Microsoft PowerToys

Microsoft PowerToys is a set of freeware system utilities for power users, developed by Microsoft for its flagship operating system, Windows. PowerToys do not undergo the same rigorous testing that the operating system components do and are published without technical support.

PowerToys for Windows 95 was the first version of Microsoft PowerToys and included 15 tools for power users. One of the best known ones is TweakUI, a system utility for tweaking the more obscure settings in Windows. In most cases, TweakUI exposes settings that are otherwise only accessible by directly modifying Windows Registry. Other tools include:

PowerToys for Windows 95 were developed by Windows Shell Development Team. Most of them work correctly on later versions of Windows up to Windows XP but do not work correctly on Windows Vista or later, because of extensive changes made to the shell or compatibility problems with User Account Control or 64-bit computing.

After the huge success of the Windows 95 PowerToys, Windows Kernel Development Team released another set of tools for power users called Windows 95 Kernel Toys. Six tools were included in this package, including:

PowerToys for Windows XP is the second version of the PowerToys set and is a major change from the Windows 95 version. The tools in this set were available as separate downloads rather than in a single package.

As of November 2009^[update], the following PowerToys for Windows XP were available:

The following PowerToys for Windows XP are now retired:

Microsoft has also released PowerToys for Windows XP Tablet PC Edition and Windows XP Media Center Edition. As part of the Windows Media Player Bonus Pack, another set of PowerToys for Windows Media Player was released. Finally, Microsoft has also released Windows Mobile PowerToys for Developers, Visual Studio and Microsoft Office OneNote.

...
Wikipedia