If you're old enough to remember using Windows 95, then you've probably got fond memories of PowerToys and the enhancements this free set of tools allowed. Now, Microsoft has decided to resurrect PowerToys for Windows 10 and made it an open source project.
PowerToys for Windows 95 was an unofficial collection of free tools for the operating system created by Microsoft developers. They were so useful we all thought they should be a standard feature of Windows, but that wasn't to be. That is, until now.
A new GitHub project has appeared on Microsoft's account called PowerToys this week. Just like with Windows 95, this version of PowerToys is set to offer a collection of tools for "power users" that allow Windows 10 to be tuned and streamlined to your needs. So far, there are two utilities in the form of a desktop maximizer widget and a Windows key shortcut guide.
The "Maximize to new desktop widget" adds a pop-up to the maximize button on a window. The pop-up gives you the option to send the app to its own desktop and to appear there in a maximized state. There's also the "Windows key shortcut guide," which presents a list of available shortcuts when the Windows key is held down for more than one second.
Other tools being considered for the new PowerToys project as listed on GitHub include:
- Full window manager including specific layouts for docking and undocking laptops
- Keyboard shortcut manager
- Win+R replacement
- Better alt+tab including browser tab integration and search for running apps
- Battery tracker
- Batch file re-namer
- Quick resolution swaps in taskbar
- Mouse events without focus
- Cmd (or PS or Bash) from here
- Contents menu file browsing
As this is an open source project, Microsoft will allow anyone to contribute as long as they sign a Contributor License Agreement (CLA). It simply allows Microsoft to confirm you have the right to develop and the company has the right to distribute your work.
Microsoft intends to release the first PowerToys code for the project at some point over the summer, at which point we should be able to start tweaking our Windows 10 installations.