🚀 My Windows Setup for Power Users (After Years of Tweaking)

"I’ve spent 8 years tweaking Windows so you don’t have to fight with the defaults." ⭐

🧠 My Rules

• If it takes more than a second to load, it's bloat
• Keyboard shortcuts > mouse. Always
• Dark mode everything. Light mode users scare me
• If you're doing something twice, automate it
• Config files > GUI settings
• Defaults are suggestions, not laws

⚠️ Heads Up

• Backup your configs first. Or don't, I'm not your mom (use Windows create restore point)
• Some stuff needs admin rights
• WindHawk mods might break on Windows updates (still worth it)

💣 The Arsenal

Tool	What It Does (In Human)
PowerShell	Your terminal but on steroids. Blazing fast because life's too short
Terminal	Windows Terminal config with custom themes (Firefly, GitHub Dark, OneDark)
WindHawk	Makes Windows 11 look less like a Fisher-Price toy
VSCode	Where the magic happens. JetBrains Mono because we're fancy
Git	SSH keys, configs, and the ability to git push --force with confidence
Sublime Text	For when VSCode is being dramatic
VLC	Dark mode VLC because your eyes deserve better
FlowLauncher	Alt+Space to summon anything. Spotlight who?
Espanso	Type ;;shrug get ¯\_(ツ)_/¯. You're welcome
Fonts	JetBrains Mono Nerd Font. Ligatures that make you feel smart
Winutil	Chris Titus's Windows debloater. Cortana? Never heard of her

🎯 Quick Start (aka "I Just Wiped My PC")

Step 1: Get the essentials

# First, get a real package manager
winget install marticliment.UniGetUI

# The essentials (aka the bare minimum to be productive)
winget install Microsoft.PowerShell      # PowerShell 7, not that ancient 5.1 thing
winget install Starship.Starship         # Prompt so pretty you'll screenshot it
winget install ajeetdsouza.zoxide        # cd but it reads your mind
winget install Git.Git                   # You know what this is
winget install Microsoft.VisualStudioCode # The one true editor (fight me)

Step 2: Make PowerShell not suck

# Copy the good stuff
Copy-Item "powershell/Microsoft.PowerShell_profile.ps1" $PROFILE -Force
Copy-Item "powershell/starship.toml" (Split-Path $PROFILE) -Force

# Reload and watch the magic
. $PROFILE

# Now you can do cool stuff like:
# gs          → git status
# lazyg "yolo" → git add . && commit && push (the true dev experience)
# z github    → teleports to your github folder

Step 3: Git setup (the right way)

# Tell Git who you are (or who you pretend to be)
git config --global user.name "Your Name"
git config --global user.email "your@email.com"
git config --global credential.helper manager

# Generate SSH key (smash Enter through all prompts)
ssh-keygen -t ed25519 -C "your@email.com"

# Copy this bad boy to GitHub
cat ~/.ssh/id_ed25519.pub

# Test if GitHub recognizes you
ssh -T git@github.com
# "Hi username!" ← If you see this, you're in

Step 4: VSCode but actually good

# Deploy the configs
Copy-Item "vscode/settings.json" "$env:APPDATA\Code\User\" -Force
Copy-Item "vscode/keybindings.json" "$env:APPDATA\Code\User\" -Force

# Restart VSCode and enjoy:
# - JetBrains Mono with ligatures (because => looks better than =>)
# - GitHub Dark theme (your retinas will thank you)
# - Code Runner (ctrl + ' to run anything, anywhere)
# - No annoying confirmations (we live dangerously here)

🎨 Making Windows Look Less... Windows

WindHawk (because the default UI is an insult)

Install WindHawk then grab these mods:

• Windows 11 Taskbar Styler - DockLike theme (macOS who?)
• Start Menu Styler - Because the default is an insult
• Notification Center Styler - Notifications that don't look like ads
• Middle Click to Close - Close taskbar apps like a boss
• Taskbar Volume Control - Scroll on taskbar to adjust volume (mind = blown)
• Better File Sizes - "1.5 GB" instead of "1,572,864 KB" (thank you)

Random Windows tweaks that should be default

# Enable battery icon (because Microsoft hid it for... reasons?)
vivetool /enable /id:56328729,48433719

# Clear icon cache when Windows has a stroke
taskkill /IM explorer.exe /F
DEL /A /Q "%localappdata%\IconCache.db"
start explorer.exe

🛠️ Apps I Actually Use

Productivity Tier:

• UniGetUI - All package managers in one place. Winget + Scoop + Chocolatey = ❤️
• Obsidian - Note-taking for people who think in graphs
• FlowLauncher - Alt+Space and summon anything. Faster than Windows Search (not hard)
• Espanso - Text expansion. Type less, do more, look like a wizard

Dev Tier:

• VSCode - You're already using it, let's be honest
• Sublime Text 4 - For when you need speed and VSCode is being a RAM hog
• Git + SSH - Version control or it didn't happen
• Windows Terminal - The terminal Microsoft should've made 20 years ago

System Tier:

• WindHawk - Make Windows pretty without breaking it
• Winutil - Chris Titus's debloater. Removes the bloat, keeps the OS
• RevoUninstaller - Uninstall things like you mean it

💎 Cool Stuff You'll Actually Use

PowerShell Profile

• Unix commands on Windows - grep, sed, tail, which (Linux users: feel at home)
• Git shortcuts - gs, ga, gc, lazyg (commit messages are overrated anyway)
• Zoxide - z github teleports you there. No more cd ../../..
• Tab completion - Works for git, npm, docker, kubectl (press Tab, look smart)
• Syntax highlighting - Your commands now have RGB
• Lightning fast - Optimized to load faster than your coffee machine

VSCode Config

• JetBrains Mono - Ligatures that make => look like →
• GitHub Dark - Because light mode is a war crime
• Code Runner - Run code without leaving the editor (F5 goes brrr)
• No confirmations - Delete files with confidence (or regret)
• Better comments - // TODO in orange, // ! in red, // ? in blue
• Git Bash terminal - Because cmd.exe is from 1987

WindHawk Mods

• DockLike taskbar - Centered, transparent, actually good-looking
• Custom notifications - No more Windows 10 vibes
• Middle-click to close - Close windows from taskbar like a power user
• Volume scroll - Scroll on taskbar = volume control (why isn't this default?)
• Better file sizes - See "1.5 GB" not "1,572,864 KB" (thank you, sanity)

🧰 The Map (Where Everything Lives)

Settings/
├── powershell/          # The terminal that sparks joy
├── terminal/            # Windows Terminal themes & settings
├── WindHawk/            # Windows 11 but pretty
├── vscode/              # Editor configs (the good stuff)
├── git/                 # SSH keys and Git wizardry
├── sublime/             # The backup editor
├── vlc-media-player/    # Dark mode VLC (finally)
├── FlowLauncher/        # Alt+Space magic
├── Espanso/             # Text expansion sorcery
├── fonts/               # Nerd fonts (ligatures go brrr)
├── Winutil/             # Windows debloater
├── AppList.md           # Apps that don't suck
└── README.md            # You are here

🎓 Tips

1. Run Show-Help in PowerShell to see all the shortcuts
2. Edit starship.toml if you want different colors
3. Add your own aliases to $PROFILE - it's just a PowerShell script
4. Use z instead of cd everywhere. After a week it'll know where you want to go
5. Middle-click taskbar icons to close apps. You'll never right-click again

🙏 Credits

Shoutout to the people who built the tools that make this possible:

• Chris Titus Tech for the PowerShell profile that started it all
• WindHawk community for making Windows actually customizable
• Starship for the best terminal prompt ever made
• ajeetdsouza for fixing cd

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Refined by experience

Star this if it saved you some pain ⭐