The most important thing for me is minimizing the UI space, and that’s where OneBar truly excels.
Firefox can also be configured to clear history, cookies, and all other data upon closing, which was the main reason I switched from Chrome years ago (though I’m not sure if that’s still the case today).
Hands down, Firefox is the browser I least dislike.
You can cap the memory usage. Usefull when you need to allocate a big chunck of memory for something else, like spinning up a new VM. Just like Firefox, it can be configured to delete everything upon closing, keeping things clean and private.
I use Obsidian to keep all my notes. I sync everything across devices using the Git plugin. It’s a great way to ensure my notes are available on all devices.
I use Markview to quickly open and view Markdown files directly from the filesystem. It’s very lightweight and fast.
Flow Launcher doesn’t have everything I need out of the box, but it’s easily extendable with C#, Python, or JavaScript. At first, I had trouble finding exactly what I was looking for because you need to know the prefix keyword for each plugin. While these keywords are clearly shown on the homepage, it’s not always intuitive to know them right away.
On the other hand, Keypirinha lets you start typing anything and find it instantly. Everything is available as a top-level command, and it’s fuzzy matched for fast searching. Though it has not been updated for years and it is not open source.
I’m sticking with Windows 10 for now, and here’s why I’m not migrating to Windows 11:
Windows 10 has better defaults, even though they’re far from perfect.
Everything lags on Windows 11—menus, notifications, right-click options. It just feels slower.
context menu is limited, requiring more steps for frequently used functions.
content on the screen shifts unexpectedly, which can be incredibly annoying. You think the context menu is ready, but Windows decides to swap out entries last-minute.
No offline account option is a no for me.
As Windows 10 approaches end-of-life, I’m planning to migrate to Fedora for a more modern, open-source environment.
PowerToys
FancyZones: For window management.
ZoomIt: For on-screen annotations.
File Locksmith: Unlocks files in use by other processes.
ShareX: My go-to screenshot tool, especially for capturing content that requires scrolling. I use Ctrl+Shift+S in Firefox for this.
Windows Subsystem for Android (WSA): Great for testing Android apps without taking up phone storage.
Windows Hyper-V: Essential for running clean environments, particularly when testing on Windows 10.
Docker: Containerization for development needs.
I use Sublime Text because it’s incredibly fast and lightweight. People with high-end PCs may find VS Code comparable, but I’d love to see them try working on an Intel Celeron or Core Duo—Sublime leaves them in the dust.
The downside is that it lags behind in terms of updates. The Omnisharp plugin (for C#) still works, but it hasn’t been updated in over 5 years, which is a recurring issue with many plugins.
For Git version control, I use Sublime Merge for a clean UI and TortoiseGit for integration with the file explorer.
I use Bruno for quick API testing. It’s fast and lightweight, perfect for checking endpoints on the fly.