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 high 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 individuals 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 plain, that I nearly all the time set up the applying straight away when establishing any new Home windows 11 laptop.

In fact, as with all piece of software program, PowerToys is not flawless. In some instances, I discover myself turning to third-party Home windows 11 utilities to both complement the PowerToys suite, or to interchange 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 Swap substitute

Mild Swap 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 based mostly 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 affords the choice to configure bespoke desktop wallpapers for each gentle mode and darkish mode, which matches a great distance in making the function appear and feel seamless. There’s an opportunity that related functonality will arrive in Mild Swap sooner or later sooner or later (there is a proposed pull request over on GitHub), however, in the interim, Auto Darkish Mode will get the job achieved 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 select solely 5 favorites from the bunch. In comparison with the default Home windows Search expertise, you’ll be able to’t go fallacious with any variety of alternate options, together with Microsoft’s very personal Command Pallette utility inside PowerToys.

Command Pallette is a well-rounded choice 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 primary search bar UI, Listary affords an in-beta File Search Window expertise with superior filters, wealthy previews, and one of the 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 photos, paperwork, movies, and different information extremely glanceable by way of a easy hit of the house 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 knowledge showing and disappearing from the display based mostly on related keyboard shortcuts. QuickLook is handy, highly effective, and light-weight all on the identical time, making it an awesome 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 person interface actually seems to be nicer than the traditional model, nevertheless it’s nonetheless additionally at the moment missing varied capabilities like a browse button or a movable window. In fact, Microsoft additionally affords 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 utility. Apart from providing a pretty design and a few distinctive visible aptitude by 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 might have a sound OpenAI key). The app’s window can be totally movable, and it could actually 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 utility. Somewhat, it is a full-blown customization market for the Home windows platform and its accompanying packages. As a free and open-source (FOSS) bundle, Windhawk plugs into an enormous variety of community-developed ‘mods,’ every of which alters the system in a method or one other. For instance, you should use 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.

Somewhat than being a alternative for PowerToys, Windhawk provides an distinctive quantity of worth to Home windows 11 as a supplementary device. 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.