October is the spookiest time of the year, but there are ways to celebrate apart from dressing up or going to haunts. Developer Joe Finney has turned October into “Tray-tober” by releasing a system tray utility each day throughout the month. All of the projects are on GitHub and available to try for free.
Rather than linking 28 separate utilities, I’ll just point you to the Tray-tober page managed by Finney. It has a calendar with links to each tool.
It’s easy to overlook parts of Windows 11, such as the taskbar, quick settings area, and system tray. Many people leave them set to their system defaults and only interact with them occasionally. But much like a bag on Halloween, Windows 11’s system tray can be filled with goodies.
The tools shared by Finney live in the system tray, though they aren’t all focused solely on productivity. For example, Tray Battleship, which brings the classic board game to the system tray, shipped on October 3.
If you agree and like small cool apps in Windows, check out my project where I launched a new Windows tray utility every day in October!https://t.co/I2LKSk1hCGOctober 28, 2026
Other tools from Finney include Tray Converter for converting units, Trayulator (a calculator), and Tray Nudge, which reminds you to complete tasks.
TrayRadar shows you a weather forecast from NOAA, and Traysky lets you scroll through Bluesky right from the system tray. Finney has created quite the library of tools to try.
Since we’re close to the end of October, almost all of the system tray tools have shipped. Only three more remain, and I’m curious to see what they are. Perhaps Tray Connect 4 is on the way?
One of my favorite tools is PowerDisplay, which is part of PowerToys. It allows you to adjust the brightness of your external monitor without reaching around for physical buttons. I keep it pinned to the system tray for quick access. Now, I can sneak in a quick game of battleship after adjusting the brightness of my monitor.
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