Editor’s note: “Newbie Question Mark” is a brand new section of Minority. It is aimed at completely “zero basis” novice users, through the most simple and easy to understand, to help you quickly master about the system and hardware and software introduction knowledge.
The Minority has previously done two articles aimed at macOS novices, including:
- How to get started quickly after switching from Windows to macOS?
- Do these four things to keep your Mac safe from data theft and loss
This post is aimed at new Windows users and is intended to help them become more efficient with their computers. Next, we will pay more attention to the content for beginners, welcome all authors to contribute to us.
To do a good job, he must sharpen his tools. As the desktop operating system used by the most people in the world, the efficiency of Windows is closely related to our work and study. Today, Minority has put together a list of 10 productivity tools to make Your Windows more productive.
Everything
If you’ve ever studied productivity tools, the name Everything is familiar. This 1.3MB small software can access the USN log of the NTFS file system, retrieve millions of files on a terabyte hard disk in a few seconds, and monitor the changes of all files in real time. It is the fastest file indexing tool on the Windows platform.
Also, Everything supports file matching through regular expressions, and all search results are displayed in near real-time with minimal memory consumption. If you’re not familiar with regular expressions, you can also use the advanced search function that comes with regular expressions.
In addition, you can save a specific path as a list of files, so that you can find previously indexed files even if you are not connected to a removable hard drive. You can also use it to access HTTP, FTP or ETP servers, or even set up your own hard drive as a remote server to enjoy the same powerful file retrieval capabilities.
You can download Everything here, and the app is completely free.
Minority’s “Everyone Should Learn to File Properly” tutorial also offers an in-depth look at Everything, if you’re interested.
Wox
Everything is powerful, but it can only index local files by filename, not if you want to search for web pages, apps, or execute other commands at the same time. Of course, where there is a need, there is a solution. Wox, the hero of this section, can do just that.
Wox is a free, open source quick launcher developed by Chinese, similar to Alfred on macOS. Please click here for more information. It can call Everything to quickly search local files, launch programs, execute command lines, do web searches, and more.
Similar to Alfred, Wox also supports the installation of plugins for clipboard history, process management, text translation, base conversion, Courier queries, and more. Wox now has hundreds of plugins to choose from, and if you’re hands-on enough, you can customize your workflow.
Wox can be downloaded from GitHub and is free and open source.
For a more in-depth look at Wox, you can read Minority’s previous article: Alfred on Windows, a free, open source productivity starter: Wox
Listary
From the distant days of Windows 95 to the present day of Windows 10, file Explorer has not changed much, although the system has been enhanced. Inefficient directory hierarchies, messy file locations, and hard-to-use native searches are all very frustrating. If you don’t want to choose TotalCommander or XYplorer, a third-party file explorer, you might want to try Listary. Listary is also recommended in the “Everyone should Learn to Properly Manage Files” tutorial.
Listary is a powerful Windows file explorer enhancement tool that helps you quickly locate files, execute smart commands, record access history, quickly switch directories, bookmark frequently used items, and more.
You can search this directory directly by calling Listary from any file explorer window with keyboard input, saving a lot of mouse movement and positioning time.
Another of Listary’s stunts is its enhancements to the Windows File selection dialog. When you need to open or save a file, Listary’s action box automatically appears at the bottom of the pop-up window, allowing you to quickly search the specified path. If you have another open explorer window, you can easily switch to that directory via Listary.
You can also use Listary to search the web, open applications, execute command lines, etc. It’s also a great quick launcher.
In addition, Listary Pro lets you create projects, customize actions, specify command shortcuts, use fuzzy search, change themes, and more.
You can download Listary here. The basic version is free for individual users, but if you want to use advanced features or for business use, the pro version costs $19.95. You can also buy digital lychee at a special price of rmb59 in China. (Subscribe to “Everyone should Learn to Properly Manage Files” by November 1 and get a $10 discount coupon from Listary.)
Seer
MacOS has a handy feature called Quick Look, which previews most common files by pressing a space in the Finder. Windows doesn’t have the same functionality, but developers don’t miss it, and Seer is the best third-party file preview tool for Windows.
With Seer installed, you can quickly preview a file by pressing the space after it is selected, without additional Settings. Seer supports hundreds of file extensions for text, images, video, compressed packages and other categories by default. You can also install Office, CAD and other extensions in your Settings to make it support more file types. In addition, Seer supports integration with third-party programs such as Directory Opus or custom preview shortcuts.
Currently, you can download a free beta version of Seer at SourceForge. The latest version is 0.8.1, but subsequent updates are no longer supported. If you want to use the official version (currently 1.7.1), you’ll have to buy a license for $12.18 from the official website.
If you don’t want to spend money and you want support, I recommend downloading the free, open source QuickLook on GitHub, which gives you most of Seer’s features. If you’re a Windows 10 user, you can download the UWP version from the App Store, but it’s a bit less powerful.
Fences
As one of the most common interfaces we see every day, a clean desktop can be a huge productivity boost. If you don’t want to tidy up your desk often, you are used to leaving all kinds of documents lying around. Fences are your desktop productivity device.
Fences allows you to create areas on your desktop that automatically categorize desktop ICONS by file type, name, date, size, etc. You will never have to tidy up your desktop again. You can also customize the block appearance, size, location, etc. to make the working folder stand out.
You can also anchor frequently used folders to your desktop and drag files to other applications when needed to improve productivity. Fences can also automatically create snapshots of your desktop layout that can be restored at any time.
If you don’t like ICONS on your desktop, just double-click on the blank area of your desktop and all blocks and ICONS will be automatically hidden for efficiency and aesthetics.
You can download Fences here for $9.99 with a 30-day, fully featured free trial. You can also buy it on Steam for a national discount of rmb37.
Fences is also recommended by @Remaining Geek in the “Everyone Should Learn to manage Files properly” tutorial.
If you don’t want to spend money and don’t exclude the family barrel, you can also try domestic software such as Tencent Computer Manager’s desktop cleaning or Kingsoft Drug Bully’s Cheetah Light desktop. As for the effect, I dare not try, but please feel free.
Ditto
As unimaginative as File Explorer is the Windows native clipboard feature. If you are a small editor of UC or Toutiao, you often need to copy and paste everywhere, you must be suffering from it. Ditto is an open source, free and powerful clipboard enhancement tool.
Ditto’s most basic feature, of course, is clipboard history management. Not only can you store hundreds of pieces of clipboard history, you can also easily find what you want to paste by searching for it.
In addition, Ditto also supports merge and paste, that is, multiple records are pasted to a specified location at one time for convenient data collection.
For formatted content copied from a web page or elsewhere, you can also paste it directly into plain text with a shortcut key (Shift + Enter by default). Stealing articles has never been easier.
There is a classic joke that I’m sure you’ve heard: “Mr. Wang, if you press Ctrl + C on your home computer, then Ctrl + V on your company computer, it won’t work. Even if it’s the same article. No, no, no, no matter how expensive the computer is, it won’t work.” Later, Wang switched to a Mac, tried the Universal Clipboard and fired his secretary.
In fact, if Xiao Li had known Ditto at that time, he might have been promoted and raised to win baifumei and stepped onto the peak of his life. Yes, one killer feature of Ditto is clipboard network synchronization. Properly set up, Ditto can share the clipboard with other computers on the LAN, and with other virtual LAN software, Wang’s requirements could be met a decade earlier.
You can download Ditto at SourceForge, and the app is free and open source. If you’re a Windows 10 user, I recommend downloading Ditto in the UWP app store for a more modern interface.
If you’re a macOS user looking for a handy clipboard tool, you might want to read Minority’s article: There are many ways to improve your happiness with your phone and computer, including installing a clipboard tool
Snipaste
There are tons of screenshots available on Windows, but few have features. Snipaste is an innovative way to combine screenshot annotation and texture, which greatly expands the application scope of the tool.
Let’s start with the basic screenshots. Snipaste automatically recognizes the boundaries of elements in the system interface, making it easy to take accurate screenshots. After taking a screenshot, you can add text, arrows, shapes, doodles, highlights, mosaics, and more. You can also undo the changes at any time if you are not satisfied. You can then save the screenshots to hard drive, copy them to the clipboard, or paste them directly onto the screen.
While snapshots and annotations are great, mapping is at the heart of Snipaste. In fact, the original name for Snipaste is PicNotes. It’s just a way to take quick notes with pictures. In addition to images, you can also display text, HTML text, color information, etc. as Windows at the top of the screen, with a wide range of applications. For example, you can use this feature to make it easy to take notes when referencing materials, or to adjust the texture opacity contrast code.
You can download Snipaste here. The app is free for individuals and is in development for macOS and Linux. If you’re a Windows 10 user, you can also download the Snipaste UWP version in the App Store.
If you want to learn more about Snipaste, read Minority’s article: The Best Free Screenshot annotation tool on Windows: Snipaste
If you’re interested in the history of Snipaste and what goes on behind the scenes, you can read a rare interview with the developer of Snipaste who has thousands of words to say after creating the most powerful free “screenshots” tool
ShareX
ShareX is also one of the most distinctive screenshots. However, as the name suggests, ShareX’s main focus is on sharing after screenshots and comments.
As a free and open source piece of software, ShareX has an exaggerated number of features. You can use it to take screenshots, record screens, pick up colors, merge images, generate video thumbnails, check hashes, generate QR codes, capture web pages and scroll Windows, do OCR word recognition on images, and even act as an FTP client.
Of course, its flagship follow-up is not ambiguous. In addition to the rich photo tagging tools, you can upload photos or other files to dozens of built-in sharing services, and add custom file upload services like POST/GET requests.
But it’s the custom workflow that really makes it magic. You can monitor folder changes, automatically watermark or otherwise process images, upload them to various services, generate short links, and even automatically send tweets, depending on your needs.
You can download ShareX here. The app is free and open source. You can also find it on Steam or the Windows 10 App Store.
WGestures
To improve mouse efficiency, configuring your own mouse gestures is a sure bet. Primary, there are many domestic browser and input method come with; The advanced ones are StrokesPlus. What I recommend is something in between, but much easier to get started with: WGestures, which is free and open source.
WGestures is a global mouse gesture app that allows you to perform window control, web navigation, text processing, music playback, keyboard shortcuts, script commands, and more by drawing gestures from the right mouse button at any time. Familiar with, can greatly improve the efficiency of daily operation.
Of course, you can customize your mouse gestures to suit your needs. You can also customize mouse gestures for an application or disable them in an application. WGestures supports 8 basic gestures up, down, left, right and oblique, with the right mouse button and middle button scrolling to easily achieve a variety of complex gestures and operations.
Another useful feature of WGestures is the friction Angle and trigger edge. You can set the mouse to move over corners or rub on boundaries to execute specific commands without pressing a button.
You can download WGestures here. The app is free and open source. If you’re an advanced user, StrokesPlus is more powerful but more expensive to use.
If you are a macOS user and want to improve your mouse efficiency, check out Minority’s article: 8 Apps to Completely Improve your Mac mouse experience
Capslock+
Above just said how to improve the efficiency of mouse operation, let’s talk about how to improve the efficiency of keyboard input.
If you’re an advanced user, AutoHotKey is definitely a must-have tool for your work. It’s extremely scalable and customizable to increase your productivity.
But if you don’t know that much about computers, or if AHK scripts are just too complicated, you can try autoHotkey-based programs like Capslock+, which I’ll cover below.
The design concept of Capslock+ is to transform the Capslock key, which is not commonly used but very handy, into a modification key similar to Ctrl, Alt, Shift, to achieve enhanced text input, window switching, quick search and other functions.
For text input, for example, you can use the Capslock key in conjunction with the following auxiliary keys to do most of your text manipulation without toggling back and forth between the mouse and keyboard.
Capslock + E/D/S/F (up/down/left/right) Capslock + I/K/J/L (Up/down/Left/right select text) Capslock + A/G (cursor left/right jump A word, especially useful for English, code) Capslock +; / P (move cursor to start/end of line) Capslock + U/O (select cursor to start/end of line) Capslock + Backspace (delete all text on line) Capslock + Enter (creates a new line break regardless of whether the cursor is at the end of the line without truncating the original sentence)Copy the codeCapslock+ also supports text substitution, music control, text translation, reloading programs, escaping characters, and more. You can see the help documentation on the website and minority’s previous article: Capslock+, the next generation of Keyboard shortcuts for Windows
Of course, AutoHotKey has more fun apps that you can search for on your own.
If you’re a macOS user and want to improve your Keyboard typing, check out minority’s article on Keyboard Maestro.
That’s all for this article, and if you want to improve your Windows productivity even further, you can find the answer in Minority’s “Everyone should Learn to Manage Files Properly” tutorial.
