---
title: "Setup Guide for Engineers Using Windows"
url: "https://blog.101ta28.com/en/posts/windows-setup-for-developers/"
language: "en"
description: "Recommended settings and software for engineers using Windows"
---

# Setup Guide for Engineers Using Windows

> Recommended settings and software for engineers using Windows

## Software Guide

## Customizing the Taskbar

1. Open the Settings app.
2. Navigate to **Personalization** and select **Taskbar**.
3. Adjust the taskbar items (recommend hiding **Search**, **Copilot**, **Task View**, and **Widgets**).
4. Select **Taskbar behaviors**.
5. Set **Taskbar alignment** to **Left**.
6. Turn **Show taskbar on all displays** to **ON**.
7. Set **When using multiple displays, show my taskbar apps on** to **Taskbar where the window is open**.
8. Enable **Show seconds in system tray clock**.

## Enabling Clipboard History

1. Press `Windows + V`.
2. Click **Turn on**.

You can now access up to 25 items copied to the clipboard.

## Organizing Startup Apps

This is helpful when you accumulate too many apps.

1. Open the **Settings** app.
2. Go to **Apps** and select **Startup**.
3. Turn off unnecessary software or apps you prefer to launch manually.

## Recommended Software

### Everything

[Official Website](https://www.voidtools.com/downloads/)

A blazing-fast file search tool.

You’ll never use the default file explorer again.

### PowerToys

[Official Website](https://learn.microsoft.com/en/windows/powertoys/install)

A must-have toolset for Windows users.

It includes many features, but these are particularly recommended:

- **Shortcut Guide**
  Displays a list of shortcuts on-screen. Perfect for those who can't remember shortcuts.
- **Power Rename**
  Bulk rename files, perfect for creating sequential files. Regular expressions supported.
- **Keyboard Manager**
  Customize or disable key and shortcut mappings.
- **PowerToys Run**
  A powerful app launcher, calculator, and search tool all in one. Ideal for minimizing mouse use.

### ShareX

[Official Website](https://getsharex.com)

A screen capture tool with countless features.

While Windows has basic screenshot tools, ShareX provides extended capabilities such as:

- Uploading to Google Drive.
- Image editing:
  - Blur.
  - Mosaic.
  - Adding annotations like text and shapes.
- Reading QR codes directly from the screen (no need to pull out your phone).

---

## Especially for Developers

### VSCode

[Official Website](https://code.visualstudio.com)

A versatile IDE (Integrated Development Environment).

It’s a developer’s Swiss Army knife. While adding extensions can enhance its functionality, adding too many may slow it down.

### Windows Terminal

[Microsoft Store](https://apps.microsoft.com/detail/9n0dx20hk701?hl=en-us&gl=us)

A highly customizable terminal application.

Tuning it to your preferences can be a rabbit hole, but it’s worth it.

### WinMerge

[Official Website](https://winmerge.org/)

A useful tool for comparing (diffing) text and other files.

It can even compare Excel files, which can come in handy.

### WSL - Windows Subsystem for Linux

[Official Website](https://learn.microsoft.com/en/windows/wsl/install)

For development, working in WSL is preferable to native Windows.

While not a perfect Linux experience, it offers a much better developer experience compared to Windows.

### Git

[Download Link](https://git-scm.com/downloads)

An essential tool. Development simply doesn’t start without it.

If you’re working within WSL, there’s no need to install Git on Windows.

### DevToys

[Microsoft Store](https://apps.microsoft.com/detail/9pgcv4v3bk4w?hl=en-us&gl=us)

A software suite packed with tools for developers, including:

- Image optimization.
- Format conversion for images.
- Color blindness simulator.
- Base conversion for numbers.
- Hash generation.

And much more.

This concludes my recommendations for settings and software tailored to developers using Windows.