PowerToys 0.96 is Out: Big Upgrades to Command Palette, Light Switch, and More

Microsoft’s PowerToys just hit version 0.96, packing a ton of quality-of-life improvements across your favorite modules. No brand-new tools this time, but the updates to Command Palette, Advanced Paste, and others make it feel like a fresh start for Windows power users on 10 and 11.

Advanced Paste: More AI Options Than Ever

Now you can swap out OpenAI for whatever floats your boat:

• Azure OpenAI, OpenAI, Google Gemini, Mistral, Foundry Local, or Ollama
• Perfect for devs who want flexibility in their clipboard magic.

Command Palette: The Star of the Show

This one’s loaded — seriously, dozens of tweaks for smoother searching and clipboard vibes:

• File Filters: Show everything, files only, or folders only.
• Clipboard Smarts: Now shows image dimensions, file sizes, web titles, and word counts.
• UI Polish: Smoke backdrop, better padding, remembered window size/position.
• Shortcuts Galore: Ctrl + , for settings, Page Up/Down in search, global error handling.
• Bug Squashes: Faster results, reorganized settings, and way more reliability.

Light Switch: Sunrise/Sunset Just Got Smarter

Manual mode? Now you can punch in exact lat/long coords:

• Cleaner state management behind the scenes.
• Less log spam — only key events logged.
• Easy toggle between Mouse Pointer Crosshairs and Gliding Cursor.

Quick Hits Across Other Modules

Can’t forget the rest — here’s the rapid-fire goodness:

• PowerRename: EXIF/XMP photo metadata for renames (%Camera, %Lens, %ExposureTime).
• Awake: Better long-timer accuracy, fixed context menu glitches.
• Find My Mouse: No more busy cursor or focus theft on activation.
• Hosts File Editor: Custom backups (frequency, location, auto-delete).
• Image Resizer: Consistent settings in batch mode.
• Mouse Without Borders: Horizontal scrolling support.
• Peek: No more media file locks post-preview + CLI access.
• PowerToys Run: Retry logic for DWM errors, fresh OneNote icons.
• Quick Accent: Diameter symbol (⌀) on Shift+O.
• ZoomIt: Smoother animations, GIF support, fixed leaks and typos.
• Settings: No more title bar overlaps, clickable updates, better accessibility, dashboard sorting.

Grab It Now

Update via Settings > General (auto-magic), or snag it from the Microsoft Store, GitHub, or winget. Dive in — your workflow will thank you!