PowerToys (Windows)
Microsoft’s free utility bundle — window layouts, a launcher, key remapping, and screen OCR.
PowerToys is an open-source collection of small utilities in one app. Turn on only the modules you need.
Install
winget install Microsoft.PowerToys
Modules worth enabling
| Module | What it does |
|---|---|
| FancyZones | Split the screen into a grid and snap windows into it |
| PowerToys Run | An Alt+Space launcher for apps, files, calculations, commands |
| Keyboard Manager | Remap keys and shortcuts |
| Text Extractor | OCR text from anywhere on screen (Win+Shift+T) |
| PowerRename | Bulk rename with regular expressions |
| Always On Top | Pin a window (Win+Ctrl+T) |
| Color Picker | Sample a colour (Win+Shift+C) |
| Awake | Temporarily prevent sleep |
FancyZones
Open the editor with Win+Shift+\``, build a layout, then hold Shift` while dragging a
window to snap it into a zone. Fixing three windows at a 3:5:4 ratio on a wide monitor
removes dragging-to-resize from your day entirely.
Enable “move windows between zones with the arrow keys” in settings and Win+arrow
works too.
Keyboard Manager
The most common use is repurposing CapsLock.
| From | To | Why |
|---|---|---|
| CapsLock | Ctrl | Less wrist strain; useful for Vim users |
| CapsLock | Esc | For Vim/Neovim |
| Insert | (nothing) | Stops accidental overtype mode |
It also supports per-application remapping, so a key can behave differently in one program.
PowerRename
Select several files, right-click, PowerRename.
| Search | Replace | Result |
|---|---|---|
IMG_(\d+) | photo_$1 | IMG_0231.jpg → photo_0231.jpg |
| _ | Spaces to underscores |
(.*)\.jpeg | $1.jpg | Normalise the extension |
Capture groups ($1) need the regular expression checkbox on. Check the preview before
applying.
Text Extractor
No more retyping code or an error message out of an image. Win+Shift+T, drag a region,
and the text lands on your clipboard. Especially good for logs that arrived as a
screenshot.
Working with WSL
WSL is the easiest way to get Linux CLI tools on Windows.
wsl --install -d Ubuntu
Afterwards, open an Ubuntu tab in Windows Terminal and every Linux install command on
this site works as written. Files are reachable from Explorer at
\\wsl$\Ubuntu\home\<user>.
Next
To collect a project’s commands in one place → Make
Last updated 19 Aug 2026, 00:00 UTC.