Cannot Lah

by shanscendent

Windows Setup

December 5, 2024, updated December 17, 2024

I use a Windows laptop for work, here are some apps and setup tips for a more pleasant experience.

Installers

  • Ninite - Install or Update Multiple Apps at Once
    • Ninite is an installer that comes with multiple programs. I’d get these apps in order:
    • Firefox, 7-Zip, VLC, Spotify, Handbrake, Python x64 3, Notepad++, WinMerge, Visual Studio Code, RealVNC Viewer.
  • Browse the winget repository - winstall
    • Windows comes with the winget package manager by default. Use this site to find apps to install (winstall seems more updated compared to winget.run)
    • Helpful commands: winget list, winget upgrade --all

Apps

Developer

Terminal

Windows Terminal is the best terminal app, which should be pre-installed.

Change Terminal > Settings > Startup > Default terminal application to Windows Terminal.

WSL

Windows Subsystem for Linux is a very well integrated Linux VM in Windows. It makes using Windows for development bearable. In PowerShell, run

wsl --install

If you’re interested in running GUI applications through WSLg, create a .wslconfig file in %USERPROFILE%, then add

[wsl2]
guiApplications=true

MobaXterm

Some people prefer MobaXterm instead.

winget install -e --id Mobatek.MobaXterm

Productivity utilities

PowerToys

PowerToys Run is a Spotlight alternative. There’s a bunch of other utilities included as well.

winget install -e --id Microsoft.PowerToys

AutoHotkey

Run scripts with keyboard shortcuts or hotkeys.

winget install -e --id AutoHotkey.AutoHotkey

Windows-Auto-Night-Mode

Toggle system-wide light and dark mode automatically, or with a keyboard shortcut.

winget install -e --id Armin2208.WindowsAutoNightMode

Monitorian

Adjust brightness of DDC/CI enabled monitors easily.

winget install -e --id emoacht.Monitorian

Use your keyboard to navigate and click around on Windows, includes other utilities.

winget install -e --id BlastApps.FluentSearch

Komorebi

Komorebi’s the best Windows tiling window manager I’ve used. I’ve got a writeup on how to set it up here.

Note-taking

Obsidian

Local first, markdown based note taking app.

winget install -e --id Obsidian.Obsidian

Media

OBS Studio

The best way to record your screen and/or layer other cameras.

winget install -e --id OBSProject.OBSStudio

LosslessCut

The swiss army knife of lossless video/audio editing, download

System settings

  • In Settings > System > Multitasking, disable showing tabs from apps
  • Change wallpaper to Pepe Windows
  • In Settings > Bluetooth & devices > USB, disable USB battery saver if using laptop with a dock

Tweaks

  • If you need to open Bluetooth settings often to reconnect your earphones, create a shortcut called “bluetooth”, then add this as the target
    %windir%\explorer.exe ms-settings:bluetooth

Troubleshooting

Proxy

Winget or other applications may not work behind a corporate proxy. To fix this, go to Edit the system environment variables, then add HTTP_PROXY and HTTPS_PROXY to your system variables. Restart those apps afterwards.

VPN

Your WSL instance might lose network connectivity if connected to a VPN like GlobalProtect. To fix, run wsl-vpnkit, and enable the systemd service.

Running powershell scripts

If you can’t run any powershell scripts, enable execution of local scripts.

Set-ExecutionPolicy -ExecutionPolicy RemoteSigned

Other troubleshooting references

If you run into errors, these links may help