I have a few essential tools that I need to make sure are on every machine.  Updated for 2021 as I have definitely changed the tools I use since the last time I did this.

Chocolatey

Boy, have I become a big fan of Chocolatey.  I use it to set up my personal and work machines. I have a script that I run that installs chocolatey, and then uses it to install all the tools that I typically use in a day. All the tools listed below I install via Chocolatey. I haven’t used the winget tool as of yet, but I imagine I will be incorporating it into my script.

Visual Studio Code

I can’t tell you how much I love VS Code. I use it for everything under the sun. It’s now my default text editor, no matter the place I am. The best part is all the plugins that are out, and are coming out. The main plugins I always install are PowerShell, GitLens, vscode-icons, yaml, and kubernetes.

Version Control

We switched to Git for internal tooling several years ago, and I am forever grateful for it. I use Github for my personal stuff, and even if I only do a local repository, it’s Git all the way down.

Windows Terminal

I have begun using Windows Terminal with PowerShell 7. I love that code I write for PS7 can run on Windows, Linux, or MacOS.

Beyond Compare

Because I do a lot of work in Git, I have my default compare tool set to Beyond Compare. I have tried several others, but I still will gladly pay for Beyond Compare as it’s worthwhile to me to not have to think of things.

Tooling Choices

Remember, tooling choices are very personal. What works well for me may not work for you. Let me know what tools you use the most.