UWPLauncher

In an attempt to create their own ecosystem designed to compete with Apple’s unrivaled walled gardens, Microsoft developed the Universal Windows Platform, a concept that lets programmers create a single app template that works across their desktop, tablet, phone, gaming console, mixed reality, enterprise and IOT-type devices for a unified and seamless user experience based on familiarity and ease of use. Those who want to access and manage the list of UWP programs installed on their system in a more accessible format can try out a neat utility known as UWPLauncher.

Once installed, launching the app greets users to a straightforward interface featuring the quintessential command ribbon housing some of its core functions, including a handy link to the project’s online repository where the most up-to-date usage guides can be inspected, if necessary. As soon as the list with the automatically detected programs installed on the system is populated, users seeking to avoid Windows’ latest iteration of the Start Menu can select the most frequently used ones, and start creating desktop shortcuts to suit their particular style of workflow.

Despite Steam’s impressive catalog of titles, certain UWP-based games can only be found on the Microsoft Store, which is meant to facilitate the installation and management of their respective packages. As such, those who want to access all of their games using Valve’s launcher can do so through UWPLauncher’s dedicated shortcut that adds the selected titles to Steam.

Moreover, whenever a certain app starts exhibiting anomalous behavior, users can also clear up its data, similarly to Android’s troubleshooting options, in order to force the program to start up from scratch and re-enter the login credentials, if necessary.

Whether you want to start up your most frequently used UWP programs in their dedicated immersive full-screen mode to make the most of the available screen real estate, or you simply wish to extract its icons with ease to include in professional reviews, UWPLauncher can be of great use, especially considering its optional portable format for those with on-the-go setups and accessible interface.