Microsoft has a lot of tools for Windows 10 and 11 users, but there are a few that are especially important. Here is a list of the most important Microsoft tools for Windows 10 and 11:
- OneDrive: OneDrive is an online storage service that lets you store files and folders on your computer, as well as access them from any device. You can also use OneDrive to share files with other people, or to store files on your computer if you have an account with Microsoft Office 365.
- Cortana: Cortana is a voice-activated assistant that helps you manage your devices and settings, find information about the things you care about, and get help with tasks like setting up new devices or changing settings on old ones. She’s also available in English and Spanish.
- Windows Defender: Windows Defender is a security software that helps protect your computer from viruses, malware, and other threats. It’s available in both free and paid versions.
- Xbox Live Gold: Xbox Live Gold is a subscription service that gives you access to features like online multiplayer games, streaming video content, and more. You can also use it to buy games or add friends to your game group.
How to Get Microsoft PowerToys
You can download PowerToys from the Microsoft Store or get an installer directly from GitHub and enable the features you want from within the PowerToys Settings application. It’s free and open-source. If you’re using GitHub, download the “PowerToysSetup” EXE file from the website and double-click it to install it.
You can launch PowerToys from your Start menu, and it will remain running in the background.
To access PowerToys settings after installing and launching the application, locate the PowerToys icon in the notification area (system tray) on your taskbar, right-click it, and select “Settings.”
Always on Top, to Make Any Windows Always-on-Top
Microsoft’s Always on Top PowerToy offers an easy way to make any window always on top. Just press Windows+Ctrl+T and the window will be on top of all your other windows until you undo the change with Windows+Ctrl+T.
When you use the shortcut, the window made always-on-top will get a blue border and a notification sound will play. You can disable these, if you like, and also change the keyboard shortcut to anything else.
It’s a lot more convenient than third-party utilities for making windows always on top.
Mouse Utilities, to Find Your Mouse and Track Clicks
It can sometimes be hard to spot your mouse, especially if you’re using a high-resolution display. Mouse Utilities adds two keyboard shortcuts that make this easier: Find My Mouse and Mouse Highlighter.
To use Find My Mouse, double-tap the Ctrl key. Most of your screen will gray out, leaving behind a light circle spotlighting the position of your mouse cursor.
Mouse Highlighter leaves behind a colored circle every time you click. To activate and deactivate it, press Windows+Shift+H by default—you can change this key combination in the Mouse Highlighter settings, too.
Video Conference Mute, to Toggle Your Mic and Webcam
The Video Conference Mute PowerToy gives you universal (global) keyboard shortcuts for quickly muting your microphone and turning off your camera. They work in every Windows application, not just video conferencing tools like Zoom, Microsoft Teams, and Google Meet.
By default, you can press Windows+Shift+Q to mute your camera and microphone, Windows+Shift+A to mute just your microphone, or Windows+Shift+O to mute your camera. When you do, a floating toolbar will appear, reminding you you’ve disabled your inputs with the Video Conference Mute tool and giving you a quick way to re-enable them
Power Toys has a variety of settings that let you configure which microphone and webcam it disables and change these keyboard shortcuts to anything else you’d prefer.
Awake, a Quick Way to Stop Your PC From Sleeping
Whether you’re downloading a file or performing another long-running task, sometimes you just don’t want your PC to go to sleep. You can go into Settings and tell Windows to never sleep, wait for the task to complete, and then go back into Settings and change the setting back. Of course, that’s a lot of clicks—and it’s easy to forget to re-enable sleep mode.
PowerToys Awake gives you a quick notification area icon that lets you control sleep settings. You can have your PC never go to sleep until you tell it not to. Or, you can configure your PC to only stay awake until a predetermined time you set.
RELATED: How to Temporarily Stop Your Windows PC from Sleeping
Color Picker, a Speedy System-Wide Color Picker
People who work with graphics, from web designers to photographers and graphics artists, often have to identify a specific color and use it. That’s why tools like Adobe Photoshop have a color picker (eyedrop) tool that lets you point your mouse cursor at part of an image to identify precisely what color it is.
Color Picker is an eyedrop tool that works anywhere on your system. After enabling it in PowerToys, press Win+Shift+C to open it anywhere. You’ll see the color code displayed in both hex and RGB so you can use it in other programs.
Click once and the hex color code will be copied to your clipboard so you can paste it. If you prefer RGB, you can open the Color Picker screen in the PowerToys Settings window and choose to instead copy the RGB color code when you click.
PowerToys Run, a Quick Application Launcher
PowerToys Run is a text-based application launcher with a search feature. Unlike the classic Windows Run dialog (Win+R), it has a search feature. Unlike the Start menu’s search box, it’s all about launching things on your computer instead of searching the web with Bing.
In addition to applications, PowerToys Run can quickly find files. It can even find and switch to open windows—just search for their window title.
To open it, press Alt+Space. This keyboard shortcut is customizable from the PowerToys Run pane in PowerToys Settings.
Start typing for a phrase to search for applications, files, and even open windows. Use the arrow keys to select an item in the list (or just keep typing to narrow it down) and press Enter to launch the application, open the file, or switch to the window.
PowerToys Run has some other features, like an “Open as Administrator” and “Open Containing Folder” button for each option in the list. In the future, it will have plug-ins like a calculator.
Keyboard Manager, for Remapping Keyboard Shortcuts
Keyboard Manager provides an easy interface for remapping single keys on your keyboard and multiple-key shortcuts.
The “Remap Keyboard” tool lets you change a single key to a new key. You can make any key on your keyboard function as any other key—including special function keys. For example, you could turn the Caps Lock key you never use into a Browser Back key for more easily navigating the web.
The “Remap Shortcuts” pane lets you change multiple-key shortcuts into other shortcuts. For example, Win+E normally opens a File Explorer window. You could create a new keyboard shortcut Win+Space that opens a File Explorer window. Your new keyboard shortcuts can override existing keyboard shortcuts built into Windows 10.
PowerRename, a Bulk File Renamer
Microsoft’s PowerToys include a batch renaming tool named “PowerRename.” With this feature enabled, you can right-click one or more files or folders in File Explorer and select “PowerRename” in the context menu to open it.
The PowerRename tool window will appear. You can use the text boxes and checkboxes to quickly batch rename files. For example, you can remove words from a file name, replace phrases, add numbers, change multiple file extensions at once, and more. You can even use regular expressions. The preview pane will help you fine-tune your renaming settings before you go through with renaming the files
This utility is much simpler than most of the third-party batch rename tools available for Windows.
Image Resizer, a Bulk Image Resizer
PowerToys offers a quick image resizer that integrates with File Explorer. With it enabled, select one or more image files in File Explorer, right-click them, and select “Resize Pictures.”
The Image Resizer window will open. You can then choose a size for the image files or enter a custom size in pixels. By default, the tool will create resized copies of the selected image files, but you can also have it resize and replace the original files. You can even click the “Settings” button and configure advanced options like image encoder quality settings.
This tool is a quick way to resize one or more image files without opening a more complicated application.
FancyZones, a Zone-Based Window Manager
FancyZones is a window manager that lets you create layouts of “zones” for windows on your desktop. Windows normally lets you “snap” windows in a 1×1 or 2×2 arrangement. FancyZones lets you create more complex layouts.
By default, you can press Windows+` (that’s a grave character, the key above the Tab key) to open the Zone Editor. Then, while dragging and dropping a window, you can press and hold the Shift key (or another mouse button, like your right mouse button) to see the zones. Drop a window in a zone and it’ll snap to that layout on your screen.
FancyZones offers a quick way of setting up complex window layouts without carefully resizing each window. Just drop windows into the zones. You can configure all of its many options and keyboard shortcuts by opening the PowerToys Settings window and clicking “FancyZones” in the sidebar.
Shortcut Guide, for Windows Key Shortcuts
Windows is packed with keyboard shortcuts that use the Windows key. For example, did you know that you can press Windows+E to open a File Explorer window, Windows+i to open a Settings window, or Windows+D to show your desktop? You can also press Windows+1 to activate the first application shortcut from the left on your taskbar, Windows+2 to activate the second, and so on.
The Windows Key Shortcut Guide will help you learn and remember these shortcuts. With it enabled, you can hold the Windows key on your keyboard down for about one second to view an overlay that displays common shortcuts. Release the key to dismiss the overlay.
File Explorer Add-ons, for More Previews
File Explorer has a preview pane, which can show previews of images and other file types directly in File Explorer. Press Alt+P in File Explorer to show or hide it. Select a file and you’ll immediately see a preview.
With the various File Explorer Add-ons enabled in PowerToys, Windows will be able to show previews of SVG (scalable vector graphics) images, documents formatted in Markdown, PDF documents, and G-code files (used by 3D printers).
What Happened to Window Walker?
Window Walker is a text-based Alt+Tab alternative with a search feature. To open it, press Ctrl+Win. You’ll see a text box appear.
Start typing a phrase to search for open windows that match it. For example, if you have multiple Chrome browser windows open, you can type “Chrome” and you’ll see a list of them. Use the arrow keys to scroll through the windows and press Enter to select one.
This tool can be very helpful if you have a lot of windows open and are digging for one in particular. For example, if you have ten different browser windows open and you’re looking for one that’s showing a particular website, you can press Ctrl+Tab, start typing the name of the website, and find the browser window displaying that website.
The PowerToys package isn’t done yet, and Microsoft has more tools planned before the 1.0 release. We’ll keep this article updated with new features as they’re released.
RELATED: Master Windows 10’s Alt+Tab Switcher with These Tricks
