After so many years as the world’s most popular operating system, Windows doesn’t really need you to go very far beneath the surface to accomplish most things. If you can find your way around the Settings app, Task Manager and Windows Explorer, you’re pretty much set.
Still, Windows is far more than this, and even those at the casual end of the “power user” spectrum rely on these apps to get the most out of their OS.
PowerToys
Despite the name, these are serious tools
Putting PowerToys on the list is cheating in several ways, but I don’t care because if you’re a power user of Windows, you’re using PowerToys. Why is it cheating? Well, PowerToys isn’t included with Windows, you need to download it yourself. Also, it’s not one app, but a collection of apps developed by Microsoft for power users.
It’s baffling to me that PowerToys aren’t just part of Windows because every one of these applets or enhancements make Windows so much better. One of my absolute favorites is Locksmith, which simply tells you which app is a locking a file that you’re trying to delete or move. Something that should absolutely be in Windows already, but at least after installing PowerToys it’s all there.
The only problem is that once you’ve grown used to having PowerToys on your computer, it’s quite jarring to use a new Windows installation or someone’s computer that doesn’t have it. It’s easy to forget that certain features aren’t just a part of vanilla Windows.
Windows Terminal
The last command line solution you’ll need
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When Microsoft released Windows, which began life as a mere shell for MS-DOS, the Command Prompt was pushed to the background. Most of the time, most people would never have a reason to use a command line, but that’s not true for power users. The thing is, because of that reduced role and focus, Windows hasn’t really had a good unified command line solution for some time.
The standard Command Prompt is OK, but it’s little different from the last release of DOS. PowerShell expands significantly on the function and presentation of the Command Prompt, but it’s a little visually hostile if I’m being honest. There’s also the WSL (Windows Subsystem for Linux) terminal, which is also a thing, but the less said about that the better. It’s its own thing.
Windows Terminal (which also isn’t included with Windows by default) finally brings command line operation of Windows in line with modern standards. With tabbed sessions, profiles for different shells, full theming support, and GPU-accelerated text rendering, Windows Terminal feels like a modern tool.
You can run PowerShell, Command Prompt, cloud-based shells, and even Linux distros side by side. There’s even a sick “Quake mode” that lets you bring up the terminal anywhere in Windows at any time, just by pressing the Windows and tilde (~) key. Just like in the legendary boomer shooter Quake
Task Schedule
Task Scheduler might be the most powerful Windows tool almost nobody understands—or even knows exists
Everyone is going nuts these days for AI agents and AI-based automation. In the mean time, you’ve had a powerful automation solution built into Windows this whole time, and it could have made your life much easier if you only knew!
Task Scheduler can run programs, scripts, or perform system actions based on triggers like time, startup, logons, and more. If you’re someone who spends time doing the same repetitive tasks on your computer, then Task Scheduler can take care of much of that while you’re asleep. Giving you more time to work on what really matters.
It can, however, be a little opaque, so my suggestion is to start off with our beginner’s guide to Task Scheduler. Once you’re proficient, you’ll want to learn how to get the most out of Task Scheduler.
Event Viewer
Never wonder what happened to your computer again
Windows has notoriously vague and useless error messages, and sometimes your computer crashes or restarts with no error messages at all. So how are you supposed to figure out what went wrong? Well, it turns out that Windows actually keeps meticulous receipts in logs. If you know where to look, you can pretty much track down the cause of any issue.
The place to look is called Event Viewer, and it can remove the bulk of frustration with Windows troubleshooting. So it’s a good idea to get comfy with it.
Disk Management
I bet you didn’t even know you needed to manage your disks
I can’t even count how many times the Disk Management tool has saved my butt over the years. Disks that are corrupted, don’t show up because of drive letter conflicts, or partitions that have gone wrong can almost always be fixed by opening the Disk Management tool. Rarely, you’ll have to use the command line to rectify some things, but thanks to Disk Management, the days of doing all your partitioning and disk management using text commands are long behind us.
If you’re ready to move from being a casual Windows user to something more serious, these five tools should be part of your toolkit, and all of them are easier to use than they might first seem. So don’t be scared to jump in with both feet.
