Microsoft PowerToys for Windows 10 & 11
Did you know Microsoft has a free add-on for Windows 10 & 11 called PowerToys? You can find it in the Microsoft Store (link below), it adds some powerful features to Windows which help increase productivity.
Here are some of our favourites –
Image Resizer
This tool can be very useful when sharing photos as camera phones create very large image files due to their high megapixel lenses. In many cases the high level of detail is not required, in these situations you can resize the image to the preset size ‘Large’ which a very respectable 1920×1080 (1080p), the filesize will reduce to a more email friendly size while maintaining a great image quality.
How To Use
Right click on the image(s) in question, select Resize pictures and select the required size. It will then make a copy of the image in the size required.
Always On Top
This allows a window to always be on top of all the others. We find this useful to keep applications such as calculator and notepad visible when you are busy multitasking.
How to Use
Press Ctrl+Win+T to pin or unpin the selected window so it’s always on top of all other windows. A border will surround the application in question, the colour and thickness is configurable within PowerToys settings.
Awake
This is a convenient way to ensure your PC/Laptop remains on without having to adjust power settings.
How to use
You can enable/disable Awake within the PowerToys settings window and then set the mode as required.
PowerToys Run
Have you ever found that the Windows search sometimes doesn’t find the applications you were looking for? PowerToys Run is a very handy little tool which will get the job done. It also has a few tricks up its sleeve including a built in calculator, unit converter and allows you to run Shell commands.
How to Use
Press Alt+Space and type your search or command in the bar – its that easy!
Microsoft PowerToys is available in the Microsoft Store – https://aka.ms/getPowertoys
More info can be found here – https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/powertoys/
