📢 Microsoft PowerToys 0.55.0 gets three new utilities

What's new in Microsoft PowerToys 0.55.0

• File Explorer add-on: Developer files for preview pane. This should add about 150 file extensions total. We are using the Monaco Editor to power this experience. Thanks @aaron-junker!
• File Explorer add-on: STL file format thumbnail generation! Since STL is a common 3D file format, this allows a quick visual check. Thanks @pedrolamas! Preview pane support is already in Windows.
• Mouse Utility: Crosshair over pointer via Ctrl + Alt + P. This feature was co-developed with the accessibility team at Microsoft. When the team told us about the idea and described trying to find your cursor by looking through a straw, we knew we could leverage code from the other mouse utilities to quickly enable this feature. Below is a quote from one of the testers with a rough validation build:
  This will change my life and allow me to use any PC without constantly losing the pointer. This is huge! I will be able to work at my normal speed again. It is a total game changer for people with visual field impairments! – Joanna A.

Change log

General

• .NET runtime is now on 5, our next release will be upgraded to .NET 6. Moving to .NET 5 and then 6 helped reduce our moving parts in a single release so we went this route. Why this is important is this is one of the major work items needed for ARM64 support. In addition, this should help provide a speed boosts once we are on .NET 6.
• @jsoref's spelling plugin help

Always on Top

• Fixed one of two borders showing incorrectly bugs.
• Border defaults to OS accent color now. Thanks @davidegiacometti
• Reduced CPU / GPU activity. Not done improving, we know we can do better.

FancyZones

• Bug fixed to not lose zones after update
• Fixed editor margin issue for Chinese language. Thanks @niels9001

File explorer add-ons

• GCode thumbnails now have transparency. Thanks @pedrolamas
• New Utility - Developer files for File Explorer preview pane. This should add about 150 file extensions total. We are using the Monaco Editor to power this experience. Thanks @aaron-junker!
• New Utility - STL thumbnail and preview panes added! Thanks @pedrolamas!

Image Resizer

• Fixed bug with too much meta data. Thanks @CleanCodeDeveloper
• Fixed bug resizing bug for constant height while maintaining aspect ratio. Thanks @CleanCodeDeveloper

Mouse utilities

• New Utility - Crosshair over pointer via Ctrl + Alt + P. This feature was co-developed with the accessibility team at Microsoft. Thanks @niels9001 for helping with the icon!

PowerRename

• Files are sorted now how File Explorer sorts.

PowerToys Run

• Improved speed and fixed bugs with Window walker plugin. Thanks @htcfreek
• Window Walker will now show path of elevated apps. Thanks @davidegiacometti
• Added UEFI command to system commands. Thanks @htcfreek
• Fixed crashing bug in EnvironmentHelper class. Thanks @htcfreek
• Fix URI plugin bug with ^:. Thanks @franky920920
• VS Code plugin not showing workspaces with latest Code version was corrected. Thanks @ricardosantos9521
• Fixed bug that caused plugins to not load. Thanks @davidegiacometti
• Fixed crash in Uri plugin and Web search plugin. Thanks @cyberrex5!

Settings

• Fixed a regression with settings being reset when moving from admin to non-admin

Video Conference Mute

• Fixed crashing bug with Zoom and other clients. We found someone we could remotely debug with and identify the actual crashing part.
• Change of behavior: When leaving a meeting, VCM will now leave your microphone in the state it was. This mimics behavior of applications if VCM was not present.
• Change of behavior: When you exit PowerToys, your current microphone state will remain.