These 5 apps completely changed PowerToys on my Home windows 11 PC

PowerToys is a Microsoft-built suite of PC utilities that provides a layer of extra performance on prime of the usual Windows 11 expertise. With over 25 modules to select from, the free program targets not solely energy customers, but in addition common every-day folks in search of further customization choices and ease-of-use options.

Since PowerToys is made by Microsoft in-house, it is an unsurprisingly well-polished software program program. The utility supplied by some of its respective modules is so simple, that I nearly all the time set up the applying immediately when establishing any new Home windows 11 laptop.

After all, as with all piece of software program, PowerToys is not flawless. In some circumstances, I discover myself turning to third-party Home windows 11 utilities to both complement the PowerToys suite, or to exchange sure modules of their entirety. Listed here are 5 free apps particularly that I exploit in lieu of their PowerToys counterparts, partially resulting from function set variations, and partially out of sheer familiarity.

Auto Darkish Mode

A Mild Change substitute

Mild Change is the freshman of the PowerToys module lineup, having solely been launched by Microsoft again in October of final 12 months. While it works well for automating Home windows 11’s gentle and darkish theme switching primarily based on time of day, it nonetheless lacks some key configuration choices discovered within the wonderful third-party Auto Darkish Mode app.

Critically, Auto Darkish Mode presents the choice to configure bespoke desktop wallpapers for each gentle mode and darkish mode, which matches a good distance in making the function feel and appear seamless. There’s an opportunity that related functonality will arrive in Mild Change in some unspecified time in the future sooner or later (there is a proposed pull request over on GitHub), however, in the meanwhile, Auto Darkish Mode will get the job accomplished and not using a fuss.

Listary

A Command Palette substitute

There are all kinds of third-party Home windows purposes focusing on file search and information indexing. In truth, I’ve previously compiled a list of a number of the greatest choices out there for Home windows 11, and I bear in mind struggling to pick solely 5 favorites from the bunch. In comparison with the default Home windows Search expertise, you possibly can’t go flawed with any variety of alternate options, together with Microsoft’s very personal Command Pallette utility inside PowerToys.

Command Pallette is a well-rounded possibility for followers of macOS-style Highlight Search, however I’ve personally grown reliant on Listary, a traditional search launcher that is lightning quick, visually nice, and completely correct in surfacing question outcomes. Along with a fundamental search bar UI, Listary presents an in-beta File Search Window expertise with superior filters, wealthy previews, and probably the most user-friendly designs I’ve ever come throughout.

QuickLook

A Peek substitute

Preview is certainly one of my all-time favourite macOS options, making the contents of photographs, paperwork, movies, and different information extremely glanceable through a easy hit of the area key. Unsurprisingly, makes an attempt have been made to port related performance over to Home windows, together with by Microsoft within the type of its Peek module for PowerToys.

QuickLook is a free third-party different to Peek that I have been counting on for a while for all-things preview-related. The app works equally to macOS Preview, with transient panes of data showing and disappearing from the display screen primarily based on related keyboard shortcuts. QuickLook is handy, highly effective, and light-weight all on the similar time, making it an excellent standalone different to Peek for Home windows 11.

Run by FireCube

A PowerToys Run substitute

Late final 12 months, Microsoft started quietly testing a full Run dialogue redesign (via phantomofearth on X) for Home windows 11. Constructed utilizing fashionable design ideas, this new consumer interface definitely seems to be nicer than the traditional model, however it’s nonetheless additionally presently missing varied capabilities like a browse button or a movable window. After all, Microsoft additionally presents a extra superior Run expertise courtesy of PowerToys Run, which arguably beats the pants off of each out-of-box Run dialogue choices inside Home windows 11.

Personally, I spring for one thing else completely for my fast command-line toolkit wants: the free third-party Run by FireCube software. Except for providing a lovely design and a few distinctive visible aptitude by way of its GlowUI design language, Run by FireCube faucets into OpenAI’s GPT 3.5 large language model (LLM) for pure language queries (as long as you will have a legitimate OpenAI key). The app’s window can also be absolutely movable, and it could possibly show as much as 30 latest instructions at a time for comfort.

Windhawk

An alternative to PowerToys as a complete

Windhawk is not a single-purpose software program software. Quite, it is a full-blown customization market for the Home windows platform and its accompanying packages. As a free and open-source (FOSS) package deal, Windhawk plugs into an unlimited variety of community-developed ‘mods,’ every of which alters the system in a technique or one other. For instance, you should utilize the app to bring back the long-lost Aero Peek function from the Home windows 10 days, or to add a GPU usage ticker to the taskbar’s system tray space.

Quite than being a substitute for PowerToys, Windhawk provides an distinctive quantity of worth to Home windows 11 as a supplementary instrument. Each take totally different approaches to how they current and implement OS tweaks, and so each supply their very own units of distinctive strengths and weaknesses. When paired collectively, then, the 2 packages work in tandem to supply most platform flexibility.