Best Free Windows Apps for Mac Switchers (2026)
Clipboard history on a Mac lived in a separate app such as Paste, because macOS does not keep that list itself. On this PC you press Win+V for the same recent clips, after you turn clipboard history on under Settings. The menu-bar icons move to the system tray beside the clock, because Windows has no menu bar. Per-app volume, which you set in Audio MIDI Setup or in a menu app such as SoundSource, is the Volume Mixer. Dimming the other windows, the job HazeOver did, is FocusDim, because that tool darkens them.
Other windows
Stage Manager and Mission Control grouped windows on the Mac. Windows 11 uses Snap Layouts instead, which you open by hovering the maximize button or by pressing Win+Z. Arrow keys finish the tile: Win+Left or Win+Right for a half, Win+Up to fill the screen, and Win+Down to restore or minimize. That places the windows, but it does not dim the ones behind the front window.
Snap Layouts and FocusDim
Stage Manager grouped windows on the Mac, with HazeOver dimming every window behind the front one.
Snap Layouts tile the windows, with FocusDim dimming every window behind the front one in Active mode.
Active mode is the HazeOver match: only the front window stays bright, and the other windows dim behind it. App mode leaves every window from the same app bright, so an editor and its terminal stay readable together. All Windows mode dims the desktop and the taskbar, and the open windows stay bright, which is the mode for an editor and a browser side by side.
The strength slider runs from 10% to 90%, because a new install starts at 60%. The default key is Ctrl+Shift+D, so you can reach the dimming from the keyboard. Drag escape stays on from the first launch, with the dimming fading during a drag so you can see the drop target. You can exclude one app, change the dim color, or turn one monitor off, because a second screen may need to stay bright.
Clipboard history
The Paste app kept the clips on the Mac, as did Maccy, because the Mac keeps no list of its own. Windows does have a list, but Win+V stays empty with clipboard history switched off. The built-in list stops at 25 items, with no search at all, and unpinned entries clear on a restart. Text from that Win+V list syncs to another PC only when the Microsoft account clipboard sync switch is on.
QuickBoard
A separate clipboard app, with search across older clips.
Ctrl+Shift+V, fuzzy search, pins, and a history that survives a restart.
QuickBoard opens with Ctrl+Shift+V on this PC, because that is the default key. Search is fuzzy, so a partial word can still find the clip. The default cap is 500 unpinned clips, though the settings field accepts any count from 10 to 2000, with pinned clips on top of that cap. Unpinned clips older than 24 hours are removed by default, but pinned clips stay.
A plain-text paste mode is there when you need unformatted words. A copied image can be read for text on this PC. Text that matches the secret detector stays masked, because QuickBoard does not discard it. QuickBoard skips the clip when the front window is a password manager or a bank on its built-in list. History encryption stays off on a new install until you turn it on, with encrypted history kept as a Pro feature.
The free board still has history, pins, full-text search, image clips, source tracking, text edit, and link preview, along with ordinary copy and paste. Pro adds AI text cleanup, translation, AI suggestions, custom transforms, tags, collections, import, export, saved action chains, plus the encrypted store. The download has 14 days of Pro in it, with those Pro actions usable ahead of any payment.
The timer
Be Focused and Session sat in the Mac menu bar and ran a work timer from there. LiquidFocus is the timer inside PeakFlow, with that tool able to be switched off without removing the other five. The default run is 25 minutes of work followed by 5 minutes of break, because the long break of 15 minutes waits for four finished work sessions. Breaks stay stopped at the end of a work session unless you turn on the switch that starts them for you.
During a running work session, a helper on 127.0.0.1 tells the PeakFlow browser extension the sites to block, with the default names YouTube, Facebook, Instagram, Reddit, TikTok, Netflix, Twitter, and X. The block lasts only for that work session, because the extension is not a block for the whole PC on its own. The camera check looks for a face in the frame rather than following your eyes, with that check off until you turn it on. It ships off, because the face check is a Pro feature. With the face out for the seconds you set, the timer records an interruption, because the default wait is 5 seconds. A camera pause resumes when the face comes back. Frames are checked on the computer, then discarded, so no video is stored.
Camera and microphone
Hand Mirror lived in the Mac menu bar for a look at the camera ahead of the call. MeetReady checks the camera plus the microphone on this PC, because the default key is Ctrl+Shift+M. It can open itself 2 minutes ahead of a meeting when that switch is on. The check is the camera picture and the microphone.
Calendar notices
Calendar notices on a Mac are easy to swipe away while another window has the keyboard. ScreenSlap puts a full-screen notice over the desktop for a Google Calendar event, with the default warning 1 minute out, since a small toast is easy to miss. The notice stays up for 60 seconds, with sound on unless you mute that notice. ScreenSlap reads the connected Google Calendar on a poll, with a new event possibly waiting one cycle to appear. That wait is not a push from Google, because ScreenSlap polls.
Volume per app
The Mac speaker menu is one level for every app, which is why SoundSource existed. A slider for each app meant Audio MIDI Setup, or a menu-bar app such as SoundSource. On this PC those sliders are in the Volume Mixer under Settings, System, Sound, because Windows already keeps a separate level for each app. SoundSplit gives every running app its own slider, and it can remember those levels the next time that app opens. The Windows sound page can send one app to a headset while another app stays on the speakers, because that choice lives in Windows rather than on a SoundSplit slider.
File peek
Quick Look on a Mac shows a selected file from the spacebar, because the owning app can stay closed. PowerToys Peek does that preview on this PC with the PowerToys package installed, the key being Ctrl+Space on a file in File Explorer. Images, video, PDFs, text, or code files can appear in that preview once Peek is on. PowerToys is the free package from Microsoft, on GitHub and in the Microsoft Store.
Launcher
Command+Space on a Mac opens Spotlight for an app launch, a file, or a short calculation. Windows Search is a different box, because an app launch is slower there. Install Microsoft PowerToys from the Microsoft Store, then press Alt+Space for PowerToys Run, the stand-in for Spotlight on Command+Space. Plugins on Run cover a calculation, a time zone, or a short translation, with the plugin switched on.
One installer, six tools
FocusDim, QuickBoard, LiquidFocus, MeetReady, ScreenSlap, and SoundSplit ship in one PeakFlow installer, with each tool able to be switched off. The six core tools have no time limit, no account, and no telemetry. The download has 14 days of Pro in it, covering the AI clipboard actions, the face check, plus custom profiles and hotkeys ahead of a paid plan. Pro is $6.99 a month or $39.99 a year, shown on the price table as $3.33 a month for a plan kept past the included trial. A single tool is $9.99 to keep as a v1 license, while all six tools are $49.99.
- FocusDim for the windows behind the front one
- QuickBoard for clips from earlier in the day
- LiquidFocus for the 25-minute timer
- MeetReady for the camera and the microphone
- ScreenSlap for the full-screen calendar notice
- SoundSplit for a slider per app
PeakFlow Setup 1.6.5
Download PeakFlow Setup 1.6.5 from the homepage download section, because that file is the current 134 MB Windows installer. Skip any older 1.3.1 setup. PeakFlow for Mac is coming soon.
Try PeakFlow FreeOther Mac jobs
AirDrop's job on this PC is Nearby Sharing, which Windows already has for a file send to a nearby device. iPhone photos and messages can come across through Phone Link, because Continuity does not run on a Windows PC. Time Machine's job is File History, plus System Restore for the Windows install itself, but a fuller offsite copy still means a tool such as Backblaze. Keynote files and Pages files do not open in a Mac app here, so use PowerPoint and Word on this PC.
Settings for the first day
- Finish every waiting Windows Update from the Settings app before you judge missing menus on this PC.
- Install PowerToys from the Microsoft Store, because Alt+Space then stands in for Command+Space.
- Turn clipboard history on, then press Win+V for the 25-item list that stays empty with the switch off.
- Download PeakFlow Setup 1.6.5 from the homepage, because the 1.3.1 installer is the old file.
- Learn Win+Shift+S for a snip, Win+X for the quick menu, plus Win+. for emoji, because a Mac hand reaches for those.
The longer map, including Rectangle, Alfred, Bartender, and the rest of the Mac apps, is the guide that places each Mac app on Windows, because the six above are only part of it.