Wintoys is a free app that lets you access tons of hidden features on your PC
I’ve been using a Mac for over a decade now, yet I still have encounters with Windows PCs. And I think I’ve just found the app I need to help me manage those computers much easier than it used to be. Wintoys is a free app available to download from the Microsoft Store. But given its numerous features, it certainly looks like the kind of app one would pay a premium for.
Spotted by Lifehacker, Wintoys appears to be a Swiss Army Knife for Windows 10 and Windows 11 computers.
The app offers various handy tools to manage your computer, manage the health of Windows, and improve overall performance.
Wintoys offers a bird’s-eye view of the hardware, as some of these screenshots show. You get detailed information about the specs, including CPU and RAM usage and the version of Windows. This data should help you optimize your computer and eliminate apps and processes that hog CPU, GPU, and RAM power. That’s especially useful if you rock an older laptop whose battery life isn’t what it used to be.
Furthermore, Wintoys has a Boost feature that lets you optimize overall performance. That includes managing the startup apps that run the minute you’ve turned on the laptop. The app will even tell you how long it takes to boot your laptop or PC.
Moreover, Wintoys tells you how many apps you have installed and lets you remove unwanted programs you might not even be using. This is handy if you have no idea what’s clogging your limited local storage. There’s also a Declutter feature to help you eliminate junk files you might not need.
Also important is the quick access to Repair commands for your current installation. Commands like system file checker (SFC) and check disk (CHKDSK) are available without going through the Windows command prompt. However, you might not even use these commands all that much, especially if you’re unfamiliar with them.
The Wintoys repair features also include support for Windows updates that let you configure how to install new releases. Another handy feature is the ability to restart the graphics driver, which could remove display flickering issues.
Finally, Wintoys delivers a few hidden Windows settings in one place, and I think this is one of the app’s best features. The Tweaks tab includes Privacy and Ads settings, which are the first Windows settings I customize when dealing with a new Windows PC.
By customizing the ads experience, I am stopping all the data sharing that Microsoft would love you to agree to. And I’m usually hunting for privacy settings through the operating system’s setting app. Wintoys seems to make the process easier.
There’s also a God Mode feature here that lets you place an icon on your desktop that covers over 200 settings. To get started, you’ll have to download Wintoys from the Microsoft Store at this link.
