Windows utilities and mods

Explorer mods and utilities

PowerToys — An amazing collection of utilities that probably deserves it’s own section. This is a must have tool to make Windows usable.
Link Shell Extension — Allows easy creation of symbolic links through the file context menu. Just select “Pick Link Source” on a file or folder, and then “Drop As…” -> “Symbolic link” on a folder where you want to put it into.
HashTab (archived) — Adds “File Hashes” tab to your file properties window, allowing you to very quickly calculate and compare file hashes. The project is now discontinued and the website is gone, but you still can download it from the archived page. Probably a good alternative would be OpenHashTab .
Windhawk — A collection of mods for Windows. Some of the most notable ones are “Alt+Tab per monitor”, “Disable grouping on the taskbar” and “Windows 11 Start Menu Styler”.
Process Explorer — A much better Task Manager for Windows. Can work in parallel to the original Task Manager or even replace it.

Total Commander (paid+free) — The best file manager that can be customized to your needs. Tons of keyboard shortcuts, plugins, file viewers, remote connections, and more. Needs to be configured to be usable.
7-Zip — File archiver.
Notepad++ — Doesn’t need introduction. Just get it.
010 Editor (paid) — Amazing HEX editor. Paid, but with a perpetual license (I guess nowadays it’s unusual).
Resource Hacker — Allows you to inspect and extract resources from exe/dll files and more.
qBittorrent — The best open-source Bittorrent client.

VLC media player — A good video player.
foobar2000 — THE audio player. Super customizable, tons of plugins provide any features you may want.
XnView MP — Great image viewer/converter.
CUE Splitter — A simple tool to split image+cue audio files into individual files per track.
Mp3tag — Simple and powerful metadata edit tool for audio files.
ffmpeg — Must have command-line tools for media processing. Re-encode a video, or trim it without re-encoding, or extract subtitles… With this tool (and a bit of searching for the correct command line arguments) you can do anything.

VB-Cable — Creates virtual audio device that helps you with route the audio from different applications to another source. A must have for livestreamers. Free version allows you to have one additional device while the paid version gives you 4, the price worth it. I will create a proper guide on how to use it later.
CoolSoft MIDIMapper — Allows you to change your default MIDI device on modern Windows.
EarTrumpet — Advanced application volume control. Allows you to force specific audio device for certain apps/games. Sometimes it’s the only reliable way to make a game output its sound into the audio device that you want. Get the Windows Store version.

WinCompose — Compose Key for Windows. Allows you to quickly type special symbols like —°© and much more.

Borderless Gaming — Can turn your windowed games into borderless fullscreen. Also allows you to change the borderless window dimensions.

VeraCrypt — Encryption tool that allows you to encrypt files/devices or the whole Windows installation. If you don’t (and you shouldn’t!) trust BitLocker.

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July 27, 2026