Windows 11 out of the box is slow, cluttered, and full of stuff you never asked for—so in this video I installed 5 free apps that completely change how Windows feels. I start with Microsoft PowerToys because it adds missing functionality that honestly should be built in: Find My Mouse (double-tap Ctrl to highlight your cursor), quick file preview with Spacebar in File Explorer, and a super fast launcher/search with Win+S that can even calculate and search the web. I also use Advanced Paste (Win+Shift+V) to format clipboard content into plain text, Markdown, JSON, and more, plus PowerRename for batch renaming files. Next, I cut the clutter with Wintoys. I uninstall junk (yes, even Copilot), stop or disable useless services (it detected 48 as “useless” on my system), and apply performance tweaks like disabling background apps and transparency—especially helpful on slower PCs. Then I make Windows actually feel like mine with Windhawk mods: the Taskbar Dock Animation (set max scale to 130 for that clean hover bounce) and a Start Menu Styler theme, plus an option to disable the newer massive Start Menu layout. To finish it off, I use WinDynamicDesktop for time-based wallpapers and Volumey for a better audio/volume workflow right from the tray.