[HN Gopher] PowerToys - open-source Windows utilities
___________________________________________________________________
PowerToys - open-source Windows utilities
Author : thunderbong
Score : 419 points
Date : 2022-05-08 15:12 UTC (7 hours ago)
(HTM) web link (www.fourth-wall.co.uk)
(TXT) w3m dump (www.fourth-wall.co.uk)
| bsnnkv wrote:
| If Fancy Zones is too basic for you, especially coming from
| Linux, you might like komorebi[1], a fully scriptable, bspwm-
| esque automatic tiling window manager for Windows 10+.
|
| [1]: https://github.com/LGUG2Z/komorebi
| fleaaa wrote:
| GlazeWM[1] and FancyWM[2] is also pretty nice, albeit not as
| stable as Fancyzone.
|
| [1]: https://github.com/lars-berger/GlazeWM
|
| [2]: https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/p/fancywm-dynamic-tiling-
| win...
| Timothycquinn wrote:
| At least windows explorer has some great extension utilities like
| File Menu Tools; a tool that can be configured to cover pretty
| much every file explorer extension usecase you can imagine.
|
| OSX and XDG (Gnome etc...) based systems have nothing close last
| time I checked.
| jasomill wrote:
| In OS X, Automator lets you add Finder context menu options
| that can, among other things, trigger AppleScript actions that
| can, in turn, run arbitrary (command-line and GUI) programs.
| These actions can optionally be configured to only appear for
| certain file types.
|
| Recent Finder versions relegate custom actions to a "Quick
| Actions" submenu by default, but you can restore an action to
| top-level by removing the "NSIconName" entry from the action's
| _Info.plist_ in ~ /Library/Services.
| JadeNB wrote:
| macOS has Services, which I think are meant to serve much the
| same function.
|
| https://developer.apple.com/design/human-interface-guideline...
|
| (EDIT: I was "posting too fast". In the meantime, I think that
| jasomills has pointed this out
| (https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=31305652).)
| jimnotgym wrote:
| Worth installing just for the image resizer
| yread wrote:
| Try IrfanView it has a very powerful batch feature (the UI
| looks like it was designed by a programmer though)
|
| https://www.irfanview.net/tutorials/bartosz_makuch2/images/i...
| LegitShady wrote:
| fancyzones is great for utrawide monitors. I've been using it for
| years and once you create your own layouts you can snap windows
| to fill them with easy shortcuts (click and drag the window +
| hold shift), and windows will remember the layouts later and keep
| them.
| doomlaser wrote:
| This reminds me of one of my favorite features from the Mac:
| Quick Look -- press space to instantly bring up a big contextual
| preview window of the selected document in the Finder.
|
| You can bring it to Windows with this useful open source tool:
| https://github.com/QL-Win/QuickLook
| jjeaff wrote:
| I've noticed that in windows 11, the file explorer shows a
| document preview, at least for certain documents when selected.
| bobbylarrybobby wrote:
| Quick look is more than just a preview, it's really a read-
| only view of the document. You can read entire documents and
| PDFs, view HTML files rendered, pan through CSVs, etc
| filmgirlcw wrote:
| Yes, there are plugins for the preview pane and some are
| built-in. That's very nice, but I prefer having the ability
| to hit space to preview because of 15 years of muscle memory
| doing that with macOS.
| filmgirlcw wrote:
| Yes! Love this for Windows, there are plugins for it too,
| similar to the plugins for macOS. Like you, QuickLook is one of
| my favorite and most-used macOS features and I cannot be on a
| system without it.
|
| Between this project and PowerToys, the Windows experience is a
| lot more enjoyable.
|
| PowerToys Run especially (essentially Alfred or QuickSilver for
| Windows), is much faster and better than standard Win-S
| searches.
| Geezus-42 wrote:
| Keypirahna
|
| https://keypirinha.com/
| mixmastamyk wrote:
| Fish or cocktail?
| s1291 wrote:
| On Linux, I use Gnome Suchi.
| jiripospisil wrote:
| I use this all the time. While the preview window is open, you
| can even use keyboard arrows to move to other files (or just
| select them with mouse) and the preview gets updated.
| dtgriscom wrote:
| You can also:
|
| - Command-Delete to delete the current file
|
| - Return, type a new name, and return, to rename the current
| file
|
| In both cases the view will properly update.
| wildrhythms wrote:
| I love Quick look on Mac OS! You can also use it within dock
| stacks- hover over an item in an expanded stack and press
| space.
| benjaminpv wrote:
| It's easily forgotten now, but in the 95 and 98 eras Microsoft
| actually bundled a utility called Quick _View_ [1] that added a
| quick preview to the context menu. It got lost in the XP
| transition and I have to wonder if they thought that the
| changes that came along with the IE-ified version of
| explorer.exe (image thumbnails, document previews in the
| sidebar) replicated enough of the functionality that it wasn 't
| necessary anymore (they didn't).
|
| [1]: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Quick_View
| umutcnkus wrote:
| I have remembet that when the preview window is active, if you
| double click the document it will open in relavent app. It
| seems to gone at some point. Any idea?
| maleldil wrote:
| That's if you're using Finder's embedded preview on Columns
| mode. If you're using Spacebar to preview, there will be a
| button on the top right corner to open in the relevant app.
| umutcnkus wrote:
| Actually I'm almost sure that was working with both options
| before. Weird. Thanks anyway!
| stjohnswarts wrote:
| If you are in the market for alternatives, I highly recommend
| Process Hacker in lieu of the powertoys version.
| DiabloD3 wrote:
| I highly recommend the new PowerToys. It's like the old one you
| remember from the 2000/XP days. This article covers my thoughts
| pretty well; always weird to see your own thoughts echoed back to
| you.
| apson wrote:
| I literally have a AutoHotkey script to make windows to stay
| always on top. This is great!
| Zardoz84 wrote:
| Many of these things come out of the box on a Linux distro :
| Always on top, color picker, File explorer add-ons, keyboard
| manager, "mouse utilities" and "the Powertoys run" (a poor
| imitation of krunner could do)
| stardenburden wrote:
| Poor is exactly what it is. The converter is so broken, that a
| space in the wrong place will cause it to not work. IIRC
| something like 5m to ft works but not 5 m to ft
| k__ wrote:
| I'm using fancy zones.
|
| Without it, Windows would be a nightmare to use on a 45" display.
| zeeZ wrote:
| Fancy zones and the double Ctrl to find the cursor are pretty
| much essential for me on an ultrawide.
| Someone1234 wrote:
| PowerToys is great, in particular PowerToys Run.
|
| I'd use PowerToys Color Picker more, but it lacks contrast
| ratios/accessibility information, which is where it would be most
| useful to me. It was suggested on their GitHub but didn't gain
| much traction:
|
| https://github.com/microsoft/PowerToys/issues/9357
|
| https://github.com/microsoft/PowerToys/issues/14454
|
| 9 times out of 10, I am getting color information to run these
| exact checks, so it would just save an extra step.
| tveyben wrote:
| I like powertoys, especially 'fancy zones'!
|
| But Explorer is something I stopped using more than a decade ago
| when I encountered TotalCommander - that I cannot do without!!!
|
| The regex-supporting live-preview batch-filenaming utility alone
| is awesome.
|
| I work so much faster (with the keyboard) than will ever possible
| in Explorer!
|
| I could write for hours about the greatness of TCM, but as that's
| a little off topic here I won't :-)
| anilakar wrote:
| FanzyZones is absolutely essential if you're using large
| monitors.
| dr_kiszonka wrote:
| I use FancyZones as well but I get annoyed that it doesn't
| seem to preserve custom layouts between reboots. I have to
| switch to my layouts manually after every reboot. Have you
| experienced it too? I am curious about whether it is
| something on my end or not.
| anilakar wrote:
| FancyZones seems to forget currently selected layout every
| time it is updated and every time a new Windows developer
| preview is installed. Other than that, it should be exactly
| as you left it.
| di4na wrote:
| It has a setting to remember. If it does not it means you
| have a problem with display detections
| jpeter wrote:
| PowerToys has a batch rename utility that is integrated into
| explorer
| ZoomZoomZoom wrote:
| Don't forget about its Free Software counterpart - Double
| Commander.
|
| Cross-platform, feature packed, constantly updated, Lua-
| scriptable, supports TC plugins, written in Free Pascal.
|
| https://doublecmd.sourceforge.io
| ApostleMatthew wrote:
| I've totally fallen for Directory Opus. Most powerful file
| manager I've ever used, and I've only used a fraction of its
| features.
| iamkroot wrote:
| Wait, is this an official MS utility?
|
| https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/powertoys/
|
| Why aren't these just bundled by default??
| AmVess wrote:
| I tried a few of them and they flat out didn't work. I guess MS
| has decided its OS already has too much garbage.
| thrwyoilarticle wrote:
| A lot of these things seem like they could cause extreme
| confusion for a low-ability user.
| slantyyz wrote:
| Which would be easily resolved by having them off by default?
|
| Having said that, I don't know how window snapping being on
| by default isn't incredibly frustrating for someone who is
| simply trying to precisely position a window near a corner
| only to have it snap in a way they didn't want it to.
| judge2020 wrote:
| Many things in 11 were at least inspired by powertoys, like
| window groups and snap layouts[0], although these are non-
| customizable.
|
| 0: https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/snap-your-
| window...
| das_keyboard wrote:
| Probably because changing stuff in the main OS is pretty
| complex and needs approval from many different actors at
| Microsoft. Releasing a simple utility application on the other
| hand should be much easier and isn't bound to any release
| cycle.
| 13of40 wrote:
| Yeah, is it localized to eleven fallback languages, and
| accessible to blind people, and included in the security
| threat model? Including anything in Windows costs serious
| money, so for some niche features you might need to install
| an out of band, less supported package.
| filmgirlcw wrote:
| As I mentioned here
| (https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=31305712), because it's
| targeted at a different audience and because it being separate
| allows it to be iterated and experimented with more quickly.
| When you have an install-base as large as Windows, you have to
| be careful with what you include as a built-in feature versus
| what is an add-on or option (even first party), because a
| change made for one class of users could be confusing or
| detrimental to another. This is particularly true when it comes
| to utilities and features that are iterated on in public and
| with great frequency. PowerToys occasionally ships with bugs or
| crashes that are completely acceptable and manageable to the
| audience of power users (and are usually fixed very quickly),
| but that could be much more of a problem if shipped to 1
| billion users (and the steps you'd need to take to test against
| edge cases would slow down development, and the development
| speed is one of the best parts of PowerToys).
|
| You can install it through the Microsoft Store, WinGet,
| Choclatey, Scoop or directly from GitHub. It would be nice if
| there was maybe a pointer to it inside the OS to alert some
| users of its existence, but the premise was similar to the OG
| PowerToys, which were downloadable off of the Microsoft
| website.
|
| As I said in the linked comment, stuff from PowerToys does get
| upstreamed into the Windows shell, sometimes with modifications
| or refinements, but some of the utilities are things that
| wouldn't necessarily make sense to be included by default.
| no_time wrote:
| I was about to say "because of the maintenance burden and
| separation of core and extra features" but then I remembered
| that half the stuff they added since win2k is borderline
| useless.
| gjvc wrote:
| win2k was peak windows; all it needed was 64-bit support and
| cleartype
| spookthesunset wrote:
| And support for high DPI displays, and Bluetooth, and
| modern Wi-Fi, and probably a bunch of other stuff I'm
| forgetting!
| lwkl wrote:
| PowerShell, BitLocker, SSH, WinRM, Appx and msix and MDM
| integration come to mind. I don't want to go back to the
| days where managing Windows meant clicking around in
| GUIs.
| gjvc wrote:
| my win32 needs are more modest than yours :-)
| [deleted]
| dang wrote:
| Related:
|
| _Fancy Zones, a tiling window manager_ -
| https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=20895031 - Sept 2019 (163
| comments)
|
| _PowerToys: Windows system utilities to maximize productivity_ -
| https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=20890828 - Sept 2019 (126
| comments)
|
| _PowerToys - Windows system utilities to maximize productivity_
| - https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=19845287 - May 2019 (29
| comments)
| Timothycquinn wrote:
| A great OS Utility is Path Copy Copy
| (https://pathcopycopy.github.io/)
| kevingadd wrote:
| FYI, if you shift-right-click files in explorer there is a
| 'copy as path' option (why this is hidden by default is
| mysterious to me). Not nearly as useful as that utility, but
| good to have if you can't install extensions!
| texaslonghorn5 wrote:
| > It was first introduced for Windows 95,
|
| I had no idea it was there for that long!
|
| Honestly, from their perspective it probably makes sense to keep
| it separate from the main OS if they like keeping it open source.
| zamadatix wrote:
| Windows ships many open source components these days be it
| first party (Calculator, Windows Terminal, WLSG) or third party
| (wholesale like OpenSSH or just libraries used in components).
| drdec wrote:
| That wouldn't stop them from shipping it by default.
| filmgirlcw wrote:
| The OSS stuff doesn't really have anything to do with it.
|
| The genesis of PowerToys was to provide a way to create
| utilities for power users that could be quickly iterated in
| public. When it's part of the core OS, that makes
| updates/iteration harder (hence, why Windows Terminal, WSL2
| beta, calculator, Notepad and some other components have moved
| to getting updates in the Microsoft Store separate from the
| main OS. So you can run an older IT mandated version of Windows
| but still ostensibly have a newer version of a certain
| component), and with stuff like PowerToys, the intended
| audience is different than the standard OS user, who may not be
| comfortable with things that can change more frequently.
|
| That said, the feedback from PowerToys and some of those
| components has been upstreamed back into core Windows.
|
| The improved window management stuff in Windows 11 is a less-
| advanced version of Fancy Zones (FZ has more features and
| options), and the same is true for the universal mute button in
| Windows 11, that started out as a PowerToys feature.
|
| (Disclosure: former Microsoft employee (currently at GitHub)
| who knows the PowerToys team well)
| texaslonghorn5 wrote:
| Good to know, thanks for your insight!
| lhoff wrote:
| Its a little more complicated. While its true that there was a
| Powertoys apllication for win95 the current one is not related
| to that. It's more like a spiritual successor with not direct
| heritage.
|
| The first release of the current applicaiton was 2019. The wiki
| article is quite detailed:
| https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Microsoft_PowerToys
| azalemeth wrote:
| Many, if not most of these tools contain functionality that is
| built into other major OSes, and had been for a long time. I
| don't really understand why Microsoft doesn't include them by
| default.
| [deleted]
| gmueckl wrote:
| It's probably a combination of 1. retaining backwards
| compatibility with applications that don't interact well with
| these features and 2. exposing users to behaviors that are hard
| to understand and undo once they are activated by accident.
| nickjj wrote:
| Number 2 is fun, I get a call from relatives at least twice a
| year because their screen was rotated 90 degrees from a
| keyboard shortcut that was hit when a cat walked across their
| laptop when the lid was left open. The crazy thing is it's
| happened 4 times now.
| Forge36 wrote:
| Is that a Windows feature? I know Intel's graphics driver
| does Ctrl+alt arrow.
|
| It can be turned off.
| tveyben wrote:
| It it's the default config - thus 99% will have it
| enabled...
| frutiger wrote:
| > The crazy thing is it's happened 4 times now.
|
| So it should be back to normal!
| tveyben wrote:
| Spot on !!!!
| hnlmorg wrote:
| It's not a backwards compatibility thing, PowerToys has been
| a thing since Windows 95 and we've seen breaking changes in a
| few iterations of Windows since.
|
| The clue is in the name "Power" -- it's additional
| functionality for power users. Since Windows generally caters
| for the lowest common denominator, features like this would
| be deemed too complicated (sometimes even dangerous) for some
| folk. So it is an optional addon for power users.
|
| It's just like how WSL, PowerShell, etc aren't installed by
| default either.
| transcriptase wrote:
| Instead we get "Paint 3D", "Mixed Reality Portal", and "Your
| Phone". Absolute essentials that I'm certain are chart-toppers
| in the telemetry activity charts.
| com2kid wrote:
| I'd guess Your Phone is a direct response to iMessage on
| MacOS.
|
| It'd be more useful if it worked with any messaging app that
| was running on my phone though!
| kevingadd wrote:
| It at least used to work with LINE and Discord for me, but
| I gave up on using it because it's so damn buggy and the
| Windows side of it uses like 4GB of RAM. And both of those
| have native desktop clients I can use instead.
| drittich wrote:
| It seems to - I routinely use it for SMS and WhatsApp, as
| well as it being a handy way to grab a photo off your
| phone.
| HWR_14 wrote:
| Most of the tools are gated behind obscure key combos _and_ are
| useless for many people. Why not make people install them if
| they want them? The cost of installing them is less than the
| cost of learning the hot key memorizations.
| megaman821 wrote:
| That is not true. I use both Windows and Mac a lot and I have
| about an equal number of OS level plugins.
|
| * PowerToys Awake - Amphetamine
|
| * PowerToys FancyZones - Moom
|
| * PowerToys Run - Alfred
|
| * EarTrumpet - Rogue Amoeba SoundSource
|
| * Windows Terminal - iTerm
|
| * QuickLook - Mac Native Functionality
|
| * Nothing for Windows - HazeOver
|
| * Windows Native Functionality - Bartender
|
| * Snipping Tool - Clean Shot X
| dukeofdoom wrote:
| Do you know of one for ImageResizer?
| megaman821 wrote:
| For Mac; select the images you want, right-click, select
| tools, adjust size.
| maleldil wrote:
| * PowerToys Run - Alfred
|
| * Windows Terminal - iTerm
|
| * Snipping Tool - Clean Shot X
|
| These are not fair comparisons. The Mac tools you list here
| are much more powerful than the Windows counterparts, and
| there are good enough built-in alternatives (Spotlight,
| Terminal and the default screenshot tool).
|
| * PowerToys FancyZones - Moom
|
| This isn't fair either. FancyZones is much more powerful;
| Rectangle is a better comparison.
| Spooky23 wrote:
| I think it's about turf inside Microsoft.
|
| By keeping little toys like this outside of the main Windows
| feature set, they stay out of the 500 review and design steps,
| where any of 5000 people can kill the feature.
|
| There's a lot of politics too. Something like a unmute button
| may be "owned" by the liaison to the Teams program management,
| who in turn want universal unmute to be an Azure service that
| is incorporated into "Azure Live Office Solutions for Windows
| (Govcloud) for Business E7".
| philliphaydon wrote:
| Considering the 2nd most used desktop OS is MacOS and you can't
| even maximise a window properly out of the box...
| tveyben wrote:
| Did you try to Alt-click on the green button?
| maleldil wrote:
| It's not the same experiece as maximising on Windows.
| AFAIK, Zoom expands the window to match the content size,
| and many apps seem to not think you need the full screen.
|
| The only way to replicate the Windows behaviour of truly
| maximising is to use third-party tools like Rectangle.
| philliphaydon wrote:
| It's the same feature. Zoom. As it's called in MacOS. And
| it resizes vertically only most of the time.
| foobarchu wrote:
| Double clicking any unused portion of the title bar will
| maximize a window within it's current space without going
| full-screen (the green button). It's not the most intuitive
| way to do it, but that's a far cry from being impossible out
| of the box.
| [deleted]
| skeletal88 wrote:
| Yes.. but how would I know it had I not read about it here?
| I have to use macs at work and it's filled with "WTF?"
| moments. Like why the hell would I want to make something
| fullscreen with the green button on the window title bar,
| when coming from linux/windows I expect it to maximise the
| window.. and window maximising is done by some weird
| incantation.
|
| Installing of applications is done by dragging them into
| some place, and then there is no feedback about what is
| happening. And so on and on.
| spookthesunset wrote:
| You just kind of get used to it. Each OS has its own
| quirks. Some of them start to make sense as you "grow
| into" the new OS...
| dvtrn wrote:
| > but how would I know it had I not read about it here?
|
| Presumably you've been a windows user long enough, or at
| least exposed to Windows enough times to have figured out
| you can double click a title bar in _that_ operating
| system and maximize a window, so it's probably not too
| far of a stretch to guess you would have figured it out
| in macOS by simply _trying to do the same thing_
|
| Agreeably macOS is highly opinionated when it comes to
| "discovering" some of the hidden interaction features,
| but come on. You really wouldn't have had _any other way_
| to figure how to embiggen a window without without having
| to come to HN and read the above comment?
|
| That feels like an extreme example for the sake of being
| oppositional
| philliphaydon wrote:
| Sorry. Double clicking doesn't consistently maximise. Half
| the time it resized vertically only. So it's not a far cry
| from impossible out of the box.
| Wowfunhappy wrote:
| I actually think it's bad for an OS to include too many
| features out of the box. Basically every modern platform has
| already gone too far in this direction, making computers more
| difficult for casual users to understand.
|
| Vendors should include only the bare essentials, then let users
| who want more add their own extras.
|
| Imagine an OS similar to the original Macintosh, or maybe early
| versions of iOS, but with add-ons that can add features to the
| global UI. New users have a basic system with easily-understood
| behaviors, and experienced users can enable the features they
| need.
|
| In an alternate universe where I believed it was possible to
| compete with the major vendors, this is the platform I would
| build...
| ziml77 wrote:
| I actually find it strange how many people I'm seeing crap on
| PowerToys because you get the features out-of-the-box on
| other platforms.
|
| First off, macOS is missing its own features such as three-
| finger tap to middle click and window snapping, and what you
| get on Linux is going to vary based on your DE.
|
| Second, building something in adds bloat for people who don't
| use it and can kill off choices of third-party options that
| might do the feature (subjectively) better (I still see
| people mad that Apple killed Sherlock by building their own
| version of it in)
|
| I like the idea of something pluggable, but also with sane
| and disableable default features that 98% of users will be
| totally fine with.
| na85 wrote:
| Disagree. Fancy features are awesome for "normies".
|
| iPhones have a feature where you can create PDFs page by
| page, using the camera as a scanner. After you snap the photo
| it offers you a crop and transform tool, and does a little
| image recognition to assist you and make the edges of the
| crop tool snap to the page within the photo.
|
| I've found that feature immensely useful in a professional
| context and (it was a company device) when I gave the phone
| back I seriously considered switching away from Android for
| my personal phone.
|
| Little things like that, baked into the OS, make for a really
| awesome UX.
| Wowfunhappy wrote:
| Wouldn't it make more sense for the scanning feature to be
| its own app, so that users can find it, know what it is,
| and not activate it accidentally?
| servercobra wrote:
| I've only used this in the Files app, which makes sense
| because you're making files. I'm not sure if it exists in
| the camera app as well.
| Wowfunhappy wrote:
| This to me is actually a problem with how iOS works
| versus traditional desktops. Almost everything you create
| is a file, so you could justify putting almost any
| feature in the files app.
|
| The files app should be exclusively for
| listing/moving/copying files. Files themselves should be
| created by and opened with different apps.
|
| This isn't to say apps shouldn't be able to talk to the
| files app. On macOS, for example, apps can install
| QuickLook plugins.
| na85 wrote:
| > Wouldn't it make more sense for the scanning feature to
| be its own app, so that users can find it, know what it
| is, and not activate it accidentally?
|
| It's been a few years since I had that phone so the
| details are a bit fuzzy but I seem to recall it was very
| discoverable from the email attachment interface, at the
| very least.
|
| Problem with a separate app is that it's a separate
| codebase and thus easier for it to fall to neglect.
| Wowfunhappy wrote:
| > It's been a few years since I had that phone so the
| details are a bit fuzzy but I seem to recall it was very
| discoverable from the email attachment interface, at the
| very least.
|
| That's great if I'm sending an email, but what if I want
| to upload the documents to a website, or send them via
| iMessage, or Airdrop them to another Apple device, or
| print out the scan to effectively make a second paper
| copy? Do you add the icon to each of these interfaces,
| taking up screen real estate and adding mental load? (One
| new icon is never a problem, but do it 30 times and
| you'll be in a bad spot.)
|
| IMO, Apple's strategy significantly railroads users,
| while making interfaces ever-more complicated.
|
| > Problem with a separate app is that it's a separate
| codebase and thus easier for it to fall to neglect.
|
| Yeah, bundling everything into iTunes worked really well
| for Apple, didn't it? :D
|
| I really don't think we should be making UI decisions
| based on this.
| na85 wrote:
| >Yeah, bundling everything into iTunes worked really well
| for Apple, didn't it? :D
|
| I'm not really an "Apple Guy" so it's not clear to me
| what you are referring to.
| Wowfunhappy wrote:
| Over the course of more than a decade, Apple kept adding
| features to iTunes until the app become horribly slow,
| confusing, and buggy. Just about everyone hated it.
|
| When Apple finally killed the Mac version of iTunes on
| stage at WWDC, they basically admitted that they'd tried
| to cram in too much functionality, by joking that they
| were considering a Calendar and Web Browser.
| krono wrote:
| Windows is so far past that point now, could just as well
| pile these on too < edit: I'm actually positive about these
| tools, MS could do with a little less focus on consumer
| usecases I think.
| JadeNB wrote:
| > Vendors should include only the bare essentials, then let
| users who want more add their own extras.
|
| This used to be appealing to me, back when the open-source
| model seemed to be viable even on macOS and Windows. Now any
| look at the app store will show you apps performing the most
| basic, should-be (and often is!) bundled, functionality that
| cost $5 apiece. No slight against developers, who have a
| right to make a living, but if I just dropped thousands of
| dollars on a computer and then had to pay $5 for each small
| convenience feature I wanted, it would definitely be a
| significant downgrade in experience. I don't live in the
| Windows ecosystem any more, but the macOS freeware ecosystem
| has significantly degraded (and it's not just a matter of "I
| have to use something old"--due to architecture changes, most
| of the old stuff doesn't work any more, and, understandably,
| even if the original maintainer is still keeping it up, they
| now often charge for the product).
| Wowfunhappy wrote:
| I absolutely agree about these problems!
|
| But, that's why I think it's great that PowerToys is made
| by Microsoft. Just because a feature isn't included in the
| base OS doesn't mean the same company can't create it.
| bubbab wrote:
| I use PowerToys just for the easy key remapping, which I wish was
| a built-in feature in more keyboards. Works very nicely as a
| simple alternative to AutoHotKey. My RSI has gotten a lot better
| by just remapping Caps Lock to Ctrl.
|
| If any PowerToys feature deserves to be added to Windows, it's
| gotta be the Keyboard Manager.
| [deleted]
| layer8 wrote:
| It still doesn't support app-specific key remappings though (as
| opposed to app-specific keyboard shortcuts). This issue has
| been open since 2020, I'm not sure what they are waiting for:
| https://github.com/microsoft/PowerToys/issues/6756
|
| In the meantime I'll stick with AutoHotkey.
| whywhywhywhy wrote:
| Key shortcut remapping should absolutely be a base feature of
| every single OS for accessibility reasons.
|
| Back when I used to use Adobe Fireworks there was a shortcut
| for flattening the current selection, I believe it was
| cmd+ctrl+shift+Z and I'm pressing this hundreds of times a week
| and eventually it gave me RSI.
|
| After this happened I remapped it to cmd+F, luckily the app had
| the ability to do that but honestly I consider it important
| enough that the OS should provide it. I know a lot of windows
| users point to AutoHotKey but it's a horrible janky feeling
| hack and requires you to write actual scripts.
| samstave wrote:
| 100%
|
| And it should be a global panel for all installed apps..
|
| With a tab for each app-map, and the ability to export/import
| a settings file.
| oneplane wrote:
| It is, minus the built-in import/export (but plists can be
| copied): https://support.apple.com/en-gb/guide/mac-
| help/mchlp2262/12....
| joe_guy wrote:
| Windows has support to remap keys built in, there's just no
| UI for it oddly. I think it was added in 2000?
|
| https://www.ghacks.net/2010/06/06/the-ultimate-guide-to-
| keyb...
| oneplane wrote:
| In macOS at least you can remap any key as well as keyboard
| shortcut (both globally and per-app) from the built in OS
| keyboard preferences. The only thing it requires is that the
| thing you want to change has a "menu item" (so a named thing
| in the top menu bar in any of the submenus). Hotkey mapping
| works by simply mapping to any of the texts in those (sub)
| menus, however deep you want to go. The great thing about it
| is the developer of the app doesn't need to do anything to
| allows that, and it essentially only gets broken if an app
| goes out of its way to be as non-native as possible (i.e. if
| it doesn't even use the standard libraries that ship with the
| OS).
| pletnes wrote:
| It's a great feature. It doesn't always work 100% stable
| though. Would love to see it put further into the OS somehow.
| Macos key / modifier remaps are much more stable than
| powertoys'.
| billybrocas wrote:
| NelsonMinar wrote:
| PowerToys Run is fantastic as an app launcher. Not quite as good
| as Alfred on MacOS but then nothing is. There's a bunch of
| similar apps for Windows (I used to use Hain) but none ever
| worked quite right for me, PowerToys Run does though.
|
| FancyZones is awfully nice too for just putting a window
| somewhere at a reasonable size and location.
|
| As other folks have noted SysInternals is another similar rogue
| Windows product by Microsoft. Process Explorer from there is
| indispensible, as is Autoruns.
| tbezman wrote:
| Wishlist feature for PowerToys Run
|
| The ability to search for an application and bring those
| windows into focus. This is my primary way of switching between
| applications (except for the terminal which I have bound to
| Ctrl+Shift+Space). It's much easier for my brain to just type
| the first two letters of the app I want to focus then to
| remember the state of the app switch history.
| moogly wrote:
| This is "built into" PowerToys Run. In fact, at the beginning
| that was all it could do.
|
| It's now been moved into a bundled plugin named after the
| original app that was morphed into this: WindowWalker. I
| don't remember what the special character you have to type to
| target the plugin is because I made my installation of
| PowerToys Run use that plugin by default without a prefix and
| I disabled all the other plugins.
| artimaeis wrote:
| As of the version I have installed (0.58) WindowWalker is
| included by default in the results of the PowerToys Run
| results. To target windows specifically the default
| character is `<`.
| mariusmg wrote:
| This works with Wox + Switcheroo plugin. Here is how it looks
| in action :
|
| https://i.imgur.com/O9ubcEF.png
| afterburner wrote:
| Finally, a replacement for Launchy, down to the easy calculator
| feature!
| joaoco wrote:
| Alfred is one of those tools you only realise how valuable it
| is when you don't have it. I use it every day and really
| struggle without it when on Windows
| mariusmg wrote:
| >but none ever worked quite right for me
|
| Try Wox, it has built-in integration with "Everything".
| sascha_sl wrote:
| PowerToys Run is Wox.[1]
|
| 1: https://docs.microsoft.com/en-
| us/windows/powertoys/run#attri...
| V-2 wrote:
| I quite liked Launchy and I can recommend it. This being said,
| it's inexplicable to me why this particular feature isn't
| supported on Windows out of the box. The nearest equivalent
| (search feature in the Start menu) is pretty bad.
| 1vonzhang wrote:
| Listary is pretty much the best I've encounter on Windows.
| Fuzzy search for all applications & files with dynamic ranking
| of results based on usage habit + possible customization with
| search engines. When I'm on a laptop of someone else, Listary
| is the one that I miss so much.
| Geezus-42 wrote:
| https://keypirinha.com/
| acemarke wrote:
| I'd used FindAndRunRobot for many years, but recently got a
| new laptop and was reviewing my usual list of utils and tools
| during the setup process. Came across Keypirinha, and it's
| great! I probably didn't take enough advantage of FARR's
| configurability before, but the same is true for KP atm - I
| really just use it for launching apps, not searching files or
| anything else. But, KP is working great for me so far and I'm
| happy with having switched to it.
| Liquix wrote:
| GNU/Linux users may be interested in rofi [0] or the more
| spartan dmenu [1]
|
| [0] https://github.com/davatorium/rofi
|
| [1] https://tools.suckless.org/dmenu/
| skirmish wrote:
| Wofi [2] is inspired by rofi but is Wayland native. Works
| very well for me with Sway.
|
| [2] https://hg.sr.ht/~scoopta/wofi
| robertwt7 wrote:
| What's the difference between alfred and spotlight? I always
| yse spotlight for launcher and app switching and it's great
| asimpleusecase wrote:
| Never heard of Alfred before, just looked it up. Will try it
| out this week.
| hilbert42 wrote:
| randomhedgehog wrote:
| What browser and version are you using?
| hilbert42 wrote:
| Lightning 5.1.0 with JS enabled and no other 'nasties' in
| place (no browser spoofing etc.) on Android 7.
|
| Its fork SmartCookieWeb evokes the same reaction. There are 5
| different browsers on this phone including two of those
| suggested, (Firefox and Chrome) but I wouldn't even bother
| trying them on this site on principle.
| [deleted]
| thisismyswamp wrote:
| I use the window zoning thing all the time to center windows at
| less than full width on my ultra wide screen.
| Slikey wrote:
| Isn't it ironic that the operating system called "Windows" offers
| one of the worst window management user experiences?
| [deleted]
| Deltitt wrote:
| I would like to have multiple desktops like MacOS but windows
| has snaps which MacOS doesn't has.
|
| While I like my awesome more on a laptop, every is can be
| configured one way or the other to feel similar across OSes.
| megaman821 wrote:
| Windows does have multiple desktops. Win+Tab to add and move
| between them.
| Deltitt wrote:
| Wow never seen this.
|
| Tx :D
| InvaderFizz wrote:
| In case you are unaware, there are multiple snapping
| utilities for macOS.
|
| I use BetterTouchTool, but there are many tools that
| accomplish the same thing as far as window snapping is
| concerned.
|
| Here is an article that goes over many options:
| https://techwiser.com/snap-windows-on-macos
| readams wrote:
| Windows does have multiple desktops. It was new in win10 I
| believe.
| adam_arthur wrote:
| Out of the box windows management for MacOS is much worse than
| Windows, so not sure I follow? Power Toys does make Windows 10x
| better though... and they really should make it the default
| once it's fully stable.
|
| I used to prefer MacOS for development, but Windows has far
| surpassed it in recent years, between native linux experience
| in WSL and better QOL tooling via Power Toys. The removal of
| vertical taskbar has been pretty annoying though... pretty
| awful on a 49" monitor. All that's left now is to get some 5nm
| chips in Windows machines
| Zardoz84 wrote:
| Simply try a native Linux install. You will find far better
| that "our way or the highway" behavior of Windows and OSX .
| withinboredom wrote:
| That assumes the kernel supports the hardware. There's
| nothing more annoying than only having a left speaker work,
| or WiFi not working, etc
| adam_arthur wrote:
| You get "native" linux on Windows with WSL. It's a linux
| container, but with nice integrations out of the box re:
| networking etc.
|
| I'm not against running linux alone per se, but to me being
| able to run both Windows (with better app support, polish),
| and Linux at the same time is kind of the best of both
| worlds. Windows feels nicer as a daily driver, and can do
| all dev work directly in a linux environment
| xen2xen1 wrote:
| Keep thinking I need to use X from a Fedora box to my
| windows desktop. OK, now to look into that..
| bladegash wrote:
| I am a big fan of WSL and used it extensively for a while
| across multiple development environments. Also like using
| Windows a lot and feel more productive on it than Unix
| based systems.
|
| However, I started to run into a lot of issues with the
| file systems being a bit too commingled though,
| especially when using things like VSCode's WSL
| integrations where you're regularly reading/writing to
| the Linux file system from Windows (or vice versa).
|
| I guess I mention this to say that I ended up putting
| Ubuntu on a Hyper V VM and it was a huge improvement. If
| you enjoy WSL, but need something a bit less integrated,
| I highly recommend it. Using VSCode's remote
| container/host extensions work just as well (if not
| better for things like Docker).
| adam_arthur wrote:
| Hmm was this for WSL v1? The previous implementation had
| pretty bad filesystem performance, but I haven't had any
| issues with WSL2. I host an app where I write gigs of
| data to disk every day without any perf issues.
|
| But WSL1 would've been super slow for the same use case
| alar44 wrote:
| No, but there is probably some law of the universe that states
| if there is a thread about Windows, a neckbeard must say that
| some feature of Windows is the worst thing ever.
|
| I've actually never heard anyone mention Windows windows
| manager because the only people in the world who care don't use
| Windows.
| dagw wrote:
| How do you figure? As someone who recently switched to Mac I
| found that the out of the box windows management on Windows was
| far superior to MacOS. I needed to install a whole bunch of
| third part tools to make MacOS usable.
| haswell wrote:
| I agree that window management is poor in vanilla macOS. But
| fixing this just involves choosing a single tool, e.g. Moom,
| Magnet, etc.
|
| Out of curiosity, what other tools do you use?
|
| I do find this a bit annoying, but on the other hand, it
| gives me some flexibility to choose the style of window
| management I prefer through choice of utility.
| adam_arthur wrote:
| The real question is why has Apple not implemented snapping
| behavior after ~10 years of it being in windows? But yeah,
| you can achieve something similar with tooling for sure.
| haswell wrote:
| That's a completely fair question, I'm just curious why
| the parent comment required a bunch of tools.
| mdavis6890 wrote:
| I think Windows window management is better than Mac, and I use
| both (and Linux too) throughout every day.
| pizza wrote:
| I just want tmux splits at the operating system UI framework
| level that works across all operating systems without any
| hassle. Basically i3wm for Linux, Mac, _and_ Windows, with the
| same keyboard shortcuts.
| ChuckNorris89 wrote:
| Can you explain your claim?
|
| For me, Windows 11 has one of the best window management
| experiences out of the box, far ahead of MacOS and in line
| Linux.
|
| The ease of resizing, snapping and tiling windows out of the
| box is really well implemented in Windows 11 so I really don't
| get your claim.
| sascha_sl wrote:
| Features that take advantage of multiple desktops are
| nonexistent. I don't think a tool to assign applications to
| specific desktops exists even outside the built-in stuff. And
| setting 1-2 apps as full-screen desktop is something I really
| liked about macOS that's not available. Before Windows 11,
| desktops didn't even have unique wallpapers.
| adam_arthur wrote:
| You can assign apps to specific desktops, and you can
| maximize a window if you want full screen. How else do you
| expect it to work?
| sascha_sl wrote:
| "Assign" as in open an application on a specific desktop.
| Windows 11 kind of got that (automatically, unfortunately
| no manual control) for multiple monitors, but macOS has
| it for virtual desktops too. It'd be even better if it
| supported something more explicit like i3 layout loading,
| but it can probably be combined with fancyzones at that
| point to get that working reasonably well.
|
| macOS also has a way to treat an application (or two,
| with a split view) as a virtual desktop, where the shell
| disappears and wouldn't allow you to open additional
| windows on that desktop. I particularly want this
| seperation because I put VMs on different desktops, but
| because the shell is there I inevitably have to drag over
| some windows that opened on that desktop over after a few
| hours of mindless use.
| coderintherye wrote:
| Since I so rarely see a Windows thread, perhaps folks wont mind
| me asking: What utilities or code would you leverage if you had a
| use case to run a program on a Windows machine once a day and
| look for any CSV/XLS/XLSX files and then copy those to another
| server? (With full knowledge of the owner of said computer, they
| are just lacking in proficiency to do anything even as simple as
| connect Box Sync)
| 616c wrote:
| To piggyback on the Powershell and scheduled tasks cement:
| robocopy and scheduled tasks so how I did this years ago for
| years.
|
| Built into windows since Windows 7 iirc.
| coderintherye wrote:
| I've used robocopy + task scheduler before actually for this
| use case but as far as I could tell robocopy doesn't have a
| way to search across directories to find files but rather
| just gets set up on a particular directory.
|
| Maybe something in Powershell to find the files and then copy
| them into a folder which is then set up with Robocopy?
|
| Note, I have no access to the computer itself and the users
| are incapable of doing much beyond downloading a .exe file
| and installing a program, so whatever is done has to be as
| close to simple as that for them.
| majkinetor wrote:
| There are number of alternatives.
|
| 1. Just powershell in a loop working as a service 2. Task
| Scheduler 3. Rundeck 4. Pode
|
| WinScp is awesome for linux, and you can use simple PowerShell
| remoting for windows.
| greatpnwfood1 wrote:
| classic batchfiles scheduled via Windows Task Scheduler, use
| WinSCP (free)
| cshokie wrote:
| The Windows Task Scheduler is probably the way to go. You can
| create tasks that run on a variety of schedules or events. They
| can run a script that does what you need.
|
| There is a PowerShell module for managing scheduled tasks. It
| should be possible to write a script that will create the
| appropriate scheduled tasks on behalf of the non-proficient
| user. They just need to run the PowerShell script once to get
| things going.
| coderintherye wrote:
| Thanks, but is there a way to do that without having access
| to the computer or having to try to walk the user through
| setting up a task in task scheduler? The users in this use
| case can do something as simple as download and install a
| .exe program, but there is no way they would manage setting
| something up in Task Scheduler.
|
| I've used Task Scheduler via remote desktop (which itself was
| a pain to get them able to set up) to set things up for them
| before but that is not scalable.
| cshokie wrote:
| Yes that is what the PowerShell module is for. You can
| script things like 'New-ScheduledTask' and give it the
| appropriate parameters. The only thing the user would need
| to do is run the script. That could create the scheduled
| tasks and drop the "real" scripts where the scheduled tasks
| can find them.
|
| It can be helpful to send along a tuple of {PowerShell,
| cmd} where cmd just forwards arguments to PowerShell. That
| way you can run "PowerShell -ExecutionPolicy Bypass
| myscript.ps1 %*" and avoid the pain of changing the system-
| wide security policy for PowerShell scripts. (Unsigned
| PowerShell scripts are blocked by default).
| eightysixfour wrote:
| Powershell and Task Scheduler. Are you looking in particular
| directories or across the whole system?
| coderintherye wrote:
| Anything in C:/ essentially, because there is no standard
| place to where different users keep their associated files.
| mandeepj wrote:
| SyncToy - https://filehippo.com/download_synctoy_64/
|
| It's not actively maintained though
| coderintherye wrote:
| Thanks! Any idea if it can be customized ahead of install?
| Trying to walk these users through setting it up themselves
| would be unlikely to succeed. They can install a program, but
| likely not succeed in customizing what the program does.
| fleaaa wrote:
| I've been waiting for the feature that I could move focus between
| window with keyboard in fancyzone. It would be the last stroke
| for a beautiful product.
| octagons wrote:
| Fancy Zones makes my day-to-day so much more convenient. I wish
| there was an equivalent in Linux that worked as well - I've tried
| a few gnome plugins but always been disappointed.
| samstave wrote:
| Winery+arrows change the location/min-max of a window.
|
| Win+shift plus arrow moves window to each monitor
|
| Three finger swipe on track pad give you open windows as
| displayed on each desktop, with ability to drag window to
| whatever desktop.
|
| I keep three desktops, all with a different wallpaper so I know
| which desktop for what.
|
| All work windows on D1 - research - d2 - and primary app I'm
| using if needs full screen on d3.
|
| The only problem is forgetting to switch desktop when you
| switch mental modes.... Like opening a bunch of HN links in
| your app desktop...
|
| So just redraft them from whatever to wherever.
|
| I'll check out fancy...
|
| ---
|
| What I also like, is I have two external USB monitors for my
| laptop..
|
| And I have a diff display layout depending on which of the
| additional screens I have plugged in. It remembers the location
| of each.
|
| So when I have just one screen plugged in, the second is to the
| right.
|
| When both are connnected: it knows that one is right and one is
| up above.
| Jenk wrote:
| i3/bspwm/dwm (x11) or sway (wayland). FancyZones is a poor
| imitation (but still worth using compared to not) of those
| window managers.
| loeg wrote:
| KDE has Windows-style snap-to-halves or quarters by default. If
| you're happy with those basic zones, it definitely works well.
| I don't know if there's a way to configure more complex zones.
| Zardoz84 wrote:
| KDE had it BEFORE Windows 8.1/10 copy it.
| arendtio wrote:
| A few months ago I tried a few KDE kwin scripts.
|
| Ultimately I went with 'Ultrawide Windows' [1], mostly
| because I like it better than the defaults and at the same
| time it is still simple to use. The Github page gives an
| impression of its capabilities and lists the hotkeys, but it
| is also available via the KDE integrated tools [2]. What I am
| still missing is a tool to simply define and use custom
| layouts.
|
| [1] https://github.com/lucmos/UltrawideWindows/
|
| [2] https://store.kde.org/p/1276605/
| Symbiote wrote:
| I'm not aware of a more advanced built-in mode than the 8
| zones (corners + sides). It's in Settings - Workspace
| Behaviour - Screen Edges.
|
| There are plugins (Window Management - KWin Scripts) that add
| options, I see Tiling, FlexGrid, KWin QuickTile, and several
| more.
| indymike wrote:
| KWin Scripts is where all the magic snapping is hiding in
| KDE.
| t0astbread wrote:
| Probably not exactly what you're looking for but i3 could be
| worth checking out. It's a tiling window manager with a
| powerful customization/scripting interface and it has a feature
| to save and restore window layouts. There's also Sway which is
| similar but based on Wayland though it does not have the
| save/restore feature.
|
| Granted they might not be as easy to set up as installing
| PowerToys on Windows if you have specific expectations. (But
| it's not rocket science either.)
| xen2xen1 wrote:
| Isn't I3 terminals only? Am I just missing something?
| t0astbread wrote:
| Maybe you're thinking of tmux which splits your terminal
| into multiple panes and can look similar.
| vladvasiliu wrote:
| No, i3 is a full, graphical, window manager, for graphical
| applications.
|
| https://i3wm.org/
|
| As GP said, by default, it's _automatic_ , so there are no
| pre-defined "zones". But it can be scripted to do quite a
| lot of things.
| desi_ninja wrote:
| Windows 11 has snap layout feature which is very similar to
| fancy zones
| di4na wrote:
| Imho the best approximation for gnome is pop_os Windows manager
| tough wrote:
| The new best launcher app for mac is raycast.app by miles though.
|
| Alfred was king but no more
| claimred wrote:
| Speaking of cool Windows utilities for SysInternals Suite is an
| absolute winner. ZoomIt in particular is fun to use during demos
|
| https://apps.microsoft.com/store/detail/sysinternals-suite/9...
| bschne wrote:
| These are great, but with some of them I cannot help but wonder
| why MSFT would choose not to include them in the OS by default.
| They seem fairly unobtrusive and like they wouldn't add too much
| complexity to the product in return for what you get in terms of
| better usability and/or additional functionality.
|
| Of course you could argue that you _always_ have to be very
| careful not to overload and bloat your software product,
| especially if it 's an OS -- but windows contains two different
| consoles, about three versions of the system preferences
| management, ..., it just doesn't seem like MSFT to be that picky
| about what they'll put into their product.
| a-dub wrote:
| bigger question in my mind: how did they come to be?
|
| are they features that were planned but then abandoned?
|
| do developers at microsoft have the autonomy to build features
| they personally find interesting while on the clock?
|
| do they come from hackathon like events?
|
| do they now all come through a dedicated team?
| [deleted]
| NoahKAndrews wrote:
| In a small amount of fairness, Windows only comes with one
| console. On Windows 10, you have to install Windows Terminal
| separately, and on Windows 11, Windows Terminal is the only
| one.
| nrabulinski wrote:
| Windows 10 comes with cmd.exe and power shell, both include
| their own terminal emulators. Windows 11 comes with both and
| with windows terminal on top of it.
| legalcorrection wrote:
| No, that's not right. conhost.exe is the old terminal
| emulator and Windows Terminal is the new one. cmd.exe and
| powershell are analogous to bash/zsh/etc. and can run
| inside either conhost.exe or Windows Terminal.
| mixmastamyk wrote:
| Conhost is not really a terminal emulator, except in the
| sense that it's a square box to type into. It is not an
| emulator. Design, Architecture, implementation all
| completely different and gimped.
| legalcorrection wrote:
| Yes good point. One of the things that annoys me most
| about HNers is that they think Unix is the one true OS
| paradigm and measure all other designs by how similar
| they are. And here I am doing it myself.
| vetinari wrote:
| cmd.exe and powershell do not include "terminal emulators".
| Pre-Windows Terminal, they (and every other console app)
| use conhost.exe, that comes with the system. Windows
| Terminal comes with openconsole.exe, that any app can use
| instead. In Windows 11, it can be set up as the default
| one.
| [deleted]
| fassssst wrote:
| Fancy Zones was an inspiration for Windows 11's Snap Layout
| feature, which is a bit simplified but provides many of the
| same benefits.
| V-2 wrote:
| It is essentially the same thing, with FancyZones only adding
| the ability to enhance default presets with custom layouts -
| am I wrong?
| judge2020 wrote:
| FancyZones are quite more powerful, eg. you can hold shift
| while dragging a window to show your layound and snap that
| window to the layout. With 11 it's pretty much exclusively
| limited to "either drag a window against the side of the
| screen for zone hints, or hover the maximize button".
| xen2xen1 wrote:
| Support costs. They don't help enough people to justify the
| problems that would pop up. The people who download Power Toys
| can probably take care of themselves.
| Shadonototra wrote:
| support costs for a trillion dollar company, sure
|
| if they can't do it, i know lot of people who would do it for
| the same salary they are getting over there at MSFT
|
| lazy culture, how long it took them to add tabs to explorer?
| hmm
| baq wrote:
| given the approx. millions of configurations they already
| support, adding more is always a cost-benefit analysis.
|
| personally if I was a developer of this I wouldn't want it
| anywhere near the gold release... it'd take all the fun
| away and you'd have to give up development to some team you
| haven't heard about in the next cost optimization cycle
| (Real Soon Now(TM))
| xen2xen1 wrote:
| Yup, everything you add is something that people will
| call about, guaranteed. And these are more complex than
| most things. You imagine if everyone could remap their
| keys? You make it free and easy to download and do Github
| "support".
| RajT88 wrote:
| Trillion dollar companies don't like funding their support
| departments any more than < million dollar companies do.
| status200 wrote:
| "How to make your Windows more like MacOS"
|
| Hopefully Microsoft sees the writing on the wall and includes
| these in an update, instead of being stubborn and pretending that
| they have had a reason to exclude them all this time.
| alar44 wrote:
| Do you really think that enterprise and large business (the
| meat and potatoes of MS money) is going to switch to Mac
| because it's missing some utility that 99% of users don't need?
|
| I don't know what fuckin planet you people live on. Microsoft
| is a business oriented ecosystem. The fact that you can play
| call of duty on it is a bonus.
| status200 wrote:
| Thank you for being so hostile. Amazing how triggered people
| get when you mention MacOS. I was referencing consumer
| usability, not enterprise utility.
|
| Do they have to pay attention to it? No. Will it help improve
| their OS as a daily driver for non enterprise users? Sure.
| tester756 wrote:
| Also no built in screen recording software, wtf? 2022
|
| at least gifs pls
| detaro wrote:
| Windows has screen recording, but weirdly enough only under
| gaming "branding". Win + G in an app for the Game bar, record
| from there.
| ChuckNorris89 wrote:
| Have you tried looking it up? There literally is a built-in
| screen record functionality.[1]
|
| I swear, half of negative comments here about Windows are FUD
| from users who either never used it longer than 5 minutes and
| don't bother looking stuff up.
|
| [1] https://www.laptopmag.com/articles/how-to-video-screen-
| captu...
| tester756 wrote:
| IIRC I don't have any "Xbox" or gaming related stuff on my
| work RDP or server.
|
| Video recording isn't gaming feature, it's the same kind of
| app as paint, notepad or calculator are.
| drakenot wrote:
| Anyone have a good "Push to Talk" utility for windows?
|
| This PowerTools has something close but not exactly what I'm
| looking for.
|
| I've gotten used to PTT in apps like Ventrilo / Discord and hate
| having to constantly unmute / remute in Teams.
| 369548684892826 wrote:
| Teams added something like this recently, hold down ctrl+space
| to temporarily unmute
|
| https://support.microsoft.com/en-au/office/muting-and-unmuti...
| dalex00 wrote:
| Also would enjoy such feature for bugger meetings as hangout
| setting
| drittich wrote:
| I went the other way and wrote a utility that mutes my mic when
| I type.
| jcrben wrote:
| I found that IT at work wouldn't let me install powertoys because
| they didn't like the Awake feature. Please bundle these in of
| allow us to install them one by one.
| GekkePrutser wrote:
| That's stupid, there's no way to avoid that. If you can't do it
| in software you can do it in hardware.
|
| I do it when working at home with a digispark that simulates a
| mouse that moves a tiny bit once in a while.
|
| You could even place the mouse on a moving surface or
| something.
|
| I think in the office locking a PC is very important but in a
| WFH situation much less so. Especially in my case where I live
| alone.
| lifthrasiir wrote:
| Agreed it's stupid, but it still remains a good idea to have
| a separate distribution without Awake.
| R0b0t1 wrote:
| There's environments where you get in trouble for
| unauthorized USB devices. Of course, you can just have them
| emulate an allowed VID/PID pair and get away with it, but it
| will lead to a rules clarification.
| cercatrova wrote:
| You don't have to plug in the mouse jiggler, it can be a
| separate device that hooks onto the mouse itself. The OS on
| the computer would never know about it since it's separate
| from the computer.
| slantyyz wrote:
| For those situations, there are wobbling mouse platforms
| that effectively do the same thing as a plug-in USB mouse
| jiggler.
| __s wrote:
| I have a paper weight I lay on a rock to keep Ctrl pressed.
| Useful when running long running scripts in background while
| I'm working on another laptop
|
| I've had environments where the system was pretty locked
| down, but had access to VBScript:
| https://gist.github.com/valdergallo/0e05d9e0c90b7be77458
| 5d8767c68926 wrote:
| filmgirlcw wrote:
| That's good feedback. If you file that as an issue on GitHub,
| that might get more traction. I'm sure you're not the only
| person in this situation.
|
| (disclosure: former Microsoft employee (now at GitHub) who
| knows the PowerToys team)
| jcrben wrote:
| It's sort of filed already, you can see
| https://github.com/microsoft/PowerToys/issues/3170 and the
| linked issues
| StarlaAtNight wrote:
| My favorite tool in this is PowerRename
| nayuki wrote:
| The Windows PowerToys brand name has been around for a long time!
| I still remember downloading them from the Microsoft website for
| Windows XP to add features to Windows and customize Explorer's
| behavior.
| lloydatkinson wrote:
| It's written in .NET but historically HN isn't keen on that kind
| of thing
| GrantsUsername wrote:
| I run it all the time on Windows 11. FancyZones are great for
| ultrawide monitor use. Would definitely recommend it.
| iconhacker wrote:
| https://fluentsearch.net/ fluentsearch is way more powerful than
| powertoy run. It replaced my need for Listary as well. The author
| is an Microsoft engineer and have frequently updated the app
| based on the community feedback. If fluent search replaced
| powertoy run and be part of the powertoy, it will be perfect.
| dorfsmay wrote:
| I remember when PowerToy was the only to get focus-follow-mouse,
| before you could do that in the registry. This was magic! It made
| Windows half usable.
|
| These days, when IT spends so much effort to make working
| difficult, and castrate Windows to the the point it is unusable,
| I work on Mac if my customer won't allow Linux, and that has to
| be one of the most frustrating thing on macOS, you have to click
| to bring anything in focus. I swear I spend 30% of my time
| clicking on things just so I can type in them!
| bityard wrote:
| It looks like your text-to-speech doesn't work very well either
| westcort wrote:
| Here is a good TTS implemented in a few lines of HTML and
| JavaScript: https://www.locserendipity.com/TTS.html
| dorfsmay wrote:
| It wasn't text-to-speech, but me typing too fast helped by
| Android auto-incorrect.
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