Windows 10, but with package managers

Window Open Blue Operating System
geralt / Pixabay

The command line is a wonderful tool, but I admit I haven't paid too much attention to it in Windows. However, things are about to change.

In an effort to ease the process of reinstalling the apps I use in windows, this tutorial will start with installing a package manager.

The choices for a package manager were:

  • https://chocolatey.org
    The winner - especially with its 6779 packages at this moment - Chocolatey does not have the nicest homepage (yes, this matters to me, too, as it translates in the care the developers have for details), it seems to be a very-very good solution.
  • https://just-install.github.io
    With being hosted on github, this is was open source right off the bat. Together with the rather large number of packages supported - 259 at the moment I wrote this article - and a clean interface, this is a strong choice. It failed being first, because of an error when trying to install the Brave Browser;
  • https://scoop.sh
    Seems like a clean way of handing package installation, with a lot of them to install, but much too programmer oriented in my shallow documented opinion.

Some installed programs

After installing chocolatey by following the instructions on its homepage, I have installed the following:

  • choco install brave
  • choco install googlechrome
  • choco install git openssh conemu vscode notepadplusplus -y
  • choco install virtualbox
  • choco install vagrant -y
  • choco install packer
  • choco install googlechrome -y

But also know about: choco uninstall googlechrome (do not do it for Chrome though, it is great! 🙂 )

This were only the first I could think of. And after a fresh install of the OS.. wow! this was fast!

An example install: cmder

Further improvement

(Later edit) I stumbled upon this video describing a script to remove some of the unwanted applications / processes running on windows. I found it quite interesting and for sure it deserves a closer look:

Disclaimer: it is generally a bad idea to run scripts on your computer without previously checking the content. So be aware that running such commands may expose you to vulnerabilities.

Closing notes

I am thinking that the next step is to find something that defines an init.bat file or something which automates the whole process. However, I do not reinstall my operating system often enough to need to go that far.

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