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Microsoft PowerToys version 0.72 brings a new PowerToys Run plugin and improvements to the mouse highlighter, along with a reduced app size.
It now has the ability to always follow the mouse for the Mouse Highlighter feature and introduces a PowerToys Run Value Generator plugin for generating hashes and GUIDs.
The update also includes bug fixes and improvements, such as shared dependencies, fixed crashes, UI tweaks, and improved resource consumption.
Microsoft PowerToys version 0.72 is now out. While this isn't a major update with any big features, it's still a release you'd want to grab. New in this version is a new PowerToys Run plugin and some tweaks to the mouse highlighter. Microsoft also managed to reduce the size of the app, which should benefit those who might have PCs with limited space.
Hitting the highlights first, the Mouse Highlighter feature of PowerToys now has the ability to have a highlight always follow the mouse. Secondly, there's the new PowerToys Run Value Generator plugin which you can play with to generate hashes and GUID values. And about that app size? Well, Microsoft has now tweaked PowerToys so its many utilities can now share the same installed path. The app is now down in size from 1.15 GB to 785MB, and the File Explorer properties will show the installation folder is now down from 3.10GB to 554MB. You can check out the other changes below.
Shared dependencies between applications in order to greatly reduce the installed size.
Added missing icons and icon sizes.
Fixed an issue where FancyZones wouldn't register a change to the "Switch between windows in the current zone" setting.
Added a Setting to enable the behavior of clicking the middle mouse button to toggle multiple zone spanning.
Fixed a File Explorer crash when deleting a file, updating PowerToys and then trying to right-click the background of a folder in File Explorer.
UI tweaks
Updated the Monaco dependency for Developer Files Preview, supporting new file extensions and fixing issues.
Consolidated the way the Hosts application is launched.
UI tweaks.
Refactored the Monaco dependency inclusion. What to install is now being generated automatically.
Removed hardlinks and simplified the installer files, now that many utilities use the same paths.
Added a setting to hide the crosshairs when the mouse pointer is also hidden.
Added a setting to select a fixed length for the crosshairs, which also spans across screens.
Switched to a UWP mouse input API to fix mouse pointer lag issues that were reported.
A toast notification will appear when the service can't be started and Mouse Without Borders will try to start in non-service mode instead.
Fixed a bug where the service path wouldn't update to the new binary path when trying to re-enable service mode.
Fixed some grammar errors in the Mouse Without Borders user facing strings.
Allow changing the shortcuts in the same way as other utilities and changed them to better defaults to avoid conflicting with Alt Gr+letter combos on international layouts.
Also benefits from the Monaco dependency update when peeking into files supported by the Developer Files Preview.
Fixed a flash on PowerToys starting due to the Peek window activating and hiding right away. T
Updated icon design.
Fixed flipped content issues on systems with RTL languages.
Reworked the UI and resource consumption to fix crashes and hangs when trying to rename a huge number of files.
Added the Mica background material and some UI tweaks.
New plugin: Value Generator - generates values like hashes and GUIDs.
The default input smoothing values were changed to the recommended values.
Fixed tab navigation issues when using Shift+Tab to go backwards.
Fixed a crash caused by images not being found in the image cache due to racing conditions.
Fixed synchronization issues in the WindowWalker plugin.
Fixed a synchronization crash when getting localized system paths.
The PowerToys plugin is now activated by default.
Added the ("ḍ", U+1E0D) unicode character.
Fixed an issue causing the left and right keys being discarded even when Quick Accent didn't activate.
Fixed a bug causing DWORD values to not be shown correctly.
UI tweaks.
Show a warning asking the user to restart the computer after updating the PowerToys version.
Fix an unused Expander in the File Locksmith settings page.
Added an info box to better explain what the extended context menu is.
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As you can tell, this release is more about bug fixes than anything else, so it's not an update you'd want to skip. If you don't have the option to download updates automatically enabled, you can grab the update today on Windows 10 and Windows 11 by heading into the Power Toys Setting app, choosing General, and then Check for updates.
Of course, nothing is perfect here. You might still run into some issues. The Mouse Without Borders service might be pointing to the wrong place. Users not running as admin will have to enable service mode again after install. Additionally, File Explorer extensions changed paths might not be loaded correctly until File Explorer and Preview Host processes are restarted.
