Access Hackers REJOICE! PowerToys are Back!

Microsoft is making available again the old PowerToys utilities that were a part of Win 95. PowerToys was a way to prototype and tweak functions in the Windows operating system. Windows developers and enthusiasts developed features and the best ones ended up in the PowerToys bundle.

These included a number of options that were particularly useful for accessibility hacking including:

• Keyboard shortcut manager.
• Improvements to Alt+Tab functions: browser tab integration and a search for running apps.
• Launching various mouse events
• Contents menu file browsing.
• And user interface tweaking
• Unfortunately PowerToys were a victim of a security review and disappeared after Windows XP.

But now they’re making a comeback.

Microsoft is going to publish previews of the utilities in an open-source license on GitHub over the summer to allow for public feedback. So those interested in the project can find more info here https://github.com/microsoft/PowerToys

Microsoft engaged in a similar development process for the Microsoft Calculator. You can find info about that project here https://github.com/Microsoft/calculator