what is your must have niche software?

Strokesplus. It's super handy if you have a mouse with extra buttons and can just bind gestures to execute commands and shortcuts. Use it a lot when making Source Engine maps with Hammer Editor. I found out about it from a video a couple years ago saying how inefficient desktop GUI's are and yeah. This should be an industry standard.
 
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darael said:
For me it's Snappy Driver Installer Origin, because it saves so much time messing with drivers. Just be careful with laptop keyboard and touchpad drivers.
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Thank you for this, I never knew it existed and I've just saved myself so much time rebuilding an old server!

I'd also like to shoutout Treesize as well, it's awesome especially on large NAS storage.
 
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niche, but pretty much first thing I install
Simplewall by henrypp
very lightweight firewall. Block apps and windows components calling home or updating without need

also John's Background Switcher
to rotate wallpapers on multiple screens from a large directory (after discovered that Windows built in wallpaper switcher results in stutter on every switch)
 
Bulk Crap Uninstaller - Need to be careful with it (though assume we're mostly POWER USERS here), but handy for uninstalling...crap, like remnants of installs that don't have a good uninstaller and leave executables, folders, registry keys etc laying about.

CrystalDiskInfo/CrystalDiskMark - good for checking drive stats and also benchmarking to make sure there's nothing throttling them/they've not degraded over time

MPC-HC (Media Player Classic - Home Cinema) - Many prefer VLC, I just prefer the interface of MPC. Both good lightweight media players.
 
Here is a bunch I use though I doubt many are what would be considered "niche" but here we go:

Teracopy.
VLC Media Player.
HashTab.
Ventoy.
Chris Titus Tech Utility.
IrfanView.
Windows 11 Classic Context Menu (I freaking love this thing! It can be done using registry edits but this little app does it all for you! Insanely good!)
Snappy Driver Installer Origin (I have issues with AMD using this so be careful but otherwise it's really really good).

There is probably more but I can't think straight at the moment properly (migraine starting).

Stoner81.
 
MetaX - I tend to buy Blu-rays for all the films I really like. This little app helps with tagging and finding movie artwork for your backups.
Saver Starter - A little app that introduces hot corners so you can activate your screen saver when leaving your screen just like MacOS - I use this religiously for my OLED.
 
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Some real good ones in here, ones that i even forgot about since i got forced off Win7. Windows 10 really helped oppress my want to poweruse Windows, and not the way the way they wanted me to.

7zip hasn't been mentioned and is real handy.
MPC BE. Media player that just works.
There was a playlist creator that worked with MPC-HC, but forgot about it as haven't used it in ages.
dbpoweramp i used to use, but i just haven't bought many CDs in a while. Mp3tag was also handy.
Joy2key. Purchased also, and good keyboard emulator for gamepads. IIRC i played through Stalker with this without the need for the keyboard! 32 button configs...

Those PDF readers mentioned are good for creating notes on. But not needed it for ages. Same with ifranview and notepad++ sadly.

Amazing how poor in comparison the commercial software is compared to some smaller projects.

E: will add YT DLP. The courts deemed this legal as they got taken to court and won.
 
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