[German]A brief information for Windows 10 users. The PowerToys known from Windows 9x will soon be available for Windows 10. The whole thing is now announced as OpenSource.
History of the PowerToys
The PowerToys were free programs for Windows 95/98, to optimize or adapt Windows features. There was the CabView function with which you could view and unpack the contents of CAB archives (today the Explorer can do this). With CDAutoPlay you could start CDs automatically (Windows can also do that in the meantime). The context menu extension Open Command Prompt here also found its way into the later Windows version (you have to press the Shift key to get the context menu command). The Send To function is also included in the context menu of all Windows versions by default. So the PowerToys became redundant in later Windows versions. An overview of the functions of that time can be found on this website.
Restart the project
Inspired by the PowerToys project under Windows 95, some developers have dared a restart. This reboot offers power users ways to get more efficiency out of the Windows 10 shell and customize it for individual workflows. That’s what people write on the GitHub project page. Currently they are working on two tools.
- Maximize to new desktop widget – The MTND widget shows a pop-up button when a user hovers over the maximize / restore button on any window. Clicking it creates a new desktop, sends the app to that desktop and maximizes the app on the new (virtual) desktop.
- Windows key shortcut guide – The shortcut guide appears when a user holds the Windows key down for more than one second and shows the available shortcuts for the current state of the desktop.
The first preview of these utilities and the corresponding source code will be released in summer 2019. (via)