Windows 10 is getting this classic PowerToy back

Microsoft just rolled out PowerToys version 0.96.1, which is primarily a patch release focused on fixing several stability issues that came after the previous v0.96.0 launch. However, the incredibly useful Image Resizer tool is finally back in this update for Windows 10.

This patch release is a quick follow-up designed to tackle the stability headaches that cropped up right after v0.96.0 hit the scene. While stability is always appreciated, the return of the Image Resizer is the real star here for many users who haven’t yet moved to Windows 11.

Now that it is back, it makes me think there wasn’t a very good reason to remove the Resizer for Windows 10 users. It gives quick, right-click functionality to shrink or expand images without needing to open heavy editing software. It’s something I’d rather do than the work of getting the file into an editor just to get a small adjustment.

The Advanced Paste feature also received significant attention, especially with its underlying model support. The team performed a crucial cleanup by removing deprecated OpenAI Prompt Execution Settings properties. This technical tweak actually sets the stage for future integration with newer models.

The documentation specifically mentions preparing the tool for capabilities like using GPT-5.1 via Azure OpenAI down the line. While this doesn’t mean you get GPT-5.1 functionality today, it prepares the structure for that capability later on. I’m always cautious about adding more AI tools into our core system utilities, but if this helps with specific text manipulation or formatting tasks, then it is just what Microsoft thinks we need.

The Advanced Paste team also updated the Foundry Local model parameters. This lets you generate longer output tokens, which is great if you use the tool for more complex text restructuring or summary tasks. A bug where a newly downloaded Foundry Local model would appear unavailable immediately after installation was also fixed.

Beyond those features, Microsoft tackled a specific problem with the Awake functionality. Awake is a handy utility designed to keep your computer awake for background tasks, preventing it from sleeping when you’re running long processes. This update fixes an issue where the timed mode wasn’t expiring correctly.

While it’s nice to be able to keep your PC from ruining your background tasks by going to sleep, having it not go to sleep does damage as well. This fix should lead to much more dependable behavior whenever you rely on timed operations to keep things running smoothly in the background without worrying about your machine crashing or going dormant prematurely.

While the 0.96.1 release is all about fixing things, it’s good to see Windows 10 get features back that shouldn’t have disappeared to begin with. If you experienced any crashes or instability with the last build, you’ll definitely want to jump on this patch immediately. Keep in mind, you can always just update from your app if you already have it.

You can grab the latest installer hash for x64 or ARM64 right now. You can download PowerToys 0.96.1 from the Microsoft Store or GitHub repository.

Source: PowerToys GitHub