Where I have often found Windows lacking in software compared to the Mac (gasp!), Microsoft’s own PowerToys has always been a new-installation-must on any Windows device I’ve used since I discovered it back in the Windows 7 days. My most-used and loved utility in this suite is PowerToys run, which is a launcher utility in the vein of the excellent (and also new-installation-must on the Mac) Launchbar (without which a Mac doesn’t feel like a Mac to me when it’s not installed… or should I say, until it’s installed).

You can get plenty of mileage out of PowerToys Run just using it as a launcher; for example, typing “Excel” in the search box will give you, as the first result, the application Excel. It’s great for web searches, too, and even searching your local hard drive.

I do prefer the fast-if-spartan-looking Everything for file searches on Windows, though; it’s a focused application in that it searches for files and allows you to open or reveal them easily. It’s pretty ugly, though. It’s also free, so I can’t squak.

Everything is available to you via PowerToys Run not just as a launchable executable, though; you can install a plugin, and after typing a modifier key (“ is the default), you can search your machine via Run but using Everthing’s power.

Run works this way; you can just type into the search bar, but you can specify modifier commands to restrict your search to specific features (calculator, file search, and your search history, for example).

Run looks like a simple app–and you can use it that way–but beneath the hood is a cache of productivity firepower. And it’s made all the better by the Everything plugin.