linux How To Get The Best Linux Features On Windows

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By Eric Ravenscraft Today 7:00 AM AEST

For many people, Linux isn?t a viable option for everyday work. Some don?t have the time or resources to learn a new OS, while others have a need for functionality only Windows can provide. However, Linux still has a bunch of great features and advantages. Here?s how to get some of them on Windows.

Beef Up Your Window and Desktop Management with Dexpot

Out of the box, Windows has only one way of adding a second desktop workspace: buy a second monitor. While that has its advantages, wouldn?t it be handy to separate your workspaces virtually? Many Linux distributions seem to think so and the features come built in to the OS. Fortunately, we can add them to Windows fairly easily.

Dexpot is one of our favourite tools for getting this done. By default, Dexpot gives you multiple desktop spaces so you can spread out your work. You start with four separate workspaces, but you can create more or fewer as you need. The plugins and extras section in the settings of the app allows you to add sweet visuals like a 3D desktop cube (similar to the famous cube in Compiz on Linux).

Dexpot?s usefulness doesn?t end there. In addition to creating multiple desktops, you can also use it to manage individual windows. Similar to Mission Control (formerly known as expos?) on a Mac, Dexpot allows you press a keyboard shortcut to view all of your windows at once with the Dexcontrol plugin (enabled by default, but it can use some custom tweaking).

Tile Your Windows More Efficiently with Divvy

Make a More Powerful Dock with ObjectDock


Create a Central Notification System with Growl


Get a UNIX-Like Command Line with Cygwin


Get a Command Line Package Manager with Chocolatey

Remap Your Entire Keyboard with Autohotkey
Many Linux distributions come with built in key mappers like XKB. In the Windows camp, our favourite scripting tool, Autohotkey, allows you to perform many of the same functions. You can use a single line to reassign any button to another key or combination of keys. You can also get fancy and use AHK?s scripting powers to do more complex actions like turning your Caps Lock key into a dedicated web search button, or programming your middle-click button paste your clipboard contents (yet another great feature of Linux).

Create a Portable Windows Installation with WinToUSB


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