On the one (windows) machine i actively use powershell i click the pinned start menu icon.
Windows has fucked my flow before by co opting my shortcuts. So this is the most reliable way.
On linux terminal is a shortcut, app launcher is a shortcut and searching apps to launch actually works and doesn’t open my browser that operates under a different privacy contract then your os settings.
I despised windows search long before i switched i just didn’t know any better.
On my one remaining Windows machine, I installed PowerToys and use the “Run” launcher. Alt+Space opens Run. If you lead with a . you’ll search programs. Alt+Space, .term, for example, should immediately show Terminal and you can slap enter to open it. You can also do stuff like = 1 + 1 or = 0b101 + 0xf for quick calculations, %% for unit conversion (%% 10MB to Mb), etc. It’s not KRunner, dmenu, etc but it definitely beats the hell out of the start menu.
PowerToys “Keyboard Manager” might let you reclaim some shortcuts as well. I used it to swap Caps Lock and Escape but I’m pretty sure it can be used to create custom shortcuts. There’s also some option to remap shortcuts on a program specific basis. So you can say Alt+T should send Ctrl+T but only when Firefox has focus, for example. Haven’t messed with it myself but I can see the value.
Still looking forward to ditching Windows entirely but, in the meantime, MS has some decent tools that aren’t included by default and don’t seem to be advertised because power users aren’t the target market and “they already know to look for it” I guess.
On the one (windows) machine i actively use powershell i click the pinned start menu icon.
Windows has fucked my flow before by co opting my shortcuts. So this is the most reliable way.
On linux terminal is a shortcut, app launcher is a shortcut and searching apps to launch actually works and doesn’t open my browser that operates under a different privacy contract then your os settings.
I despised windows search long before i switched i just didn’t know any better.
On my one remaining Windows machine, I installed PowerToys and use the “Run” launcher. Alt+Space opens Run. If you lead with a
.you’ll search programs.Alt+Space, .term, for example, should immediately show Terminal and you can slap enter to open it. You can also do stuff like= 1 + 1or= 0b101 + 0xffor quick calculations,%%for unit conversion (%% 10MB to Mb), etc. It’s not KRunner, dmenu, etc but it definitely beats the hell out of the start menu.PowerToys “Keyboard Manager” might let you reclaim some shortcuts as well. I used it to swap Caps Lock and Escape but I’m pretty sure it can be used to create custom shortcuts. There’s also some option to remap shortcuts on a program specific basis. So you can say
Alt+Tshould sendCtrl+Tbut only when Firefox has focus, for example. Haven’t messed with it myself but I can see the value.Still looking forward to ditching Windows entirely but, in the meantime, MS has some decent tools that aren’t included by default and don’t seem to be advertised because power users aren’t the target market and “they already know to look for it” I guess.
the windows key + r will open the Run command window, seems a lot easier then what you did for that but the other stuff PowerToys do is worth it