6 tiny Windows utilities that solve annoying problems you didn't know you had

When you use something all your life, it can be easy to overlook some of the problems it has. You grow so accustomed to things that they just work how you expect, even if it’s not the most technically efficient. I suspect many people go through this with Windows 11, and to help address that, I’ve compiled a few utilities that can make your Windows experience that much better.

Whether it’s disabling intrusive pop-ups or speeding up your searches, there are many small tools out there that can fix a lot of the gripes you may have with Windows 11, even if you don’t realize you have them.

6

TidyOS

Remove bloatware and disable unwanted features

Microsoft’s pushy ads and intrusive dialogs are one of the easier things to forget when you use your PC on a daily basis, but every now and then, they come back and reminds us of their existence. Whether it’s the Start menu being chock-full of apps you don’t need, the endless Microsoft 365 promotions, and the tips and tricks no one reads, there’s a lot here to dislike, but you might not even think about it because you can usually dismiss or ignore these things.

But what if you didn’t have to? TidyOS is a system debloating tool that can perform a wide range of tasks to make your Windows PC less of a nuisance. It can disable ads in the Start menu, the “finish setup” ads, uninstall preloaded apps, and disable all kinds of telemetry and other unnecessary features that might be eating into your resources. There’s a lot to dive into here, but the UI for TidyOS is fairly simple, so you can get the hang of it quickly and make your Windows experience that much better.

TidyOS is just over 300KB to download, making it positively minuscule by today’s standards, but it can really help clean up your PC.

5

ExplorerPatcher

Fix the taskbar, Start menu, and more

I see it said occasionally that the Start menu on Windows 11 does the job just fine and there’s no reason to replace it. And while I agree that it does work fine, you can always do better than that, and the Start menu isn’t even the only thing that could be improved upon.

ExplorerPatcher is a tool that’s only slightly bigger than 11MB to download, making it very easy to download, but it introduces a ton of improvements in that small size. For one thing, you can do things like remove the Recommended section of the Start menu, which Windows 11 normally doesn’t let you do. That means you get much more space for your apps, and in tandem, you can access them more quickly.

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Windows 11 is much better this way

On top of that, ExplorerPatcher changes your taskbar so you can move it to any side of the screen, which is something you used to be able to do before Windows 11. If you didn’t know that was possible, ExplorerPatcher gives you the perfect chance to try it out — you might just like it more than the default.

4

TranslucentTB

Let’s be clear here

One request I see semi-frequently online is the option to have a transparent taskbar that’s a bit more reminiscent of something like macOS. Maybe you’ve never considered an option like this, but it’s never too late to try it out for yourself, and it’s possible thanks to TranslucentTB.

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You don’t have to wait around for Microsoft to give you a transparent taskbar in Windows 11. Just check out these apps.

This app, which is just under 4MB in size on GitHub, does exactly what it says on the tin, and then some. With it, you can turn your Windows 11 taskbar completely transparent, or choose from a range of other styles. You can give it an accent color and choose the opacity level without applying a blur effect, or simply make the blur effect a bit softer and allow your desktop wallpaper to shine through a bit more.

Whatever your preference, this is a lightweight and free app, so you have nothing to lose by giving it a shot.

3

Everything

Find files faster

Searching your files on Windows isn’t particularly fast. While you can generally find most of the important files on your PC, it can take a while for search results to fully load, and if you’re searching for something more obscure, it’s not guaranteed you can find it with the basic Windows file search.

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Windows search can be a drag. For a better search experience, check out Everything from Voidtools.

Everything is a very small app, coming in at under 2MB, but it’s incredible. In a matter of minutes (if not seconds), it indexes every single file on your PC, and once that’s done, searching for absolutely anything you want becomes instantaneous. You can type in anything you want, and results load instantly, updating live for every key press. It’s hard to imagine a search tool being any faster than this, and you can make it even more efficient by learning proper search syntax to find content in specific folders. Finding your files will never be the same with this app.

2

Listary

Launch your apps quickly

Everything is a great app for finding files, but if you want to launch apps just as quickly, then Listary is the app for you. The latest version of Lsitary comes in at just over 12MB, and it’s incredibly useful. It runs in the background and all you need to do is press Ctrl twice at any moment to open the launcher bar. Here, you can search for installed apps on your PC, as well as files, to find and launch them as quickly as possible.

Listary’s search is much more responsive than using the Start menu or search bar built into Windows 11, so you’ll launch your apps much more quickly. Plus, you can cusotmize actions like opening the containing folder for an app for file, making it easier to get things done.

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Listary also has a file search aspect to it that’s very similar to Everything, and in some ways it’s even better. But what helps it stick out even more is that it makes it easy to upload files, too. When you open a file dialog, Listary shows you a quick link to the last folder you opened in File Explorer so you can get there much faster. And if that’s not the right one, you can just type in the name of the folder you want to go to, so you still save a lot of time compared to browsing your files manually.

1

File Pilot

A file manager like no other

I tried to refrain from including paid apps here, but I couldn’t ignore File Pilot when it fits this list so well. You may think that managing your files with File Explorer is fine. It is, in fact, totally serviceable most of the time, and it does work.

But when you try File Pilot for the first time, I’m confident you’ll be blown away. The sheer responsiveness of opening a folder and moving back and forth through your files is a sight to behold. Everything responds and moves so swiftly in File Pilot, and managing your files becomes so much faster. You may not think much of it at first, but if you try to load a large folder with hundreds of files, it becomes very noticeable. I’ve had instances where File Explorer simply froze while trying to open one such folder, while File Pilot handled it gracefully.

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File Pilot is a dream of a file manager

And that’s not even mentioning the features like being able to instantly split a window to create a multi-pane view for more advanced file management, complete with tab support for each pane. Resizing thumbnails and changing view modes is instant, and everything just feels incredibly snappy.

The beta for File Pilot is free, but the final version will cost $50, which makes this harder to recommend. But if you try the beta, I can guarantee you’ll be at least a little tempted to pay up. And if you’re curious — the app is under 2MB to download, so you won’t even notice it taking up any space on your PC.

Make a huge impact in all the right ways

Windows 11 may be just fine out of the box, but it’s truly impressive how much more you can get out of your PC by just installing these very lightweight apps. They may not have a big impact on your storage or internet usage, but they’ll make a huge impact on the experience, and I don’t hesitate to recommend any of them. I’ve personally used and loved all of these, and you have nothing to lose by trying them out.