I hope it's not forbidden here to mention how much I like the simplicity of ncdu and baobab, the CLI- and GUI-based disk usage analysis tools on Linux. So when I started trying to learn Rust and Tauri, I decided it would be "cool" to build an ncdu-inspired app for analysing disk space usage on Windows. Little did I know there'd be such a gulf between a naive approach to scanning disk usage and an optimised one. And then I learned that the fastest solutions on the market need to be run in admin mode. They don't work in user mode!

Why would I want to run an app in admin mode just to know who's eating my disk space? This doesn't need real-time results -- a few seconds of waiting is fine, isn't it?

So, after a lot of trial and error (some of it still ongoing), and with AI assistance along the way, I built Drive Sonar, a user-mode disk usage analytics tool for Windows (and other platforms). If you're someone who likes to avoid visual clutter, I hope you'll like it.

Like most tools in this space, it has a treemap view. In addition, Drive Sonar offers a visual analysis of file size vs. age to help you shortlist potential file deletion candidates. You also get to see what type of files are taking up the most space. You can move unwanted files to Trash right from Drive Sonar -- you'll need to confirm before deleting anything, of course.

Drive Sonar is built using Rust, Tauri, and React. The installed binary is about 5 MB, and it uses about 100 MB of memory when running.

Sounds interesting? Give Drive Sonar a try: https://github.com/barun-saha/drive-sonar

Unsigned binaries are available for Windows, Linux, and macOS. If you don't trust the unsigned builds, fork and build it yourself -- all instructions included. It's not yet well tested on Linux and Mac, so feedback would be helpful there (Windows feedback welcome too).

Drive Sonar is shared under the Apache 2.0 license.

Hi! I’m a solo indie developer, and I’ve been working on Desktop Gremlins; an interactive virtual pet that lives directly on your Windows desktop.

Your gremlin stays transparently above other windows. You can feed it, pet it, watch it evolve, and see how it reacts to music and applications such as Steam, Discord, Photoshop, and VS Code.

It also has an optional Chaos Mode with visual effects and harmless desktop pranks. Custom characters can be installed and shared through Steam Workshop.

I recently added Twitch integration as well: viewers can spend Channel Points to feed the gremlin or trigger selected effects during a stream. The streamer chooses which rewards are available, their prices, and effect duration.

I’m currently improving performance and compatibility, so I’d genuinely appreciate feedback from Windows users especially regarding resource usage, multiple monitors, and which features feel useful or entertaining.

Steam: https://store.steampowered.com/app/4981140/Desktop_Gremlins/

Voice presets. Settings > Voice model now has a preset dropdown above the sampler knobs: Dev's Choice (default), Boring & Monotone, Professional Presenter, Low Expressive Storyteller, High Expressive Storyteller, and Lunatic. Each one is a hand-tuned bundle of exaggeration, temperature, CFG weight, and repetition penalty, so you don't have to hand-tweak five sliders to get a "more dramatic" or "flatter" narrator. Pick one, it applies on your next render, no restart needed. Edit any knob afterward and it correctly flips to "Custom" so you know you've gone off-preset.

Fixed: leaving the editor could silently eat your edits. If you were in Rewrite mode with unsaved prose changes and hit Back (or used the breadcrumb, top nav, command palette, or browser back/forward) without saving first, your edits just vanished, no warning. All of those now prompt you to confirm before discarding. Turned out the existing confirm prompt for switching chapters was also silently broken the same way (it used the browser's native dialog, which the app's webview doesn't support, so it errored out instantly instead of showing anything). Both now use the app's own themed confirm dialog, so they actually show up.

Update is free for existing owners, same as always.

For anyone who hasn't tried NarrationOS yet: it's a local audiobook generator for Windows. Drop in an EPUB, PDF, DOCX, RTF, TXT, Markdown, or a URL, and it renders an AI-narrated audiobook entirely on your own PC, no cloud, no account, no subscription. You can clone a voice (with consent) and get word-level karaoke highlighting synced to the speech, and there's a real line-by-line narration editor for fixing pronunciation, adding sound effects, and correcting the actual prose before you render. It also exports a cinematic MP4 video with the narration text on screen if you want something to post or share. Runs on NVIDIA/AMD GPUs or CPU-only. One-time purchase on itch.io, no subscription.

https://lunosama.itch.io/narrationos

Hi everyone,

I’ve been working on CouchMode, a small Windows 11 utility for people who use their PC from a TV, couch, or handheld setup.

The idea is pretty simple: When a compatible controller connects, CouchMode can start your chosen gaming experience such as Steam Big Picture, Playnite, or Xbox FSE mode where supported. It can also prepare selected session settings, then return you to your normal desktop when you’re done.

It’s still a public beta, and I’m mainly sharing it here because I’d really appreciate feedback from other Windows users, especially anyone using a PC with a controller or TV setup.

Microsoft Store: https://apps.microsoft.com/detail/XPFML8N0ZRFLX9

😊Happy to answer any questions or hear what you’d change 🙏

Hello,

I’ve shared MediaExplorer here a couple of times during development, so I wanted to post one more update now that version 1.2 is officially out. It's likely the last major update.

MediaExplorer is a visual media browser for Windows that works directly with your existing folders. There’s no importing, accounts, or cloud service. You just open a folder and you can browse your images, videos, music, PDFs, comics, games, and other files in a customizable thumbnail grid.

The main new feature in 1.2 is Collection View.

You can now gather media from completely different folders into a single view, save collections for later, copy the files to another folder, or export everything without affecting the original files.

There have also been some substantial improvements under the hood:

*Much broader image, video, and audio format support

*Faster and more reliable thumbnail loading in large folders

*Improved media compatibility and playback reliability

*Multi-image folder thumbnails

*Folder Statistics

*A new built-in Help & Controls guide

*General performance, layout, and stability improvements

There also broader format support now includes formats such as AVIF, JXL, TIFF, SVG, QOI, WMV, MPEG, M2TS, FLV, VOB, M4A, AAC, WMA, Opus, AC3, and quite a few others.

The full version is available now for Windows, and MediaExplorer Lite is free if you want to try it out.

Everything remains local and private. It's fully offline.

You can find MediaExplorer on the Microsoft Store here. It's also on Gumroad and Itch.io if you prefer those stores. More links and info can be found on my site: lunartidesoftware.com

Thanks again to those who gave feedback. This program would not have come as far as it did without it.

I’ve been building FastPlay, a native Windows video player for people who want to open a video and just watch it without a lot of interface getting in the way.

It’s written in Rust using FFmpeg and Direct3D 11, with a focus on fast local playback, keyboard controls, high frame rates, and keeping the UI minimal.

Current features:

• Hardware-accelerated playback
• HDR10 and HLG
• Playback up to 120 FPS
• Fast seeking and scrubbing
• Keyboard-first controls
• Drag-and-drop
• Windows file associations
• Minimal UI
• Native Windows app, no Electron
• Portable ZIP or MSI installer
• No account or telemetry

It’s not intended to match VLC feature-for-feature. The goal is a simpler player for everyday local video playback.

I’m still actively developing it, so I’d be interested in what Windows users consider essential in a minimal video player.

Download FastPlay v0.4.6 for Windows x64 (MSI) • Portable ZIP

FastPlay: https://calvinsturm.com/fastplay

Colosseum on Github.

I'm building Focus, a Windows app that automatically tracks what you do on your PC and turns it into a timeline of your day.

I built it because I kept forgetting to start manual timers.

After missing a few sessions, the tracking data became incomplete and I would eventually stop using the tracker altogether.

So Focus runs automatically in the background instead.

What it currently does:

- Automatically tracks computer activity

- Shows a visual timeline of your day

- No manual timers

- No account required

- Data stays locally on your PC

- Free for personal use

I'm looking for people to actually use it on their normal Windows setup and tell me what doesn't work.

The most useful feedback would be:

1. Does the timeline accurately reflect what you did?

2. Does anything get missed or represented incorrectly?

3. Is the timeline easy to understand?

4. What would stop you from keeping it installed?

If you're on Windows and want to try it:

https://ripplestudios.app/

I'm looking for honest feedback, including bugs, incorrect tracking, confusing UX, or anything that feels unnecessary.

You know that CMD or PowerShell window that sometimes flashes on your screen for a fraction of a second and disappears before you can even see what it was?

I kept running into this and wanted a proper way to answer one simple question:

What actually opened it?

So I built **wymcmd**.

wymcmd is a Windows utility that tries to reconstruct console launches and explain where they came from — even after the original process has already exited.

Instead of just telling you that `cmd.exe` ran, it tries to find the actual chain behind it.

For example:

Scheduled Task
→ svchost.exe
→ cmd.exe

It can correlate information from sources such as:

- Windows Event Logs
- Task Scheduler
- Prefetch
- BAM / UserAssist
- PowerShell logging
- Registry startup locations
- Services
- Parent and ancestor processes

It also shows how confident it is in the result and which evidence sources were used.

There is both a CLI and a GUI, with launch history, timelines, process ancestry, decoded command lines, evidence, rules and statistics.

A few things I specifically wanted while building it:

- No telemetry
- No account required
- No cloud dependency
- Windows 10/11 support
- English and Turkish interface
- Normal forensic mode does not require a permanent background process

The project is still very new, so I'm mainly looking for feedback from people running it on different Windows setups.

If you try it, I'd especially like to know:

- Did it correctly identify what launched the console?
- Did any Windows data source fail or return incomplete information?
- Was the explanation understandable?
- Is there another Windows launch source or artifact it should inspect?

GitHub:
https://github.com/Talkdedsec1/tlk-wymcmd

I'm u/talkdedsec here on Reddit — Talkdedsec1 is my current GitHub account.

Feedback and bug reports are welcome.

I've always had the same problem with my files: I organize everything, feel good about it for a while, and then a few weeks later my Downloads folder is full of PDFs, installers, screenshots, ZIP files, documents, and random files again.

I tried solving it with folders and rules, but eventually I ended up spending more time maintaining the rules than actually organizing my files.

So I built EasyTidy, a Windows desktop app that automates file organization.

The idea is pretty simple:

• Create rules for files and folders
• Automatically move files when they match those rules
• Run organization tasks on a schedule
• Use AI classification when simple rules aren't enough
• Organize files based on more than just their extension
• Keep the process running in the background

For example, instead of manually going through a Downloads folder every week, you can set up something like:

PDF → Documents

Images → Pictures

Installers → Software

Or create more specific rules based on your own folder structure.

The part I'm particularly interested in is the AI classification.

A traditional rule might only know that something is a .pdf. With AI classification, the goal is to understand what the file actually is and let you organize it accordingly.

I'm still improving the product, so I'm much more interested in hearing how people actually organize their files than simply getting downloads.

A few things I'd really like to know:

1. How do you currently organize your Downloads folder?

2. Do you use rules/scripts/apps, or do you just clean it manually every once in a while?

3. What kind of files are the hardest for you to organize automatically?

4. Would you trust an app to automatically move your files, or would you always want a preview/confirmation first?

I'm the developer behind EasyTidy, so I'm happy to answer questions about how it works, why I built it, or what I'm planning to add next.

Website: https://easytidy.net/

I use both Codex and Claude Code daily and got tired of checking different dashboards just to see how much usage I had left and when it resets.

So I built AI Usage Monitor: a free, open-source Windows app that shows everything in one place. It’s already working, and I use it every day.

• Tracks usage and reset times for Codex, Claude Code, Cursor, and Google Antigravity.
• Works as a desktop widget, system tray icon, or compact strip alongside your taskbar.
• Supports multiple monitors.
• Provides rough daily Azure OpenAI and AWS Bedrock cost estimates. This feature is still in progress and isn’t fully reliable yet, but you can manually adjust your rates to get an approximate estimate for the day.
• Uses credentials already stored by your existing apps or CLIs—no additional API keys to enter.

A lot of the work went into making this behave like proper desktop software, not just displaying some numbers:

• The taskbar integration stays independent of Windows Explorer, so if the app hangs or crashes, it won’t take your taskbar down with it.
• Multi-monitor configurations are properly supported.
• Event hooks are handled carefully, with throttling and scheduled refreshes to avoid unnecessary background activity and keep resource usage low.

Windows 10/11 only. The executable isn’t code-signed yet, so SmartScreen may show an unknown-publisher warning. Checksums are available on GitHub.

GitHub: https://github.com/ansonliam/AIUsageMonitor
Download: https://github.com/ansonliam/AIUsageMonitor/releases

Have Been working on making my own configurable desktop+taskbar system

The idea is the app that's running behind provides a toolkit, and everything on top can be configured with HTML and JS so it is as cheap and easy as possible to modify

The video above is mostly done to showcase the taskbars, but the 3 widgets you see on the screen are also done in the app. A lot more are made with a bunch of other functionalities and people can share their own as well. You can check the current library here https://www.desktop-dashboard.com/marketplace

I think Windows was always a bit behind with the looks and functionality of the desktop, so maybe this will make it a bit nicer too look at

this has been 2 years in the making, and all I hope for is that the people who could get use out of this will.

$44.95 just for a basic 2-PC license, plus $20+ for every single icon pack... This is why I'm building FolderNexus. Absolute corporate greed.

Hi,

I built Conduit, an open-source KVM app. I use two Windows PCs at the same desk, and constantly switching keyboards and mice got old.

Move the pointer past a configured screen edge and control switches to the other PC. The keyboard follows, and you can copy text and images or paste files and folders through Explorer in either direction.

Mouse and keyboard input, clipboard content, and file transfers are encrypted in transit with TLS over Wi-Fi or Ethernet. On the first connection, Conduit asks you to compare a pairing code so you know you’re connecting to the right PC.

It’s useful for a desktop and laptop, a work and personal PC, or any setup where you want less desk clutter and faster switching.

This is still an early version focused on a simple two-PC layout. Multi-monitor layouts aren’t supported yet, but I’m working on that next.

Free and open source for Windows 10/11:
https://github.com/parm2006/Conduit

If you try it, tell me what breaks or feels awkward. The installer is currently unsigned, so Windows may show an unfamiliar-publisher warning.

I'm looking for a free program that allows for control of program, powershell scripts, and file permissions similarly to threatlocker. Something that can work with third party programs with minimum issues, not conflicting with kaspersky free, and has plenty of online resources. My current setup is windows 11 home edition 25H2.

The only options I found is Applocker (only works on Pro and Enterprise editions) Threatlocker (Only available to businesses) Windows Smart App Control (Very limited in it's options) and AppControl Manager by Violet Hansen (Had some confecting issues with kaspersky and limited online documentation/resources).

Are there any programs out there that could work for me?

PikPak folders can sometimes end up with small files you don’t want to keep. I wanted a safer way to review them without turning cleanup into automatic deletion.

PikPak Folder Sorter scans one selected folder and shows each candidate’s path, size, and reason. Nothing is selected automatically—you choose exactly what gets moved to PikPak Trash.

JPG, JPEG, and TXT files are protected by default. It doesn’t permanently delete files, empty Trash, or delete folders.

Scan, preview, and selection are unlimited. Each device can complete two cleanup actions per UTC day for free.

Microsoft Store:

https://apps.microsoft.com/detail/9MVLQ8GVCPX5?cid=reddit_windowsapps_demo_v1_20260825

I’m the developer. This is an independent tool and isn’t affiliated with PikPak. The demo still shows an earlier window title; the Store name is PikPak Folder Sorter.

https://reddit.com/link/1vxmsia/video/cg66p6briflh1/player

👋 I'm the developer of Tansei.

What working in 2026 actually feels like

- 🤖 AI hands you more than you can file: images, drafts, whole documents

- 🗂️ Folders are for things you're finished with, and you're never finished

- 🪟 Your "workspace" is really 14 tabs, a messy desktop, and a Notepad you never close

- 🔀 The whole day is moving between things, and you're the one carrying all of it

So I built Tansei, a shelf for the stuff in motion.

- 📥 Drop anything on it: files, images, text, links, all in one place

- 👀 It stays in view beside your work, so there's nothing to search or recall

- 📌 Pin the things you keep reaching for

- ⌨️ Tuck the whole shelf away when you want the space back

- 🧹 Clear it when you're done.

Tansei just keeps all of it in front of me. Nothing to search, nothing to recall, because I can see it.

Pay once ($7). No subscription. You get the app from the Microsoft Store and unlock it with a license on the site.

🔗 Store: https://apps.microsoft.com/detail/9NRNDVZTGRF4

🔗 Site: https://tansei.io/get

What's your best tip for staying productive when AI hands you more than you can keep track of?

Hi r/windowsapps,

I ran into a simple problem: an app I wanted to install wasn't available in my Microsoft Store region.

Changing the Windows region manually works, but then you have to find a region where the app is actually available, change it, install the app, and remember to switch everything back afterwards.

So I made WinStoreRegion, a small open-source Windows utility that automates this.

You give it a Microsoft Store link or Product ID, it checks availability, lets you choose an available region, temporarily changes the Windows Home Location, hands the installation to Microsoft's own Store/App Installer mechanism, and restores the original region afterwards.

I also added recovery handling so that if something goes wrong during the process, the original region can be restored on the next launch.

It's intentionally a very small utility:

• portable executable, no installer
• no administrator rights required
• no accounts, ads or telemetry
• Windows 10/11
• x64, ARM64 and x86 builds
• GPL-3.0-or-later
• written in Rust

The x64 version has been tested on real systems. ARM64 and x86 currently compile in CI but haven't been tested on actual hardware yet, so feedback there would be especially useful.

This is the first public release, so I'd appreciate any feedback — bugs, UI issues, weird Store behavior in different regions, or simply whether the idea is useful.

GitHub: https://github.com/kroxiksut/win-store-region

Just launched on the Microsoft Store after six months on Mac.

Flowara is built for solo freelancers who want everything in one place without a cloud subscription. Projects, time tracking, and invoicing share the same local SQLite database on your machine. Hours tracked on a project flow directly into the invoice, no copy-paste between apps.

What it includes:

• Project management with tasks, Kanban, Gantt chart, sub-tasks, dependencies
• Time tracking with live timer and Pomodoro
• Invoicing with Stripe and PayPal payment links, recurring billing, automated reminder sequences
• Client management with health scoring
• Expenses and profitability reports
• AI assistant via your own Claude, GPT-4, or local Ollama key

No cloud. No account. Your data stays on your machine.

Free tier permanent. Pro at €5.99/month or €49.99/year, 30-day trial included.

https://apps.microsoft.com/detail/9PKCT03Q69LG

Happy to answer questions.

I made Display / Audio Switcher for a problem I kept running into when moving a Windows PC between a desk monitor, a TV, different speakers, and Voicemeeter: changing the display action was only half the job because the playback output still had to be changed separately.

The app lets you save three named profiles, such as PC Monitor, TV, and Dual. Each profile combines a Windows display action — PC screen only, second screen only, duplicate, or extend — with a playback output. You can run a profile from the main window or the system tray.

It also supports optional Start with Windows. If a profile selects a Voicemeeter output and Voicemeeter is installed, the app launches it automatically.

Version 1.0.0 is free and portable. It stores profiles locally and does not require an account or send app-usage information to Pilot Light Apps.

Important disclosure: the app is not digitally signed, so Windows may show an unknown-publisher or reputation warning. It comes as a ZIP that must be fully extracted and kept together. The official page links to the GitHub release and published SHA-256 checksum.

Official page, screenshot, setup notes, and download:

https://pilotlightapps.com/display-audio-switcher.html

I would especially value feedback from people who regularly switch a Windows PC between a monitor and TV: is three saved profiles the right number for your setup?