Chocolatey Software

Chocolatey Software, a package manager for Windows which can be used as a standalone package by individuals, and businesses via packages such as puppet and Ansible.

Standalone Install

Open PowerShell as an administrator, enter the following and press return:

Set-ExecutionPolicy Bypass -Scope Process -Force; [System.Net.ServicePointManager]::SecurityProtocol = [System.Net.ServicePointManager]::SecurityProtocol -bor 3072; iex ((New-Object System.Net.WebClient).DownloadString('https://community.chocolatey.org/install.ps1'))

GUI Installation

choco install chocolateygui chocolatey-core.extension

Powershell

• https://docs.chocolatey.org/en-us/choco/commands/upgrade

Prevent Desktop Icons From Being Added During Package Installations

Open PowerShell as an administrator, enter the following and press return:

choco install cleanup-desktop-shortcuts.hook --pre

Install A Package

Open PowerShell as an administrator, enter the following and press return:

choco install <PackageName>

Install Multiple Packages

Set-ExecutionPolicy Bypass -Scope Process -Force; [System.Net.ServicePointManager]::SecurityProtocol = [System.Net.ServicePointManager]::SecurityProtocol -bor 3072; iex ((New-Object System.Net.WebClient).DownloadString('https://community.chocolatey.org/install.ps1'))
choco feature enable -n allowGlobalConfirmation
choco install vcredist140
choco install dotnet-6.0-desktopruntime
choco install 7zip
choco install vlc
choco install adobereader
choco install notepadplusplus
choco install googlechrome
choco install firefox

Log File Location

C:\ProgramData\chocolatey\logs

Upgrade Via The PowerShell

choco outdated

choco upgrade all

IT Support Software/Utilities

• 3dmark - - (basic - free) a popular gaming performance benchmark
• autopsy - - is a digital forensics platform and graphical interface to The Sleuth Kit.
• awatch - displays useful information about your network adapters.
• bleachbit.install - cleans files to free disk space and to maintain privacy.
• coretemp - a program to monitor processor temperature and other vital information.
• cpu-z - is a freeware that gathers information on some of the main devices of your system.
• crucial-storage-executive - Crucial Storage Executive
• crystaldiskinfo.install - is a HDD/SSD utility software which shows the health status much more clearly than similar tools.
• driverview - a utility that displays the list of all device drivers currently loaded on your system.
• etcher - a utility to flash OS images to SD cards & USB drives, safely and easily.
• geekuninstaller freeware portable programme uninstaller (including Store apps)
• hddguardian - is a front-end for smartctl, a tool for querying S.M.A.R.T. data of your hard drive.
• hwmonitor - https://www.cpuid.com/softwares/hwmonitor.html is a hardware monitoring program that reads PC systems main health sensors.]
• hwinfo.install
• networktrafficview
• powertoys
• procexp
• procmon
• putty.install
• sidebar-diagnostics - Sidebar Diagnostics
• siv System Information Viewer
• sleuthkit - is a library and collection of command line tools that allow you to investigate disk images.
• speedfan - is a program that monitors voltages, fan speeds and temperatures in computers with hardware monitor chips.
• speedtest -
• sysinternals

Popular Third Party Software

• 7zip.install
• adobereader
• bitwarden
• calibre
• cdburnerxp
• desktopok - DesktopOK is a tool to save and restore the positions of icons.
• enpass.install
• filezilla
• googleearthpro
• jre8
• nanazip - 7-Zip derivative intended for the modern Windows experience.

Backup

• restic - https://restic.net/

Customization

• aquasnap - an alternative windows tiling manager
• docfetcher - DocFetcher
• doublecmd - Double Commander is a cross-platform open-source file manager with two panels side by side
• elevenclock - Windows 11 only, customizes the standard inbuilt clock
• everythingtoolbar - Replace Windows Search
• quicklook - brings macOS “Quick Look” feature to Windows.
• teracopy - Replace Windows copy
• w10privacy W10Privacy turns off various tracking features in both Windows 10 & 11.

Office Productivity

• alldup - a freeware tool for searching and removing file duplicates
• beeftext.install - an open-source text substitution tool
• freeoffice - a free alternative to Microsoft 365
• grammarly-for-windows an all-in-one writing assistant
• libreoffice-still libreoffice-help a free and powerful office suite
• joplin - an open-source note-taking app - Free to use cross-platform, but to sync between devices requires a paid account.
• metanorma- - a framework for writing & publishing standardization documents
• notepadplusplus npppluginmanager - a free source code editor and Notepad replacement
• office-online-chrome - use Microsoft 365 in your browser
• pandoc - a universal document converter
• pdf24 - a free and easy-to-use PDF solution
• rednotebook - a cross-platform desktop journal
• wps-office-free - allows you to edit files in Writer, Presentation, Spreadsheet, and PDF
• zotero - a free, easy-to-use tool to help you collect, organize, annotate, cite, and share research.

Computer-Aided Design

• freecad - Freecad is a general purpose feature-based, parametric 3D modeler for CAD, MCAD, CAx, CAE and PLM.
• qet - QElectroTech is a free CAD/CAE editor focusing on electrical schematics drawing features.

Audio

• audacity audacity-ffmpeg audacity-lame - An easy-to-use, multi-track audio editor and recorder.
• ocenaudio.install - An easy, fast and powerful audio editor
• reaper - Professional digital audio production application Paidware.
• spotify - Music streaming service.

Graphics

• fsviewer - https://www.faststone.org/
• gimp - GIMP is a cross-platform image editor.
• imagemagick - ImageMagick is a free and open-source software suite for displaying, converting, and editing raster image and vector image files.
• jpegview - similar to fsviewer & not just for JPEG files
• krita - Krita is a professional free and open source painting program.
• paint.net
• photoflare - https://photoflare.io/ Photoflare]
• pinta - Pinta is a free, open source program for drawing and image editing.
• tux-paint

Video

• avidemux - a free video editor designed for simple cutting, filtering and encoding tasks.
• getiplayer - a utility for downloading TV and radio programmes from BBC iPlayer and BBC Sounds.
• handbrake.install - is an open-source tool, built by volunteers, for converting video from nearly any format.
• kdenlive - a free and Open Source Video Editor.
• lossless-cut - the swiss army knife of lossless video/audio editing.
• makemkv - a solution to convert video that you own into free and patents-unencumbered format that can be played everywhere.
• obs-studio.install - a free and open source software for video recording and live streaming.
• openshot - an easy to use, quick to learn, and surprisingly powerful video editor.
• tartube - is a GUI front-end for compatible YouTube video downloaders.
• vlc - ia a free and open source cross-platform multimedia player

Communications

• betterbird - Betterbird a fork of Mozilla Thunderbird.
• discord.install
• microsoft-teams.install
• signal
• skype
• telegram.install
• thunderbird
• twitch
• zoom
• zoom-outlook

Gaming

• bsnes - SNES emulator
• leagueoflegendseune - League Of Legends
• ryujinx - Nintendo Switch Emulator
• steamdeck
• zsnes - SNES emulator

Remote Desktop Tools

• anydesk.install
• chrome-remote-desktop-chrome
• rustdesk
• teamviewer

Web Browsers

• brave - Brave
• firefox
• adblockplusfirefox - Adblock Plus plugin for Firefox
• googlechrome-allusers - Installer for multiuser systems
• adblockpluschrome - Adblock Plus plugin for Chrome
• opera
• adblockplusopera - Adblock Plus plugin for Opera
• tor-browser

Password Management

• bitwarden
• bitwarden-cli
• bitwarden-edge
• bitwarden-chrome
• enpass.install

NirSoft Utilities

NirSoft provides a unique collection of small and useful freeware utilities, all of them developed by Nir Sofer.

• nirlauncher - a package of more than 180 NirSoft portable freeware utilities for Windows

• nircmd - a small command-line utility that allows you to do some useful tasks without displaying any user interface
• shellbagsview - View last used folder explorer settings
• taskschedulerview - Allows you to easily view and edit Windows Scheduled Tasks in a GUI
• uninstallview - Gathers information on installed software and acts as an uninstaller
• usbdeview - List connected and previously connected USB devices

Social Media

• thedesk.portable - https://thedesk.top/en/ - Mastodon client

Useful Links

• https://renenyffenegger.ch/notes/Windows/Chocolatey/index

• https://www.marticliment.com/unigetui/ - If you use more than one package manager from the command line, UniGetUI amalgamates them all in to a single GUI interface.

Errors

Unable to load Chocolatey GUI assembly. The type initializer for 'ChocolateyGUI.Common.Windows.Bootstrapper' threw an exception.

Possibly caused by the failure to update from v.1 to v.2 correctly, try:

choco upgrade chocolatey -f

Thanks to Microsoft.