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 folks on the lookout for 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 offered by some of its respective modules is so simple, that I nearly all the time set up the appliance instantly when organising any new Home windows 11 pc.

After all, 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 exchange sure modules of their entirety. Listed below are 5 free apps specifically that I exploit in lieu of their PowerToys counterparts, partially attributable to characteristic set variations, and partially out of sheer familiarity.

Auto Darkish Mode

A Gentle Swap substitute

Gentle Swap 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 mild and darkish theme switching primarily based 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 gives the choice to configure bespoke desktop wallpapers for each mild mode and darkish mode, which fits a great distance in making the characteristic feel and look seamless. There’s an opportunity that comparable functonality will arrive in Gentle Swap sooner or later sooner or later (there is a proposed pull request over on GitHub), however, in the intervening time, Auto Darkish Mode will get the job achieved with no fuss.

Listary

A Command Palette substitute

There are all kinds of third-party Home windows purposes focusing on file search and information indexing. Actually, I’ve previously compiled a list of a number of the finest choices out there 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 may’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 basic search launcher that is lightning quick, visually nice, and completely correct in surfacing question outcomes. Along with a primary search bar UI, Listary gives 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 one among my all-time favourite macOS options, making the contents of pictures, paperwork, movies, and different recordsdata extremely glanceable by way of a easy hit of the house 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 various 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 primarily based on related keyboard shortcuts. QuickLook is handy, highly effective, and light-weight all on the identical time, making it an important standalone various 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 trendy design rules, this new person interface definitely appears nicer than the basic model, but it surely’s nonetheless additionally at the moment missing varied capabilities like a browse button or a movable window. After all, Microsoft additionally gives 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 totally for my fast command-line toolkit wants: the free third-party Run by FireCube software. Apart from providing a lovely design and a few distinctive visible aptitude by means 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’ve got a sound OpenAI key). The app’s window can be totally movable, and it could possibly show as much as 30 latest instructions at a time for comfort.

Windhawk

An alternative choice to PowerToys as a complete

Windhawk is not a single-purpose software program software. Slightly, it is a full-blown customization market for the Home windows platform and its accompanying applications. 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 technique or one other. For instance, you should 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.

Slightly 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 applications work in tandem to offer most platform flexibility.