So I was setting up this new laptop, and after security updates I went on cleaning the trash through Powershell, and after removing all unwanted packages I was going to let a note on the desktop and there was no Notepad in the context menu… oops, I messed up I thought, I must have removed stuff I shouldn’t, so just to be safe I did a factory reset and this time read very carefully every package before removing, and again no Notepad! And I notice there was no Paint nor Calculator either… so turn out new Win11 is shipped with Outlook, Maps, Solitaire Collection, People (whatever the hell that is), and even some IE, Zune and Skype legacy packages, but not with Notepad?! You actually have to download it from Microsoft Store… and now they all come with Copilot lol
Anyway, this sounds like a great opportunity to look for some FOSS alternatives!
What do you guys use and recommend?
Notepad++ or Notepad3, Paint.NET (not OSS), SpeedCrunch
Haven’t used anything but Notepad++ in years.
I saw that Notepad and Paint have integrated AI now. I didn’t check if the same applies to Calculator, but I’m terribly afraid they might collect my Calculator history… far more shameful than any late‑night browsing history.
cudatext as a notepad replacement. It’s closer to a full featured text editor, but is very quick to startup with no extensions installed.
I have no idea about replacing paint, but irfanview for simple viewing, cropping, resizing, swapping formats, etc.
For calculator stuff I sometimes just open the Python REPL. If you know the language (even a little bit) it does all the things and more. Every time I try to use the Windows calculator it annoys me trying to find the right button and them accidently putting another operator instead of equal or vice versa.
Follow up: this is the calculator I use on Linux. I didn’t realize it had Windows builds available.
I’m using Notepads. It doesn’t have so many features like notepad++, but it gets the job done.
Kate and/or Notepad ++ for your text editing needs and maybe Krita for a Paint alternative.
also…
Greenshot (replaces Snipping tool)
Irfanview (picture viewer)
VLC (video/music player)
Strawberry (music player)Does Greenshot screen record or just screen shot?
Just screenshot. It also does annotations (highlight, arrows, etc.)
On the Windows 11 install I was forced to use, I installed vim and helix through scoop. And python/julia works for calculator.
Notepad++
??
Moffsoft Freecalc (https://moffsoft.com/freecalc.htm)
