Issue 630 • 27 April – 10 May 2022 63Perform calculations and conversions without
needing to click anything
Access registry keys without opening the
Registry Editor firstLaunch programs directly from PowerToys Run and quickly close them
your mathematical query – this can be a
basic sum or a complex calculation, but
remember to use * (asterisk) for multiply
and / (forward slash) for divide. PowerToys
Run will immediately tell you the answer,
without you needing to click anything,
and let you copy the number to your
clipboard to paste elsewhere (see
screenshot above).
Equally clever is its ability to perform
unit conversions. Type %% followed by a
query such as 10 feet in metre or 12 stone
in kg to get an instant conversion, and
copy the result to your clipboard. The
latest update to PowerToys (version 0.57)
improves this feature, so that it recognises
more ways of writing measurements and
converts litres to imperial gallons rather
than US ones on UK computers.
Launch and close
Windows programs
PowerToys Run also serves as a speedy
program launcher, letting you find and
open software installed on your PC with a
single click. Type a full stop, then start
typing the name of a program to exclude
other types of search result and list only
matching software. You can then click to
launch the desired program or click the
‘Run as administrator’ icon if the tool
requires administrative rights.
Usefully, PowerToys Run lets you
switch to a specific program window by
typing a less-than sign < then a few
letters from its name and clicking the
relevant result – similar to, but faster
than, the traditional Alt+Tab keyboard
shortcut. PowerToys 0.57 expands this
feature, which is called Window Walker,
with the ability to close windows by
clicking the ‘X’ icon next to their names
(see screenshot below). You can also
terminate problematic processes that are
causing programs to hang by clicking the
bin icons next to them.Jump straight to specific
Registry keys
Tweaking the Windows registry involves
delving into the notoriously fiddly
Registry Editor, which you can open by
typing regedit into the standard Run box
(type run into the Start menu to open this)
and pressing Enter.
Because PowerToys Run is designed for
Windows power users, it makes navigating
the registry much easier, letting you find
and jump to specific registry keys. When
you type a colon (:), it instantly displays
the main HKEY ‘branches’ of the registry
(see screenshot above right), so you can
click to access and browse the relevant one.
Alternatively, start typing the full path
of a registry key – or copy and paste it
from a website – and click a match that
appears to visit that location in the
Registry Editor.Get time and date information
Type ( time and date into PowerToys
Run and you’ll not only get the current
time and date (and that for Universal
Coordinated Time), but the option to
copy that information elsewhere –
something you can’t do with the basic
Windows taskbar clock.
You can also see how many calendar
weeks you are into the year by typing
( calendar week or check the week for a
specific date using a command such as
( calendar week::03/05/2022.
Need to know the time in a different
time zone? Type an ampersand (&) and
either enter the name of the zone or scroll
through the list that opens until you find
the right one (see screenshot below).As well as finding and opening
files and programs in a jiffy,
PowerToys Run lets you type
commands to control your
computer, which saves you a lot
of pointing and clicking. Here
are our favourite shortcuts.
shutdown
Shuts down your computer, so
make sure you save your work first.
restart
Restarts your computer (see screenshot).
sign out
Signs you out of Windows.lock
Locks your screen so it can
only be unlocked with a
password.
empty recycle bin
Provides a speedy way to
empty your recycle bin and
free up space.
UEFI firmware settings
Lets you access your PC’s UEFI so you can
tweak boot settings
IP address
Instantly discover your computer’s IP
addressCheck the time in different locations around the worldControl your PC from PowerToys Run