The built-in functionality of Windows 10 for its hundreds of millions of users is something that does not stop growing over time. This is something that Redmond’s own firm takes care of by sending constant updates with the pertinent corrections and improvements. However, there are many who want to go a step further, something for which the PowerToys are very helpful.
For those who don’t know yet, when we refer to the PowerToys , we are talking about a number of additional tools for Windows . These were hugely successful many years ago for older versions of the operating system . Due to this, Microsoft itself decided to resurrect them for Windows 10. Thus, the utility and applications that are coming to them, also does not stop growing little by little, as is the case at hand.
These are the news coming to PowerToys 0.22
As we already mentioned a few weeks ago, with the arrival of version 0.21.1, we could see a good amount of bug fixes, but rather few substantial news. However, now we can download and test a new experimental version, 0.22, which includes a new tool that will be very useful to you. It is actually Video Conference , an application designed to enhance video conferencing functions in the operating system.
Specifically, it is responsible for activating or deactivating the audio and video in the system in a more comfortable and effective way. In addition, this is something that will be of help to us regardless of the videoconferencing application that we are using at that time. In this way, the new utility mutes not only the audio from the microphone , but also the video from the webcam with a single keystroke. Therefore, as it is easy to imagine, this will be especially appreciated by the regulars of this type of online communication.
It is worth mentioning that for the sound system, the PowerToys application uses the global microphone mute API in Windows . On the other hand, when it comes to video, a virtual controller for the webcam is used here. So the new utility routes the video through the mentioned driver and brings it back to the application.
How the new PowerToys Video Conference app works
Therefore, when a user wants to stop broadcasting the video, they do it instantly. In addition, this allows the application that we use to believe that it is receiving the video signal . But that’s not the case, since the only thing you really get is a black image until we turn it back on.
Of course, at the moment in certain laptops the video forwarding does not work, so due to this Microsoft keeps this new version of PowerToys as a test. However, the firm is trying to fix the problem as soon as possible so that the final version of PowerToys 0.22 can be downloaded.
At first, the new tool brings a series of predefined key combinations that we can customize later. Thus, with Win + N we change the state of the audio and video at the same time. By using the Win + Shift + O combination, we do it with the video, and for the sound we use Win + Shift + A. Therefore, if you are interested in trying all this, you can now download the new version of the PowerToys.