on your eyes.
Seeing lots of excellent suggestions for general (7-zip, Notepad++, etc).
Foobar2000 is a good music player
I don’t know if it’s good, but I guess there is now a Lemmy Desktop app https://webcatalog.io/en/apps/lemmy/
I saw you said you use Plex. I assume you use Steam for gaming?
Is there any specific feature/use you want QoL improvements for?
Foobar is the best ever forever. I still love you Winamp but FOOOOB
Hmm, i guess kinda stupid shit like taskbarX. QOL stuff the average person wouldn’t even think about improving
Gotcha.
I know Mental Outlaw had a video about powershell scripts to help reboot Windows 10
That might help speed it up and stop Windows from doing unnecessary background stuff and using resources
- PowerToys - originally this was an internal set of utilities that MS engineers made and decided to publish, lots of useful stuff
- AgentRansack - For searching the content of files
- Everything - For searching for file names
- PUTTY - to connect to a more civilized OS (SSH client)
- Obsidian - one note but better and offline.
- Notepad++ - notepad but not shit
- HWInfo64 - detailed system infomation and sensor info
- WizTree - file usage analyzer, much better than the popular WinDirStat
What’s more civilized os mean?
Something that isn’t Windows or MacOS. The BSDs for example 😉
Or to join some BBS.
Let me guess Linux aka neckbeard os?
That’s an example, but you mentioned it yourself. The BSDs aren’t Linux.
doom
I highly recommend trying out a tiling window manager. Yes, they exist for Windows. No, they’re not as good as on Linux or BSD, but it’s a completely different workflow and you won’t know if it’s for you until you try it. Komorebi seems to be a popular choice. I tried workspacer but it was a PITA to configure (I say that as someone experienced in configuring and using a tiler). The Komorebi discord seems to have a channel for sharing configs so you can check it out as a source of inspiration or as a base to build your own config onto.
Also, a package manager like scoop or chocolatey. If I had to return to Windows, this would be a nonnegotiable.
Also, Chris Titus’ winutil for debloating, removing spyware, installing good common software and running a range of tweaks (including disabling or delaying feature updates for better stability).
Vivaldi. Yes, it’s technically proprietary (if you care about that stuff) but it’s really good, if you’re a power user in the browser, or if you’re a tab hoarder. I can’t see myself living without workspaces in the browser now. And the panel is nice if you’re into it.
That’s about it.
Veracrypt so that I can keep personal files safe from being read from the hard-drive (eg if it’s stolen and removed).
Winmerge for comparing files.
Obsidian for organizing notes (and emacs, but you probably don’t want that unless you already use it!)
Resilio sync so that I can mirror files to other PCs to be backed up.
Irfanview for image viewing.
Plus stuff that others have mentioned.
Do you have Obsidian syncing with a mobile device? I’ve been trying to find a good way to do that. Currently using Nextcloud but it’s janky. I know you can pay them for their sync feature but it’s not worth $8 a month to me and I want to host it myself.
I use syncthing without any problems.
My current plan is to use SyncThing on the phones and on a linux PC. I’ve set up Obsidian to use a directory locally on the phone (Open Folder As Vault) and use SyncThing to sync that with the PC. As this is only a recent test, I’m still using resilio to sync that dir to other PCs such as my laptop. I just added to a note on my phone and it appeared in Obsidian on my laptop a few seconds later, despite two different syncs being involved.
I’d commented about bugs such as the sync percentage being stuck at 91%, but on reading up on it more, that’s due to a mis-match of ignored files (the ignore patters were the same, but it was still indicating that the files did not match between the two devices).
So my thoughts still stand that SyncThing has a lot of things to set up manually (e.g. it doesn’t automaticall sync between all peers) and the mobile app is strange for having two different UIs, but it looks like as I understand it better I’m happier to keep using it.
If I find that the Resilio phone app is better on battery life, I might switch back to that because I use resilio everywhere else and it’s simpler to set up (and I like that it archives old versions of files for a while).
If you can create notes on the phone you’re doing better than I am with Nextcloud. I’ve never been able to get anything I made on the phone to sync, i can edit and it will sync TO the phone but for whatever reason it doesn’t work the other way with new files. I have a workaround of having a standing “scratch” note that I copy stuff out of when i’m back at home but it’s an extra annoyance i’d rather not deal with.
Syncthing seems to be a good way to get real-time two-way sync so far, but I’ve had a few accidents while setting it up, overwriting latest changes. Probably my fault, but I’m glad that I have backups to other machines.
I tried owncloud years ago and I didn’t want something that heavyweight for file syncing. And I think it stores a copy of all it’s days in a database too. I just want to sync files in-place only. I haven’t tried that or nextcloud in a long time.
Syncthing Syncthing Syncthing works flawlessly /plugover :)
Irfanview for image viewing.
Finally somebody mentions this. It’s lightweight & loads quickly; is highly customizable and can do a number of image edits like cropping, filters, resize with various resampling methods; it can save to a bunch of different formats; etc. It’s always been one of the first things I install.
I’ve always preferred it to similar programs, it’s a really good balance of easy to use viewer and those basic editing features that you mention. Really good for printing, too, you can specify size and/or position on a page.
Is reselio sync better than say syncthing and folder sync?
Hwinfo
Windirstat
Ninite
Caffeine
VLC
Xnview
7-zip
Those go on every machine that I use, then you have your more specialized programs depending on industry.
It’s been many years since I had a windows desktop, but that list is right on. Great base software for your install.
7-zip
If you’re on Win 11, use NanaZip. It’s a fork with better integration with Windows 11’s crappy conext menu.
Caffeine
If you have PowerToys this is built in now.
+1 to NanaZip
Don’t use WIndirstat, It is needlessly slow. Use something like WizTree instead
is great for making bootable USB drives.
to install linux with
Process Explorer is still great.
Such useful features. They should be built-in. But I’m glad they’re serviced separately so we get updates outside windows update cadence.
And open source
Chocolatey
If you have a huge media library, an organizer like Kodi or Jellyfin helps a lot.
I use plex
perhaps WSL?
