Newsletter Archives

• PowerToys to manage your window layouts

  Posted on January 13, 2025 at 02:42 CST by Mary Branscombe • Comment in the Forums

  WINDOWS 11

  

  By Mary Branscombe

  Get document and app windows where you want them more easily — with some help from Microsoft’s free utilities.

  Some of the utilities in PowerToys are powerful tools you might need only once every few years, but there’s one I use dozens of times a day because it’s so useful. You might already be using a version of it that’s built into Windows 11!

  Read the full story in our Plus Newsletter (22.02.0, 2025-01-13).

  Windows 11 FancyZones, Metro Apps, Newsletters, PowerToys, Snap Layouts, Windows 8, Workspaces

• Microsoft PowerToys aren’t just for power users

  Posted on July 29, 2024 at 02:43 CDT by Mary Branscombe • Comment in the Forums

  WINDOWS 11

  

  By Mary Branscombe

  Microsoft keeps adding useful tools to the free PowerToys set and improving what’s already there.

  Back in the Windows 95 days, system tweaking and cleaning utilities were so common — and so likely to change system settings that stopped Windows features from working properly — that the Windows shell and kernel teams came out with their own tools, known as PowerToys.

  These were refreshed for Windows XP. A few other Microsoft teams joined in. Engineers on the OneNote development team created multiple power toys, including one that eventually became the Onetastic add-on.

  There were so many changes in Windows Vista and Windows 7 that many PowerToys stopped working. Microsoft didn’t update them. And some just turned into Windows features. It wasn’t until 2019 that PowerToys returned for Windows 10, and with a slightly different approach.

  Read the full story in our Plus Newsletter (21.31.0, 2024-07-29).

  Windows 11 Always On Top, Awake, Color picker, Command Not Found, Crop and Lock, FancyZones, File Locksmith, Hosts File Editor, Image Resizer, Mouse Crosshairs, Mouse without Borders, Newsletters, PowerToys, PowerToys Run, Screen Ruler, Shortcut Guide