Windows is the main platform, one might say, a native haven for PC gaming, but this does not mean that everything is practical and convenient there. We’ve put together a list of five of the very best Windows apps for you that every gamer will definitely need.
SharpKeys
Most games have a system by which you can assign buttons to specific commands. But, this can only be done in games. But what if you want to change some of the keyboard commands in the operating system itself? To your rescue comes a rather interesting program called SharpKeys, which can literally change commands on the keyboard and write them to the Windows Registry, making the changes permanent, which is especially useful with buttons that interfere with the game, for example, Capslock or the Windows left button. You can also, for example, create keys on the keyboard that will be responsible for the volume in the system, even if you do not have them on the keyboard itself. SharpKeys is a great utility if you don’t have a gaming keyboard on hand with software under it.
SoundSwitch
If you have speakers and headphones available, then you are probably already pretty tired of constantly switching between them manually through the sound settings in your Windows. A handy program like SoundSwitch can help you deal with this hassle. SoundSwitch is a small application that will sit in the system tray in the Notification Area and switch your sound from one hardware to another using a hotkey. An incredibly handy program that can save you a huge amount of time. You no longer need to go to the system unit or to the Windows sound settings, and do something there yourself. The only drawback of SoundSwitch is that for some reason its settings are reset as soon as a USB playback device was removed from the system.
Volume²
If you do not want to use a dedicated button to control the sound (which is quite common with small or special mechanical keyboards), then Volume² will help you adjust the sound parameters with a few mouse actions. Volume² contains a bunch of interesting features, for example, you can make volume adjustments with your mouse wheel, or you can change the tray icon and even set an overlay. Also you can set up hotkeys for many functions (really rich choice). Volume² is a great solution for gamers who can’t get away from the process, but need to change the sound parameters.
SpaceSniffer
SpaceSniffer cannot be fully considered a gaming application, but it will definitely come in handy for you. Everyone has long known that digital content delivery has made many game developers rather lazy about optimizing the size of their games. Modern AAA projects already weigh on average 50 gigabytes, which is a huge number in any situation. If you are the owner of a nimble, but not capacious SSD, then this situation should hurt you the most. SpaceSniffer is not a magic wand, but this utility will help you manage your disk space. SpaceSniffer will show you your content on disk as a grid, with the largest squares taking up the most space on the disk, and the smallest, respectively, the smallest. Such a presentation makes viewing the contents of the Steam and Origin folders a much easier task and you can easily identify the games that take up the most space, and then immediately delete them through the same SpaceSniffer.
MSI Afterburner
Don’t be fooled by the name of this utility. MSI Afterburner can run on any system with any hardware configuration. MSI Afterburner is the ultimate overclocking software for your graphics card. In addition to the base voltage of the video card chip, its frequency and adjusting the rotational speed of coolers, MSI Afterburner also has the ability to take screenshots and even videos. To fully understand the interface, you will have to spend some time, but once you get comfortable, you will realize that this program has a lot of useful things.