Home windows 11 is a controversial working system that has brought about numerous warmth amongst customers as a consequence of questionable modifications and unusual characteristic regressions. As typical, third-party builders are doing the grasp’s work and fixing what Microsoft cannot or will not repair. Not so way back, we revealed an article about 11 nice apps for Home windows 11 customers. Now we need to give attention to apps that goal to boost or change present options with significantly better alternate options. All ten apps on this article can be found within the Microsoft Retailer without cost or with free trials.
This is the desk of contents so you possibly can shortly soar to the app you need most:
- Home windows 11 Begin Menu Fixer App
- An app to repair the Home windows 11 drop-down calendar and add additional clocks
- Home windows 11 battery indicator repair app
- An app to repair Home windows 11 context menus
- Home windows 11 taskbar clock repair app
- An exquisite various to the Begin menu.
- Software to repair Home windows 11 digital desktops
- A greater quantity mixer for Home windows 11
- A significantly better search app
- An app to routinely swap themes in Home windows 11
- Bonus: Wallpaper
1. Energy Begin Menu
$2.49 + free trial in Microsoft Retailer
Energy Begin Menu is a small app that addresses the preferred complaints in regards to the Home windows 11 Begin menu. It means that you can take away the Really useful part (and fill the menu to the brim along with your pins), disable the search field, and add transparency . My favourite half is that this system enables you to open the Begin menu immediately within the All Apps record, saving you a click on. You additionally get the flexibility to specify what occurs while you click on the ability button (left, proper, or center), once more saving you a click on while you need to shut down, restart, or put your laptop to sleep. Clear!
Lastly, the developer will get additional factors for utilizing a Home windows 11-like person interface for the app’s settings. Total, Energy Begin Menu is a incredible device that means that you can tweak the default Begin Menu with out changing it with third-party (typically clunky) alternate options.
When it comes to useful resource impression, the app makes use of lower than 10 MB of RAM for its background service.
2. Calendar Flyout
$1.69 on the Microsoft Retailer
Home windows 11 has a crippled calendar popup to say the least. You can’t create new occasions or view your agenda. Additionally, the popup mixed with the notification middle deprives the person of the notification display screen. The Calendar Flyout app fixes this.
With the Calendar Flyout, you possibly can view your occasions (together with assembly indicators), create new ones, add further clocks (as much as three), and use the popup with a customized shortcut. What I additionally like in regards to the app is the way it notifies incoming occasions with a small orange dot within the notification space (you possibly can flip it off).
The one downside with the app (apart from the shortage of a free trial) is that it may well’t change the inventory pop-up menu, so you must name up the calendar pop-up menu utilizing a particular icon within the notification space (or shortcut).
3. Battery monitoring
Free within the Microsoft Retailer
Home windows 11 battery indicator is a joke. In addition to being tough to learn and incompatible with the lock display screen, its cost standing is commonly deceptive, with decrease than precise ranges and the cost/battery save indicator hiding the values past recognition. The Battery Tracker app solves the issue and introduces an awesome further characteristic.
Battery Tracker is one other small app with a person interface much like Home windows 11. It places a proportion indicator within the notification space, letting you understand precisely how a lot battery is left. As well as, it helps charging notifications, alerting you when the battery drops under or above sure ranges.
4. Customized context menus
Free Limitless Trial + $0.99 in Microsoft Retailer
When you’re not pleased with Home windows 11’s redesigned context menu, the Customized Context Menus app will allow you to create customized entries for particular file sorts (you possibly can even set a customized icon), add one other menu for extra actions, and extra.
Studying how the app works can take a while (you could know the app’s parameters to run particular instructions), so use its wiki web page on GitHub for assist.
5. ElevenClock
Free within the Microsoft Retailer
Though Home windows 11 now helps displaying the clock on the taskbar on all displays, the clock nonetheless has room for enchancment. Moreover including the much-wanted seconds (coming to Home windows 11 in a future replace), ElevenClock gives a metric ton of further options and customization.
The app means that you can flip the notification badge on or off, take away the tooltip, and alter what occurs while you click on the clock (single, double, or center click on). Moreover, customers can change the place Home windows shows the date/time, pin the clock to the desktop, modify the peak/width, and extra. Hate the default font or its measurement? ElevenClock can change that too. It is the type of app that takes a seemingly insignificant characteristic and turns its customization choices as much as 11.
6. Ink workspace
Free within the Microsoft Retailer
Ink Workspace is a feature-rich app that may simply change the usual Begin menu. Along with wanting like a revamped Home windows 10 Begin menu with tile-like icons, it exhibits your pen’s battery degree and gives fast shortcuts to numerous actions, corresponding to display screen recording, clipboard historical past, voice enter, a panel with emoticons and many others. There are additionally devoted sections for all of your apps and up to date information.
The app is primarily geared toward contact and pen gadgets, however it’s also possible to use it with an everyday laptop.
7. Energy Digital Desktop
$2.99 + free trial in Microsoft Retailer
Digital desktops on Home windows 11 are woefully insufficient in comparison with the identical functionality on macOS, and Microsoft’s lack of consideration on this space actually annoys me. That is why it was good to find just a few apps to enhance the digital desktop expertise in Home windows 11. Energy Digital Desktop enables you to navigate to a selected desktop with a shortcut, cycle desktops (swap from the final to the primary and again), present digital desktop names when switching and even use the mouse wheel to change between adjoining desktops.
What annoys me about this app is the shortcoming to ship the present window to a selected desktop. This characteristic is out there in another software known as Digital Desktop Indicator. Nonetheless, the latter lacks a correct settings person interface and makes use of frankly ugly desktop indicators.
8. Quantity
Free within the Microsoft Retailer
Microsoft is engaged on bettering Home windows 11’s quantity mixer, however it’s going to take a while earlier than the redesigned model seems. You may repair weak quantity controls with the Volumey app, a strong device for controlling sound on a Home windows machine.
Volumey means that you can create a number of keyboard shortcuts to regulate sound output gadgets and purposes. You may management the amount with customized shortcuts for a selected system or app. The app additionally helps limiting the amount of the working app if set to 100%, redirecting media keys, altering the amount adjustment step, and extra. If shortcuts aren’t your cup of tea, Volumey affords a default view.
Volumey is unlikely to win a design award for its person interface, however the characteristic set fully makes up for the odd-looking person interface.
9. Clean search
Free within the Microsoft Retailer
Fluent Search is a complicated search software for Home windows 10 and 11 developed by a Microsoft engineer. There are a lot of modules to go looking processes, duties, settings, instructions, purposes, information, internet, bookmarks and historical past in well-liked browsers and extra. Additionally, you possibly can add extra plugins for translation, clipboard historical past search, cease processes, and many others.
In contrast to the dumb Home windows Search, which nonetheless does not know find out how to discover the Recycle Bin (at the least now we have a Bing AI advert), Fluent Search has just a few superior capabilities. For instance, you should use it to seek out parts within the app, corresponding to tabs, buttons, or hyperlinks. You can even use it to regulate a pc with no mouse.
With its huge variety of options and customization choices, Fluent Search can appear slightly overwhelming at first, nevertheless it turns into a really succesful and highly effective device when you learn to use its potential.
10. Automated darkish mode
Free within the Microsoft Retailer
Home windows 11 does not but assist automated theme switching by schedule or sundown/dawn, so this is a third-party app for that. Auto darkish mode can swap between darkish and light-weight mode relying on customized occasions, sundown and dawn (geographical), offset modifications, mode switching utilizing keyboard shortcuts, and extra.
Along with switching modes on a schedule, Auto Darkish Mode can swap wallpapers and set totally different Home windows themes primarily based in your preferences. This permits setting totally different colours, backgrounds, cursors and sounds for day and evening.
Bonus: Wallpaper
Right here is the wallpaper we used on this article:
If you understand of different apps that may increase or change the weak components of Home windows 11, you’ll want to allow us to and others know within the feedback part.
