Power Display: Monitor Controls Without Leaving the Taskbar
Microsoft PowerToys has gained a practical upgrade with the introduction of Power Display in version 0.99.1. Instead of fumbling for tiny physical buttons on your monitor or drilling down into Windows settings, you can now adjust key display options directly from the Windows taskbar. Once Power Display is enabled, an icon appears in the system tray, representing each detected monitor. Clicking it reveals the display settings your hardware supports, turning the taskbar into a quick-access hub for on-the-fly tweaks. This move fits neatly with PowerToys’ mission: extending Windows with power-user utilities that reduce friction in everyday workflows. By anchoring monitor control in a familiar, always-visible area, PowerToys effectively bridges the gap between system-level display configuration and the real-time adjustments users often need while they work, game, or watch video on their PCs.
From Brightness to Profiles: What You Can Adjust
The new Microsoft PowerToys monitor control feature is designed to adapt to whatever your display supports. At minimum, you get a brightness slider you can drag up or down without leaving the desktop. Many monitors will expose additional sliders for contrast, color temperature, rotation, and even volume control, all accessible via the same compact system tray interface. If you use more than one monitor, Power Display can show individual sliders for each screen, making multi-monitor fine-tuning far easier than stepping through on-screen display menus for every panel. Inside the PowerToys settings, Power Display can be turned on or off, its activation shortcut customized, and display profiles created and saved. You can also selectively enable or disable specific controls, so the system tray monitor adjustment panel shows only the options you actually care about in daily use.
How PowerToys Streamlines Windows Taskbar Display Settings
For many users, adjusting the display has traditionally meant two awkward paths: hunting for physical monitor buttons or navigating nested Windows settings menus. Power Display short-circuits both paths by integrating directly into the system tray. This keeps display controls alongside other productivity tools and background utilities that live on the taskbar, making them feel like a native part of the desktop environment. Because PowerToys is already a go-to toolkit for power users, the addition of Microsoft PowerToys monitor control reinforces its role as an essential companion to Windows. Instead of treating monitor configuration as a rare, set-and-forget action, the system tray monitor adjustment approach assumes people will tweak brightness or color frequently, depending on time of day, task, or content. The result is a smoother, more responsive workflow that aligns better with how people actually use their screens.
Grab And Move and Other PowerToys New Features
Power Display arrives alongside other notable PowerToys new features that further refine the desktop experience. A standout is Grab And Move, a tool that simplifies window management on crowded or large displays. With it enabled, you can move a window by holding a chosen modifier key (Alt by default) and left-clicking anywhere on the window, instead of precisely grabbing the title bar. Holding the same key and right-clicking lets you resize horizontally, vertically, or diagonally from any point. Its settings allow changing the activation key, disabling the feature during Game Mode, and excluding specific applications. PowerToys v0.99.1 also updates existing utilities: Command Palette now supports pinning favorites, Keyboard Manager Editor makes editing recorded keys easier, and ZoomIt gains support for scrolling screenshots so you can capture long pages. Together, these upgrades continue PowerToys’ push toward a more fluid, customizable Windows desktop.