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PowerToys – open-source Windows utilities

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191–200 of 336 posts

Re: PowerToys – open-source Windows utilities

#191
post #67

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.

Considering how much energy my work laptop burns on a daily basis because of the four(!) different security products, I am curious how Awake is where they draw the line.

Re: PowerToys – open-source Windows utilities

#192

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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.

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.

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.

Re: PowerToys – open-source Windows utilities

#193

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…

Finally, a replacement for Launchy, down to the easy calculator feature!

Re: PowerToys – open-source Windows utilities

#194

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…

>but none ever worked quite right for me

Try Wox, it has built-in integration with "Everything".

Re: PowerToys – open-source Windows utilities

#195
post #77

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.

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 co…

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...

Re: PowerToys – open-source Windows utilities

#197
post #176

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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?

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".

Re: PowerToys – open-source Windows utilities

#198

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…

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.

This works with Wox + Switcheroo plugin. Here is how it looks in action :

https://i.imgur.com/O9ubcEF.png

Re: PowerToys – open-source Windows utilities

#199
post #163

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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?

> 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 fal…

> 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.

Re: PowerToys – open-source Windows utilities

#200
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…

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