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PowerToys – open-source Windows utilities

fourth-wall.co.uk

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Re: PowerToys – open-source Windows utilities

#171

Post by maleldil »

umutcnkus wrote: post #88
doomlaser wrote: post #36

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

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?

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.

Re: PowerToys – open-source Windows utilities

#173

Post by cercatrova »

R0b0t1 wrote: post #130
GekkePrutser wrote: post #96

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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.

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.

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.

Re: PowerToys – open-source Windows utilities

#174

Post by joaoco »

NelsonMinar wrote: post #164

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…

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

Re: PowerToys – open-source Windows utilities

#175

Post by V-2 »

NelsonMinar wrote: post #164

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…

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.

Re: PowerToys – open-source Windows utilities

#176

Post by V-2 »

fassssst wrote: post #170
bschne wrote: post #115

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 produc…

Fancy Zones was an inspiration for Windows 11’s Snap Layout feature, which is a bit simplified but provides many of the same benefits.

It is essentially the same thing, with FancyZones only adding the ability to enhance default presets with custom layouts - am I wrong?

Re: PowerToys – open-source Windows utilities

#177

Post by coderintherye »

mandeepj wrote: post #142
coderintherye wrote: post #135

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)

SyncToy - https://filehippo.com/download_synctoy_64/ It’s not actively maintained though

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.

Re: PowerToys – open-source Windows utilities

#178

Post by maleldil »

tveyben wrote: post #59
philliphaydon wrote: post #20

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Considering the 2nd most used desktop OS is MacOS and you can’t even maximise a window properly out of the box…

Did you try to Alt-click on the green button?

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.

Re: PowerToys – open-source Windows utilities

#179

Post by coderintherye »

cshokie wrote: post #153
coderintherye wrote: post #135

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)

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 goi…

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.

Re: PowerToys – open-source Windows utilities

#180

Post by coderintherye »

eightysixfour wrote: post #141
coderintherye wrote: post #135

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)

Powershell and Task Scheduler. Are you looking in particular directories or across the whole system?

Anything in C:/ essentially, because there is no standard place to where different users keep their associated files.
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