Newsletter Archives

• How to manage Microsoft Store apps

  Posted on March 3, 2025 at 02:44 CST by Mary Branscombe • Comment in the Forums

  WINDOWS 11

  

  By Mary Branscombe

  The whole point of the Windows Store is to take the guesswork out of working with Windows applications.

  The Windows Store is now known as the Microsoft Store (henceforth, the “Store”) because it’s also where Xbox users get games and Edge users get browser extensions. If an app is in the Store, it’s supposed to mean that it’s trustworthy and safe to install — no more scouring download sites to work out which is the legitimate app and which might have malware infections.

  Read the full story in our Plus Newsletter (22.09.0, 2025-03-03).

  Windows 11 Microsoft Store, Newsletters, Windows Store

• Make the most of the snipping tools in Windows

  Posted on February 10, 2025 at 02:45 CST by Mary Branscombe • Comment in the Forums

  

  ISSUE 22.06 • 2025-02-10

  WINDOWS 11

  

  By Mary Branscombe

  When you need a record of something you see on screen, Windows has multiple tools — plus ways to get images you saved on other devices, too.

  As usual with Windows, there isn’t just one way to snip, clip, or capture a screenshot of part of your screen. There’s a handful of options in Windows 10 and a more powerful new tool just for Windows 11.

  Windows 10 comes with an update of the Windows 7 Snipping Tool. You can open that from the Start menu, but it’s very basic and has a broken link to Paint 3D.

  Read the full story in our Plus Newsletter (22.06.0, 2025-02-10).
  This story also appears in our public Newsletter.

  Windows 11 Edge, Newsletters, OneNote, Screen capture, Snipping Tool, Windows 10, Windows 11

• PowerToys to manage your window layouts

  Posted on January 13, 2025 at 02:42 CST by Mary Branscombe • Comment in the Forums

  WINDOWS 11

  

  By Mary Branscombe

  Get document and app windows where you want them more easily — with some help from Microsoft’s free utilities.

  Some of the utilities in PowerToys are powerful tools you might need only once every few years, but there’s one I use dozens of times a day because it’s so useful. You might already be using a version of it that’s built into Windows 11!

  Read the full story in our Plus Newsletter (22.02.0, 2025-01-13).

  Windows 11 FancyZones, Metro Apps, Newsletters, PowerToys, Snap Layouts, Windows 8, Workspaces

• The state of OneNote in 2024

  Posted on December 16, 2024 at 02:42 CST by Mary Branscombe • Comment in the Forums

  ONENOTE

  

  By Mary Branscombe

  Next year the OneNote for Windows 10 app reaches end of life. It’s time to check in on how much progress the desktop OneNote version has made in the last 12 months.

  My oldest notes in OneNote are just over 21 years old, starting from a meeting with Microsoft in July 2003 about the shared source initiative that let OEMs look at the Windows codebase. I still use the software in very much the same way today. I take notes in meetings and interviews, I clip in interesting and useful information, and I search for something I remember saving.

  I have OneNote open all the time on my laptop. (It’s also installed on both my phones, one Android and one iPhone.) Although the interface has changed, the core features are much the same as they were five years ago. Like a swan, that slow glide disguises an enormous amount of effort under the surface. But apart from keeping up with Office and Windows 11, how did Microsoft do on delivering the new features it said OneNote was going to get this year?

  Read the full story in our Plus Newsletter (21.51.0, 2024-12-16).

  OneNote Microsoft Office, Newsletters, OneNote, OneNote for Windows 10, Teams

• Make the most of PowerToys Run

  Posted on November 18, 2024 at 02:44 CST by Mary Branscombe • Comment in the Forums

  WINDOWS 11

  

  By Mary Branscombe

  For a faster search — or a replacement for the Windows Start and Search interface — this powerful little search box gives you lots of options.

  Although launching applications from the Start menu or taskbar is the easiest way to do it, sometimes you want the extra control that using the name of a program gives you — such as being able to add command switches to open Word in safe mode (winword.exe /safe) or designating an Excel spreadsheet as read-only (excel.exe /r “c:\downloads\workbook.xlsx”).

  The Windows Run command window (WinKey+R) is the quick way to do that, but the PowerToys Run utility is a much more powerful method, combining search and navigation.

  Read the full story in our Plus Newsletter (21.47.0, 2024-11-18).

  Windows 11 Newsletters, PowerToys, PowerToys Run

• Managing your hardware with PowerToys

  Posted on October 21, 2024 at 02:45 CDT by Mary Branscombe • Comment in the Forums

  

  ISSUE 21.43 • 2024-10-21

  WINDOWS 11

  

  By Mary Branscombe

  Find your mouse pointer, customize your keyboard layout, and shift your focus between multiple computers.

  As screens get bigger and interfaces get busier, spotting your mouse pointer on the screen has gotten trickier. Instead of waggling your mouse or cranking up the cursor size so that it hides what you’re trying to click on when you do find it, you could turn on what used to be called “mouse sonar.” From Windows XP on, there’s been an option in the control panel to show a highlighted ring around the mouse pointer when you press and hold the Ctrl key, just like a target in a submarine’s periscope.

  These days, that feature is actually part of the first PowerToy I’ll discuss, but it now comes with several other helpful options.

  Read the full story in our Plus Newsletter (21.43.0, 2024-10-21).
  This story also appears in our public Newsletter.

  Windows 11 Keyboard Manager, Mouse Utilities, Mouse without Borders, Newsletters, PowerToys, Video Conference Mute, Windows 11

• The best PowerToys for working with text and files

  Posted on September 30, 2024 at 02:43 CDT by Mary Branscombe • Comment in the Forums

  WINDOWS 11

  

  By Mary Branscombe

  A lot of the handy little extras in Microsoft PowerToys make life easier for managing files and coaxing text into the format you want.

  The clipboard for copying and pasting between applications has been around as long as Windows with few improvements. The basic clipboard manager introduced in Windows 10 (the October 2018 update) has far fewer features than third-party tools like 1Clipboard or (my favorite) ClipMate, which can strip complex formatting and special characters, change case, or combine multiple clips.

  Read the full story in our Plus Newsletter (21.40.0, 2024-09-30).

  Windows 11 Advanced Paste, File Explorer add-ons, File Locksmith, Newsletters, Peek, PowerRename, PowerToys, Quick Accent, Text Extractor, Windows

• Microsoft PowerToys aren’t just for power users

  Posted on July 29, 2024 at 02:43 CDT by Mary Branscombe • Comment in the Forums

  WINDOWS 11

  

  By Mary Branscombe

  Microsoft keeps adding useful tools to the free PowerToys set and improving what’s already there.

  Back in the Windows 95 days, system tweaking and cleaning utilities were so common — and so likely to change system settings that stopped Windows features from working properly — that the Windows shell and kernel teams came out with their own tools, known as PowerToys.

  These were refreshed for Windows XP. A few other Microsoft teams joined in. Engineers on the OneNote development team created multiple power toys, including one that eventually became the Onetastic add-on.

  There were so many changes in Windows Vista and Windows 7 that many PowerToys stopped working. Microsoft didn’t update them. And some just turned into Windows features. It wasn’t until 2019 that PowerToys returned for Windows 10, and with a slightly different approach.

  Read the full story in our Plus Newsletter (21.31.0, 2024-07-29).

  Windows 11 Always On Top, Awake, Color picker, Command Not Found, Crop and Lock, FancyZones, File Locksmith, Hosts File Editor, Image Resizer, Mouse Crosshairs, Mouse without Borders, Newsletters, PowerToys, PowerToys Run, Screen Ruler, Shortcut Guide
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