Customization on Windows is good with themes and all, but I was curious to see what programs people use to add to the Windows shell, instead of replacing or theming it.


I use Smart Taskbar, Windows Caffeinated and Windows Toolkit that all add icons to the system tray, in the same style, that do the following:

Smart Taskbar: Clicking the icon will hide the taskbar automatically, and can be set to show the taskbar when an app is windowed, but hide when maximized.

Windows Caffeinated: Keeps your PC from sleeping. You can use PowerAwake with MSPowerToys, but I don’t like the icon.

Desktop Toolkit: A Swiss army knife of utilities. It’s hard to describe but, it has pinned apps, custom folder pins, timers, screen recording, color picker, recent files, etc. I like to pin custom PowerShell scripts here.

Toggle Desktop Icons: This app lets you double-click the desktop to hide icons, and adds a system tray icon. It’s similar to HiddenMe on macOS.


I hope this leads to a great discussion and sharing of information!

  • Iridium@lemmy.world
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    1 year ago

    It’s actually ridiculous how often you’ll put Windows to sleep, and half a second later it turns itself back on.

    • CheshireSnake@lemdit.com
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      1 year ago

      My desktop now refuses to sleep automatically since maybe 2 updates ago. I’m so sick and tired of troubleshooting it at this point that I just shut it down if I’ll be gone for more than 10 minutes.

      • Iridium@lemmy.world
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        1 year ago

        Same, I have a shortcut set up on my phone that shuts down my computer when I get in my car just because I know it won’t stay asleep otherwise

    • toybastard@lemmy.world
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      1 year ago

      I had the same experience - apparently it was Intel’s network driver manually triggering a wakeup every few minutes. Had to stalk Event Viewer to find that out & then disable a setting on the adapter properties page (I don’t remember if it was wake on LAN or some sort of “ignore power-on packet” option).

      Might be different for your situation though.