Software I use
💽 Software I use
The below is the software I use (mostly) daily on my local machine. I’ll cover my network, my personal devices and self-hosted applications in a seperate post. My daily driver is a Windows 11 desktop machine. Brief specs are a Core i9-12700k, Z690 motherboard and 32 gigs of DDR4 RAM, and a couple of terabytes of NVme storage.
🪟 My approach to Windows
I typically perform a barebones Windows 11 install, and then remove much of the cruft that comes default. I prefer a local-account as opposed to the (mostly) forced Microsoft account. I use portable software wherever possible.
Operating System
Microsoft Windows 11 on my personal desktop and Windows 10 on my (old, unsupported by Windows 11 unless you want to do some hacking) Dell XPS 13. I know this is controversial to some, however especially with all the telemetry and tracking, however I turn off as much of this as possible and also block much of it using my default local DNS server using pi-hole.
Terminal
I’m old school, putty.
Text editing
Notepad++ with various plugins. In fact I’m writing this with Notepad++ right now. MarkdownViewer++ and a few others.
Web Browser
Firefox, also with various plugins, much of it to remove the cruft of the modern day internet. I do whitelist where I believe the creator/website are deserving enough.
- Enhancer for Youtube (nuff said)
- Ublock Origin (keeping it real on the Internet)
- SponsorBlock (I whitelist certain creators)
- Tab Session manager (keeps track of tabs)
- Auto Tab Discard (saves memory)
- Web Archives (allows you to view content that may be behind a paywall)
- Bypass Paywalls (allows you to view content that may be behind a paywall)
- Auto tranlate
Utilities
File manager
Pretty much Windows Explorer
Music/audio player
Plex when I’m at home and Plexamp when I’m on the move with my phone. I curate my own music (ogg format) and self-host rather than rely on an online streaming service.
PDF Viewer
Foxit Reader or Sumatra PDF (install it with Ninite or Chocolately, thank me later)
Image Viewer
XnView
Image modification
Paint.net
Other utilities I can’t live without
- OpenRGB (not enough RGB?)
- FanControl (custom fan control)
- bTop4Win (reminds me of Linux)
- VLC (for pretty much everything media related)
- OpenBB Terminal (awesome insights into the Financial Markets using a text interface)
- Wallpaper Engine (fun animated backgrounds)
- Everything (awesome search tool - works with Samba shares too!)
- FreeCommander (who remembers Norton Commander?)
- Ventoy (no more flashing USBs)
- yt-dlp (download Youtube videos for offline viewing)
Hardware I use
🖥️ Desktop computer
Brief specs
- Intel Core i7 12700K
- 32 gigs DDR4 3200Mhz RAM
- Asus ROG Z-690 motherboard
- 1.5 tb NVMe storage
- Geforce RTX 3070 8GB
💻 Laptop computer
This is an older Dell XPS 13 with 8 GB RAM I used when on the road
📱 Cell phone
Apple iPhone 11 (I used to be an Android guy, but switched when I decided I wanted the Apple Watch)
⌚ Wearables
Apple Watch 7
❌ What I don’t use
Where possible, anything that isn’t portable. Apps with spyware/malware/adware.