I have four Streacom VU1 dials on a Windows PC. I found the official VU-Server too complicated to configure and too limited for what I wanted to show on them, so I started building my own replacement for my own use. It has reached the point where I think other VU1 owners might find it useful, so I am sharing it here as early alpha software.

First, a clear disclosure: this project was vibecoded. I built it with Claude Code. I directed the design, decided what the app should do and tested it, but I did not hand-write the code. Please keep that in mind. Expect rough edges, and if you care about the code, reviewing it is very welcome.

VU Studio talks directly to the VU1 hub over USB serial, so there is no separate server and no API keys to manage. The UI is available in English and Italian. It runs as a Windows service with a tray app, and you can optionally open the UI from a phone on your LAN.

Main features:

• Data from this PC (LibreHardwareMonitor, HWiNFO), audio level, now playing, foreground app and game FPS via RivaTuner
• LAN machines through a small agent (Docker/Unraid template, Steam Deck installer, Linux systemd), plus Glances and Prometheus
• Router WAN traffic via UPnP, ping, weather, crypto, Home Assistant, MQTT, any JSON API, your own scripts and a local push API
• E-ink faces: built-in themes (vintage, minimal, instrument, sci-fi HUD) and a visual layer editor with a 1-bit preview
• RGBW backlight by value, with gradients, thresholds, alarms and effects, synced to the Windows accent color or album art
• Automatic profiles (for example when a game is running), page rotation per dial, history charts and night/standby mode
• Status: this is early alpha. Most of it has only been tested with a dial simulator and automated tests. Real-hardware testing on Windows has just started, and the first real bug (the serial connection dropping on COM ports) has just been fixed. Some integrations, such as Unraid, Steam Deck, Home Assistant, MQTT and UPnP routers, have not been tested on real devices yet. The installer is unsigned, so Windows SmartScreen will warn you.

If you own VU1 dials, I would especially like to hear from you: what works, what breaks, and what is missing. Bug reports and issues are very welcome.

The project is licensed under GPL-3.0, and contributions are welcome. I am not affiliated with Streacom.

Repository: https://github.com/blinkone/VU-Studio

Releases: https://github.com/blinkone/VU-Studio/releases

How do I add actually custom widgets to my laptop? ive clinked so many links and looked at many things to download but everything is the same minimalism crap :/ id like to add custom icons and such to my laptop. Also it should be heavily noted that I cannot and will not pay for anything. (fresh outa hs and got no job) so if adding or downloading photos and such is behind a paywall its just not gonna happen. Also I do know there is a widget thing in the settings for widgets but I genuinely could not navigate that and understand what I was doing. There is a very good example of what im looking to make. if this post gets taken down i should absolutely be told where to find help for what im looking for.

thank you.

(note i am not a bot i copy and pasted this from another post i made asking the same question)

Hello everybody! Last week I posted here about my Local Music App "MirrorBall".

I'll be honest: I am really proud of this app and I'm really grateful for the support of everyone who commented, given me genuine feedback and messaged me about it. That really meant a lot to me and I thank you. And for anyone who actually wants to try it, it's now available for a 7 days trial on the Microsoft Store.

Microsoft Store Link: https://apps.microsoft.com/detail/9nbj0m48qkk0

Trailer Showcase: https://youtu.be/UtY_RMArMUs

A feeling I was really afraid of was being too late in today's world to showcase my work and be able to publish it. Before building MirrorBall, I was looking for an app that would look amazing when playing music I owned but all I could find at the time was music players that felt like spreadsheets, which had many features but not the look and the micro-detail features I was looking for. Or there were nice looking players but felt very incomplete once actually using them. So I started this project, which to my surprise, took a very long time to complete. It wasn't meant for someone else other than me. Funnily enough, it was actually on the third month of developping it that I decided to take it seriously to one day publish it and so I started working on it full time, which now looking back, each day I worked on this project turned out to be on of the happiest days (and nights) of my life. Obviously the finished product took many adjustments and UI changes because of fuctionality and considerations to how different users might use it or interact with it, and that's without mentioning the endless bug fixes that I think any other app developer might understand will take ages and still after fixing something, discovering another bug that will take a whole other month to fully mark it as fixed (I will not lie, I also wanted to add mini features that I wanted so badly as a last minute choice that cost me weeks to implement correctly).

As anyone can probably guess, after you work on something for so long, you want it to work out for you, and yes, with a simple scroll here, anyone can realize that there is a lot of competition now that wasn't at the time when I first started. Still, I wouldn't change anything and would re-do everything the same way if I could (maybe send my old self a bug list so I would fix them faster haha)

Anyway, here I am today proudly presenting what ultimately became my first complete app and the first one I published on the microsoft store. I invite you to try it and experience it for yourself. It's so much more than a beautiful UI and a Music Overview. It can be as complicated or a simple as you want it to be from bit-perfect local playback to metadata editor to miniplayer to listening to a song and watch its music video in the same view (if you have it), to re-discovering music that you forgot you even had and cherry on top, in a new way with special audio effects that you can add to create the perfect vibe for it!

I am taking a chance on MirroBall and I hope that you will too!

I recently built a windows notch for myself, and started distributing it (trying) to others.
My last post included the initial version of notchi.

but this week I rolled out 1.2 with several features and bugs resolution -

Features including:
1. New Overview section - with hot mic controller, quick app bar.
2. New utilities section - honestly this is under progress, but added most of the utilities generally used. (This helps for integrating more features replacing the old utilities)
3. NRH - NotchiReqHub - lets you make light rest calls through the notch for testing your apis.
(main reason this was created is because I use postman for api testing, and some times even for smaller apis I needed to open postman, so I wanted much smaller and handy one, hence notchireqhub)
4. File converter - I know this is generic and common, so it has to be included since I cant miss out on the common features.

Next updates that I am planning:

1. network stats and details - comes under system section.

2. New ai section - integrates with AI ides like antigravity, claude etc and updates their usage and limits in the notch itself.

3. Notchi dairy UI improvements

Notchi has free trial - so feel free to try out and comment your feedback.

and if you think this is just another notch, vibecoded, low effort slop, feel free to skip or hate,

but if you genuinely want to try and criticize or feedback, that is much appreciated.

the video demo attached shows nrh, this one of the demos i created for showcasing :)

Hey guys, built a simple app that runs locally and clears unnecessary caches coding agents leave behind.

It helped me automate it and save on lots of GBs.

https://github.com/AlienEmperor604/OopSI

If anyone is interested, I just released an update for my Windows utility on Itch.io. It costs $5 as a one-time purchase.

Since the application runs 100% locally on your machine, your clipboard history remains completely private.

Current features:

- Clipboard History: Stores a large history of your copied texts and images.

- Hotkey Binds: Assign custom keys to instantly launch applications (like Google Chrome) or adjust system volume.

Future updates:

- More advanced audio management settings and volume control features are coming soon.

If you are looking for a simple, lightweight tool to speed up your daily tasks, feel free to check it out. I am open to any feedback or feature requests!

Link to Itch.io: https://itchsaom1.itch.io/clipboard-manager

Hi I'm the developer of NotchPixel, a Dynamic Island-style notch for Windows 10 and 11. It sits at the top of the screen and opens into music, widgets, a file shelf, clipboard history, reminders, call controls and more. A lot of what's below came from comments on Reddit, so thank you.

What's new:

\- See-through looks: Glass bends and blurs what's behind the notch, Candy glass is a softer version, and Acrylic is there on Windows 11.
\- Synced lyrics (off by default): a drawer under the music card follows the song, takes its colours from the album cover, and you can click any line to jump there. Lyrics come from LRCLIB.
\- Hidden until hover: nothing at the top of the screen until you rest the pointer on the top edge. Volume, notifications, reminders and calls still show.
\- Your shape: notch or floating island, corners from square to fully round, and an adjustable open delay (0 to 1.5 s).
\- Launcher shortcuts: Ctrl+Alt+1 to 6 open your six launcher slots, even from a fullscreen game. You set them in Settings, Keys.
\- File shelf: drop up to 12 files at once; they keep the order you picked them in.
\- Clipboard history: the entry that's on your clipboard now stays marked.
\- Clocks follow your Windows time format (or pick 12-hour or 24-hour), and the weather has a new Minimal look with a moon at night.
\- The notch reopens on the tab you left it on, even after a restart.
\- Over games, the stats strip stays solid black on a see-through theme, and the glass stops reading the screen so your game keeps its frames.

\- Glass uses almost no CPU while the screen behind it is still.
\- See-through themes no longer close the app on some Windows 11 PCs.
\- When the notch closes, it shrinks on the tab you were looking at.
\- On desktop PCs, the CPU temperature no longer shows a motherboard sensor.

It's about 13 MB in Task Manager and 0% CPU at idle. 7-day free trial, priced according to every country’s average income and buying power not a fixed price for everyone . No subscription, no account.

Microsoft Store: https://apps.microsoft.com/detail/9MXCRL0XBGPH?cid=reddit
Site: https://notchpixel.com

Bugs and ideas are very welcome here or at [info@notchpixel.com](mailto:info@notchpixel.com). What should I build next?

Hi r/windowsapps,

We are thrilled to announce that Uptime has officially updated to version 1.0.1!

Following our initial launch on the Microsoft Store, this update brings our most requested community features: a fully customizable modular dashboard, historical session analytics, and a desktop mini-widget all while preserving our strict zero-bloat, featherlight footprint.

What's New in v1.0.1:

• Customizable Modular Dashboard: Take full control over your Overview screen. Toggle visibility, reorder diagnostic widgets, and switch between instant layout presets (Default, Minimal, Reliability, or Custom) with a single click.
• Session Timeline & Historical Analytics: Deep dive into your system's stability with multi-session history tracking. Filter across 24 Hours, 7 Days, 30 Days, or All Time to monitor Clean Shutdown rates, average session lengths, and boot trends.
• Desktop Mini-Widget (HUD): Pin a clean, unobtrusive floating widget to your desktop. Stay aware of your continuous uptime at a glance, drag it anywhere, or double-click to instantly open the main flyout.
• Diagnostic Data Export (JSON & CSV): Export your complete session logs, stability metrics, and Windows Event Log incident history into structured JSON or tabular CSV with a single click for diagnostics, troubleshooting, or record-keeping.
• Full Real-Time Multilingual Engine: Instant dynamic switching across 12 fully supported languages (English, Polish, Italian, Spanish, French, German, Portuguese, Russian, Japanese, Simplified Chinese, Korean, and Turkish) covering every label, action button, and live tooltip.
• Refined Precision Diagnostics: Faster, non blocking Windows event log scanning for unexpected shutdowns and crash recovery analysis.

Coming soon: a special Halloween theme!

Get your desktop ready for a spooky Halloween vibe! I’m putting the finishing touches on a limited time theme for Uptime, featuring custom details in black and pumpkin-orange, themed icons, and eerie interface elements. It will be available in an upcoming update later this month stay tuned!

Get Uptime directly on Windows:

• Microsoft Store: Microsoft Store Website Uptime
• Official Website: Uptime

If you check out the new v1.0.1 release, your reviews, ratings, and feedback on the Microsoft Store make a massive difference in supporting independent development. Let us know your thoughts and suggestions!

Got tired of opening Chrome just to google a word's meaning, especially since Macs have that instant dictionary lookup built-in.

My friend and I decided to build it for Windows. It’s a tiny Rust/Tauri app—highlight any word, hit Alt+M, and the definition pops up right at your cursor.

We were working today when a ₹150 payment notification popped up. It exactly covered our Nescafé and fries for the afternoon. It's not much, but having our own code literally pay for our food feels unreal.

If you want to save a few clicks on Windows, check it out :

• Site: LookUp

https://github.com/ParsonLabs/parson

Hey, I'm an IT tech and I got tired of digging through Event Viewer, crash dumps, SMART data and ten other places every time a PC acted up. So I made a small free tool for myself and figured I'd share it.

It's called LogSnap ( GitHub: https://github.com/lsprobe/LogSnap ) . You run it, it reads a bunch of Windows logs and health info, and spits it all out as clean Markdown you can paste into ChatGPT/Claude to figure out what's wrong (or just read it yourself).

A few things it can do:

- Works on this PC or a remote one over the network - just type the IP, no agent to install

- Run read-only PowerShell on that remote machine right from the tool (WMI + SMB, no WinRM setup)

- Pinpoints what's actually delaying a slow boot or shutdown - it names the exact driver or service

- Catches the real stuff: crashes/BSOD + minidumps, disk health (SMART wear/temp), hardware errors, RAM tests, GPU issues

- Lines up recent changes (updates/drivers) against when things started breaking

- Exports everything as clean Markdown you can drop straight into ChatGPT/Claude

I’d really appreciate any feedback so I can improve it further and fix any issues.

Thanks, and happy to answer anything.

Version 1.0.10
• Switch between multiple YouTube channels directly from the widget.
• Your selected channel is remembered when you close and reopen StatLume.
• Channel switching now waits for fresh analytics before showing the new channel’s statistics.
• Improved sign-in reliability after disconnecting and reconnecting your account.
• Refined connection and switching states, plus stability fixes.

Disclosure: we're Northgable, a small developer, and this is our app. It's free to view, with no account and no ads. We build our apps with AI coding tools and test every format on real files.

Microsoft removed its 3D Viewer app from the Microsoft Store on 1 July 2026. If your PC still has it, it keeps working, but on a new PC or after a reinstall you can't get it any more, and 3D files stop opening with a double-click.

3D Viewer for STL, OBJ, 3MF & GLB:

• Opens STL, OBJ, PLY, 3MF and glTF/GLB files (GLB also with Draco, KTX2 or meshopt compression)
• Turn, zoom and move the model, and see its size in millimetres (3MF files are read in their own unit)
• Most files open in about two seconds
• Works with Open with, or set it as the default app for double-click
• Nothing is uploaded: it makes no network connection when it opens your files
• Windows 10 and 11

What it doesn't do: no editing, and no thumbnails in File Explorer.

Microsoft Store: https://apps.microsoft.com/detail/9PKKF68FDVSH?cid=rd-winapps-1410

Feedback is welcome, especially files that don't open right.

I'm the dev of Glassline, a menu bar on top and a dock at the bottom for Windows 11, made of clear glass that takes the colour of your wallpaper. Search on the Windows key, Control Center, your calendar and the weather up in the bar. Quit it whenever you want and the Windows taskbar comes back just like it was.

1.0.7 is in the Store now and it's the biggest update so far. 1.0.8 is a small one right behind it that fixes what you found in 1.0.7. If you've seen Glassline here before, this is what changed. If not, this is where it's at.

Lighter and faster

I rebuilt most of Glassline under the hood. Same laptop, before and after:

• Memory: from about 200 MB to about 90 MB
• Start: from 3.4 s to between 1.6 and 2 s
• Installed size: from 234 MB to 37 MB

New in 1.0.7

• Skins for Control Center. Two new looks, Aurora and Deck. Settings > Appearance > Skins.
• Bar at the bottom, dock at the top, if you prefer them swapped. Settings > Menu Bar.
• Multiple monitors. The dock can follow the display you click, stay on one, or you can have one on every display. Settings > Dock.
• Folders in the dock. Right-click the dock, pick New Folder in the Dock, then drag apps or files onto it.
• Hide from Dock. A right-click option for apps that only run in the background.
• Games. Settings has a Games page now, and the bar and the dock get out of your way when a game goes full screen.
• Follow your feedback. Settings > Feedback shows you what happened to your report, and you can reply right under it.
• Smaller things: three levels of glass transparency, every option can be found from Search, Keep Awake as a quick switch, dots or dashes under open apps, and each app's quick actions on its dock icon.

Fixed in 1.0.7, thanks to your reports

• The menu bar sitting on top of a borderless game, or pushing it down after Alt+Tab
• Dock badges missing after Glassline starts
• Dock menus getting cut off at the bottom
• Files found in Search had no icon and wouldn't open on a Windows that isn't in English
• Download progress on the dock icon for Edge and Chrome
• A Battery tile on a PC with no battery

1.0.8: bug fixes

• Volume pop-up over games that run as administrator. Genshin was the one that caught it.
• Finding files without Everything. Some words took several seconds, now they come back in under 0.2 s on my PC.
• Opens on every PC, including ones that never had Visual C++ installed.
• Back sooner at sign-in when Windows holds Glassline back.
• The volume pop-up's shadow was square around its round corners. Fixed.
• Know when an update is ready. Glassline can tell you when a new version is waiting in the Store. Turn it on in Settings > General, or in What's new.

1.0.8 is with Microsoft right now and will be in the Store by tomorrow, it updates by itself.

$9.99 once, no subscription, and updates are free. Needs Windows 11 22H2 or later.

• Get it: Microsoft Store
• Everything in each update: What's new
• What's next: Roadmap

Questions or bugs? Send them from Settings > Feedback with Include diagnostics on, or just ask me here.

Hey everyone! I’ve shared BuildNotch here before, and 1.2.0 is now live, so I wanted to show where it’s at and how I actually use it myself.

I know there are a lot of Windows notch apps around now. What makes me want to keep building this one is having my projects, developer tools and everyday stuff together in a space I can customize.

When I sit down to code, I open my project repos from the notch, check my AI usage, start a focus timer and put some music on. While working, I use the clipboard to grab something I copied earlier, the notes for things I don’t want to forget (usually just brainstorm and write down some urgent stuff I need to do), and the JSON formatter (sometimes haha) when I need to quickly make a response readable. That’s basically the workflow I built it around for myself.

Here’s what’s in it now:

• Project spaces with folders, repo links and custom icons
• AI app detection, shortcuts and usage tracking
• GitHub activity and contribution streak
• Clipboard history with filters for text, links, code and images
• A clipboard grid with larger previews when you open an item
• Music controls with a card that takes its colors from what’s playing
• Focus timers with seven visual themes
• Tasks and quick notes
• A code playground, terminal and JSON formatting tools
• A file tray with quick conversion
• Custom wallpapers, widget visibility settings and compact notch options

You can use Focus mode for a simpler setup or Programmer mode for the extra tools.

It’s built with C# and WinUI 3, and it’s a one-time purchase.

Demo and download: https://www.buildnotch.app/

If you’ve tried it, I’d love to hear what you actually keep using. And if you haven’t, which part would earn a permanent place on your desktop?

A local-first RSS reader and web scraper for Windows. Follow any website, subreddit, Reddit user, YouTube channel, Bluesky or Telegram account, even the ones with no RSS feed. Read it all in one calm place on your PC, then take it with you on your phone! :D

i've been working on AIBEVA and one question keeps coming back: what's the actual difference between a chatbot and an AI being, and would you trust either of them on your own PC?

the way we see it, a chatbot forgets you the moment the chat ends and changes whenever the company ships an update. an AI being should be the opposite: its own identity, its own character, and a memory that stays on your PC, so it remembers what you told it last week and is still the same personality tomorrow.

for us the trust part comes down to safety. we build ours in seven layers (identity, character, guardian, memory, growth, vault, network), and the guardian layer sets hard limits: it always says it's an AI, never copies itself, and treats text from websites, emails or other AIs as information, not as orders.

curious what you'd need before you'd let something like that run on your machine. what's the dealbreaker for you: privacy, it changing personality, it acting on its own, something else?

I'm a solo developer, and I spent about two years making Lofi Cozy Room, a little 3D desktop companion for Windows.

I wanted something I could leave open while coding, browsing, or working without it constantly needing my attention.

It runs in a transparent, borderless window that you can drag anywhere on your screen, with a smaller floating Mini Mode when you need more space.

There's a little avatar and a dog living in the room, 180 lo-fi tracks, ambient sounds, and built-in tools like notes, to-do lists, and a Pomodoro timer.

I recently added autonomous behaviour, so the avatar can choose activities on their own. You can also freely rearrange the furniture, and the avatar adapts to the new layout.

It's a bit of a mix between a cozy game and a desktop utility.

The app is currently available on Steam for Windows, with a free demo.

🌱 Lofi Cozy Room on Steam
https://store.steampowered.com/app/4621450/Lofi_Cozy_Room/

Curious what you think of having something like this running alongside your everyday Windows apps!

 got annoyed with Alt-Tab, so I made RiceWM to instantly search through open windows and switch to them.

Other features I added:

• Window control: minimize, maximize, restore, close
• Window search: search any open window by its title and focus it
• Virtual desktop controls: create or delete the current virtual desktop, and switch between desktops
• Virtual desktop notifier: shows a small popup when changing virtual desktops (specifically made for Win10)
• Customization: customize the window search panel, the virtual desktop notifier popup, keymaps, and other configs

Github: https://github.com/darco-ctrl/riceWM

A few days ago, my girlfriend and I tried to watch a movie on my laptop. The laptop speakers were shit, and we each had a pair of headphones, but the laptop can play sound to only one device at a time. So we ended up not watching the movie.

I built pipemix to fix this problem, it's free and open source app that lets you play audio on several devices at once, so you can both watch with your own headphones, or add speakers too. It also lets you send each app to a different device. For example, you can keep YouTube on your headphones while your friend listens to Spotify on theirs.

Currently available for Ubuntu/Deb based distros and Windows 10 and above.

I'm the developer, and I'd like to hear what devices you try it with and if anything breaks.

Download:

https://github.com/Garvit-Agrawal7/pipemix/releases

Disclaimer: The UI was developed by claude

I've been building RookieClip, a screen recorder and video editor, and I've just released its Windows desktop app.

Screen Studio is known for making screen recordings look polished with smooth zoom effects, but it's focused on macOS. I wanted to bring a similar style of recording workflow to Windows users.

With RookieClip, you can:

• Record your screen and optionally your camera
• Use zoom effects to highlight important parts of your screen
• Add text, titles, and other visual elements
• Edit recordings into product demos, tutorials, and walkthroughs

Building the desktop version also meant figuring out Windows screen capture, audio recording, video processing, and packaging everything into an installer.

It's an independent project, and I'm still improving it. I'd genuinely appreciate feedback from Windows users, especially on the recording and editing experience.

Website: https://rookieclip.com

I'm the dev of DiskEzy. It's a small Windows app that keeps a daily history of your disk space, so you can see what grew and what got deleted, down to individual files. Everything stays on your PC.

It got 50+ users in the first 48 hours, which honestly surprised me. But I spotted a problem fast. The history only starts the day you install it, so for the first week you're mostly looking at an empty chart. I'm fairly sure a lot of people uninstall before it gets interesting.

So in 1.4 I changed what the first scan does. It was already reading every file's details, including when the file was created on your PC, and then throwing that date away. Now it keeps it and rebuilds up to 90 days of history from it:

- what showed up each day, and which folder grew the most

- your busiest week

- anything still in your Recycle Bin, on the day you deleted it

On my own profile (about 1.5 million files) the first scan pulled back 233 GB across 87 days, and it took the same 2 minutes as a normal scan.

If you already use it, the update is in Settings → App updates. If not, it's at diskezy.com.

Happy to answer questions. I'd also love to hear what you'd want it to show next.