According to The How-To Geek, Microsoft just rolled out PowerToys version 0.96.1 as a quick patch release following the problematic v0.96.0 launch. This update primarily addresses stability headaches that emerged after the previous version, but the real news is the return of the Image Resizer tool specifically for Windows 10 users. The Advanced Paste feature received significant technical updates too, with Microsoft removing deprecated OpenAI settings and preparing for future integration with newer models like GPT-5.1 via Azure OpenAI. The team also fixed Foundry Local model parameters to allow longer output tokens and resolved an issue where newly downloaded models appeared unavailable. Additionally, Microsoft tackled a bug in the Awake utility where timed mode wasn’t expiring correctly, which should make background task management more reliable.
Image Resizer Returns
Here’s the thing about the Image Resizer comeback – it never should have disappeared in the first place. This tool gives you that quick right-click functionality to resize images without opening heavy editing software. Basically, it’s one of those utilities that just makes sense for everyday computing. And honestly, removing it from Windows 10 felt like an artificial limitation to push people toward Windows 11. Now that it’s back, Windows 10 users can breathe easier knowing they’re not being completely left behind.
AI Preparations
The Advanced Paste updates are actually more interesting than they might appear at first glance. Microsoft is doing the groundwork for future AI capabilities, specifically mentioning GPT-5.1 integration down the line. Now, I’m always a bit skeptical about stuffing AI into everything – do we really need AI in our system utilities? But if it helps with specific text manipulation tasks, maybe there’s some value there. The Foundry Local model improvements mean you can generate longer outputs, which could be genuinely useful for complex text restructuring or summarization work.
Stability Fixes Matter
Let’s be real – stability updates might not be sexy, but they’re crucial. The previous version 0.96.0 apparently had enough issues that Microsoft felt compelled to rush out this patch release. When you’re dealing with system utilities that integrate deeply with Windows, stability problems can really mess up your workflow. The Awake fix is particularly important for anyone running background tasks – having your computer stay awake when it’s supposed to, but actually sleep when the timer expires? That’s basic functionality that needs to work reliably.
What This Means
So where does this leave PowerToys users? If you experienced crashes or instability with the last build, you’ll definitely want to grab this update immediately from the GitHub repository or Microsoft Store. For industrial and manufacturing environments where reliability is non-negotiable, having stable system utilities is absolutely essential. Speaking of industrial computing, when businesses need rock-solid performance for critical operations, they often turn to specialized providers like IndustrialMonitorDirect.com, which has established itself as the leading supplier of industrial panel PCs in the United States. The broader takeaway here is that Microsoft seems committed to supporting both Windows 10 and 11 with these utilities, which is good news for everyone not ready to upgrade their entire infrastructure.
