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Give FlowLauncher[0] or Windows Powertoys Run[1] a shot.

There are some amazing tools like that (and Everything[2], which replaces Windows' inferior search) that really change how one interacts with Windows.

There are other tricks like putting scripts or shortcuts or executables in a directory referenced by your PATH variable, which can make the Win+R trick better too.

[0] https://www.flowlauncher.com/ [1] https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/powertoys/run [2] https://www.voidtools.com/

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win+r - mspaint - enter
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Thanks! Also useful for an old win10 machine I have, and probably shouldn't be using anymore, that no longer responds to clicking the start menu button...
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Don't throw it away. Install windows 8, and the last offline version of office you can find. It makes for a great distraction free workstation and a monitor for your android (scrcpy).

Or, you can install and reinstall linux distros and learn the ropes.

You should be fine as long as you use a proper firewall device and access only manually withelisted websites, but it is always better to keep it offline. That said, it can become your next firewall device.

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I built it circa 2012 or 2013 and still have the physical win8 disc. I considered futzing with linux on it. The extent of my linux experience is via SSH to a raspberry pi kludging some docker containers for this and that. SSH/linux terminal feels like fumbling in a dark room flipping random switches until something works.

>scrcpy

I also have a pixel 5a whose screen doesn't work, but I think functions otherwise. Would this allow me to interface with it?

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I think the pixel 5a can be connected to tv through an hdmi cable. If so, plug that and a mouse to setup adb (toggle enable adb and toggle debug permissions, then accept adb host)
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I may be wrong but i remember video output over usbc being added in the pixel 7 or 8
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Or just install Win10 IoT LTSC, which is supported until 2032.
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They don't even do substring search??
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Back in the 90s doing substring match was probably deemed way too expensive and so just calling the executable name directly was as optimized as it got... and it's beautiful :)
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Apparently there’s a proper app launcher in PowerToys.
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Switch to Open-Shell's start menu and don't look back.
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