The IDEasy already supports a lot of software tools. But if you need more, here are some ways to get it easily:
Chocolatey is a repository for free and open source software similar to the repositories know from the Linux like apt, apk, pacman, …
Microsoft is also working on a repository for Windows called winget. It is currently in a pre-release state, but is expected to be integrated in the upcoming Windows versions.
Many people got used to tabs that have been introduced by all major browsers:
This nice feature can be added to many other tools.
Since Windows 11 the Windows Exporer supports Tabs.
If you want to have tabs for your SSH client Putty (or even better Kitty that comes with WinSCP integration) you simply install SuperPutty BTW: Windows 10 has already an SSH client included.
If you want to use different shells like CMD, Powershell, git-bash, WSL, SSH, etc. via tabs inside one window, then use Windows-Terminal that can simply be installed for free via Microsoft Store.
For perfect integration, you should (re-)insall git after Windows-Terminal has been installed and check the option Add a Git Bash Profile to Windows Terminal or follow the manual integration.
You can even open SSH sessions and WSL distributions from the context menu of Windows Terminal in a tab.
Do you want complex passwords that differ for each account for security? Do you only want to remember a single password for simplicity? Do you want to have both? Then, you need to install KeePass right now.
A real developer needs a real text editor and not windows built in notepad.
The most common choice is Notepad++.
Do you need to deal with ZIP files, TGZ, dpkg, etc.? Just install 7zip and forget about windows build-in ZIP support (that is buggy with long file paths, etc.).
Do you want to paste something from the clipboard but meanwhile you had to copy something else? On Windows 11 just press [Win][v] to open a popup with the history of your clipboard. I you still want more you might try ditto.
Microsoft provides some extensions to improve the workflow in windows called PowerToys. The include tools like a file renamer, a way to order your windows on the screen, a color picker and more.
A real developer will quickly notice that windows build in tools to analyze processes, network connections, autostarts, etc. are quite poor. So, what you really would like is the Sysinternals-Suite. You can make process-explorer your default task manager. Use autoruns to prevent nasty background things to be started automatically. Use tcpview to figure out which process is blocking port 8080, etc.
Did you ever fail to delete a file or directory that was locked by some process and you did not even know which one it was?
Then you might love IoBit Unlocker.
Also ProcessExplorer from Sysinternal Tools (see above) allows to find locks via Find menu option Find handle or DLL….
Here you can paste the path to the locked file and click Search to find the process owning the lock and can terminate the process.
See also this article.
Are you used to symbolic and hard links in Linux? Do you have to work with Windows? Would you also like to have such links in Windows? Why not? Windows supports real links (not shortcuts like in other cases). If you even want to have it integrated in windows explorer you might want to install linkshellextension. However, you might want to disable SmartMove in the configuration if you face strange performance issues when moving folders.
Windows contains the Windows Subsystem for Linux (WSL) that allows you to easily run a linux inside your Windows operating system. Unlike running a full-fledged VM this is very lightweight and fast. Simply go to Windows Store and install Ubunutu with a few clicks. You can even run it in a tab in Windows Terminal.
Also get used to use bash. Git for Windows ships with the MINGW based git-bash.
This supports auto-completion and many useful features.
Since bash is available for Windows, Linux, and MacOS, it is very convenient to get used to bash and work in the same way on any OS.
We highly recommend to make this your default in Windows Terminal and only use CMD or Power Shell when really needed.
In case you need even more Linux features natively into your Windows host, you might want to install Cygwin.
This allows you to install ssh with ssh-agent and all the Linux tools you love (or hate).
Do you want to connect via SSH and need to open an X11 app from the server? Do you want to see the GUI on your windows desktop? No problem: Install VcXsrv.
Are you a keyboard shortcut person? Do you want to have shortcuts for things like « and » ? Then you should try AutoHotKey. For the example (« and ») you can simply use this script to get started:
^<::Send {U+00AB}
^+<::Send {U+00BB}First, just press [ctrl][<] and [ctrl][>] ([ctrl][shift][<]).
Next, create shortcuts to launch your IDE, to open your favorite tool, etc.
If you like a GUI to easily configure the scrips, that comes with a lot of extensions preinstalled, you should have a look at Ac’tive Aid.
Do you collaborate sharing your screen, and want to mark a spot on top of what you see? Use Epic Pen to do just that.
Do you need to visualize complex graph structures?
Convert them to Trivial Graph Format (.tgf), a run yEd to get an interactive visualization of your graph.
Capture any part of your screen with a single click, directly upload to dropbox, or run a svn commit all in one go with Greenshot. Another screen capture tool where you can easily manage and edit your screenshots and also do screen recordings with is Screenpresso.
Everything is a desktop search utility for Windows that can rapidly find files and folders by name.