The usual narrative is that a Windows user switches to Linux and then complains about the app gap.That said, I’ve been using Linux for over 10 years, and when I switch back to Windows, I notice an app gap, too — in both functionality and quality.Add How-To Geek on Google Add as Preferred Source Follow on Google Discover Now, I’ve already published a post covering Linux-exclusive apps that do a better job than their Windows counterparts, but there were enough left over to warrant a round two.
So, here are three more apps that are only available on Linux and unlock a whole new dimension of computing that you've never experienced on Windows.Flatseal and Warehouse Exercise complete control over your installed apps Close Flatpaks have become a popular way to install apps on Linux, especially if you’re using an immutable distro like Fedora Silverblue or Bazzite.In fact, many people get all their Linux apps from Flathub — the official repository for Flatpaks.
Now, apart from being distro agnostic, one of the main benefits of Flatpaks is that each app runs in its own sandboxed environment, and you have granular control over what it has access to.You can control which parts of your system the app can access, including your files, devices, and network.Typically, you’d manage these permissions using the terminal, but you can also use Flatseal and Warehouse — two graphical apps that make managing Flatpaks much easier.
First up, we have Flatseal.It lets you view and manage permissions for all your Flatpaks.For example, I’ve installed Discord as a Flatpak and can use Flatseal to block its access to my file system.
I also use Super Productivity, a powerful offline task management app, and have configured it to access just one directory while disabling its internet access altogether.Then there’s Warehouse, which focuses more on housekeeping for your Flatpaks.It lets you manage their remotes, roll back to a previous version if an update breaks something, and even prevent specific apps from updating.
However, my favorite feature is its ability to clear leftover files after you uninstall a Flatpak, ensuring that unnecessary app data doesn't take up storage space.On Windows, you don’t get anywhere near this level of control over your apps.The Settings app does offer some options for limiting app access to your microphone or camera, but that’s mostly it.
You don’t get the same granular control over an app’s access to your file system and other system resources that you get with Flatpaks on Linux.Related Stop wasting time on mediocre Flatpaks—here are 5 genuinely useful apps worth installing Five useful Flatpak apps that deserve more attention—so I’m giving them some.Posts 1 By Dibakar Ghosh Timeshift (or Snapper) Break whatever you want, then roll back like nothing happened Close Both Windows and Linux are susceptible to buggy updates and system-level tweaks that break things, but Linux offers better tools for dealing with these problems.
One of the most popular options is Timeshift, which is available on almost all Linux distros.It can automatically create snapshots of your system files on a set schedule.Granted, you can also configure it to include your home directory, but I’d recommend leaving it out.
That way, when you roll back to an older snapshot, only your system files are restored, while your documents, images, save files, and other personal data in your home directory remain untouched.Then there’s Snapper, which, in my opinion, is better and more powerful — especially when paired with distros running the Btrfs file system like openSUSE, Garuda, CachyOS, and Arch Linux.It takes advantage of the native copy-on-write (CoW) feature in Btrfs, which makes creating snapshots fast and space-efficient.
Snapper can also integrate with supported Linux bootloaders, allowing you to boot into an earlier system state straight from the boot menu if something goes wrong.You can also configure it such that you can boot into an older snapshot to check whether it's working properly before restoring it.Related This Linux storage feature feels like cheating once you understand it This is what happens when your file system learns accounting tricks! Posts 3 By Umair Khurshid However, one of the best things about both Timeshift and Snapper is that you can configure them to automatically create snapshots before system updates or package installations.
That way, if an update causes problems or a package breaks your system, you can restore to an earlier state instead of troubleshooting everything from scratch.In comparison, the traditional Windows System Restore feature is often disabled by default on most installations.If enabled, it run automatically and create restore points before certain updates and software installations, but not for all of them.
There’s no built-in way to boot into a restore point to test it before committing.And there’s also the fact that if you’ve ever used System Restore before, you probably already know it’s not the most reliable safety net.The newer Point-in-time Restore feature is generally considered more reliable, but it’s still relatively bare-bones compared to Linux snapshot tools.
It typically creates one snapshot every 24 hours and retains snapshots for up to 72 hours by default.Also, the snapshots are designed to capture the full system state, so rolling back can also undo changes to files, apps, and settings made after the selected restore point.Related The 200GB catch hiding in Windows 11's new recovery feature Point-in-time restore sounds great, but you might need to enable it manually if your system partition is too small.
Posts By Goran Damnjanovic KVM/QEMU and virt-manager Virtualize whatever OS you need with near-native performance Virtual machines (VMs) are really useful, mainly for creating a sandboxed environment to test software, try out different operating systems, and run apps exclusive to those systems.You can even build a completely virtualized workflow where your main operating system’s only job is to run the virtual machines you do your real work in — and if you want to create something similar, Linux is the place to be.On Linux, you get KVM (Kernel-based Virtual Machine), which turns Linux into a hypervisor, so VMs can use your CPU’s hardware virtualization features.
It works with QEMU, which emulates the hardware a VM needs, and Virtual Machine Manager (virt-manager), a graphical app for creating and managing QEMU/KVM virtual machines.Together, they form the most powerful virtualization stack I’ve personally used.It can run most x86 operating systems with near-native performance, especially with GPU passthrough, which lets you dedicate your entire graphics card to the VM.
That means you can run a base Debian system, set up a Windows 11 VM with GPU passthrough, and play most of your favorite games on it.Related This simple CachyOS feature lets me use Windows without dual-booting There are fewer and fewer reasons for me to use Windows.Posts 9 By Nick Lewis Now, Windows supports virtualization, too, but it isn’t nearly as powerful or flexible.
Its first-party hypervisor, Hyper-V, is only available on the Pro, Enterprise, and Education editions of Windows 11.So, if you’re on Windows 11 Home — which most PCs ship with — you don’t get the full Hyper-V hypervisor.Also, even on editions that include Hyper-V, full PCIe GPU passthrough isn't supported for desktop VMs, as Microsoft limits Discrete Device Assignment to Windows Server hardware.
The closest you’ll get to running Linux apps on Windows with proper GPU acceleration is WSL (Windows Subsystem for Linux).However, it’s geared more toward Linux development tools and command-line apps.You can run graphical Linux apps through WSLg, but it’s been buggy in my experience.
Also, there’s no officially supported way to run a full Linux desktop through WSL.Granted, you do have third-party apps like VirtualBox and VMware Workstation, but they’re also available on Linux, so they aren’t really an advantage for Windows.Plus, neither of them offers PCIe GPU passthrough the way KVM/QEMU does.
Linux gives you more control over your system Flatseal, Warehouse, Timeshift, Snapper, KVM/QEMU, and virt-manager all let you do things that Windows either can’t do or can only do in a very limited way.Granted, most of these tools require a little setup, but if you’re willing to spend a weekend afternoon getting everything configured, you’ll have a more powerful personal computer than you ever had with Windows.Related I let Claude customize my Linux PC—and it did a better job than I ever could If you already let Claude write your code, why not let it write your dotfiles too? Posts 8 By Dibakar Ghosh
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