Team Software
KnightKrawler uses Google Suite (Docs, Sheets, Slides) for all office related tasks. Additionally, the team uses Canva for most graphic design tasks, but also uses Adobe Photoshop and Illustrator through school licenses available to students, when the need for more powerful tools arise.
Installing Free Software on Team-owned Devices
There are a number of free software applications the team uses. This software may only be installed on laptops owned by the team (not school devices). Installing free software often comes with the risk that extra stuff might get installed. Browser toolbars, helper utilities and other “junk apps” that most people would rather avoid.
KnightKrawler uses Chocolatey.org to install free software on Windows laptops and avoid the extra “bloatware” packages that can come with free software. Chocolatey allows applications to be installed quickly and with greater confidence. The software being installed includes only the applications you desire without any extras. Packages also include a malware check.
Install Chocolatey
Visit https://chocolatey.org/install
Follow the instructions on this page
- Run Windows PowerShell as an administrator (right click PowerShell in the start menu and select run as administrator)
- Run the command specified to to set the execution policy “Set-ExecutionPolicy AllSigned”
- Run the next command listed to install Chocolatey
Install Applications
To install applications you can browse available applications from the community catalog. These packages are prepared by community contributors. While there is malware detection for packages, all packages should be installed at your own risk. Applications installed with Chocolatey use default options, default install locations, and no extra “bloatware” like browser toolbars.
https://community.chocolatey.org/packages
KnightKrawler either currently uses or has used these commands to install helpful programs on our Windows laptops over the years. Once Chocolatey is installed, simply run any of these commands from inside any Powersell window (with Admin privileges) to install the desired apps.
choco install googlechrome
choco install firefox
choco install git
choco install sourcetree
choco install github-desktop
choco install tortoisegit
choco install etcher
choco install paint.net
choco install inkscape
choco install gimp
choco install atom
choco install python
choco install vlc
choco install audacity
choco install ffmpeg
choco install jekyll
choco install vscode
Other software
Not all software can or should be installed with Chocolatey. WPI Lib is software that requires a complex installation. Visual Studio, VS Code, Unity, Android Studio, etc are also examples with complex installations and best installed through official distributions. Chocolatey is best used for freeware, shareware and utility applications. For open source applications with heavy utilization by your team, please consider making a financial contribution to support the developers of these products.