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'))

Chocolatey GUI

choco install chocolateygui chocolatey-core.extension

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>

Log File Location

C:\ProgramData\chocolatey\logs

Upgrade Via The PowerShell

choco upgrade chocolatey

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

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.