So I was setting up this new laptop, and after security updates I went on cleaning the trash through Powershell, and after removing all unwanted packages I was going to let a note on the desktop and there was no Notepad in the context menu… oops, I messed up I thought, I must have removed stuff I shouldn’t, so just to be safe I did a factory reset and this time read very carefully every package before removing, and again no Notepad! And I notice there was no Paint nor Calculator either… so turn out new Win11 is shipped with Outlook, Maps, Solitaire Collection, People (whatever the hell that is), and even some IE, Zune and Skype legacy packages, but not with Notepad?! You actually have to download it from Microsoft Store… and now they all come with Copilot lol
Anyway, this sounds like a great opportunity to look for some FOSS alternatives!
What do you guys use and recommend?
The best alternative to Paint for me is Online
https://viliusle.github.io/miniPaint/
I don’t know why it is called Mini, it’s a very powerfull and complete editor. I use it as PWA, also selfhostable
Instead of Notepad
https://www.giuspen.net/cherrytree/
Calculator, curious, and complete this one
https://preccalc.sourceforge.net/
- arbitrary precision (up to 100,000,000 significant digits !!!)
- complex numbers
- fractions
- lists, vectors, matrices
- history (shortcuts ctrl+up, ctrl+down)
- calculator can write all results to a log file
- commands if, goto, print, return
- unlimited number of variables
- frequently used formulas can be saved as macros
- calculator can be translated to other languages
Good notepad alternative is notepad, just taken from an earlier windows version. Best version of it is the early one from Windows 11 though, the one that just added autosaving and tabs. It’s the perfect balance of simplicity and usability for a temp note taking app imo.
That is, if you just need a program with a text field and nothing else. If you want something more useful in general though, then the obvious answer is Notepad++.
I’m using Notepads. It doesn’t have so many features like notepad++, but it gets the job done.
Haven’t used anything but Notepad++ in years.
On the Windows 11 install I was forced to use, I installed vim and helix through scoop. And python/julia works for calculator.
Notepad++ or Notepad3, Paint.NET (not OSS), SpeedCrunch
maybe just grab old win32 versions from 10/7/xp?
cudatext as a notepad replacement. It’s closer to a full featured text editor, but is very quick to startup with no extensions installed.
I have no idea about replacing paint, but irfanview for simple viewing, cropping, resizing, swapping formats, etc.
For calculator stuff I sometimes just open the Python REPL. If you know the language (even a little bit) it does all the things and more. Every time I try to use the Windows calculator it annoys me trying to find the right button and them accidently putting another operator instead of equal or vice versa.
I know you are asking for FOSS alternatives, but for those who are looking to just restore the old programs:
Reasons I keep old installer-ISOs, tbh
put portable apps on it. hopefully you switch to linux at some point but if you don’t moving your applications to the next machine will be way easier.
I saw that Notepad and Paint have integrated AI now. I didn’t check if the same applies to Calculator, but I’m terribly afraid they might collect my Calculator history… far more shameful than any late‑night browsing history.
You can turn the AI off in the Notepad settings. Not the case for Paint though.
Yeah, putting AI in Notepad is so stupid. The entire point of notepad is how lightweight it is.
also…
Greenshot (replaces Snipping tool)
Irfanview (picture viewer)
VLC (video/music player)
Strawberry (music player)Does Greenshot screen record or just screen shot?
Just screenshot. It also does annotations (highlight, arrows, etc.)
Notepad++
??
Moffsoft Freecalc (https://moffsoft.com/freecalc.htm)
