Corporate Survival Kit

As a Linux user of more than a decade, I don't like using windows. I really don't like using windows. But I have to earn a living, and corporations tend to use it on the workstations, so compromises have to be made. Below is a list of applications that make life more bearable for people like me, who would rather not use Windows, but have to.

Software & system Management

• Chocolatey: a package manager for windows, similar to APT, Yum, Pacman and the like.
• Scoop: same as Chocolatey but local to your user (no UAC prompts)

day-to-day utils

• KeePass: DO NOT save your passwords in a text file, use this (preferably version 2)

  Chocolatey install: choco install keepass

• Process Explorer: Like the task manager, but WAY better. very helpful for finding out what the hell is running on the machine

  Chocolatey install: choco install procexp

• Autoruns: complete list of programs on autostart, also helpful for cleaning up the startup of the machine

  Chocolatey install: choco install autoruns

• Greenshot: a better screenshot tool

  Chocolatey install: choco install greenshot

• Ditto: a clipboard manager - this is surprisingly useful. Also note this config for working with KeePass

  Chocolatey install: choco install ditto

• px proxy: a bridge to simplify going through the corporate proxy. Just tell it where to point to, what port to listen to, and it'll expose a regular proxy on localhost (great for stuff inside WSL, or python apps that don't know how to use the corporate proxy)
• non-microsoft browsers:
  • Vivaldi from the original creators of Opera

    Chocolatey install: choco install vivaldi

  • Firefox that we all know and like

    Chocolatey install: choco install firefox

Enhancements of basic functionality

• Powershell Community Extensions: makes powershell nicer, with stuff like reverse history search
• PowerToys various enhancements on windows functionality

  Chocolatey install: choco install powertoys

• VoiceMeeter better audio streams control panel

  Chocolatey install: choco install voicemeeter

For the Linux crowd

• Windows Subsystem for Linux the closest you can get to running Linux on your machine without using a VM. It's not perfect, but close enough
• AltDrag gives you back the functionality of being able to alt + drag a window (alt + right click drag resizes). important: If you're using win10 with DPI scaling, you will need this workaround

  Chocolatey install: choco install altdrag

• Windows Terminal is really good if you need a terminal without extra frills that just works and gets out of the way. Already comes with windows 11, so in that case just go ahead and use it =)

  Chocolatey install: choco install microsoft-windows-terminal

• Powershell supports an EMACS input mode, just add Set-PSReadlineOption -EditMode Emacs in your $PROFILE file (there's also a vim mode!)

Other apps

• Draw.io: diagram tool, it's a great replacement for Visio. There's also a desktop client and a Jupyter notebook version.

  Chocolatey install: choco install drawio