I had to recently set up a fresh personal Windows box to do some work (I know...), here are the applications that are essential to me:
- 7-Zip
- AutoHotKey
- Dropbox
- Everything
- Firefox
- Flameshot
- KeePassXC
- Gimp
- Git
- Notepad++
- posh-git
- Speccy
- VLC
- Visual Studio
- WinMerge
- Vim
Custom shortcuts
First, disable all Windows key built-in shortcuts with the following .reg
file:
Windows Registry Editor Version 5.00
[HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Policies\Explorer]
"NoWinKeys"=dword:00000001
Then, create the following .ahk
file (AutoHotKey) in the Windows startup folder (Win+R shell:startup
):
#requires autohotkey v2.0
#b::run "firefox"
#c::run "calc"
#d::run "explorer shell:::{3080f90d-d7ad-11d9-bd98-0000947b0257}"
#e::run "explorer"
#k::run "C:\Program Files\KeePassXC\KeePassXC.exe"
#m::run "mspaint"
#n::run "notepad++"
#r::run "explorer shell:::{2559a1f3-21d7-11d4-bdaf-00c04f60b9f0}"
#v::run "C:\Program Files\Microsoft Visual Studio\2022\Community\Common7\IDE\devenv.exe"
#t::run "powershell"
#s::run "C:\Program Files (x86)\Steam\Steam.exe"
Replacing Caps Lock for Ctrl
Execute the following .reg
file:
Windows Registry Editor Version 5.00
[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control\Keyboard Layout]
"Scancode Map"=hex:00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,02,00,00,00,1d,00,3a,00,00,00,00,00
Performance Options
Most visual effects are dismissible in my opinion, I normally leave only:
Disabling pagination because I like living on the edge:
Run (Win+R) SystemPropertiesPerformance
to get this.