The new PowerToys v0.41.2 for Windows 10 released with tool to keep your PC Awake

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powertoys

Microsoft has released version v0.41.2 of their PowerToys utility. Powertoys include a tool to rename files, a keyboard manager and application launcher, image resizer, colour picker, microphone muter, and more.

The update focuses mainly on stability and optimization but also brings a brand-new tool – Awake, which allows Power-Users to now keep their computer awake on demand.

Changelog:

  • Shortcut guide removed support for long Win press to activate. Now supports Win + ? by default
  • Turned off FancyZones canvas editor magnetic snapping to allow keyboard support
  • Updated Color Picker GIF for OOBE.
  • Removed outdated MSIX code
  • Upgraded all projects to Modern WPF 0.94
  • Dropped support for the module interface API to save settings
  • Removed Winstore dependency

General

  • Improved auto-update experience in PowerToys Settings
  • Updated general bug report information to be more robust
  • Improved settings layout for radio button groups. Updated images and menu for OOBE.
  • Localization updates

Awake

  • New Awake utility added! Power-Users can now keep their computer awake on-demand without having to manage its power settings.

Color Picker

  • Improvements to Color Picker’s zoom functionality.
  • Prevent duplicate colors from appearing in selection history
  • Improved UX to better support keyboard navigation.
  • Fixed OOBE hotkey description.

FancyZones

  • Full keyboard support for canvas editor’s main window and context.
  • New support for faster layout selection by double clicking a desired layout from the editor to automatically apply it and dismiss the editor.
  • New zone activation behaviour allows users to snap a window to the zone who’s center is closest to the cursor.
  • Added process icon for FancyZones.
  • Fixed issue with zoning minimized windows.
  • Fixed a bunch of accessibility bugs
  • Now an independent exe, detached from the runner process.

File Explorer Add-Ons

  • Adjusted Markdown newline behaviour to be less strict so the add-on behaves more like GitHub implementations
    Image Resizer
  • Fixed bug with custom size option where leaving a height/width value blank caused the output to be a 1 x 1 square pixel. Now the blank value automatically adjusts to the height/width that was set.

Image Resizer

  • Fixed bug where specifying a width but no height generated a 1×1 px image instead of auto-adjusting the height.

PowerRename

  • Fixed File Explorer crash when running PowerRename

PowerToys Run

  • Multiple crashing bugs resolved.
  • New Unit Converter plugin! Activate in the query prompt with the default activation phrase %%. Ex: %% 10 ft in m.
  • New Windows Settings plugin! Search for specific Windows settings from PowerToys Run by utilizing the default activation phrase $ followed by the desired setting. Ex: $ Add/Remove Programs or $ Device:.
  • Updated the URL plugin to enable quickly launching the default browser with the action keyword, which defaults to //.
  • Added remainder/modulo support for Calculator plugin via % operator.
  • Faster launching from improved Win32 program indexing.
  • Search text results now highlight matched characters from input.

Settings / Welcome to PowerToys

  • Fixed Color Picker’s key-binding information

Shortcut Guide

  • Customize key-binding from settings menu
  • Took Shortcut guide out of the runner process to remove unnecessary interdependencies

Installer

  • Updated .NET Core dependency to 3.1.15
  • Reduced the network traffic by making the updater not download files when they’re already cached

Update: A signing error was fixed and a minor update has been released, taking the bundle to version 0.41.3.

The current version of PowerToys can be found here.

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