Microsoft unveils resuscitated PowerToys Windows utilities

Microsoft uploads new PowerToys utilities to GitHub for Windows 10 users to play with

Microsoft has released a first preview version of its resuscitated PowerToys utilities for Windows.

PowerToys is intended to provide a suite of operating ‘tweaking' tools similar to the set of freeware tools that Microsoft used to provide for Windows 95 and Windows XP.

Among the tools included in the original PowerToys utilities was TweakUI, a utility that enabled users to tweak obscure Windows settings that might only otherwise be accessible by modifying the Windows Registry.

The revived PowerToys is aimed at Windows 10 users and this time, thanks to CEO Satya Nadella's openness to open source the source code will be available from Microsoft-owned Github. Even at this early stage, it can claim to have been ‘starred' by more than 4000 developers.

The initial preview only contains two apps: a shortcut guide to the keyboard combinations in Windows (which probably ought to have been bundled with Windows 10 in the first place); and, FancyZones, a way of carving up the desktop to keep icons tidy, in a similar way to the third-party application Fences.

"PowerToys is a set of utilities for power users to tune and streamline their Windows experience for greater productivity. Inspired by the Windows 95 era PowerToys project, this reboot provides power users with utilities to squeeze more efficiency out of the Windows 10 shell and customise it for individual workflows," the company explained on the PowerToys GitHub page.

More PowerToys are on the way, including a screen recorder (something that can already be done with the Xbox Game Bar - which no-one uses) and, of course, being open-source, Microsoft should also be more open to ideas as submissions for inclusions into future PowerToy editions.

Currently, ‘Toys' under consideration include a battery usage monitor and a replacement for the ‘Run' window, among others. Anyone interested can try it out by downloading the installer from Github. Although it is part of the Insider Program, you don't need to be an Insider to get to grips with it right now.