PowerToys 0.72 greatly reduces install size, adds mouse pointer highlighter, and more

It is update time for those using PowerToys on Windows 10 and 11. Version 0.72 is now available for download with numerous fixes, and improvements. Although this release does not contain any new PowerToys, it does add a new PowerToys Run plugin called Value Generator, that generates hashes and GUID values. In addition Mouse Highlighter adds a highlight that always follows the mouse pointer; PowerRename includes a bunch of fixes to make it more stable (less crashes) with a larger amount of files.

Aside from the new features within existing PowerToys, you'll be pleased to see the developers also managed to reduce the install footprint by a few hundred MB, and there's a good number of fixes included in this release which are included below.

Here are the highlights of the update:

• Greatly reduced the PowerToys installed space by having utilities share the same installed path. When compared to 0.71, the 0.72 x64 machine installed version of PowerToys reduces the size reported in the Installed Apps screen from 1.15GB to 785 MB and the size in File Explorer properties for the installation folder from 3.10GB to 554 MB.
• Value Generator - A new PowerToys Run plugin that generates hashes and GUID values. Thanks @IHorvalds!
• Mouse Highlighter has a new feature to have a highlight always follow the mouse pointer. Thanks @hayatogh!
• PowerRename was reworked to support a bigger number of files without crashing.

and here is the full changelog:

Known issues

• Due to changing paths in the installation folder, the Mouse Without Borders service might be pointing to the wrong place. Users not running as admin will have to enable service mode again after install. A toast notification will appear if Mouse Without Borders is unable to start the service correctly.
• File Explorer extensions changed paths might not be loaded correctly until File Explorer and Preview Host processes are restarted, so we advise restarting the computer when possible after updating PowerToys.

General

• Shared dependencies between applications in order to greatly reduce the installed size.
• Added missing icons and icon sizes. Thanks @niels9001!

FancyZones

• Fixed an issue where FancyZones wouldn't register a change to the "Switch between windows in the current zone" setting.
• Added a Setting to enable the behavior of clicking the middle mouse button to toggle multiple zone spanning.

File Locksmith

• Fixed a File Explorer crash when deleting a file, updating PowerToys and then trying to right-click the background of a folder in File Explorer.
• UI tweaks. Thanks @Jay-o-Way!

File Explorer add-ons

• Updated the Monaco dependency for Developer Files Preview, supporting new file extensions and fixing issues. Thanks @Aaron-Junker!

Hosts File Editor

• Consolidated the way the Hosts application is launched. Thanks @davidegiacometti!
• UI tweaks. Thanks @Jay-o-Way!

Installer

• Refactored the Monaco dependency inclusion. What to install is now being generated automatically.
• Removed hardlinks and simplified the installer files, now that many utilities use the same paths.

Mouse Highlighter

• Added a feature so that a highlight follows the mouse even if no mouse button is being pressed. Thanks @hayatogh!

Mouse Pointer Crosshairs

• Added a setting to hide the crosshairs when the mouse pointer is also hidden. Thanks @davidegiacometti!
• Added a setting to select a fixed length for the crosshairs, which also spans across screens. Thanks @Epp-code!

Mouse Without Borders

• Switched to a UWP mouse input API to fix mouse pointer lag issues that were reported.
• A toast notification will appear when the service can't be started and Mouse Without Borders will try to start in non-service mode instead.
• Fixed a bug where the service path wouldn't update to the new binary path when trying to re-enable service mode.
• Fixed some grammar errors in the Mouse Without Borders user facing strings. Thanks @KhurramJalil!
• Allow changing the shortcuts in the same way as other utilities and changed them to better defaults to avoid conflicting with Alt Gr+letter combos on international layouts.

Peek

• Also benefits from the Monaco dependency update when peeking into files supported by the Developer Files Preview. Thanks @Aaron-Junker!
• Fixed a flash on PowerToys starting due to the Peek window activating and hiding right away. Thanks @davidegiacometti!
• Updated icon design. Thanks @niels9001!
• Fixed flipped content issues on systems with RTL languages.

PowerRename

• Reworked the UI and resource consumption to fix crashes and hangs when trying to rename a huge number of files.
• Added the Mica background material and some UI tweaks. Thanks @niels9001!

PowerToys Run

• New plugin: Value Generator - generates values like hashes and GUIDs. Thanks @IHorvalds!
• The default input smoothing values were changed to the recommended values. Thanks @SamMercer172!
• Fixed tab navigation issues when using Shift+Tab to go backwards. Thanks @davidegiacometti!
• Fixed a crash caused by images not being found in the image cache due to racing conditions.
• Fixed synchronization issues in the WindowWalker plugin. Thanks @davidegiacometti!
• Fixed a synchronization crash when getting localized system paths.
• The PowerToys plugin is now activated by default. Thanks @davidegiacometti!

Quick Accent

• Added the ("ḍ", U+1E0D) unicode character. Thanks @SamMercer172!
• Fixed an issue causing the left and right keys being discarded even when Quick Accent didn't activate.

Registry Preview

• Fixed a bug causing DWORD values to not be shown correctly. Thanks @randyrants!
• UI tweaks. Thanks @Jay-o-Way!

Runner

• Show a warning asking the user to restart the computer after updating the PowerToys version.

Screen Ruler

• UI tweaks. Thanks @Jay-o-Way!

Settings

• Fix an unused Expander in the File Locksmith settings page.
• Added an info box to better explain what the extended context menu is.

Development

• Projects were restructured to allow sharing the same folder and dependencies and to avoid resource name conflicts.
• Added scripts to CI to guard against applications having conflicting resources.
• Added scripts to CI to guard against depending on different versions of the same dependency.
• Test projects now build to a separate path.
• Dependencies updated across the solution to ensure every project is using the same dependencies.

You can download PowerToys from the Microsoft Store, winget (Command Prompt as Administrator and enter the command: winget install --id Microsoft.PowerToys, or its repository on GitHub.