CAVITY COLLECTOR

Windows 10 quality of life improvements

In many ways, modern Windows is a nightmare to use-- it has so much unnecessary junk and removed a lot of software that I and many others loved in Windows 7. In order to save myself the even greater nightmare of switching to linux (sorry linuxheads, just not the OS for me) I've slowly found ways to mold our old friend to my liking. I've decided to share my small bit of knowlege and share some very helpful software for customizing, speeding up, and otherwise using your PC.

Many of these are gathered from this tumblr post which I ow a lot to (and encourage reblogging to share the good word!) Note I am no expert, and I have little knowlege on anything besides "these things made my experience more enjoyable". Many of these are Windows 10 & Windows 11 specific as this is the focus of the post, but some are applicable to other OSes.

If you like this and want to take your customization to the next level, I've also created a guide on how to shape your desktop aesthetically too which you are free to read here

Winaero Tweaker

Winaero Tweaker is an app for Windows 7-11 which allows for easy and in-depth settings tweaks. Some great features I personally use: Permanently disable Windows Telemetry and Data Collection, disable ads and unwanted app installation, disable Cortana, and disable internet and Store apps being searched from the taskbar.

One of the best things about this app is its simplicity and in-depth explanations of all of its tools, so you're never overwhelmed by the options. It also provides (optional) downloads of some classic windows software, which I will cover again in the Old Software section.

10AppsManager

10AppsManager helps you to quickly remove the pre-installed Windows Store apps included in 10, with much less hastle than it would be to remove them yourself. You are provided a list of the software, and get to select which ones you would like to remove and which you would like to keep.

Personally, I just downloaded it, deleted the software I didn't want, and then deleted this app too; but it also allows you to easily re-install the Windows Store apps if you change your mind, so to some it may be worth keeping.

"Everything" by voidtools

Everything by voidtools is a Windows desktop search engine. We all know that the built in file explorer search feature is so slow it's practically unusable, but Everything is quick and comprehensive. I highly recommend-- this software has saved me hours of my life that would have otherwise been spent waiting for file explorer to do what this does in a fraction of the time.