No matter how a lot expertise you have got with Microsoft’s Windows, it might nonetheless be improved by turning to software program and instruments that may make the working system that a lot better.
Take Windows 11, for instance: When Microsoft launched it with extraordinarily strict system necessities in autumn 2021, it was solely a matter of time earlier than these limitations might be circumvented.
In order to put in the brand new working system on older PCs, the registry first needed to be modified manually. Later, this might be simplified with a batch file, and now even that’s superfluous due to Rufus, a small device for creating bootable USB sticks. Now, with only a few further mouse clicks, you’ll be able to run Windows 11 on nearly any pc.
Let’s begin this have a look at useful, lifeless easy Windows software program with that very program, earlier than diving deeper into a number of completely different classes.
Download the installation file for Windows 11 from Microsoft by way of the choice “Download a Windows 11 disk image (ISO).”
Now insert a flash drive with at the very least 8GB of cupboard space into the pc. Start Rufus, click on on “Select” on the interface, choose the Windows 11 ISO file, after which click on “Start”. The “Customize installation” dialogue then seems, supplying you with an choice to keep away from Windows 11’s obligation to arrange a web-based account. Follow the setup course of till Windows 11 is put in.
This Rufus-loaded flash drive is not going to solely reinstall Windows 11 on any PC, but in addition improve any Windows 10 set up by way of the setup.exe file!
If you wish to transfer an older Windows 10 system 1:1 to a brand new PC, we suggest Easeus Todo Backup. With it, you create a picture of your previous pc’s storage, from which you restore your system with all settings, packages, and knowledge in your new PC. In addition, Windows 10 can then be upgraded to Windows 11 with none issues.
To set up an older Windows model – for instance Windows 8.1, 10, or 11 model 21H2 – put it aside to your storage with Windows ISO Downloader and create a setup flash drive from it with Rufus.
Depending on the Windows model, the {hardware} and the historical past of the PC, chances are you’ll want a product key to activate the working system for the brand new set up. You can learn this key in your present system with Showkeyplus.
Reset Windows Update Tool solves varied replace issues: Almost 20 options can be found after beginning this system with administrator rights.
If you have got put in a number of variations of Windows, Linux, or different working programs in your pc, you need to use Easy BCD to regulate the boot entries and their prioritization.
Creating a flash drive as a multiboot system for booting completely different stay programs was a posh matter for a very long time. Ventoy basically adjustments that. With this device, all it’s a must to do is make the flash drive bootable by clicking on “Install” after which merely save the ISO recordsdata on the stick inside Windows. After booting from the flash drive, you choose the specified stay system by way of the Ventoy interface. The key profit right here is you don’t have to create a brand new bootable flash drive when a brand new system model seems, however merely exchange the older one with the brand new ISO file. Another plus: You can proceed to make use of free area on the USB stick to avoid wasting and transport your knowledge.
2. PC start-up, optimisation, error evaluation, {hardware} & drivers
Glary Utilities makes each drawback evaluation and their elimination doable with a mouse click on, the whole lot else is finished routinely by the software program within the background.
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The promise of “1-click maintenance” is hit and miss on the PC. The causes of doable errors are too different and the options too complicated. That mentioned, Ccleaner and Glary Utilities are at all times price a attempt. You can begin the system evaluation and the next drawback elimination with only one mouse click on.
Bootracer requires just a few extra clicks. The program analyzes the start-up course of and breaks it down into particular person segments. This reveals at a look which course of or autostart program has an issue. You can select to begin the boot evaluation as a traditional full Windows begin, or restricted to the system with out autostarting software program. The wizards make it straightforward to make use of Bootracer, together with the required restarts. You can see within the particulars the place and why your start-up might take an unusually very long time. These limitations assist to unravel the trigger or, if it is sensible, to exclude the software program in query from autostarting when Windows masses.
The evaluation instruments Hwinfo and Speccy present whether or not one thing is unsuitable together with your {hardware}. Both packages present a wealth of data and sensor measurement knowledge. Even extra info in your processor is supplied by CPU-Z and Core Temp, whereas GPU-Z digs deep into graphics card particulars. Unknown Device Identifier is useful in figuring out unknown elements; the device reveals many extra elements than the native Windows machine supervisor.
Memtest86 exams the principle reminiscence for errors, whereas Crystaldiskinfo analyzes SSDs and magnetic laborious drives by studying out the SMART parameters. A have a look at the “overall status” reveals whether or not the whole lot is OK. The device sounds an alarm within the occasion of irregular values, which is essential for drives full of private knowledge.
Snappy Driver Installer recognises outdated {hardware} drivers and routinely updates them with the most recent variations if desired.
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Snappy Driver Installer checks whether or not your put in {hardware} drivers are up-to-date. The device begins with out set up. Click on the choice “Download indices only” and wait till the system evaluation is full. Now, if desired, activate the “Restore point” subject. To exchange all out of date drivers, proceed by clicking on “Select all – Install” on the high left. Alternatively, test the out of date entries individually. Due to the file sizes of some drivers, downloading and putting in might take a while.
3. Windows Explorer, Desktop Tools and Remote Maintenance
Windows Explorer and the desktop are at all times used on a pc — even when largely unconsciously. While Microsoft has geared up the file supervisor with tabs in Windows 11, it’s a must to retrofit the file explorer tabs into Windows 10.
To do that, set up Qttabbar, restart the PC, open Explorer, and click on on the down arrow within the “View” tab below the “Options” image on the best. There, you activate the listing entry “Qttabbar” to point out the brand new tab bar.
The free model of Tidy Tabs permits as much as three tabs in a window, throughout packages – for instance, an Excel sheet, a Word doc, and Outlook. It makes it simpler to view footage with a big preview that you just begin and shut by urgent the area bar.
Treesize Free reveals you at a look which recordsdata are consuming up area in your laborious drive. The already talked about Ccleaner additionally presents a fast search perform for duplicate recordsdata (“Extras -‘ Duplicate Finder”). Other instruments like Anti-Twin supply extra choices, however are extra sophisticated to make use of.
Small intervention, massive impact. Capslock Goodbye prevents you as soon as and for all from unintentionally urgent the Caps Lock key once more.
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Clipboard Master can do extra and is extra handy than the Windows clipboard. If you’re irritated by unintentional clicks of the caps lock key, Capslock Goodbye is the device for you. The software program deactivates the important thing or assigns an alternate perform to it. Desktop OK restores the icon placement on the desktop if it has been combined up.
Three different packages present extra order (and extra space on the laborious disk): Should I Remove it reveals which pre-installed software program you’ll be able to safely delete on new computer systems. O&O Appbuster makes it simpler to take away Windows apps that hardly anybody wants. Unchecky prevents the key set up of undesirable packages and toolbars. It’s a godsend.
Remote assist, i.e. “taking over” a distant pc by way of the Internet, just isn’t solely environment friendly, but in addition quite simple with only one click on in TeamViewer Quicksupport. The one who wants assist begins the device and provides his or her displayed ID and password to the helper. The helper takes care of the remainder with the fully comprehensive Teamviewer software, which can be free for personal use.
Changes to laborious drives and partitions have a profound impact in your system and are sometimes not straightforward to reset. Smaller instruments could cause a lot much less injury: Superdiskformatter, for instance, lets you change the file system (FAT32, NTFS, and so forth.) – apart from the Windows partition. Fat32formatter codecs nearly arbitrarily giant knowledge media as a FAT32 system, and Drive Letter Changer is used to assign mounted drive letters to USB drives.
Raidrive assigns a drive letter to cloud storage units equivalent to Dropbox, Google Drive, and OneDrive for fast 1-click entry in Explorer. To do that, choose a storage service and a letter by way of “Add”, log in together with your login knowledge and permit Raidrive to entry the cloud. Done!
Cloudevo combines a number of cloud storages below Windows into one drive. This is handy and lets you retailer even outsized recordsdata on the web.
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Cloudevo additionally simplifies the dealing with of on-line storage by combining various cloud storage swimming pools right into a single drive with theoretically limitless capability. This can be doable with a number of free accounts from the identical supplier. While you as a consumer solely see your Cloudevo drive, the service behind it routinely distributes the saved knowledge to the varied cloud storage suppliers.
Drive pooling with native drives, for instance with a number of USB drives, will be executed with Liquesce. Data that’s too giant to be despatched by e-mail will be forwarded with O&O FileDirect. The software program creates an entry hyperlink to your PC, which the recipient can use to switch the shared knowledge. Your pc should be switched on and on-line through the switch.
If Windows blocks entry to sure recordsdata, thus stopping deletion, renaming, or copying, Lock Hunter releases them once more. You can change different permissions of folders and recordsdata with Attribute Changer.
5. Security, knowledge safety, and privateness
Have I been pwned? and HPI Identity Leak Checker aren’t packages to put in, however a easy mouse click on is sufficient right here too. Just kind in your e-mail deal with and also you’ll know whether or not your account has been affected by one of many numerous account and password hacks. If so, please make sure to change the corresponding password!
Defender UI offers a brand new, easier-to-use interface for all Microsoft security measures than the built-in Windows Defender presents. The software program incorporates 4 predefined safety profiles and clearly teams collectively many security measures and settings in any other case scattered all through the working system.
Virustotal Uploader simplifies the method of importing probably harmful recordsdata to the Virustotal scanning platform. Instead of manually calling up the web site, choosing the file. and importing it, this free app works a lot quicker by way of the Windows context menu. The browser plug-in I don’t care about cookies eliminates the effort of deselecting cookies on many web sites by blocking or hiding the same old pop-up dialogues. It is greatest to mix the add-on with the automated deletion of all cookies whenever you shut your browser.
Wipe is appropriate as a complement for eradicating on-line traces. The software program not solely deletes browser knowledge, but in addition short-term recordsdata and extra.
You can securely delete knowledge out of your laborious drive with Eraser: The title says all of it.
Ungoogled Chromium is a particular fork of the free Chromium browser, on which Google Chrome can be based mostly. Unlike Chrome, Ungoogled Chromium does with none Google companies for extra privateness.
Simple Code Generator creates QR codes for personal info that you just wouldn’t wish to entrust to a web-based QR generator, equivalent to mail addresses, Wi-Fi entry info, Outlook or private contacts, and the like.
Last however not least is USB-Logon. It enables you to create a USB stick for quick and safe Windows logon with out a password. USB-Logon is an efficient different for PCs with out a Windows Hello-enabled webcam or fingerprint sensor.
Microsoft Powertoys presents many one-click features
The Microsoft Powertoys tool collection has grown to over 20 amazingly useful options, a lot of them with (nearly) one-click operation. For instance, “Always on top” retains any program window seen within the monitor always; “Awake” switches off the ability settings for a sure time; “FancyZones” permits a number of home windows to be simply organized even below Windows 10; the “File Explorer Add-Ons” present the contents for varied file codecs as a big preview; and “Image Resizing” adjustments the scale of pictures merely by way of the context menu. Also by way of the context menu, “PowerRename” features enable computerized renaming of recordsdata.
Because we needed to wait so lengthy for it, the brand new EnergyToys function “Paste as plain text” is downright ingeniously easy. The keyboard shortcut Ctrl-Windows-Alt-V inserts the content material saved within the clipboard unformatted into any program – preferrred, for instance, for rapidly transferring internet content material into phrase processing.
This article has been translated from German to English and initially appeared on pcwelt.de.