Windows 11 is ideal for multifunctional use - Office, Games, WSL, HW Options Kazoo - but the built-in defaults slow me down and get sooo annoying. These tweaks make it fast, clean, and predictable:

  • Windhawk mods for the stuff Microsoft won’t expose:
    Taskbar Clock Customization (rich clock/date formats example: %date%, %time% ?%upload_speed%  and %weather% ?%cpu% ?%ram% ?%download_speed% Better File Sizes in Explorer (human-readable sizes), and Taskbar Icon Spacing/Size (tight or roomy as you like). Windhawk
  • Everything + Everything Toolbar for instant file search from the taskbar/start area. Windows Search sleeps; Everything sprints. Voidtools
  • Start11 to restore a sane Start Menu—and wire it to Everything so Start menu searches are local, fast, and ad-free. Stardock
  • AutoHotkey to supercharge virtual desktops:
    ALT+1..9 jumps to a desktop; SHIFT+ALT+1..9 moves the focused window there. It’s a perfect “almost-tiling” workflow without the rigidity of a tiling WM. My keymaps live here: https://github.com/ske5074/windows-desktop-switcher . AutoHotkey  (Be sure to use the 1.x version of AutoHotKey) - Update!  Another project that’s close to the same - almost! https://github.com/dankrusi/WindowsVirtualDesktopHelper
  • Twinkle Tray for one-click monitor brightness (and quick volume), right from the tray—especially handy with multi-monitor setups. Twinkle Tray
  • Kate a super lightweight editor that is GIT aware but not intrusive or annoying or requiring 8GB of ram to run!
  • Kagi A pay for search engine that has NO ADS.  You pay a small fee for use, and that’s how they survive.  No Ads, no search shaping for sponsors, none of that BS
  • Filelight Provides a way to see where your storage consumption is on your drives.  My new go after using  windirstat for years.

Net result: a quiet, fast Windows 11 desktop that works the way I do—no Edge promos, no Start menu fluff, and muscle-memory moves between clean, purpose-built desktops.

Additional Tweaks:

  • Disable Fastboot (Net needed with SSD OS Drives):

    powercfg /h off

  • Battery Report:

    powercfg /batteryreport

  • Mount USB drives in WSL:

    sudo mkdir /mnt/x ; sudo mount -t drvfs x: /mnt/x

References / Links