Home windows isn’t the identical with out Microsoft PowerToys—a collection of utilities filled with useful options, together with a Highlight-like search bar to rapidly open apps or run calculations, a shortcut that instantly mutes your microphone and turns off the webcam, and a device that permits you to maintain any app’s window pinned to the display. The entire PowerToys instruments are free—listed below are our favorites.
Video Convention Mute
There’s nothing extra embarrassing than not realizing your webcam and microphone are on, however Video Convention Mute provides you a keyboard shortcut to instantly mute your self, one other shortcut to show off your webcam, and a 3rd one to show each off. Since it is a world keyboard shortcut, it applies throughout video conferencing apps, and also you solely have to recollect one or two shortcuts as a substitute of a separate set of instructions for every app.
Discover My Mouse
Obtained your self a big monitor or two? One of many greatest issues with this sort of a setup is discovering the tiny mouse cursor. I’m perpetually dropping my cursor on my ultra-wide monitor, so there’s no utility I exploit greater than Discover My Mouse. To search out your cursor, press the left Ctrl key twice.
All the time On Prime
As a author, I usually wish to maintain my writing app pinned to the display whereas I consult with screenshots or open apps to precisely describe the options I’m writing about. That’s why All the time On Prime has been extraordinarily helpful for me. Should you’re a scholar who likes to take notes from movies or PDF paperwork, you’ll get pleasure from this utility, too. The default shortcut to allow or disable All the time On Prime is Home windows Key + Ctrl + T.
FancyZones
A few of us are very specific about window administration. If you’re one in every of us, then FancyZones helps you create neat zones on the display and means that you can prepare a number of home windows into these zones. When you’ve chosen a structure in FancyZones, press and maintain the Home windows key whereas dragging home windows round till they snap into the structure of your selection.
Picture Resizer
Picture Resizer means that you can rapidly resize photographs by right-clicking and altering to a unique decision. You possibly can even add a customized decision right here to suit your wants. Picture Resizer can’t change Photoshop fully, however for lots of people, it’s a light-weight and free solution to execute the duty effectively.
PowerRename
PowerRename is the utility that permits you to rename a bunch of information in bulk. Choose a gaggle of information in Home windows Explorer, right-click them, and choose PowerRename. It has toggles to pick out if you wish to capitalize every phrase or observe uppercase or lowercase file names. You may as well add a quantity to every chosen file.
PowerToys Run
Mac customers have lengthy used Highlight seek for every thing from opening apps to performing calculations. PowerToys Run brings that function to Home windows. The shortcut is Alt + Spacebar.
Awake
If you wish to cease your PC from going into sleep mode, allow the Awake utility in PowerToys. It does one factor, and does it effectively. You possibly can select if you wish to maintain the display on or not, and choose if you wish to maintain the PC awake completely or briefly.
