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New competitor: Microsoft PowerToys Run (but FARR is better)

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Nod5:
Microsoft keeps adding nice stuff to the revived PowerToys apps
https://github.com/microsoft/PowerToys

Most recently PowerToys Run, a launcher app that has some similarity with FindAndRunRobot
https://github.com/microsoft/PowerToys/tree/master/src/modules/launcher

Here are my subjective impressions after some quick tests.

1. PowerToys Run has a nice, clean interface with big fonts and no clutter. It takes inspiration from the launcher Wox.



FARR can be similarly minimally styled using the slenderFARR skin, display option "Large Icon Slides", dragging to hide the toolbar buttons, and using a script to hide the statusbar text.



2. Run has built in support for CMD/terminal commands through the > prefix.



FARR can do that too by creating an alias like this:

alias name: run terminal command
RegEx: ^>(.*)
Results:
cmd | C:\Windows\System32\cmd.exe /c $$1





3. PowerToys Run can search and switch to open windows. That's a nice to have feature!

4. PowerToys does not have aliases. FARR has very powerful aliases. That is a huge difference. Aliases make FARR searches and actions very easy to customize - it becomes a much more powerful and versatile tool. Even more so when combined with some small AutoHotkey scripts.

All in all I still prefer FARR. Not a big surprise I suppose!  ;D But its age is showing a bit.
- I wish the FARR default UI had a more flat and minimal design.
- To create/test/edit/share/backup FARR aliases is a bit clunky, which might prevent new users from making and using the more powerful aliases features.
- The FARR options give intricate control of search result scoring, which was perhaps more relevant for the era of slow hardrives than for new faster SSD storage.

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