PowerToys just dropped its latest update, version 0.93, and it’s full of great changes. The big improvement is that the dashboard has a redesigned Command Palette that looks so much better, but many of the tools are now faster and better than before.
The old dashboard for PowerToys could be a bit tricky to navigate, making it hard to tell which utilities were on or off and making it a hassle to find shortcuts. Now, the new dashboard has a modern, card-based layout that looks a lot like the Windows 11 Settings page. This new design separates quick launching, shortcuts, and utility toggles into organized sections, making everything easier to find at a glance. You can now see what’s on, what’s off, and all your shortcuts right away, and you can even launch utilities directly from the homepage.
Another huge focus of this update was the Command Palette. Microsoft stated its team worked with the community to iron out a bunch of issues and really speed things up. By using Ahead of Time (AOT) compilation in the Windows App SDK, they were able to make some seriously impressive improvements. The installation size was cut by a massive 55%, while startup memory usage dropped by 15% and load time was reduced by 40%.
The built-in extensions also saw a huge speed boost, with their loading time reduced by 70%. This is one of those changes that you might not notice immediately, but if you were to compare the speeds side-by-side, it would feel like night and day. Over 99 issues for the Command Palette were fixed in this release, and some of the most notable changes include the return of Clipboard History, support for keyboard shortcuts in context menus, the ability to pin your favorite apps, and command history for the run extension. This makes the Command Palette not just faster, but also way more functional and accessible.
The Mouse Utilities tool also got a cool new feature with the addition of a Spotlight mode for Mouse Highlighter. By default, Mouse Highlighter draws an ellipse around your cursor. But with Spotlight mode, the entire screen dims, with only the area around your mouse staying bright. This is perfect for anyone who does screen sharing or recording, as it helps direct attention to exactly where the action is. The best part is that you have full control over the dimming color and transparency, so you can customize it to your liking.
Beyond the big features, this update includes a bunch of other smaller improvements. Peek now supports instant previews and embedded thumbnails for Binary G-code (.bgcode) 3D printing files, which is a great addition for anyone working with 3D models. The Quick Accent tool also got an update, with new support for Vietnamese language vowels and the letter d. The development team has also been working on the back end. These are mostly changes that make it easier and faster for the team to test features.
You can download the update now, and if you don’t have PowerToys already, it’s available from the Microsoft Store or GitHub repository.
Source: Microsoft