Windows customizations

I’ve now set up a second Windows box. I was in a hurry and didn’t take notes, but from memory here are some of the specific tweaks I made in addition to installing normal application software.

• Install ditto as a clipboard manager. On the Friends tab, set a password and deny it network access.
• Install launchy as a program launcher and install the Windows 8 light skin
• Use autohotkey to remap Caps Lock to search Google
• Use autohotkey to make keyboard controls to control volume
• Run the ClearType Tuner to make the font rendering a bit heavier
• Run regedit to make Google Chrome open links in new windows
• Run gpedit.msc to make Windows not require login after sleep
• Install a Unix environment: Ubuntu-on-Windows and cmder
• Fix the beep sound
• Set up fonts in cmder, etc. I like Consolas 24.
• Use Task Manager to audit startup items
• Uninstall RealTek audio drivers (an experiment)
• Go to Control Panel / Sound / Microphone and add +10dB boost to the mike.

I sure wish Windows had a clean way to store these customizations and copy them to a new machine. MacOS is much better; almost everything is localized to your home directory and Time Machine will help you set up a new Mac.

I thought I’d be clever and copy my roaming profile over to the new computer. That worked for some things like Discord and Slack. But lots of configurations are stored in other places. Cmder still stores its config files right in the program directory for instance, which seems like a good idea if you’re using it as a portable app but otherwise is not a good thing. And some applications settings are buried in the registry and I don’t know of an easy way to extract the ones you can safely copy over.