With the PowerToys Run utility Windows 10 users get a decent Mac Spotlight equivalent.
It can be launched with Alt + Space.
I’ve been trying it for a few weeks now and I really enjoy it. So much so that I’ve stopped using the Windows key altogether for launching apps, and have remapped it to start the new Run utility.
I like the simplicity of it – and for the most part it’s speedy.
The key takeaways are:
- Search for apps, folders and files
- Options for running as Admin, opening containing folder
- Run system commands like
Shutdown,Restart,Locketc - Find running processes
- Also allows some simple math
The full details and documentation for PowerToys Run are available here: https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/powertoys/run
You can download the latest release here: https://github.com/microsoft/PowerToys
Remapping the Windows key
So why would I remap the Windows key? Mainly because of muscle memory. Hitting the windows key is hardwired into my brain at this point which makes clicking Alt + Space tricky. So this just makes the process more efficient for me but your mileage may vary.
Remapping the Windows key is really easy with the built in Keyboard Manager in PowerToys. Just enable it, click “Remap keys”, and enter your desired inputs and outputs.
Hopefully this might be useful to some of you. Let me know how you get on. You can find me on Twitter: https://twitter.com/james_evers.