{"id":323,"date":"2025-03-06T21:45:00","date_gmt":"2025-03-06T21:45:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.techrepublic.com\/article\/windows-powertoys-cheat-sheet\/"},"modified":"2025-03-06T21:45:00","modified_gmt":"2025-03-06T21:45:00","slug":"microsoft-powertoys-cheat-sheet-how-to-get-it-and-what-can-it-do","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blog.tecnoartesanos.com\/index.php\/2025\/03\/06\/microsoft-powertoys-cheat-sheet-how-to-get-it-and-what-can-it-do\/","title":{"rendered":"Microsoft PowerToys Cheat Sheet: How to Get It, and What Can It Do?"},"content":{"rendered":"

No matter how many features Microsoft crams into its operating system<\/a>, users will always look for a faster, better, or different way of doing things. One example of Microsoft\u2019s acknowledgment of this behavior is Microsoft PowerToys<\/a>. This free download can manage application windows, rename files in bulk, preview file contents, and more.<\/p>\n

This TechRepublic cheat sheet describes each available tool or feature provided by Microsoft PowerToys and describes what each system utility can do.<\/p>\n

<\/span>When was Microsoft PowerToys first made available?<\/span><\/h2>\n

This set of slightly unusual free Windows tools has been part of the Windows operating system landscape since Windows 95. That first set of 15 free utilities was published and endorsed by Microsoft and made available for free download. Their availability was noticeably absent for Windows 10 and Windows 11 \u2014 at least until September 2019.<\/p>\n

With the general release of Microsoft Windows 11<\/a>, developers now refer to this project as Microsoft PowerToys rather than Windows 10 PowerToys.<\/p>\n

From the beginning, PowerToys was designed for \u201cpower users\u201d who were seeking ways to tweak how the operating system functions. In some cases, inexperienced users could make a careless change while using a PowerToys utility, which could wreak havoc within the Windows operating system. As such, novice users have often been encouraged to use caution.<\/p>\n

For the most part, though, PowerToys has allowed users \u2014 whether they considered themselves power users or not \u2014 to more easily tweak the look and feel of Windows without a deep dive into configuration screens or the dreaded and dangerous edit of the Windows Registry file.<\/p>\n

Even in the earliest iterations of PowerToys, Microsoft offered users many valuable functionalities. Windows 95 PowerToys included:<\/p>\n