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 additionally common every-day individuals in search of additional 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 offered by some of its respective modules is so plain, that I nearly at all times set up the applying instantly when establishing any new Home windows 11 laptop.

In fact, as with every 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 switch sure modules of their entirety. Listed here are 5 free apps particularly that I exploit in lieu of their PowerToys counterparts, partially on account of characteristic 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 yr. 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 glorious 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 works a good distance in making the characteristic appear and feel seamless. There’s an opportunity that comparable 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 intervening time, Auto Darkish Mode will get the job executed with no fuss.

Listary

A Command Palette substitute

There are all kinds of third-party Home windows functions specializing in file search and knowledge indexing. In reality, I’ve previously compiled a list of among the greatest choices obtainable for Home windows 11, and I keep 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 fallacious 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 primary search bar UI, Listary presents an in-beta File Search Window expertise with superior filters, wealthy previews, and some of the user-friendly designs I’ve ever come throughout.

QuickLook

A Peek substitute

Preview is considered one of my all-time favourite macOS options, making the contents of pictures, paperwork, movies, and different information extremely glanceable by way of a easy hit of the area key. Unsurprisingly, makes an attempt have been made to port comparable 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 based mostly on related keyboard shortcuts. QuickLook is handy, highly effective, and light-weight all on the similar time, making it an important standalone different to Peek for Home windows 11.

Run by FireCube

A PowerToys Run substitute

Late final yr, 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 actually seems nicer than the traditional model, but it surely’s nonetheless additionally presently missing varied capabilities like a browse button or a movable window. In fact, 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 utility. Except for providing a gorgeous 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’ve a sound OpenAI key). The app’s window can be totally movable, and it may show as much as 30 current instructions at a time for comfort.

Windhawk

An alternative to PowerToys as a complete

Windhawk is not a single-purpose software program utility. Moderately, 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 unlimited variety of community-developed ‘mods,’ every of which alters the system in a method or one other. For instance, you need to use the app to bring back the long-lost Aero Peek characteristic from the Home windows 10 days, or to add a GPU usage ticker to the taskbar’s system tray space.

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