Customization on Windows is good with themes and all, but I was curious to see what programs people use to add to the Windows shell, instead of replacing or theming it.

I use Smart Taskbar, Windows Caffeinated and Windows Toolkit that all add icons to the system tray, in the same style, that do the following:

— Smart Taskbar: Clicking the icon will hide the taskbar automatically, and can be set to show the taskbar when an app is windowed, but hide when maximized.

— Windows Caffeinated: Keeps your PC from sleeping. You can use PowerAwake with MSPowerToys, but I don’t like the icon.

— Desktop Toolkit: A Swiss army knife of utilities. It’s hard to describe but, it has pinned apps, custom folder pins, timers, screen recording, color picker, recent files, etc. I like to pin custom PowerShell scripts here.

— Toggle Desktop Icons: This app lets you double-click the desktop to hide icons, and adds a system tray icon. It’s similar to HiddenMe on macOS.

I hope this leads to a great discussion and sharing of information!

  • nottheengineer@feddit.deEnglish
    341·
    11 months ago

    Powertoys makes using windows at work bearable for me. Having a search that doesn’t just open edge if you press enter too fast and that lets me launch stuff as admin without a mouse is a godsent. So is the ability to paste as plain text.

    • hardypart@feddit.deEnglish
      9·
      11 months ago

      that lets me launch stuff as admin without a mouse

      Ctrl + Shift + Enter does that, too. I discovered this just recently and I’m using it every day since. Alt + Enter opens the properties of a file, which is also quite nice.

      • HeyJoe@lemmy.worldEnglish
        1·
        11 months ago

        Sometimes just holding shift for search objects works as well but your right half the time I choose open folder location first then shift and click to see other user. I have to try your shortcut.

        Edit: I just realized you were only looking for run as admin, I was referring to run as other user. At our job we have normal accounts and admin accounts so we have to run some stuff as a user with higher permissions.

        • hardypart@feddit.deEnglish
          1·
          11 months ago

          If your normal account doesn’t havr admin rights my shortcut will still lead to the UAC where you can enter your admin account credentials.