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Comment by Falkon1313 | Hacker News Reader

What does PowerToys Run do that the standard WIN+R run dialog doesn't? Or just hitting the WIN key to get the search dialog?

I'm kind of a power user, since the C64 and DOS 3.3 days, and I find that Windows' current built-in stuff always works well for me. Never seen a need for a separate launcher app.

Also wonder about that FancyZones. I love how easily Windows makes basic window and desktop management - shortcuts like WIN+[arrow key] or WIN+TAB or CTRL+WIN+[arrow key] that let you move windows around, snap them, tile them, divide the screen between two, switch to another desktop, etc. All those basic functions which if you have MacOS, for some reason you need to buy separate apps just to get that basic functionality. Haven't ever felt a need for a separate app for that either.

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The thing that Alfred does that the various methods of launching an app don't do is that it switches to an already-running app.

If I've got Outlook open I don't want another Outlook open. Why would I want that? I want to go to the version of Outlook that I already have running! This renders a 'launcher' pointless. I only 'launch' Outlook once a day.

I've yet to find – and I stopped looking a while back, because I stopped using the OS – a Windows 'application launcher' that does this. If Win+R does this then you've just blown my mind, but I don't think it does.

Is this a result of the way that Windows and Mac treat running apps differently? I only ever have one instance of Safari.app running, for example. That isn't the case on Windows, so how would a 'switcher' know which instance to pick?

You want to switch to an already running app? Alt tab or win tab doesnt do that?

It does, but I want to do it with an Alfred-like switcher.

The problem with *-tab is that each application has no fixed place in that space. So on every invocation I have to look, find, switch.

Contrast with bringing up Mail using Alfred. The behaviour is always the same, and therefore muscle-memory-learnable: Cmd+space, ma, return. Messages: Cmd+space, me, return. Near-instant for me because I've done it literally thousands of times.

> The problem with *-tab is that each application has no fixed place in that space.

BTW Win+1 to Win+9 will switch to the first 9 pinned items in taskbar. If there isn’t an available window it will open one. I have Outlook pinned as the 4th item on my taskbar so navigating to it is always Win+4.

I wrote a bash script for this and binded it to some key commands in Linux Mint. Winkey+T will launch a terminal if nothing is open, or cycle through terminals if there are any open. I have other keys for other programs. I'm relatively new to Mac, looks like I need to check out Alfred.

PowerToys Run will search for the currently selected tab title on each browser window. If you had ten browser windows open & one of them was on Hacker News, typing Hacker News would allow you to switch to it.

In regards to the parent comment, one improvement of Fancy Zones is with multiple monitor setups of various resolutions & horizontal/portrait modes.

A few more favorites, there is now a pin window to top of screen so you can keep something always on top of other windows. What is extra nice, is if you use multiple virtual desktops, it stays on the virtual desktop. They've also added some nice mute mic & camera keyboard shortcuts.

> What does PowerToys Run do that the standard WIN+R run dialog doesn't? Or just hitting the WIN key to get the search dialog?

It's more reliable and predictable. The standard windows search often prioritizes online searches vs searching through your files. Even when I type in math, sometimes it gives me bing results instead of just solving the math. Especially for subtractions.

Having online searches in the start menu is cool, but I want that 15% of the time I search, Not 80%.

For Run some or the the reasons I have it installed everywhere are:

> What does PowerToys Run do that the standard WIN+R run dialog doesn't?

-- Autocomplete

-- Search files, settings, services, the registy and more (all of these can be enabled, disabled or assigned to a shortcut e.g. settings is $ for me)

-- Open windows terminal with specific shell

-- Walk open windows, allow you to search currently open applications and browsers

> Or just hitting the WIN key to get the search dialog?

-- Not constantly try and open Bing and/or Edge

About FancyZones, the nice thing about it is that you can define the zones where Windows will snap the windows to using the WIN+[arrow key] short cut. I'm especially loving this app when using it on my 4K monitor, as this is where the zones really come in handy. I'm pretty much only using FancyZones.

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