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PowerToys – open-source Windows utilities

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Re: PowerToys – open-source Windows utilities

#181

Post by coderintherye »

616c wrote: post #145
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)

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.

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.

Re: PowerToys – open-source Windows utilities

#182

Post by mixmastamyk »

legalcorrection wrote: post #155
nrabulinski wrote: post #134

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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.

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.

Re: PowerToys – open-source Windows utilities

#183

Post by maleldil »

megaman821 wrote: post #13
azalemeth wrote: post #2

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.

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

* 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.

Re: PowerToys – open-source Windows utilities

#184

Post by mixmastamyk »

Geezus-42 wrote: post #117
filmgirlcw wrote: post #75

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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.

Keypirahna https://keypirinha.com/

Fish or cocktail?

Re: PowerToys – open-source Windows utilities

#185

Post by tbezman »

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…

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.

Re: PowerToys – open-source Windows utilities

#187

Post by texaslonghorn5 »

filmgirlcw wrote: post #93
texaslonghorn5 wrote: post #8

> 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.

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 y…

Good to know, thanks for your insight!

Re: PowerToys – open-source Windows utilities

#188

Post by jcrben »

filmgirlcw wrote: post #83
jcrben wrote: 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.

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)

It's sort of filed already, you can see https://github.com/microsoft/PowerToys/issues/3170 and the linked issues

Re: PowerToys – open-source Windows utilities

#189

Post by cshokie »

coderintherye wrote: post #179
cshokie wrote: post #153

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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…

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).

Re: PowerToys – open-source Windows utilities

#190

Post by sascha_sl »

adam_arthur wrote: post #50
sascha_sl wrote: post #38

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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.

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?

"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.

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