Last reviewed
Windows isn't that bad with the right tools.
I wrote this in 2023. I've kept the list as what I installed at the time, and noted where something has changed since. For install commands, see my Windows install guide.
Recently i found myself with a powerful windows laptop (that I got for gaming) and figured I'd see how WSL has advanced through the years as I have not really used a windows computer for about 5 years. I knew that I wanted to mirror my normal linux setup as close as possible to start so WSL was definitely the right choice for me. I also primarily used NeoVIM for all developing at the time and figured it would be easier to run it and my plugins in WSL then trying to install on plain windows system. WSL is still part of how I work today.
I found the install of WSL, now called WSL2 very easy and straight forward, default was an Ubuntu LTS system and that was fine for me at the moment.
summary of tools I have installed on windows
- chocolatey — https://chocolatey.org
- cli app installer for windows that makes installs of most other tools so much easier. This now also has a GUI client if you want.
- Since then: Microsoft's own winget now comes with Windows, so you may not need a separate installer. My install guide uses winget.
- WSL2 → Ubuntu
- Ubuntu subsystem for windows
- vscode — https://code.visualstudio.com
- good GUI text editor that is good for programming — vscode is good for quickly live sharing of code with coworkers and setting as default for GUI text editor option in windows.
- vivaldi web browser — https://vivaldi.com
- Great powerful web browser with good security and options.
- has optional sidebar apps that create an almost ecosystem
- ms powertoys — https://github.com/microsoft/PowerToys
- Microsoft utilities that should have been included with windows. I love the powertoys Run that works a bit like Alfred on Mac.
- Since then: Microsoft has added Command Palette to PowerToys as the next version of Run.
- thunderbird email client — https://www.thunderbird.net/
- great email client for multiple email accounts that also has a good calendar builtin.
- 7-zip — https://www.7-zip.org
- better zip utility
- ImageGlass — https://imageglass.org a great lightweight image viewer
- fancyWM — https://github.com/FancyWM/fancywm
- Good tiling window manager that works great with windows
- httpie — https://httpie.io
- quick nice way to check APIS
- files (alternate file explorer)
- Gimp — https://www.gimp.org
- awesome open-source image editor
- jellyfin — https://jellyfin.org
- media server
- whalebird (mastodon client) — https://whalebird.social
- slack
- discord
- marktext
- markdown editor WYSIWYG
- croc
- easily transfer files between systems securely though the internet
- wezterm
- Great fast terminal written in Rust
- potplayer (nice video/audio player)
- libreoffice
- open-source full office suite
- sumatraPDF
- PDF reader
- darktable — https://www.darktable.org
- open-source image editor
- Hourglass
- simple nice count down timer
- download here
- focalboard (time/project management)
- Since then: the standalone Focalboard is no longer maintained, so I wouldn't start with it today.
- android nearby share
- Since then: this is now called Quick Share and is out of beta.
- Dragon cli → drag & drop
- meld — file & directory comparison (GUI)
summary of config changes I have made to windows
- Update some ANDROID_HOME for android dev
summary of tools I have installed on WSL2/linux
just my normal set up for any linux environment. See My setup and the Linux install guide.
