I've been a Windows user ever since I got my first computer. Over the years I've accumulated some best practices, tools and techniques that might help you be more productive. Here are some of them:

OS

• PowerToys - In build 17134, Microsoft reintroduced PowerToys - a suite of utilities that help with productivity. At present only two have been launched - Windows Key Shortcut Guide and Fancy Zones. The former launches a handy overlay that lists various useful OS shortcuts. The latter allows users to create custom layouts for your app windows.

• WSL - Need to use a tool that requires Linux? VMs can be bothersome. With WSL you can run a Linux distro in e terminal within Windows and not worry about virtualisation. The upcoming WSL2 promises massive improvements in features and performance.

• Open command window here - Are you browsing a directory in File Explorer and want to run a command in it? Opening a new terminal and navigating to the directory can be cumbersome. With this easy Registry update you can enable an option in File Explorer's context menu that opens a new command prompt with the the directory already set.

• Command-line alternatives - If you use a lot of commands you're probably frustrated by the built-in tools. Cmder is a console emulator that adds useful features like aliases (here are some that I use), Unix commands, tabs and others. Yes, it can also be added as a context menu option.

Chrome

• Toggle dev tools - F12

• Inspect DOM element - Ctrl + Shift + C

• Toggle docking position - Use Ctrl + Shift + D to toggle the DevTools dock state between the last two recently used states. Dock options are:

  • Dock to right
  • Dock to bottom
  • Undock DevTools

Visual Studio Code

• Integrate Cmder into VSC - Follow this guide if you use Cmder as VSCode's integrated terminal

• Open with Code context menu - Want to right-click a file or folder and open it in VSC? Make sure you enable those options when installing the code editor. If you've already installed it without selecting those options - you'll have to reinstall it with the additional tasks selected.

Recommended Visual Studio Code Extensions (in no particular order)

• Settings Sync

• Code Spell Checker

• change-case

• Create Files & Folders : On The Go

• File Utils

• expand-region

• Bracket Pair Colorizer