I'm transforming Windows 11 in 2026 using PowerToys – here's how you can too
SOURCE:TechRadar|BY: Darren Allan
If you thought PowerToys was a mysterious suite of high-powered tools for enthusiast tinkerers only, well, think again.
(Image credit: Getty Images)
Maybe you've never heard of PowerToys, or maybe you've seen it mentioned on TechRadar and wondered what it is and whether it might be useful. Perhaps you are a bit more familiar with this suite of tools, and you're aware it's designed for so-called 'power-users' and so you've steered well clear, as that makes it sound kind of complicated and techie.
Let's kick off by addressing these points. PowerToys is a collection of utilities from Microsoft itself – an official add-on pack, if you will, for Windows 11 (and 10) that brings all sorts of extra functionality into the mix.
There are some nifty tools in PowerToys for everyday users – people scared of the BIOS, even – that can make a real difference to their daily computing experiences. Having never used PowerToys before, I've just taken the plunge and picked out the best utilities that are easy to use and add powerful functionality to Windows.
I'm expecting these tools to remain on my Windows 11 and 10 PCs to make my life easier in 2026 in a myriad of ways – and there's no reason why you can't benefit from them, too. Here's what you need to do, and which tools I recommend the most after my experimentation with PowerToys.
First things first: install PowerToys
(Image credit: Microsoft)
PowerToys is a suite of tools from Microsoft that's compatible with Windows 10 (version 2004 – the May 2020 Update – or newer) and Windows 11. You'll need to download the installer from the Microsoft Store, or there's also a download from GitHub. I'd advise most people to keep things simple and get PowerToys from the Microsoft Store, as that way they'll receive automatic updates (with the Universal Windows Platform or UWP version).
GitHub offers a traditional app install (Win32 rather than UWP), and if you're more confident in your computing knowledge you can go that route – just make sure you choose the correct version for your PC. You want the 'per user' installation, of the x64 variety for a traditional AMD or Intel PC, or Arm64 installer for a laptop with an Arm chip like Qualcomm's Snapdragon X.
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When the installer is downloaded, double-click it to run the setup process (which involves another download) as normal, and follow any instructions presented – although you shouldn't have to do anything much except wait. When the installation is finished, the 'welcome' introductory panel will pop up, and the PowerToys Home page, too.
You can read the welcome info, which introduces the various tools – the PowerToys themselves – complete with illustrative video clips of how they work. One thing to note here is that in the 'General' tab of the welcome window, PowerToys may flag up shortcut conflicts – click on the button to see them (if there are any). If they pertain to a PowerToys utility that you're planning on using, you may have to redefine the key combo for that PowerToy, or the Windows shortcut it's clashing with (but generally the latter can't be remapped). Click the pen icon next to the shortcut combo to redefine it.
After that, you can head to the Home panel where there's a list of all the PowerToys utilities on the right. Clicking any given ability will show you more details on it, along with extra options (Image Resizer, for example, can have custom preset image sizes), and it'll show you the shortcut key combo to use the tool (which you can change if you wish, using the pen icon as mentioned). Don't worry too much about the options, which can be complex for some tools – if you're not sure, just skip over them and leave them at their defaults.
If the slider is on for any given feature in the list of tools, that utility is enabled and sitting in the background waiting to be used – and if it's off, obviously enough, that tool is dormant and can't be used. By default, there are seven tools switched on (in PowerToys version 0.96.1 as downloaded from the Microsoft Store at the time of writing).
Each tool will use a bit of your system resources if it's operational and waiting in the background, so you definitely don't want to go switching them all on. A lot of these are for developers or power-users only – such is the nature of PowerToys – and you won't need to go near many of these features. Having them on would be a waste of RAM, CPU and other resources. However, as I said at the outset, some of these utilities are very handy for general everyday users like you and me, and that's what we're focusing on here.
So, I'd advise you to approach PowerToys like this: firstly, switch off all the tools that are on by default. Then enable the ones I've highlighted below, which are the lean and useful abilities that'll make Windows 11 (or 10) a better place for everyone (at least in my opinion). If you don't like the sound of any particular choice, though, you don't have to use it.
I'm going to make this set of core recommendations, and follow up with a final section on more niche tools that some folks may want to use, depending on their exact needs or PC setup. So, let's kick off with…
1. PowerToys Run
(Image credit: Microsoft)
If you use just one tool with PowerToys, it should be Run. This is a quick launcher for Windows, but it effectively acts as an impressive replacement for Windows search.
Summon Run by pressing the Alt key + spacebar and you get a panel that you can type in, one that acts as a more performant and honed search process compared to Windows 11 (or 10). It'll bring up files and apps on your PC in a jiffy.
Note that if you want to just search for files on your PC, use a '?' ahead of the search query – so to find any files on your drives with, say, TechRadar in the name, type the following:
? TechRadar
You can just type the word, of course, without the question mark, but you will also get other non-file results (apps and so forth).
What's great about Run is that it works better than Windows default search in terms of accuracy, and it's cleaner – and faster. Indeed, for some people running older PCs where Windows might take some time to load, say, the Start menu in order to fire up an app, hitting Alt key + spacebar will see the Run panel pop up much more quickly, letting you start the app you're after in a swifter fashion.
Note that as Microsoft now advises in PowerToys, Run is being upgraded to Command Palette, another utility which may eventually take over from this tool. But for now, I'd stick with Run as a super-lean search feature, because Command Palette is still something of a work in progress, and has complexity that you may not need.
2. Peek
This one's simple: press the spacebar with a file selected and you'll get a sneak peek of a preview without having to open it.
For example, choose a photo, hit space, and a preview window showing the picture will spring up without having to wait for it to load in your photo editing app. Nifty.
Say you have a compact keyboard that has no Print Screen key (as it was removed to save space), so for taking a screenshot with Print Screen, you're required to use a function key combo that you struggle to remember and isn't very convenient. What you can do instead is remap a key you don't use to be Print Screen.
To do this, just fire up Keyboard Manager in PowerToys, go to 'Remap a key' and click the 'Select' button. Now press the key you want to redefine for screenshot duties – say the backtick (grave accent) key, above Tab, which is rarely used by many folks – then in the dropdown menu under 'Send Key/Shortcut' select Print Screen. When you press backtick now, you'll get a screenshot.
If you want to do another key remap, you can click the 'Add key remapping' button and define a second choice, and so on. To delete any key remap you don't want anymore, click the bin icon on the right.
4. Image Resizer
This is a useful addition to File Explorer's context-sensitive (right-click) menu within Windows 11's folders.
With it turned on, when you right-click on any image file you'll see the ability to 'Resize with Image Resizer' – select that and choose from the preset sizes, and voila, you have an instantly larger (or more compact) picture file. This can be quite the timesaver as it means you don't have to mess around in an image editor (or wait for it to load).
5. Light Switch
(Image credit: Microsoft)
Turn on Light Switch (ahem) in PowerToys to use its Mode ability, which lets you put a timer on dark mode for Windows. Choose 'Fixed hours' to set the time you want dark mode to automatically come on, and then turn off, so you don't have to change it manually.
Alternatively, choose 'Sunset to sunrise' and specify your location to have your PC automatically turn on dark mode when evening rolls around, when it's needed (there's an offset timer to tweak this slightly, if required, depending on your personal preference).
This is a very handy ability macOS users have which sadly isn't present in Windows 11, and frankly, I don't understand why it isn't a default feature in Microsoft's OS. Still, you can get the benefit of it using PowerToys.
Windows 11 users won't need this, as they have the same functionality present in the Snipping Tool, so they can use that instead (as PowerToys will inform you if you're running the newest Microsoft OS). However, if you're on Windows 10, Snipping Tool doesn't have text extraction.
It's a powerful feature that lets you grab text from anywhere on the screen (such as from within images). To use Text Extractor, press Windows key + Shift + T together and you'll get a crosshair – use that to draw a box around the text you want copied to the clipboard. You can then paste it into a document or wherever it's needed.
Other PowerToys you may want to play with
(Image credit: Microsoft)
If you want to go a bit further with Microsoft's suite of utilities, aside from the highlights picked out above, you may also want to try the following PowerToys.
File Locksmith is a small addition that could be useful. Have you ever tried to delete (or move) a file in Windows and been told that you can't because it's being used by an unspecified program? The 'Unlock with File Locksmith' option in the right-click menu of the file will tell you what process is using it, so you can end that process (or potentially multiple processes), allowing you to perform the file operation.
Find My Mouse (one of a few mouse utilities) lets you find your mouse cursor should you lose it (this does happen, trust me, if you haven't ever experienced it). Turn on 'Enable Find My Mouse' and you can shake the mouse to have the cursor highlighted, or press the (left) Control key twice (that keyboard method can be redefined).
Also, on the subject of that peripheral, there's Mouse Without Borders which lets you use your mouse (and keyboard) across multiple PCs (when you link them using a security key in PowerToys). This is a bit more complex – find the instructions here – but it's a smart feature if you do need it.
One final recommendation is FancyZones, which is a tool that some Windows users swear by for multi-tasking, allowing you to build your own custom layouts to easily snap app windows into.
This goes beyond Snap Layouts and there's a huge amount of depth and customization you can tinker with in terms of how FancyZones works. This won't be for everyone by any means, and like Mouse Without Borders, this is going to be more of a niche proposition.
By all means check out some of the other tools in PowerToys yourself, but bear in mind that many are pitched at more complex use cases and really are designed for power-users.
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Darren is a freelancer writing news and features for TechRadar (and occasionally T3) across a broad range of computing topics including CPUs, GPUs, various other hardware, VPNs, antivirus and more. He has written about tech for the best part of three decades, and writes books in his spare time (his debut novel - 'I Know What You Did Last Supper' - was published by Hachette UK in 2013).
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