powertoys

PowerToys has quietly eaten a lot of the small, focused utilities that used to be paid staples of the Windows power‑user toolkit — and for many people that means a one‑time purchase or subscription is no longer necessary. A recent XDA piece argued that five paid apps...

Windows 11 is quietly getting a small but genuinely useful input tweak: two new system-wide keyboard shortcuts that insert the en dash (–) and em dash (—) directly while typing, saving writers, editors, and anyone who types punctuation frequently from clumsy Alt‑codes or digging through the...

File Explorer is fine for most people — and with six focused PowerToys add‑ons it can be quietly transformed into a faster, smarter, and more forgiving file manager without leaving the familiar Windows shell. Overview Windows File Explorer has improved over the years, but it still leaves gaps...

Windows ships with a competent baseline of tools, but for users who prefer transparency, control, and long-term maintainability, the open-source alternatives on this How‑To Geek roster are worth considering — this article examines the nine apps the original author installs on every fresh Windows...

Microsoft’s glossy marketing often highlights the big, headline features of Windows 11, but a recent explainer that rounds up “13 features you probably didn’t know about” is a useful reminder: the OS is full of practical, time‑saving tools that rarely make the launch‑pad demo. The original list...

Microsoft PowerToys quietly transforms Windows 11 from a rigid, predictable environment into a highly malleable productivity powerhouse — and once you start using tools like Workspaces, PowerToys Run, FancyZones, Peek, and Keyboard Manager, the OS feels fundamentally different. Toys has evolved...

The snap layouts flyout that appears when you drag a window to the top of the screen can be useful — but for many multi‑monitor users it’s an irritating interruption; Windows 11 exposes a single checkbox that removes that top‑of‑screen UI while leaving snap functionality intact, and this article...

Windows PowerToys is one of those quietly powerful Windows add‑ons: a free, modular toolkit that can shave minutes off everyday tasks for heavy desktop users, but it’s deliberately optional — and for many casual users it’s a luxury rather than a necessity. Background / Overview Windows PowerToys...

Microsoft’s PowerToys 0.93 delivered a much-needed Settings dashboard overhaul and major Command Palette performance wins, but the suite still lacks a unified Settings search—and community work tracked on GitHub plus Microsoft’s own roadmap notes indicate a settings search bar is targeted for...

Microsoft's gradual reinvention of the PowerToys launcher is becoming a serious contender — the Command Palette in PowerToys 0.93 brings measurable performance wins, a cleaner settings dashboard, and a handful of useful built‑in modules — but in practical, day‑to‑day responsiveness and the...

Windows still defaults to the universal language switcher on Win + Space, and while you can change the legacy Left Alt + Shift combination from Settings, disabling or reassigning the Win + Space behavior requires a remapping tool such as Microsoft PowerToys or a third‑party script; this feature...

Windows PowerToys has quietly become one of the most useful free downloads for serious Windows 10 and Windows 11 users, bundling dozens of small, well-crafted utilities that smooth the rough edges of everyday computing and unlock customization that Microsoft doesn’t expose by default. If you’ve...

Windows PowerToys has quietly become one of the smartest productivity bets a Windows power user can make: a free, modular toolkit that plugs measurable short-cuts into everyday workflows while also serving as an incubator for features Microsoft may one day bake into Windows itself. The suite’s...

Microsoft's PowerToys team is preparing a set of small but meaningful usability fixes that aim to remove two of the most common annoyances power users report: hunting for the right toggle inside a growing Settings app, and accidentally quitting the suite when they only meant to hide it. The next...

Microsoft’s week in software was quieter on the surface but consequential under the hood: PowerToys received another maturation-focused release that tightens performance and discoverability, the Microsoft Store tightened rules that affect how developers list and bundle titles, and August’s Patch...

If your Snipping Tool keeps popping up unexpectedly on Windows 11, that small interruption can quickly become a productivity drain — especially when you’re typing, gaming, or presenting. This is a surprisingly common complaint and, in most cases, the cause is a conflict between screenshot...

Microsoft’s Windows could reclaim its place as the undisputed productivity platform in 2025 — but only if Microsoft stops prioritizing marketing nudges and gimmicks and instead delivers focused, enterprise-grade features that solve real workplace pain points now, not sometime next quarter...

Microsoft’s Windows has become maddeningly loud about what it thinks you should do — sign in with a Microsoft account, buy Game Pass, use Copilot+, install OneDrive — yet when it comes to the small, gritty features that actually speed work, the OS still feels stingy and distracted. The...

Windows ships with a respectable set of built‑in utilities, but for many users those apps feel like checkbox features: serviceable, occasionally sluggish, and often lacking the power or polish needed for real work. A compact set of community‑driven, lightweight replacements can dramatically...

PowerToys 0.93 nudges an already indispensable toolkit toward something more professional: a Windows 11–style settings dashboard, a major engineering overhaul of Command Palette that leans on Ahead‑of‑Time (AOT) compilation for tangible speed and footprint gains, a presentation‑ready Spotlight...