I have to use Windows on my work computer and I am finding it hard to get FOSS applications on Windows that can do stuff like
- Record a video (like SimpleVideoRecorder does)
- Take a screenshot (there’s snip, but it isn’t very customizable)
- Unzip .zip files
Just the routine things I used to take for granted on Linux, so I was wondering if there was a FOSS app store for Windows
And it would be very helpful if someone could suggest alternative for
- SimpleVideoRecorder
- Archive Manager
Even the apps I installed for these things either had ads or asked me for payment to record more than 2 minutes of video, I am pretty sure there are FOSS apps to do these things out there, but I don’t know where :')
PS: To everyone who has tried to help, thank you very much. I was feeling guilty for not replying to most of you, so I thought I would reply to all of ya, but funnily enough, lemmy had had enough of my gratitude!
I have to use Windows
- Run a virtual machine
- Install your goto Linux distro
- Drink a cup of ☕ and pet a 😺 while it’s installing
- Happy hacking!
WSL2 exists for the very reason, if you hate using Windblows, you can install Linux OS on top and do everything from the Linux VM. Why even bother struggling with Windozes interface and software ?
The only problem is the resource management, if you are using something like MX Linux and you have good amount of RAM, you can do this, I have 8GBs of RAM and even Windows 10 runs into resource issues when I am using it casually (forget working on it).
For simple screen recording, I could only find not-so-simple OBS that let me record a part of a screen. In the end it’s a good and reliable solution once you set up and save the local area I want to record. Not so spontaneous, but solid.
I edit the videos in KDEnlive Windows install, which is excellent for this work. I have a smooth process and create many videos quickly.
OBS is just amazing and does not need admin to install 🥰
It is also not complicated, contrary to how some like to frame it. Sure there’s a bunch of buttons and panels, but you can ignore 90% of them, or even hide them.
- Windows has built in simple zip manager. If you need more, go with 7-zip as others suggested.
7-zip is amazing! thank you!
For screenshots, I’ve been pushing Greenshot as it has built in editing capabilities and has been quite stable on Windows 11
For .zip files, I still stick with 7-zip. It does what it does and has never given me issue.
ShareX and .7z
WSL
For screenshots look at Greenshot.
Video recorder: OBS
Screenshot utility: built into most desktops
Archive manager: Built into most file managers
Check out scoop and chocolatey
And winget.
deleted by creator
There’s this: https://github.com/lextrack/Simple-Screen-Recorder
Disclaimer: I haven’t touched Windows in at least a decade.
Thank you! This would have been great if I didn’t get to know about ShareX, FOSS app and it manages screenshots and screenrecordings with many many more features! God bless the devs!
obs, flameshot/sharex, and 7-zip
exactly what I did
For video recording I use OBS and for zip files I use 7-Zip
7zip doesn’t support the new win11 rightclick menu (yet), nanazip is a fork with full win11 support:
I’m using 7zip on win11. You need to get into the old context menu to see it tho. You can edit the registry to make the old one the default too.
No idea why it’s a registry edit but Microsoft will do what they willYes that is another option. I know 7zip works there, win11 is mostly the same as win7 under the hood, but I would install a supported frontend instead of fiddling with the registry, tweaks like that can break after updates
I don’t use windows personally, just set it up for others. I don’t care enough to tweak the registry for them, if there are more convenient solutions
tweaks like that can break after updates
That’s a perspective. I think 11 is broken that it does not show the expected context menu items that programs still put there, but it just ignores it.
I don’t care enough to tweak the registry for them, if there are more convenient solutions
If you set it once and export the reg key, it’s just a double click on the reg file for any future PCs.
I use win11 at work sadly so I’m stick with it there. I find the new context menu unusable so I prefer the old one
tweakui can fix this
LibreOffice for replacing Microsoft Office
Linux is replacing Windows
LibreOffice works on Windows too.
ODF for OOXML.
flameshot for screenshots
