My Windows 10 Setup

Having not used Windows as my primary operating system in over a decade, I am keeping track of my new laptop setup to create a guide for myself for future Windows installs.

Initial Setup

• Run Windows Update
• Log in to GeForce Experience and update graphics drivers
• Go to https://ninite.com and select the following apps — but do not install KeePass 2 from Ninite; get KeePassXC directly instead

Since this laptop is replacing my main desktop, the file transfer plan is to sync important folders and archive everything else to the NAS.

• Enable Dark Mode: go into Windows settings, search for “theme” or “dark mode”, and change the OS and app modes to dark mode.
• Install Slack — must sign in with all Slack accounts to regain access to all workspaces.
• Install SyncThing:
  • Set “Ignore Permissions”. Open the SyncThing localhost GUI at http://127.0.0.1:8384, click Actions → Settings → Edit Folder Defaults, change the default folder to the desired location, then click Advanced and check Ignore Permissions
  • Enable auto accept on linked devices to make sharing new folders easier
• If using KeePassXC portable version, pin to Start, launch the app, pin to taskbar.
• Install Lastpass Universal Windows Installer — must log into Lastpass on each browser
• Dual monitor setup: go to Display Settings, set monitors to extend instead of mirror. There is an area to position the screens correctly. The external monitor automatically uses its native pixel resolution.
• Install Logitech G HUB for mouse configuration
• Install WinGet and use it for all further app installations.
• For Launchy to detect a stand-alone program, right-click and Pin to Start
• To load a stand-alone program on system startup, open File Explorer, find the newly linked program under Start Menu and move the file link to Start Menu\Programs\Startup
• Disk Management formats newly installed hard drives
• WinStatDir analyzes disk usage
• Install Toolbox App from https://account.jetbrains.com
  • Change preferences Ctrl+Alt+S to use WSL interpreter
  • Change terminal preference to wsl.exe instead of cmd.exe
• Turning off Windows Defender Firewall for WSL: see this GitHub issue — go to “Windows Defender Firewall Properties” → “Protected Network Connections” → Customize

Swapping Ctrl and Alt Keys

Swapping Ctrl and Alt keys to get a Mac-style keyboard layout:

• Install SharpKeys and map Left Ctrl → Left Alt and Left Alt → Left Ctrl, then click Write To Registry, log out and back in.

Because SharpKeys is now transmitting Ctrl+Tab and Ctrl+Space where Alt+Tab and Alt+Space were expected, this introduces two noticeable issues:

1. Alt+Tab breaks
2. Alt+Space fails to bring up Launchy

The solution is to:

• Install AutoHotKey, pin it to Start, and move the link to the Startup folder
• Configure it with this AutoHotKey script

Install WSL 2 with Ubuntu Linux

Follow the official Microsoft guide and remember to set WSL to version 2. Ubuntu Linux works well.

Visual Studio Code should prompt you to install the Remote - WSL extension automatically.

Ubuntu configuration:

# Open Ubuntu terminal
sudo apt install zsh silversearcher-ag unzip jq

# Install oh-my-zsh
sh -c "$(wget https://raw.github.com/ohmyzsh/ohmyzsh/master/tools/install.sh -O -)"

Copy over your .zshrc from dotfiles. Entering code . from the Ubuntu terminal will open a new VSCode instance at that location.

Scott Hanselman’s 2021 Ultimate Developer and Power Users Tool List for Windows is a great reference for what to install on Windows.